Shane and Eric's Cooking Tips

A Foodie and a Chef Conspire to Create Fabulous Recipes and Useful Kitchen Tips

Barbecue Beans

Jul 14

Posted by Shane in vegetables | No Comments

I use my barbeque as much as possible. Easy to use, and doesn’t mess up the kitchen. So here is an easy way to roast some green beans. Take a length of aluminium foil and fold it into a pocket, leaving enough on the sides to seal the top. Lay the beans inside. Place 4 slices of butter on top. Add some salt and pepper, and top with 2 slices of lemon. Seal and put on your hot ready-to-grill barbeque for about 20 minutes or until the beans are tender. Be careful not to puncture the foil, you’ll not only lose the moisture from the beans, but the butter will create big flareups if it drips out.

Serve alongside steaks, chicken, fish, or whatever you feel like barbequing!

1/2 lb Fresh Green Beans

4 thin slices of butter (about 2tsp each)

2 slices ( 1/4 inch) lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

About 2 feet aluminium foil

Shane

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Cooking Steak without a Barbecue

Jun 19

Posted by Shane in beef | 2 Comments

Chef Eric and I get a lot of people into the store who don’t, or can’t, have a barbeque for one reason or another. So we are often asked what is the best way to cook a steak without a grill. We advise a technique using both a frying pan and your oven. Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees. Get your frying pan really hot. Oil both sides of the steak and sear both sides of the steak, a couple of minutes per side. Then throw all of it in the oven. Yes, the whole pan. Bake for another 4 minutes. Out of the oven, remove it from the pan and let your steak rest 10 minutes before serving. When it’s resting, prop it up on it’s edge, rather than sitting flat on a plate, using a ball of tin foil under one edge.

A couple of points on this technique:

The searing is going to smoke. When I asked Chef Eric what he would suggest, he quipped “open a window”. I’d also have your pan on the back burner so it’s under your fan hood.

The timing on this can vary quite a lot too. The times I’ve given should get your steak to about medium, but you may need to do this a few times to get the timing right. Back to one of our cardinal rules: Every kitchen is different. And any new technique will take practice.

Shane

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Herbed Roast Chicken

Jun 14

Posted by Shane in chicken | 1 Comment

This is our inaugural blog entry!  Like most inaugural anythings, this entry is all about it being my first entry and involves excessive use of the word “entry”. I could talk about our mission and what we hope this blog will be in the months and years ahead, but that’s all in the “About” section.

Actually, this is kind of boring. Let’s cook something.

I’m in love with this simple summer barbeque chicken recipe from Chef Eric. It works best on bone in legs, and I often use whole thighs. It doesn’t involve too much monitoring, so is good for parties and family get-togethers.
Start with a fragrant mixture of fresh herbs: Rosemary, Thyme, Basil, and garlic, chopped fine
I use about a half cup of chopped herbs for 6 whole chicken legs.
Combine the herbs in a small bowl (or mortar and pestle) and mix with a quarter cup of olive oil.
Pre-heat your barbeque to 325 degrees.
Baste the legs with a thick coating of the herb mixture. Drizzle on extra olive oil if necessary to have a nice light coating on the chicken.

Place the chicken directly on the grill skin side up. Then, just let them sit for about an hour. There will be some smoke, but they shouldn’t flare up. And don’t flip them, that will cause them to flare, they’ll brown up nicely when left alone. Just keep an eye on your temperature.

This recipe is open for a lot of variations too. I’ve also used dill, oregano, tarragon, and thrown in a pinch of paprika in the herb mix. If necessary, you can substitute freeze-dried herbs in the pesto mix, and use other cooking oils. But fresh will garner much better results.

Eat Well,
Shane

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The Kitchen is Opening Shortly

May 26

Posted by Shane in Uncategorized | No Comments

Shane and Eric’s Cooking Tips will be up and running soon!

We will share our best recipes, wine and beer pairings, and general cooking tips, as well as our favourite books, equipment and techniques!

We hope you’ll visit us once we’re online!