Looking for a pork chop that has a kick to it?  These chops have a very nice kick to them, but plenty of other flavor.  Might be a bit spicy for some, but just cutback on the cayenne pepper and it will tone it done a bit.

Ingredients:

• 2 bone-in thick pork chops
• Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Spanish paprika
• 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Instructions:

1. Prepare the grill for medium to medium-high direct grilling.
2. Combine all spices together in a bowl and mix well.
3. Put a light coat of olive oil on both sides of the pork chops.
4. Apply dry rub to pork chops.
5. Grill over direct heat for about 8 minutes, flipping half way.

Agave nectar is a great substitute to using honey or other liquid sugars.  The lighter varieties have a more neutral flavor to honey, which tends for it make a perfect ingredient that will not mask more delicate flavored ingredients.  Ever have that bottle of honey that crystallized over time? You will not have that with agave nectar as it has a longer shelf life and will not crystallize in the bottle.  In this recipe the agave nectar brings a nice sweet flavor that goes well with the pork chops.

Quinoa is another ingredient that I have recently discovered and fell in love with.  It is a grain-like crop that is grown for its edible seeds, which provides a nice nutty flavor.  Quinoa originated in South America.  The Incas believed the Quinoa crop to be sacred and fed it to warriors as it was believed that it was a good source of energy.  It is actually a rich and balanced source of nutrients with a lot of protein, fiber, and contains all the essential amino acids.  It is a very versatile food as it can be used in place of cereal, made into salads (another popular salad is a quinoa tabouleh), or even into a vegetarian burger patty.  Here I mixed it in with some carrots, cilantro, grilled corn, and black beans.

Pork Chop Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Agave Nectar
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon sweet French basil
• Olive Oil
• Coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 thick bone-in pork chops

Pork Chop Instructions:

1. Prepare the grill for medium heat direct grilling.
2. Prepare the Agave Lime Glaze by mixing together the Agave Nectar, lime juice, cayenne pepper, and basil in a bowl and set aside.
3. Prepare the pork chops by coating with a light coat of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
4. Place pork chops on grill over direct heat.
5. After 5 minutes flip pork chops and brush glaze on grilled side of chop.
6. When getting close to being done, flip pork chops again and apply glaze to other side.
7. Finish grilling pork chops till juice run clear.

Quinoa Salad Ingredients:

• Cooked quinoa as described by package for 1 cup uncooked
• 3 ears corn, grilled and removed from ear
• 2 cups prepared black beans
• 1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1/2 medium sized red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice of 2 limes
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Quinoa Salad Instructions:

1. In a small bowl make the lime vinaigrette, combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic and kosher salt, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Toss the salad with the vinaigrette and serve with pork chops.

Did you ever know how much I like garlic?  It is one of my all-time favorite ingredients, whether it is fresh, granulated, powder, minced in a jar, or pickled.  Garlic is the most wonderful ingredient one can have in their pantry.  So why not form a paste, add in a few other ingredients and enjoy the greatest ingredient on a perfectly grilled steak?

Ingredients:

• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup Italian Parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Steak (any type you wish, I used flank)

Instructions:

1. Chop the fresh garlic and then sprinkle with salt, using the side of a knife, smash and scrape the garlic into a paste.
2. Add the garlic to a bowl and add in the parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and pepper.  Mix well.
3. Prepare the grill for medium to medium-high direct grilling.
4. Apply the paste to both sides of the steak and place on grill.
5. Grill the steaks over direct heat, turning at half point.  Grill until desired doneness.

These are easy enough to do in the oven, but why would you, when you can add the smoky flavor of the grill to the potatoes?  Or why would eat heat up the house just to cook a few potatoes?  These potatoes have nice flavor from the parsley and granulated garlic and goes perfectly with a nicely grilled steak.

Ingredients:

• 8 baby red potatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced

Instructions:

1. Prepare grill for indirect grilling over medium-high heat.
2. In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.
3. Place potatoes on vegetable grilling tray and place on grill.
4. Grill until potatoes are soft, turning occasionally.
5. Transfer to platter and garnish with fresh parsley.

Be warned, after eating these carrots, you may become addicted and cause your skin to turn yellow.  That is if you eat them every day, which is what I wish I could do after cooking these up.  The glaze provides a nice sweet flavor to them, then grilling them brings in the great grill flavor.  The two flavors together become addicting.

Ingredients:

• 8 carrots
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon Italian Parsley leaves, minced

Instructions:

1. Prepare the grill for direct grilling over high heat.
2. Peel the carrots and boil in water for approximately 5 minutes.
3. Instantly rinse the carrots under cold water for at least 30 seconds.
4. Prepare the glaze by melting the butter in a saucepan
5. Add in the vinegar, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and parsley leaves.
6. Remove glaze from the heat.
7. Brush on half the glaze to the carrots reserving the other half.
8. Place the carrots on the grill and grill about 8 minutes, turning occasionally.
9. Transfer carrots to platter and season with remaining glaze.

The mushroom and shallot steak sauce is what really makes this steak worth it.  It can be served with any type of steak, I just had some rib-eye’s on hand.  There is probably enough of the sauce recipe to serve with 6 moderately sized steaks.  I have to admit, based off the picture, it doesn’t look to appetizing, but that is primarily the result of a bad camera.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound baby portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 9 shallots, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 16 ounces Worcestershire sauce
• 16 ounce beef stock
• Rib-eye steaks (or any steak you desire)
• Coarse Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Prepare the steak sauce by heating the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat.
2. Add in the portobello mushrooms, shallots, garlic and saute until they start to brown.
3. Add in the Worcestershire sauce to deglaze the skillet (making sure to scrape of the bits of flavor the have stuck to the skillet)
4. Add in the beef stock and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
5. Prepare the grill for medium direct grilling.
6. Season the steaks with the salt and pepper and place on grill.
7. Grill till the desired doneness and serve with the steak sauce.

Grilled portobellos taste amazing, specially when filled with a nice mixture of other ingredients.  These are extremely easy to make and can be used as either a main or side dish.

Ingredients

• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4  cup  crumble blue cheese
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1  teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried Mediterranean oregano
• 1  garlic clove, crushed
• 4  portobello mushroom caps
• Olive oil

Instructions:

1. Prepare grill for medium-high direct grilling.
2. In a bowl, combine the tomato, blue cheese, oregano, salt, pepper and lime juice.
3. Remove stem and brown grills from the undersides of the mushrooms.
4. With a wet paper towel, clean the mushrooms.
5. Coat each mushroom cap lightly with olive oil.
6. Place the mushrooms on the grill, stem side down for about 5 minutes.
7. Flip over the mushrooms (cap side down), and spoon in the tomato mixture into each portabella.
8. Grill another 5 minutes or until soft (blue cheese should be starting to melt).

Flank steak is a nice lean cut of beef, but can also be a bit tough if not prepared correctly.  Generally a flank steak should be cooked quickly at a high temperature and served medium rare and no more than medium.  When serving flank steak, it should be cut diagonally across the grain.

Seems like everyone is grilling romaine or other types of lettuce now a days.  So I decided to give it a shot finally.  The grilled romaine ended up tasting fabulous, and was a perfect accompaniment to the flank steak.

Ingredients:

• 1 – 1/2 pound flank steak
• Coarse Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 head of romaine lettuce
• Olive oil
• Cherry tomatoes
• Shredded parmesan cheese
• Balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Prepare grill for medium-high direct grilling.
2. Season the flank steak with salt and pepper.
3. Grill the flank steak till it reaches medium rare to medium.
4. Remove steak from grill and let rest as you prepare and grill the romaine.
5. Cut the romaine in half lengthwise
6. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
7. Place romaine on grill and grill a few minutes per side – long enough to cause it to wilt and get a bit of char on the outside leaves.
8. Place romaine on a large platter.
9. Slice the steak against the grain.
10. Top the romaine with the steak slices, tomatoes, shredded parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar.

So many people out there believe that the grill is primarily meant for meat.  Try this amazing grilled vegetable sandwich and you will be convinced vegetables do belong on the grill.  This sandwich uses a combination of many vegetables.  These vegetables are then mixed with an amazing lemon saffron mayonnaise that brings the flavors to a new level.  The credit for using the lemon saffron mayonnaise goes to my beautiful and wonderful wife (Her name is Michelle and not “The Wife”), I originally wanted to use a sun dried tomato pesto mayonnaise.  The lemon saffron mayonnaise goes great with the grilled vegetables and pulls all flavors together very nicely.

Lemon Saffron Mayonnaise:

• 2 pinches of crumbled saffron
• Zest of a lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup mayonnaise (full fat)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Whisk together all the mayonnaise ingredients together in a bowl, cover, and place in refrigerator.  It is best after letting all the ingredients bond together.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich:

• 2 portabella mushrooms, cleansed
• 1 jicama, peeled and slice into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1 zucchini, sliced into thin long strips
• 1 yellow squash, sliced into thin long strips
• 1 cucumber, sliced into thin long strips
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 orange bell pepper
• Olive oil
• Flavored focaccia bread

On a medium-hot grill place the bell peppers on the grill over direct heat.  Grill until blackened (rotate periodically).  Remove peppers from the grill and place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Lightly oil the remaining vegetables with the olive oil and place on the grill.  For the smaller vegetables it is best to use a vegetable grill rack.  Grill until cooked (flipping halfway) through out and remove from the grill.

Take the bell peppers out of the bowl and remove the skins, seeds, and membranes.  Dice all vegetables into small squares.  Place in a clean bowl and mix with as much of the Lemon Saffron mayonnaise as desired.

Build sandwiches with the flavored focaccia bread, I used a tomato, basil focaccia bread that came as an 8 inch round loaf, that I sliced into quarters.

Do not forget to enter the Bacon Explosion Giveaway.  Entries close on July 4th at Midnight.

Ingredients:

• 2 large peaches, halved and pitted
• Crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons black pepper, freshly ground
• Honey

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, balsamic vinegar, and pepper.  Simmer until liquid has reduced by one half, should be slightly thicker.  Preheat grill for direct grilling using medium to high heat.  Lightly oil the grill grate and place peaches cut side down for about 5 minutes, flesh should caramelize.  Turn peaches over, brush the tops with balsamic glaze and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove the peaches from the grill, top immediately with Gorgonzola cheese and drizzle with honey.