Marinara Sauce Recipe For The Motivated

This recipe for homemade Marinara sauce has evolved over 35 years. Ok, I’m sharing. But, most folks won’t bother with it because it takes a little work.

Work meaning: It's not a ten minute meal recipe. Lot of stuff goes into it. Everything is cooked and spiced separately. You’ll be at it for awhile.

There are no tomatoes in this Marinara recipe because they have a tendency to water the sauce up. I prefer a thick, thick sauce. There are black olives in it?? There are mild peppers in it. It is somewhat spicy as recipes go. I spice it up more to get rid of the bland tomato taste than to make it rip roaring hot.

• Extra-Virgin Olive oil
  
• One very large onion (finely chopped)
  
• Four gloves of garlic (minced)
  
• One whole red, yellow or orange pepper (diced)
  
• Two pounds of mild or hot Italian sausage
  
• Two pounds of hamburger
  
• Any kind of pasta
  
• Pound or more of fresh mushrooms
  
• Four 29 oz cans of tomato sauce
  
• One 6 oz can of black pitted olives
  
• New Mexico Ground Chili Pepper
  
• Chef Paul Prudommes’s Pizza & Pasta Magic
  
• Italian Seasoning
  
• Parmesan cheese (use good stuff)

Get yourself a large stockpot or sauce pan. I have an 8 ½ quart pot I use. It is more of a big sauce pan than a stock pot. We are quick to freeze recipes that we can’t eat over a couple of days.

Put 4 tbsp of the olive oil into the pot. Add the finely chopped onion and minced garlic. Cook until caramelized.

Add diced red, orange or yellow pepper (cored and seeded). Cook an additional 2-3 minutes. These peppers give your sauce a slight sweetness.

The easy way is to throw all the meat into the pot and cook it along with the onions and other ingredients. I cook both the hamburger and sausage separately, not together. Add any quality spice to the hamburger, drain both.

In the meanwhile, slice mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms in a separate pan with olive oil. Saute until golden brown. Drain and set aside.

Add the tomato sauce to the main pot, along with the cooked hamburger, sausage and mushrooms. Slice up the olives into three parts and add to the pot.

Next, add Italian Seasoning to taste. Be careful, it can be overpowering, so sprinkle lightly….it takes awhile for it to blend in. I like to add a couple of teaspoons of red chili pepper, along with a teaspoon or more of Prudommes’s Pizza & Pasta Magic.

Really there is no need to simmer the sauce. I never serve it on the same day that it is made….let all the flavors mingle overnight.

Cook the pasta to your preference. Add the sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan.

This marinara sauce recipe freezes real well and you can serve it up for quite a spell after you initially make it. We not only use this marinara sauce recipe on pasta, we use it for omelets and Italian-style sandwiches.

Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

Tips For Cooking Lamb On The Grill

One of the great foodies on Twitter asked me if I had ever cooked lamb? I had to answer, “No, because it’s really expensive where I live”. So what do I do? I go to Costco and buy myself a four and a quarter pound Genuine Australian Lamb Leg Roast, with the whole idea of cooking this Dude up on my Traeger Grill?

Hey, the price was $3.99 a pound which really isn’t all that horrendous for a lean cut of high quality meat. And, I am going have to back off the “too expensive bit”, especially if compared to the latest cost of Halibut, or Kobe Beef, maybe even hamburger or hotdogs per pound. Ok, I’m starting to get it!

I did a little bit of research on the net (which is a first) and attempted to find an original and cool recipe that I could use on the grill. Well, I found a pretty good one from this nice lady, Elise Bauer and her “Simple Recipes” Page.

She has a super nice site and gave me permission to pass on her marinade recipe for a lamb roast. Bless her, and if you don’t do anything else today, please check her site out!

Now, back to the “lamb” and, yes, lamb things are surfacing: “Mary Had A Little Lamb! ”The Lamb Band!” “Shop L.A.M.B.!” “Silence of the Lambs!” “ Lions for Lambs!”

Ok, my brain is starting to rally and here comes the “Marinade” Per Elise:

• 1/2 cup orange juice
  
• 1 cup white wine
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme
  
• 2 Tbsp of fresh chopped rosemary or 1 Tbsp of dried rosemary
  
• 1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground pepper
  
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Blend ingredients in a blender, just a few pulses are more than cool! She uses plastic bags to marinate the lamb in. I did not. I prefer a Tupperware Marinating container. I have talked about this in previous posts. Her liquid portions are great for the plastic bags, but you may want to cut it down for the Tupperware….cut the liquid in half, and just make sure to rotate the container at least once. Marinate overnight!

Her lamb was cooked in the oven. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I like the way she did it, using a water pan between the heat and the lamb roast to give the meat added moisture. I keep harping about this when using a gas grill.

It’s a form of indirect cooking and adds both flavor and moisture through self-basting. Your charcoal smokers utilize this type of cooking and the end results can be excellent.

However, I wanted to grill mine using the Traeger, along with burning Hickory wood pellets. Since a Traeger cooks on indirect heat I didn’t put a water pan under the lamb, but I filled two small bread pans with leftover marinade and placed them along side the roast.

Set the BBQ grill or oven at medium temperature. I set the Traeger at 350 degrees. Make sure to let the lamb sit out thirty minutes prior to cooking.

My variation from Elise’s recipe was to rub down the lamb roast with Sea Salt prior to grilling. I thought it just might help to seal the juices in just a little bit more.

After it was on the grill for one and half hours I checked the roast for doneness. We prefer rare and is 140 degrees using a quality meat thermometer. Cooking anything outside takes a little more time if it’s cold out. It took more like an hour and 45 minutes before it was where I wanted it.

Wrap in aluminum foil when done and let it sit out for 15 minutes before serving. For me the lamb roast came across like a lean prime rib. My wife really liked it, but felt it had just a tad bit of a gamey taste. I didn’t get that impression.

Will I be cooking lamb again? You bet!

Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

Beef Bottom Round Roast Recipe

Depending on the mood of your local butcher, a Beef Bottom Round Roast goes by many names. Meaning: Beef Round Rump Roast, Pot Roast, Beef Round Bottom Roast (a play on words) and so forth. Whatever name they go by, they can simply be delicious and here is a simple recipe for the barbecue grill, or oven.

Now this is an economical, lean cut of beef and not to be cooked so long that it can't be sliced thinly. In other words, you don’t want to cook it to the point that it falls apart like a Yankee Pot Roast would.

I started out with a three and three quarter pound roast. Trimmed the excess fat off and placed in a Tupperware marinating container. Next, I used Italian Dressing to cover all sides of the beef. The dressing has all the right spices and oil in it to make an excellent marinade.

It was marinated overnight and the container was turned over to make sure the beef was equally marinated in the dressing. Before you put the beef on the grill or in the oven, let it sit out on at room temperature for at least thirty minutes.

Set the grill, or oven temperature to 350 degrees. I placed the beef in a shallow pan on my Traeger Grill. It also operates on indirect heat.

If using a charcoal grill, you want a two-zone fire placing the meat on the cool side. On a gas grill, light only half the grill and cook on the other. In the oven, simply place on a middle rack in a shallow container.

Cooking time is about two hours for a roast this size. Always use a meat thermometer. Rare beef should be 140 degrees, medium: 150 and well 160 degrees. Don’t overcook.

Once the Beef Bottom Round Roast is done, wrap in aluminum foil and let sit out fifteen minutes prior to serving. This is a simple recipe as far as recipes go and one that you and your family will enjoy. Just remember to slice it thinly.

Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

Pork Loin Recipes | Simple Is Delicious

I keep posting about pork loins. Mainly, because they are reasonably priced, lean, super good and very easy to fix. I have already given you a couple of recipes in past posts, but this one is right out of the “Traeger Grill Owners Handbook”.

Ok, I can’t help myself I made a few deviations from the recipe, but I will give credit due where credit is due. I am impressed with my Traeger Grill and I am very impressed with the recipes that Traeger owners come up with, and above all their level of expertise.

If you are thinking about hitting the BBQ competition circuit, well you might want to bring a Traeger to the gun fight (to borrow a jazz phrase), “ With something that Cooks!”

Caribbean Roast Pork Loin

• A one pound, plus Boneless Pork Loin


• Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil


• One half teaspoon of Black Pepper


• One half teaspoon of Sea Salt


• One teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg & one teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon

If you don’t have one, get one…..a Tupperware Marinating Pan. They are plastic, heavy duty and you can flip them over without spilling the works. Place all the above ingredients in the container and rub over the entire pork loin.

Refrigerate over night. If you don’t have a Tupperware pan, use a heavy duty plastic bag. Don’t marinate anything in aluminum foil or anything that is aluminum.

Start the grill, or oven, and maintain a temperature of at least 325 degrees. If gas or a charcoal grill you will want to cook on indirect heat, meaning heat one side and cook on the other.

Before placing on the grill let the pork loin sit out for at least 30 minutes. Also, I don’t like to sit my pork loin directly on the grill so I place it in a shallow pan and then onto the grill fat-side up.

Cook for at least two hours. But, don’t overcook or your pork loin will be as dry as a bone. In the last 20 minutes of cooking, I like to mist with an equal amount of orange juice and apple cider vinegar. This adds a nice crust to the loin. Make sure the roast reaches a temperature of 170 degrees or thereabouts.

Once cooked, wrap in aluminum foil and let it sit out for about fifteen minutes prior to serving. You will find that a pork loin is as lean, if not leaner than any other meat out there including chicken breasts. There are mucho recipes for pork loins out there and this is just another mucho good one to sink your teeth into!

Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

A Wintertime Cold Pasta Salad

Winter began on December 21st. However, for a lot of folks it begins on whatever day you got buried up to your neck in snow. Usually, pasta salads are popular and hit the spot during the summer, not during the winter months. But, just to be different here’s a cold pasta salad for the winter.

It kind of bugs me to go to the deli and see salads for $5.95 (and up) per pound. My wife and I always say, “Hey, we can make that salad a lot cheaper than what they have it for.” And, ours will probably be fresher too.

If you get tired of sandwiches for lunch, or just like a little variety with meals, a good pasta salad, even if its cold can hit the spot. And, they are great even all by themselves.

Both my wife and I like to experiment, so here we go! Now, this has some real basic ingredients, but there is no reason why you couldn’t add more things each day to make it even more interesting.

• 24 ounces of Egg Noodles, cooked as per pkg. instructions



• Three Grilled Chicken Breasts



• Six Ounce Can of Large or Jumbo Olives



• Chopped Fresh Spinach to taste



• One chopped green onion



• 16 oz Bottle of Caesar Dressing

Rinse and cool the noodles with cold water. Use the biggest pot you have and pour the cooled noodles into it. Add about three quarters of the dressing to the noodles and mix thoroughly.

Next, chop up the spinach, olives and green onion and add to the mix. Cut up the chicken into bite size chunks and add to the pot.

Pour salad into a glass or plastic container and refrigerate overnight. Add the remaining dressing to the salad just prior to serving.

For variety, on day two or three of serving the salad, crumble up and add a couple of slices of bacon. Maybe even add cherry tomatoes. The idea is to keep it interesting.

A cold pasta salad can be a meal by itself, or it can make an excellent side for barbecued pulled pork, brisket, or for that matter, any type of meat. Have at it, and have fun!







Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

Turkey Noodle Soup | A Smokin Recipe

There are probably more than a thousand posts/articles written about how to salvage that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving into turkey noodle soup. So you'll have to brace yourself for yet another recipe!

This isn’t a barbecue or grilling recipe, but so what? Well, I did barbecue the turkey, along with a ham on my Traeger Grill for Thanksgiving.

But, But, But just how many folks think that they have salvaged everything off a turkey they are going to get and just toss it? This revolting statistical aberration will shock you. Most just toss it!

But, you're different! With a tad bit of effort on your part you can make a delicious turkey noodle soup. So if you are motivated (you are motivated, aren’t you?) here we go!

• One leftover turkey (no human turkeys though)
  


• One large pot- One large roasting pan
  


• Large Colander
  


• Kosher Salt, Thyme, Red Pepper Flakes, Parsley Flakes, EVOO
  


• Carrots, Celery, Garlic, Onion, Egg Noodles

Leave the turkey in a roasting pan. Cover it with fresh tap water, but be careful not to fill the pan completely to the top to prevent spillage while boiling, but cover the turkey with water the best you can.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for four hours. Place your colander over the other pot and slowly pour out the contents of the roasting pan. I prefer to do this in the sink.

Now you just acquired a little “nectar of the gods” but it will need some more work. You will find out that turkey broth is super blah by itself.

So, before you do anything, you will want to season the broth. This is where you will want to add some Kosher Salt. Be conservative and add a tad at a time until the “dishwater” taste goes away.

The next thing to do is add about a teaspoon of Parley Flakes and a half teaspoon of Red Pepper Flakes (real boys & girls can add a lot more pepper). Add Thyme to taste.

I like unique flavors in my cooking, so I caramelized four garlic cloves and amount half of a small onion. But, first mince the garlic and coarsely chop the onion.

In a frying pan, along with a couple of tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it’s time to sauté the garlic and onion. This is best done by moving all the contents to one side of the pan and sauté until golden brown, even a little burnt looking.

You will get a very nice & sweet aroma off the garlic and onion when caramelized (I am still trying to learn to say “caramelized” like Chef George Hirsch says it!). Add both to the turkey broth.

Next, line up & slice up three large carrots and three stocks of celery into bite size chunks and place in the fry pan and sauté for about 6 or seven minutes. Add to the main pot.

Remember all the turkey bones and meat that’s in the colander? Well, it’s time to go to work!

I try to pick out as many bones, and odd little things as I can, first. I use a couple of forks and my fingers (when no one is looking) to separate the turkey meat from the rest.

Put all the meat into a separate dish and filter through it again. Now, add it to the main pot.

Next, it’s time to do the Egg Noodle thing. Half of a ten ounce package of noodles will do.

Follow the directions on the package and cook them separately. When you add them to the main pot it won’t look like enough, but you’ll find out that it is.

Ok, you are at the stage that your fabulous turkey noodle soup creation is ready to eat. It may even be a "Type A" healthy dish, but not vegan. Hey, don't forget to conjure up a nice bread to go along with it.

Don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

Easy Holiday Gift Ideas

Finding a holiday gift for the grilling and barbecuing affectionados in your life has never been easier. There are plenty of creative BBQ grills & accessories to go around and you are bound to find something that will please that special person to no end.

So for your convenience, I hope not inconvenience, I have laid some great gift ideas for you. Enjoy!

Please note that I kind of favored Weber BBQ grills and accessories as easy holiday gift ideas. There is a simple explanation for this: “Quality”!

Their products are not made in Lower Slobvovia and Weber cares about their customers. I only included “high end” products, especially the gas grills. You don’t want to buy a cheap gas grill.

For further holiday gift ideas, don’t forget to check out Lil Mo’s Barbecue Shoppe. Believe me Mo knows BBQ!

(Disclosure: I haven’t personally seen or used all of the products that are advertised on this page. However, I make a lot of effort to advertise only reputable brands and suppliers.)