Sunkissed Sunday: First BBQ of the Season

For the first time in what seems like forever I finished work at a decent hour today. I left at 5pm and made dinner for the loves of my life. What better way to spend a Sunday night then firing up the grill for the first time this season?!?! I was way too excited. I have a deep passionate love for food, if you didn't already know. Without it I really don't know what I'd do...I'm in luck though because food does exist. It allows me to be creative, de-stress, bond with people, and make ever lasting memories with the ones I adore. I was very fortunate because I experienced all of that over tonights' dinner.

I used the Honey, Maple & Chipotle BBQ sauce I made last night and marinated chicken thighs in it. These babies were accompanied by "Greek style"sweet potato fries, with an avocado and yoghurt dip and some roasted red peppers.

Honey, Maple & Chipotle BBQ Chicken Thighs

Ingredients
6 Chicken Thighs
1 cup Honey, Maple & Chipotle BBQ sauce
Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Preheat Grill to 350F
2. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper
3. Toss chicken thighs in half of the Honey, Maple & Chipotle BBQ Sauce
4. Grill chicken thighs, until done and juices run clear
5. Brush chicken thighs with the remaining BBQ sauce

"Greek Style" Sweet Potato Fries
Ingredients
4 medium sweet potatoes
4 oz Greek or Macedonian feta
1/2 Lemon
Salt and pepper
olive oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Peel and wash sweet potatoes
3. Cut into "fries" or wedges
4. Toss in olive oil salt and pepper
5. Place on baking sheet lined with aluminium foil
6. Bake for 30 minutes of until done
7. Place sweet potato fries on a plate of platter, crumble feta on top
8. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon on top

Avocado Yogurt Dip

Ingredients
1 avocado
1/2 lemon
1 tsp of sambal oelek, or sriracha, or tabasco
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup plain unsweetened low fat yoghurt (I used Liberte Organic 0% plain)
salt and pepper

Method
1. Mince garlic
2. Cut avocado in half scoop out flesh and discard the pit
3. mash avocado with a fork until smooth
4. mix remaining ingredients all together
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste

*Serve this tasty dip with Greek fries for dipping

Grilled Red Peppers

Ingredients
2 medium peppers
olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Cut peppers into quarters, and discard seeds
2. Toss in olive oil salt and pepper
3. Grill until done

Cheers to kicking off BBQ season 2013!

-Alexandra

Honey, Maple & Chipotle BBQ Sauce

I've been impatiently waiting for summer since last summer. It's the end of May and the weather isn't quite right. It's cooler than usual. Barbecue season is almost here, it's just been way too cold for me to get outside and grill. So today I decided to make a BBQ sauce that I could jar and use all season long. What else would I do on a freezing cold day off? Of course I'm going to make something...I must concoct something delicious on my day off. If I'm not cooking at work I'm cooking at home! This sauce is sweet, smokey and a little spicy. Divide the recipe if you don't want to make so much sauce. This recipe should last up to a couple weeks in the fridge. You can literally put this s%^$ on EVERYTHING...Pulled pork, burgers, sliders, pizza, chicken, steak. It's going to be my all purpose BBQ sauce for EVERYTHING!

Here she is...

Ingredients

1/2 cup Honey

1/2 cup real Maple Syrup

1 cup ketchup

1 can Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1L water, chicken stock, or veg stock

4 medium onions

4 cloves garlic

1 Bay Leaf

1tbsp Apple Cider vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Chop onions and garlic finely. Roughly chop chipotles and set aside with adobo sauce 

2. Heat olive oil in pot, sweat onions, and garlic until fragrant (no colour)

3. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pot

4. Simmer for an hour until thickened

5. Add salt and pepper to taste
6. Remove Bay leaf and discard

6. Blend in a blender or with immersion blender

Jarring Method

1. Clean and wash Mason jars in the dishwasher

2. Boil jars (after they come out of the dishwasher), lids, and screw tops in a boiling water bath

3. Drain boiled jars upside down on a clean towel

4. Ladle hot/boiling barbecue sauce into sterile jars (if you use a funnel to do this, boil it too)

5. Using tongs, place a lid on the jar and then screw a screw top down on the jar

6. Place filled jars in a boiling water bath that covers the jars by at least 2 inches

Boil for 25-30 minutes

7. Remove jars and allow to sit until the "pop up" part of the lid sucks down (sometimes you can hear this happen; it goes "pop."

8. When jars have completely cooled, remove the screw top, and store in a cool dry place.

Happy Sauce Making!

-Alexandra