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).

This is a great, healthy, and simple dish to prepare.  Majority of the ingredients can be found in a typical pantry.  The marinade brings a descent amount of flavor to the chicken, but served with the cilantro pesto for dipping the chicken takes the recipe to a new level of flavor.  When grilling the chicken, watch it closely as the soy sauce in the marinade has a tendency to burn easily.  To help reducing the chance of the soy sauce burning, you can grill using indirect heat.

Chicken Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 – 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts

Cilantro Pesto Ingredients:

• 1 bunch cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2 scallions

Instructions:

1. In a bowl mix together the chicken ingredients (minus the chicken).  Add in the chicken, making sure to completely coat the chicken with the marinade.  Place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.
2. Prepare the pesto by putting all pesto ingredients into a food processor.  Process until smooth.  Remove from food processor and place in the refrigerator.
3. Prepare grill for medium-high grilling.
4. Remove chicken from marinade and discard remaining marinade.
5. Grill chicken until thoroughly cooked, juices run clear and no pink in the middle.
6. Serve with the cilantro pesto.

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.

I offer you a chance to win

prepare and smoked by the original creators, The BBQ Addicts.  I am going to give you multiple chances to win the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes.  To enter you must live in the continental United States and perform at least one of these actions:

• Become a fan of my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/jasonsbbqadventures and post the comment, I am a fan, on this post with the same first and last name you are registered with Facebook.
• Retweet the following message on Twitter: “@BBQAdventures is giving away a Bacon Explosion created by the @BBQAddicts, enter at: http://bit.ly/8YJ9Me.  Once retweeted, come back here and post a comment with the status URL of the twitter post, should look like http://twitter.com/YourUserName/status/AbunchOfNumbers.  For instructions on obtaining your status URL visit: http://www.technoskillonline.com/2010/05/how-to-get-status-url-of-twitter-and-facebook/

Each person can enter up to 2 times, by performing both of these actions. You have until July 4, 2010 to enter and the winner will be announced within a few days after the contest ends.

Looking for a healthy and simple grilled chicken recipe?  The marinade for this chicken is simple and provides a lot of flavor for the chicken.

Ingredients:

• 14 ounce can chicken broth
• 2 tablespoon light soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 lb chicken breasts

Instructions:

• Mix together all ingredients (except chicken breast) in a bowl.
• Place chicken in ziploc bag.
• Power marinade in bag and place in refrigerator at least 4 hours.
• Grill over medium direct heat till juices run clear.

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.

Here is a great twist to your typical BBQ, Chicken with a Greek barbecue sauce.

Kalamata Olive Paste:

• 12 ounce jar Kalamata olives
• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves chopped garlic

Place all ingredients in a food processor/blender and blend till smooth.

Tomato Olive Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cub balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/3 cup Kalamata olive paste (see above)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
• 4 tablespoons steak sauce
• 3 tablespoons ouzo
• Freshly ground black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Instructions:

• Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, reduce heat, cover, sweat in the oil for about 10 minutes. (stir occasionally)
• Add the garlic and stir for another 5 minutes
• Pour in the red wine and balsamic vinegar, tomato puree, tomato paste, olive paste, honey, Worcestershire sauce, steak sauce, ouzo, and slat and pepper
• Raise heat to high and bring to a boil
• Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes
• Remove from heat and let cool down to room temperature

Chicken Ingredients:

• Above barbecue sauce
• 8 chicken legs/thighs with skin

Instructions:

• Prepare grill for medium indirect grilling
• Brush each piece of chicken with barbecue sauce
• Grill indirectly until juice run clear
• Serve with remaining BBQ sauce for dipping

(Almost gone before I had a chance to take a picture)

Here is a simple appetizer that is great for parties, that will definitely be a conversation starter.

Ingredients:

• Whole dill pickles
• Bacon
• Toothpicks

Instructions:

• Cut each pickle into eighths (Keep halving the halves)
• Slice bacon in half
• Wrap bacon halves around cut up pickles and secure with a toothpick
• Grill over indirect heat until bacon reaches desired crispiness
• Serve with a dipping sauce

These are nice little salty treats, try kicking it up a notch by spreading a little BBQ rub on the wrapped pickles before grilling.

Special Sauce:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish
• 2 teaspoons finely minced white onion
• dash of salt
• dash of pepper

Mix all these ingredients in a bowl, cover, let sit in the fridge for a couple hours to let the flavors bind together.

Burger Ingredients:

• Hamburger buns
• 2 grilled hamburger patties
• 2 slices American cheese
• Onion slice
• Tomato slice
• Iceberg Lettuce (not shredded)
• Special Sauce (see above)

The next part of making an In-N-Out Double Double burger is to properly construct the burger:

Place special sauce on the bottom bun

Place tomato on top of special sauce

Place lettuce on top of tomato

Place beef patty with American cheese on top of tomato

Place onion slice on top of first beef patty

Place second beef patty with American cheese on top of onion

Place top bun on the 2nd beef patty

For my beef patties I used 80/20 ground beef with each patty being about 1/4 pound.  Then grilled them over direct heat flipping once till it was done to perfection.  The only difference with this In-N-Out style double double is that it is not nearly as greasy as the ones you buy from them (I missed the grease as that is one part that makes it soooo good).