Shrimp & Sausage Kabobs and Corn on the Cob

July 19 2016

I got my sampler pack of 4 jars from Big Dick’s the other day. I used the Big Kahuna and the Margarita on the kabobs. I had seen someone curls shrimp around a slice of smoked sausage I wanted to try. I had some Key West Jumbo shrimp and a link of my butcher’s smoked sausage. Even though his sausage is fully cooked I gave it an hour of smoke on my Traeger and it was 160 deg. IT

I decided to do the kabobs on my Weber JJ. I had to clean it up a little. I only used it twice last year so it needed used. My Lodge Hibachi was handy to start my charcoal in. I had some leftover in the two Weber baskets and shoved them to on side. I added a small foil pan for an indirect area.

I had some fresh corn and a yellow zucchini from Sutter’s farm. This was my first fresh corn of the year. I had a half dozen ears; I cleaned off about 3 of the outer husks and trimmed both ends. I steamed them about 6 minutes using a blue enamel steam pot on my Camp Chef gas burner.

I peeled and deveined the shrimp; sliced the sausage and had enough for 8 kabobs. The jumbo shrimp was not big enough to go around the sausage and skewer it so they were just staggered. I was glad the grandson was coming to eat with us. I used the Big Kahuna on 5 skewers and the Margarita on 3 for me.

Tasting out of the jar it was a little hot.

I had the Weber heated to about 440 deg. and the corn water on. I added some sliced zucchini coated with a little olive oil and Penzey’s Sandwich Sprinkle over the coals to get marked. I turned them after 4 minutes and added the corn to the steaming pot. After another 3 minutes I moved the zucchini over the foil pan and added 5 of the kabobs with the Kahuna; I did them 3 minutes per side. I took all inside with two ears of corn and got the wife and grandson served then did the 3 kabobs for me.

All tasted pretty good! The Margarita rub was not as hot as I thought but had a nice bite to it. The wife and grandson liked the Big Kahuna. I was afraid the Sutter’s corn would not be up to par, they had bigger kernels than their usual.  It was just as tender and sweet as always. Their corn is twice what you pay at the grocery but sure worth it.

 For the kabobs

Shrimp cleaned

Kabobs made and seasoned

Zucchini

Getting the charcoal started

Kabobs on the grill

My corn

My supper

Mo Rockin Chicken and Italian Spaghetti Squash

May 08 2015

Old Dave’s post using his Weber Jumbo Joe made me break out mine today to do a chicken. It was a great day sunny and 86. I went this morning and bought 6 tomato plants and got those planted. I usually work up my little garden 4 X 8 feet but since I am a little hampered with the bad leg I did a no till planting.

The chicken I had bought yesterday; I spatchcocked it and got it in brine for 8 hours. Then it was rinsed and air dried in the fridge about 8 hours. I cut it in half and seasoned with a sprinkle of Cajun and a lot of Savor’s Mo Rockin chicken rub. I had my WJJ heated up to 300 deg. with some Stubbs briquettes. I easily maintained 300 to 325 deg. and it took a total of 1 ½ hours. I seared the chicken the last 10 minutes or so.

My side was spaghetti squash, I wanted a small one to serve each half but all they had was a large one. It was good so I was glad we had leftovers. I had looked at several recipes and came up with this one. I cut the squash in half and removed the seeds, a grapefruit spoon works well for this. I place cut side down in a dish with a ½ inch of water and nuked in the microwave until getting soft; 15 minutes. I used a fork to loosen the strands leaving in the shell and sprinkled on some Penzey’s sandwich sprinkle. Garlic salt would work too. I set them aside.

I sliced and quartered a small sweet onion; and sliced up six mini sweet peppers into rings. I sautéed them in a little olive oil just until soft and set aside to cool. I mixed in two large spoonfuls of sour cream and divided it on top of the squash. I cut some grape tomatoes in half, 4 for each squash half. I topped it with some shredded six cheese blend Italian. I sprinkled on some Italian blend seasoning. They went in my Traeger I had heated to 275 deg. which was about 295 grill level. It was in for 45 minutes.

The chicken was tender and juicy and I like the little heat the Cajun added to the Mo Rockin rub. We both loved the spaghetti squash.

Seasoning the chicken

Getting the Weber Jumbo Joe lit

Sauteing the onions and peppers

Squash cooked and loosened up

Onions, peppers, sour cream and seasoning 

Adding to the squash

Searing the chicken

Chickens done

Squash is done

My supper

Eastern Kababs and Israeli Couscous

Aug 13 2013

Thanks to two fellow Les Talk BBQ members recipes tonight’s cook was fun to do and delicious! I did Ahron, africanmeat’s Eastern Kababs and 1BIGG_ER’s Israeli couscous. I used my Weber Jumbo Joe for this cook.

I cut Ahron’s recipe in half; a pound was enough for the wife and me. I cut the crushed red pepper a little for my wife and cut the Coriander, cilantro leaves some. It was in the fridge overnight and I made them up a few hours before I cooked to set up some in the fridge.

My Steven Raichlen 3/8 wide skewers came this morning in time for my cook. I wish I could have found some wider ones. After fixing I think the meat would stay on the wider ones better. I had two of them almost come apart on me but managed to keep them on the skewers. Ahron used 70-30 ground beef and I used 80-20 so maybe more fat would keep them together better or there is a knack to doing them.

Note the spelling kabab; it is European and Middle Eastern meat on a skewer. We usually call them kabobs here and can be about anything, meat, veggies, and fruit or any combination on a skewer.

For Biggs couscous I used just red bell peppers, I like some heat but the wife does not. Otherwise I stuck pretty close to his recipe.

I did up two slices of yellow squash with olive oil and Penzey’s Fox Point seasoning to do along with the kababs. I had a crusty baguette with some gorgonzola, garlic chive butter for a side. For me the kababs need some good mustard; I had mild yellow but would be great with hot mustard. I had some sliced almonds for on top of the couscous but forgot to add them. I knew my wife would not want them; I will have some on the leftovers.

We both thought the supper was great! Thanks for two great recipes guys; they are a keeper for me!

Link to kabab recipe

Link to couscous recipe

Ingredients for kababs

Mixed up

Ready for the grill

Salad dressing

Salad ingredients

Veggies are in

Cooking the couscous

Salads done

Squash ready to grill

Meat grilling

Ready to serve

My supper

Chicken and Veggie Kabobs

Aug 10 2014

Our son had to work so I invited the daughter in law and grandson down for kabobs. I bought my Weber Jumbo Joe last year and did one cook with it. I decided it was time to use it again before summer is over!

I found a good marinade recipe by Sandra Lee of Food Network; sounded good. I cut up breast meat for all and some thigh meat for me. It went in a marinade of Mae Ploy’s sweet chili sauce, pineapple juice soy sauce and garlic for about 3 hours before cooking. For the veggie kabobs I had yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, baby bella mushrooms, Vidalia onions and red pepper. I brushed them with butter and some WOW, Savors Way Out West seasoning just before putting on the grill.

The daughter in law and grandson showed up at 6:00 and she had some good bean salad with her fresh tomatoes and basil in. I had the charcoal lit and some Zatarain’s yellow rice in the rice cooker. I got their breast meat and veggie kabobs made up and on the grill with grill grates; I did not have to worry about flare ups.

It took about 10 minutes per side to get the chicken up to temp. I took theirs in and then made up my thigh meat and veggie kabobs and got them done. It all tasted great, everyone liked the chicken. I had some extra Mae Ploys to dip mine in and liked the bean salad. It’s been a while since I had kabobs and the marinade is a keeper for me.

Link to recipe

All set to grill

Marinade

Chickens in

Fire lit

Breast kabobs

Thigh kabobs

My Supper

Chicken on a Weber Jumbo Joe

Aug 01 2013

I never thought I would be cooking on a charcoal grill. A friend, Sandman, bought a Pit Barrel Cooker a while back and gave me some samples cooked on it. I see a lot of great cooks on charcoal in Lets Talk BBQ too. I decided to get one but didn’t want to put a lot of money in one. I decided on the Weber Jumbo Joe. I had also looked at an Old Smokey but I liked the more solid build of the Weber for about the same price.

Thursday evening I ordered one from Lowes for in store pick up. This morning I went to Lowes and for $87 I left with the Jumbo Joe, some charcoal baskets, a bag of charcoal and some lighter cubes.

It went together pretty easy and I had a metal table to set it on. I was happy my two grill grates fit it OK.

I like that the handle acts as a lid holder and it works great.

I had a split friar to do on it, brined for 3 hours and air dried in fridge for two hours seasoned with Stubbs chili lime.

I set it up with one charcoal basket for indirect cooking. I lit it at a little before 4:00 and by 4:30 it was ready for the chickens. Just after I got the chicken on it started getting dark in the NW. No rain was predicted! The pellet Gods must be angry! I went in and checked the radar; a small cell and was headed here. The only rain in all of Ohio!

I had enough room on the deck to move my smoker and set the Kettle on my fireproof mat if the rain came. It looked like it might stay north but it didn’t. I moved the kettle but the rain only lasted about 10 minutes. I left it there for the rest of the cook. I was able to maintain 280 to 300 deg. pretty close.

The chicken was done at 6:00; I did a quick sear over the coals and took it in to serve. I had potato salad, a fresh tomato salad with cottage cheese and fresh basil over it and some bread and butter. It sure did taste good!

This little grill will not be replacing my Traeger pellet smoker but when I get hungry for some charcoal chicken I can do it and want to do some burgers and kabobs on it once in a while.

All put together

Tomatoes and Chicken

Chickens on

Monitoring temps

All done with a quick sear

Fresh tomato salad

My Plate