Older Bolder Life

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the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 5 September: Grilled Southwestern Cauliflower Steaks

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Even thought the calendar has turned to September, it’s still prime time grilling season for most of us around the country; if you’ve not tried grilling cauliflower, give these Grilled Southwestern Cauliflower Steaks a spin.

I know, I know, there are probably hundreds of recipes for grilled cauliflower floating around out there, but this is one of our favorites given the southwestern spice flavors.

This is another of those recipes that’s so ridiculously easy it’s almost child’s play (don’t tell anyone that) yet unique and tasty enough to serve when entertaining.

Don’t forget to save the cauliflower florets you trim away as you carve the “steaks”, the trim is perfect for a salad or stir fry. Some recipes out there call for microwaving the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes before grilling it, but we’ve never added that step and it turns out perfectly every time.

Inspired by several different recipes, include one from Serious Eats.

2 medium heads cauliflower, trimmed, cut as per below
3 tbsp EVOO or avocado oil

Spice rub
1 generous tbsp ground turmeric
2 tsp mild chile powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp good salt
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder

Garnish
2-3 tbsp fresh cilantro or parsley, finely chopped
Pickled red onions

Mix the spice rub ingredients well, set aside.

Remove the green leaves from the cauliflower and slice off the root/base so the cauliflower can sit flat on your cutting board.

Slicing vertically, trim several inches off one side of a cauliflower head, then slice as many 3/4-inch thick slices as you can obtain from each head. You want the slices to more or less remain intact, with the peripheral florets still “connected” to the core/stalk so they’ll stay together on the grill. (Save the trimmed florets for a salad or stir fry…)

Brush the “steaks” with your oil of choice, dust/coat well with the spice mixture, and set aside at room temp while you fire the grill. (Alternatively, shake the oiled steaks one at a time in a large resealable bag with the spice mix.)

Grill over direct head for 3-4 minutes per side; you’re looking to develop a bit of char here without burning the spices. Then move to an indirect heat zone and cook until as tender as you’d like, we like these will a bit of residual crunch (somewhere between 13-15 minutes typically).

Best served hot/warm, and garnish with the chopped cilantro or parsley and maybe those pickled red onions…

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 17 August: Grilled Gochujang Skirt Steak

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When were up in Montana a few weeks ago, I brought along about five pounds of skirt steak for a celebratory fajita dinner. We have a family favorite, Texas-inspired version we’ve been making for years (recipe later perhaps), and ended up making the entire bundle of skirt using that old recipe.

I’d actually intended to do a pound or two using this Grilled Gochujang Skirt Steak recipe a friend shared with us a few months back, though didn’t grill this one up until we were back in Texas settled into our routine again.

We’re using gojuchang more and more in the kitchen these days. If you’re not familiar, it’s the umami-laden, thick, crimson red, Korean fermented chile paste that’s most often sold in the little red tubs in our neck of the woods. For those watching their soy intake, most brands include fermented soy in the mix. Note occasionally a bit of glutinous (sticky) rice has been ground in to thicken the mixture, and some even include additional sweeteners (an ingredient we prefer not be included).

This blistering summer we’ve typically been eating thinly-sliced, grilled skirt steak (both warm and cold) over a big-assed salad, but it makes for a great taco (tortilla or lettuce) along the lines of what we talked about in last Friday’s Grilled Southwestern Lamb Shoulder Tacos.

You’ll want to try this in your rotation next week…

2 pounds skirt steak, trimmed, cut into 8-ounce pieces

1/3 cup (generous) gochujang + more for the table
1/3 cup (generous) avocado oil (or EVOO)
1/3 cup (generous) rice vinegar (seasoned if you have it)
2-3 tbsp tamari, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
1/2 sweet onion, grated

To serve
Warm tortillas or lettuce leaves
Your favorite taco fixin’s

Trim your skirt steaks and cut into roughly 8-ounce pieces.

Combine the gojuchang, oil of choice, rice vinegar, tamari/aminos/soy sauce, and the grated onion in a small bowl and mix well. Pour into a large resealable bag, add the meat and goosh it around so every surface has been coated with the marinade.

Into the fridge it goes for at least an hour, overnight is better.

When ready to cook, drain the skirt steak, and grill over medium-high heat 2-3 minutes per side. Remember skirt cooks really quickly as it’s so thin, and we like ours medium rare…

Pull, let rest for 10 minutes or so while you’re getting the rest of the goods ready, then slice thinly across the grain and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday 15 August: Grilled Balsamic and Garlic Butter Mushrooms

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Talking with our compadre Chef Libby in Austin this past week, I asked her (as I love to do) what the most popular foods have been that she and her team in Austin have crafted and served in her busy catering business over the past few weeks.

She mentioned several incredibly tasty sounding items, but these Grilled Balsamic and Garlic Butter Mushrooms sounded particularly good at the time.

Libby reminded me of the simple fact that there are dozens of variations of this pretty-much effortless recipe floating around out there. She likes to add just a hint of fresh thyme to the balsamic-based marinade, and most often finishes hers with a bit of basil cut in chiffonade.

She also insisted that the garlic butter be drizzled on after the mushrooms come off the grill (or else the garlic flavor washes out a bit on the grill), and finally she offered that browning the butter and garlic deepens the flavor a bit as well.

Thanks Libby!

3 pounds smallish button mushrooms (mix and match types), halved
3 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
1 and 1/2 tbsp tamari, coconut aminos, or soy sauce
6 garlic cloves, trimmed and minced, divided into two equal parts
3 tbsp good butter
Good salt to taste

Optional:
Add 1 tsp fresh thyme to the marinade
Chiffonade flat-leaf parsley or fresh basil for a garnish

Combine the balsamic vinegar, tamari/coconut aminos/soy sauce, half the garlic, and the thyme if using in a small mixing bowl. Set aside.

Trim and halve the mushrooms, then toss them into a resealable plastic bag. Now pour the marinade mixture over the mushrooms, squish things around to make sure the mushrooms are well coated, seal tightly, and set on the counter for an hour or so (at least 30 minutes).

Fire the grill; while it’s heating up, drain the mushrooms and thread onto skewers. Also, melt the butter in a small skillet or saucepan, then add the remainder of the garlic.

Now grill the mushrooms over medium-high heat (real wood/real wood charcoal plays amazingly well here) until well marked and softened a bit; 3-5 minutes per side pending your fire.

Pull the mushrooms, drizzle with the garlic butter, and set out immediately. You family and guests will be fighting over these…

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 20 July: Ancho Grilled Leg of Lamb

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Last week we shared a quick discussion about road trip foods; the concepts would of course apply to those camping or exploring new territory otherwise ensconced in a hotel or vacation rental.

One of the foods we like to take along, certainly in the warmer months of the year, is a grilled leg of lamb. There are a host of great ways to prepare and grill a leg of lamb; we love traditional Greek flavors around our camp, though we reach for this Ancho Grilled Leg of Lamb three out of four times lamb is on the menu.

You need to plan ahead a bit, as it’s much better soaking in the marinade overnight (up to 24 hours). And it’s very much worth tracking down fresh oregano and genuine ancho chile powder (check the Hispanic foods aisle at your favorite grocer, spices and chiles are often much more reasonably priced there). Don’t be afraid of the garlic amount either; when we originally pilfered this recipe from Chef Libby in Austin, her’s called for 14-16 cloves!

By the way, this is great hot of the grill, and maybe even better chilled the next few days.

1 cup white wine
1/3 cup good olive oil
6 tbsp fresh oregano
2 green onions
10 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tbsp ancho chile powder
3 tbsp good blended chili powder
4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 and 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
1 generous tbsp fresh ground black pepper

1- 4 to 5 pound, grass-fed leg of lamb, trimmed and butterflied

Combine everything (but the lamb!) in your trusty blender and blend well; add more wine if too thick. Slather the leg of lam in the marinade, rubbing it into the nooks and crannies; place the leg of lamb (covered in all of the marinade) in the fridge overnight, consider using a two-gallon plastic bag to ensure better coverage. Turn it once before you go to bed and again in the morning.

Fire your grill, and note you’ll need a fire with some staying power; we like this over oak and natural hardwood charcoal. Gently shake excess marinade from the lamb (but don’t shake it all off) and let it rumble along for 15-18 minutes per side. It’s medium rare at 130 though you’ll want this big piece of meat to rest for 15 minutes or so.

Once rested, artfully slice thinly against the grain and pour some of those incredible pan juices that oozed out while it was resting over it. Holy smoke, that’s good.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 8 June: Green River Orange Chicken

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I first posted a version of this Green River Orange Chicken over on Chi Wulff, a fly fishing blog I’m involved with, back in the fall of 2014, after an interesting outing on the Green River in Wyoming with friends and a former chef from Hawaii.

Here’s part of that story –

…Back a few years ago, on one of those three day runs to the Green River I was known to take occasionally with some friends in Salt Lake City, we had a buddy bring along a friend of his wife’s visiting from Hawaii…

…For the life I can’t remember this guy’s name; long story short he had never fly fished but made a game effort and caught some fish (it was Cicada season and for the most part fishing was like shooting fish in a barrel, particularly on the afternoon floats).

The second day I had him in my boat for both the morning and afternoon floats and he began to wear on us a bit given his endless descriptions of ‘how much bigger and faster and beautiful’ the fish were in Hawaii. It wasn’t as bad as a couple of my compadres would have you believe, though by that evening several guys were ready to tie him up, attach all the drift boat anchors in camp and assign him to the not-so-briny deep of Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

His saving grace came in the fact that he had (in another life) worked as a chef and that evening whipped out of couple of big containers what we’ve come to call Green River Orange Chicken that had been marinating in a cooler.

He grilled it over a hardwood charcoal fire as the sun set that evening in camp, with eleven famished guys watching his every move. He grilled it to perfection, taking care to get the skin crispy and golden brown with just a spot of tasty char here and there. While the chicken was grilling he cut up, with a bit of flair as I recall, several pineapples and avocados to serve alongside, grilled of course…

Some might whine about the honey in the marinade; I happen to agree with Mark Sisson that a little bit of honey (or maple syrup) to flavor a marinade isn’t absorbed by the chicken to any significant degree. On the other hand, as our palate has become Primal-aligned, we leave it out and don’t notice a whisper of difference. You make the call.

1/2 cup Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup soy sauce / tamari
1/3 cup finely minced ginger
1/3 cup chopped cilantro (basil plays really well here too)
1/4 cup honey
2-3 tbsp Asian garlic chile sauce
1 and 1/2 tbsp. minced fresh orange zest
1 tsp. salt
4 green onions, white and green parts, minced

2 chickens, cut up, rinsed, and patted dry

Combine all ingredients save for the chickens, mix well, and set roughly 1/3 of the marinade in the fridge in a covered container.

Pour the remainder of the marinade over the chickens in either a gallon resealable bag or your favorite flat marinading container; take care to make sure all the chicken is coated, cover, and throw in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours (eight is better).

When you fire the grill, pull the chicken out and let come to room temperature.

Set up to grill over indirect heat (due to the little bit of honey in the marinade) and grill the chicken for about 10-12 minutes per side (varies based on your fire and grill setup), basting if you want to with a bit of the reserved marinade. Pull it when the chicken is done and let rest a couple of minutes.

If you’re not in nutritional ketosis, this is a great place to indulge in a high-quality corn tortilla along with the chicken, a sliced avocado or two, and one of your favorite primal/paleo salsas.

Enjoy.