Beer can chicken

I was born and raised in Italy, so of course I knew nothing about beer can chickens until a few years ago. I don't remember where I had my first one, but the notion of cooking a whole chicken with a beer can up his butt was quite hilarious (I'm easily entertained, I guess) and the result was a juicy, delicious chicken. Ever since then I've been trying to find the perfect recipe to make my own and -after a few tries- I think I've come up with one that is good and spicy. The secret is to keep the breast from drying up, which is pretty easy if you baste it with lots of liquids before you put the bird on the grill. The marinade also infuses the meat with a delicious BBQ-like flavor, while the beer and the liquid smoke do the same from the inside.

BEER CAN CHICKEN

1 whole chicken
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
6 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 can beer
3 tablespoons barbecue smoked seasoning

Preheat grill on medium high.

Remove and discard giblets and neck from the chicken. Loosen skin from breasts and drumsticks by inserting fingers, gently pushing between skin and meat.Be careful not to pierce the skin -it's what keeps the bird from drying.

Combine ketchup, sugar, paprika, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder and vinegar in a bowl. Rub it under loosened skin and over breasts and drumsticks.

Drink 1/2 cup beer (or discard it, but seriously, why throwing it away when you can drink it?) Add liquid smoke to can. Holding chicken upright with the body cavity facing down, insert beer can into chicken butt. Place the chicken in a roasting pan, and spread legs out to form a tripod to support the chicken.

Place on preheated grill, lower heat and cook slowly, with the lid closed, for about 1 1/2 hours or until desired internal temperature is reached.

Spiedini of bread and mozzarella

This isn't the best picture, but I literally had to fend off my whole family while I was trying to take a couple of photos that wouldn't suck. Oh and my niece and nephew who constantly begged to "take the pictures for me". The appetizer of grilled mozzarella and bread, served over a bed of heirloom tomatoes and pesto, was a hit.

I recently joined a local co-op and for $25 a week I get two begs full of all kinds of fruit and vegetables. Luckily enough, on my first week I received a bunch of beautiful, organic roma tomatoes, which I used for this recipe together with a yellow heirloom tomato that I had bought for... let's say A LOT of money at Whole Foods. The tomatoes, my mom's homemade pesto and good mozzarella and bread all played very important roles in this easy, summery appetizer.

Did I mention that is made on the grill? So you don't even need a kitchen to enjoys these skewers!

SPIEDINI OF BREAD AND MOZZARELLA

1 loaf ciabatta bread or other rustic Italian loaf
2 8-ounce packages of mozzarella bocconicini
5 medium sized tomatoes (red, green, yellow... whatever you have handy!)
3 tablespoons high quality pesto
Mediterranean sea salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Extra virgin olive oil
Bamboo skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes

Cut each mozzarella bite into 4 pieces and set aside.

Slice bread into thick, 1 1/2 inch slices. Cut each slice into 6 pieces, so you get 6 bread cubes out of each slice. Place bread cubes in a bowl and season with olive oil and salt.

Chop tomatoes into small cubes and place on the bottom of a serving dish or a pyrex. Season with salt and pepper, set aside.

Starting with a piece of bread, skewer bread and mozzarella on a bamboo skewer so you have four pieces of bread and three pieces of cheese on each skewer.

Grill skewers on low heat for a couple of minutes on each side, making sure you don't over-melt the cheese. Serve over bed of tomatoes and eat immediately.

Killer ribs

If you like ribs, this recipe is a must try. My mom got it from the local Roy's restaurant (part of Roy Yamaguchi's empire), slightly tweaked it to better fit our taste and started serving it whenever she needs to feed a crowd. The major change she made is the quantity of marinade, which she makes more of, so that the ribs are tastier and more tender. Also, instead of finishing them off under the broiler we throw them on a hot grill, which leaves those lovely grill marks on the meat. Either way they are delicious and the meat literally falls off the bone. They make a great appetizer or a main course, depending on how much food your serving.

ROY'S KILLER RIBS:

4 pounds pork baby back ribs
2 /1/2 cups hoisin sauce
2 tbsp minced garlic
3 tbsp minced ginger
3 tbsp Chinese chili garlic paste
3/4 cup honey

Cut the slabs in half and place in a pot full of boiling water. Gently boil for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until rib bones pierce through the meat and meat looks cooked.

Remove from water and let cool off.

To make marinate combine remaining ingredients and place in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 450F.

Baste ribs with marinade on both sides, place on a cookie sheet and cook in hot oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for a few minutes. Separate ribs, baste with remaining marinade. Either broil for a few minutes or cook on grill for 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!

Tommy's famous cheeseburgers

I kid you not, these cheeseburgers are famous around here. And around Italy, which makes them famous in two different continents. Now THAT is something, right?
Growing up I was always unimpressed with McDonald's overcooked, thin patties of mysterious "meat". Barbecues at friends' houses -the kind where they cook the meat to death until there isn't one drop of juice left in it- didn't help the matter at all. So when my boyfriend made me his famous cheeseburger for the first time I was like "WOW". All of the sudden cheeseburgers were my favorite food and my family quickly converted as well. We now request his burgers every time there is something to celebrate and he's more than happy to make them even fore crowds of 20 or more. What makes them special is that the cheese instead of being on top, is inside the patty and it oozes out when you bite into it. Yummy!

TOMMY'S FAMOUS CHEESEBURGERS

Ingredients per person:
5 oz. ground sirloin
1 slice American cheese
1 leaf crunchy lettuce
2 slices of tomato
a few very thin slices of onion
a table spoon of chopped green olives
bread and butter pickle chips
Ketchup
Mayonnaise (preferably homemade)
Martin's hamburger potato bun (no substitutes!!)

Divide the meat in two equal parts and, using your hands, make two thin patties. Fold cheese slice in four, place it in the middle of one patty, place the other patty on top and seal the sides with your fingers. You know have a cheese stuffed patty.
Cook on a medium/hot grill until medium rare or medium. Don't overcook!
On the bottom bun place the leaf of lettuce. This will keep the bun from getting soggy. Top with ketchup, tomatoes, burger, mayo, onions, olives and other half of the bun. Enjoy!

Spicy grilled corn on the cob

Because the heat index has been around 105F lately, we spend most of our weekends trying to keep cool in the pool. It would work better if the water wasn't as hot as 96F, but really: what else can we do? So we grill by the pool, trying not to turn the stove and oven on in the house during the hottest hours of the day. Grilling corn on the cob has quickly become one of my favorites, not only because it tastes great and it's good for you, but also because right now you can buy locally grown corn for dirt cheap.
This is a recipe I've found on Cooking Light (which happens to be my favorite magazine) and I later tweaked it to better suit my taste for everything hot and spicy. It's easy and it's quick, and it tastes delicious!

SPICY GRILLED CORN ON THE COB

4 ears of corn
3 tablespoons of butter, softened
Salt
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Dried oregano

Preheat grill.

Pull the husks back from each corn ear, but don't remove them. Get rid of all the hair.

In a small bowl, mix butter and spices to taste until you have a fairly liquid paste (in Florida, outdoors, it takes seconds). Rub mixture over corn and put husks back into place.

Throw corn ears on the grill and cook, turning occasionally, for about 10 minutes. The husks might get a little charred, but the corn will stay moist and super tasty. Enjoy!