Life with Bees

Si and TK are conducting a campaign that involves plenty of Rock Band and whacky American food. The "Rocking the Foot Long" project is a manly and often meaty journey through the United Sandwiches of America. Truly.

This week they made Philadelphia cheese steak sandwiches. And got through the Rock Band AC/DC song pack.


TK cooked some prime wagyu on the egg and let it rest wrapped it in alum foil for about 20 minutes. He put a pan on the egg and gently fried some sliced onion and red capsicum. Then he cut the steak into thin strips and mixed it into the onion and capsicum. A generous helping of sliced provolone went into the pan and the whole smoky, melting mixture was turned out and spread over a sourdough loaf with a softly chewy crust from Silo.

Si and TK had half a loaf each. I declined on the basis that I was unable to punch that far above my weight in the sandwich department. But I did have a taste - the sandwich was a combination of richly flavourful meat and the sweet crunch of capsicum, with the gooey cheese and warm bread as an intermediary. The only drawback was the loaf was a little large. "I'm getting lockjaw,'' Si mumbled, halfway through a massive bite.

Afterwards the two guys sat limply on the sofa, groaning faintly and tittering about "my manwich!"

They had to play all the songs on the AC/DC Rock Band pack to perk up again.

This is a great little South American dish that caters to both TK's love of chips and meat and my love of rice.

1 lb sirloin or tenderloin, cut into bite size pieces
1 small onion, cut into strips
1 large tomato, cut into strips
1 large hot pepper, seeded and cut into strips
salt
pepper
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup chopped coriander


Place the cut meat in a bowl or dish, and season it with salt, pepper, a little bit of olive oil, lime juice, and chopped garlic. Let marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Sauté meat over high heat for a few minutes until meat is no longer pink. Lower temperature to medium and add first the onion. Cook, stirring for 1 minute and then stir in the tomatoes and peppers. Cook until the onions are tender.

Add the red wine and the cilantro. Cook for one more minute. Serve with white rice.

For a really good Big Green Egg brisket, get a proper butcher to cut you the meat so you get the full size. We got ours from Barry Hawkes at Fyshwick Markets - it was nearly 3kg for about $17. Rub it down the day before your barbeque with a simple dry rub of salt, paprika, pepper, brown sugar and spices. Opinion is generally divided on the use of brown sugar - some say it offers a perfect, caramelised glaze while others say it does nothing. We hedged our bets and used very little. Also be sparing with the salt, which draws moisture out of the meat. Seal the brisket up in your biggest freezer bag and leave in the fridge overnight.

The next day, soak a few planks of mesquite wood in water for about an hour before you begin cooking. Take the meat out of the fridge - it will be moist because of the salt. Get the Big Green Egg going, keeping the coals between 200-250 C. TK put the brisket on the top tier of the Egg grill plate for indirect heat. He put a ceramic plate on the bottom tier of the plate with a pan to catch brisket drippings. On the middle tier we had a rack of American ribs which were cooking for lunch.



Cooking time is usually estimated at anywhere between 1 and 1.5 hours for each pound (450g) of meat. But it can vary. We put the brisket in the grill at about 10am, using that formula, and expecting it to cook for about 6 to 7 hours, just in time for dinner. But the meat surprised us - when TK took the ribs off the grill for lunch, he found the brisket sitting ready to be served. It had reached 87 C, the optimum cooking temperature.

So check regularly.

If your brisket is done too early, wrap it in a couple of layers of aluminium foil and place it back in the Egg. Shut off both air vents - this kills the fire slowly, allowing the meat to stay warm as long as possible.

Or keep the brisket warm in the oven while making some barbequed side dishes. Arrange handfuls of potato wedges across the top tier of the grill plate - they become crisp and smoky without any need for fat. Cook corn in their sheaths alongside the wedges.

The brisket made a beautiful early dinner with corn on the cob, crisp wedges and a pile of Turkish rolls. TK deglazed the drippings pan with a shot of Scotch and added the juice to a homemade hot barbeque sauce. The slices of meat were completely tender, melting down your throat with a warm, slightly smoky-sweet flavour. The brisket fed four hungry people with plenty of slices for TK to wrap in fresh rolls for lunches the rest of the week.

We saw this on Nigella Feasts or Nigella Summer (or perhaps Nigella Eats, Shoots and Leaves). The cake is very dark but the sticky honey gives it a strong, earthy sweetness. I'd cut down on the honey next time. The bees are made from yellow-coloured marzipan with almond flakes for wings. The stripes are drawn on with the point of a skewer dipped in the chocolate glaze. TK even gave them little almond stingers in their tiny marzipan butts. It just looked far too cute to eat - but we managed, somehow.

I can't quite be bothered altering Nigella's recipe for the joy of being able to post it here. Besides, credit where credit's due.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/honey-bee-cake-recipe/index.html

The origin of this Saturday's dinner came earlier this week when TK wandered down to his local Subway for a chipotle cheese steak wrap. As he walked away satisfied, in a haze of spiciness, he realised how much he loved the smoky blends of chipotle. He vowed to incorporate it into this week's dinner menu. And since he felt like having burgers tonight, he came up with this delicious concoction.

The star of this little burger is the hot sauce, which starts with jalapeno chillies - which give the distinctive flavour. Seed them and gently cook in a little oil. Add two ground chipotles (which are just dried smoked jalapenos). Deglaze with some apple cider vinegar and add a splash of water while it cooks for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it poach and thicken slightly on its own. Throw it into the blender and blitz with a bit more water until it forms a good sauce. Cook it a bit longer in the pan and sprinkle on some salt to bring out the flavour of the chillies rather than just pure heat.

TK stirs this into a home-made mayonnaise to give a thick, spicy chipotle sauce with a beautiful pure Dutch orange colour and a smokescreen of heat.

The rest of the burger comes together easily enough. Crumb some chicken thigh fillets before pan-frying in butter - they almost make tender miniature schnitzels. Add some juicy pieces of cos lettuce, some Spanish onion rings and a slice of dark-orange vintage Cheddar. Slather with chipotle hot sauce and ensconce the lot in a fresh kaiser roll.