1MYLIVE HOTSPOT

What You Need:

2 lbs lean ground beef
2 onions, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 TBSP parsley, chopped
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 flat metal skewers

How to Make It:

Place the ground beef in a food processor.
Add the onion, garlic and parsley.
Process until mixture becomes smooth.
Remove and place in a large mixing bowl.
Add the coriander, cumin, salt and pepper to the mixture.
With your hands mix all the ingredients together well.
Form the mixture into two meatloaves.
Run the skewers through the center of each loaf.
Heat the grill to medium high.
Place the loaves on the grill and cover.
Cook 20 minutes turning over half way through the cooking time.

If you like your ground beef a little more rare, you can cook these for about 15 minutes. For more well done, meat cook just a little longer. They will also continue to cook once you leave them standing.

Grilled Oysters in the Shell

What You Need:

24 oysters in the shell
24 fresh lemon slices
Seafood cocktail sauce

How to Make It:

Clean each oyster shell top and bottom well.
The grill needs to be very hot to cook these.
Place the oysters shell and all on the grill.
Close the lid.
Check every 3 minutes or so and when the shells begin to open remove them from the grill.
Carefully open the shell, being sure to retain the juice and the oyster in the bottom shell.
Squeeze the fresh lemon juice over the top each oyster.
Serve with the cocktail sauce.

Be carefully not to overcook the oysters.
When the shell starts to open you want to remove them immediately.
If cooked too long they will become rubbery

What You Need:

1 lb chicken breasts, boneless, skinless and cubed
1 lb beef sirloin, boneless and cubed
1/2 C canola oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 C pineapple juice
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
4 jalapeno peppers
8 strips of bacon - cut in half
16 toothpicks

How to Make It:

Whisk together the canola oil and minced garlic in a large mixing bowl.
Add the pineapple juice and soy sauce and continue whisking until well blended.
Stir in the red pepper flakes.
Place the mixture into a large ziplock bag.
Trim any fat away from the pieces of meat.
Place the meat into the zip lock bag, close tightly and shake to insure the meat is completely covered by the marinade.
Allow the meat to sit in the marinade at least one hour in the fridge.
Meat can marinate overnight in the fridge if you prefer.

When you are ready to grill:
Remove the meat from the fridge, take out of the bag and discard the marinade.
Cut the peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds, membrane and stems.
Cut the peppers into strips.
Place one strip of pepper on each piece of bacon.
Place one cube of meat on top of each pepper strip.
Add another pepper strip on top.
Wrap the bacon completely around each piece and secure with a toothpick.
Heat grill to medium hot or if using coals place coals in the center of the grill and when the coals burn down to a slight gray spread in a single layer.
Cook 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes to insure they are cooked on all sides.
When done the bacon should be crisp and the juices from the chicken should run clear.

When working with jalapeno peppers, wear gloves if possible.
Never touch your face or eyes until you have washed your hands thoroughly.

Have all of your utensils and marinades ready and waiting beside the grill. The one thing to remember when grilling is that you have to man the grill for the entire time you are cooking. It is not like an oven that you can walk away from and come back in fifteen minutes.

A grill that is working at its optimum temperature will cook the food faster than you think. Closing the lid also increases the heat and decreases cooking time.

So, prepare your area ahead of time. Don’t forget to bring along your favorite drink and maybe even a snack to nibble on, since you will be the happy gourmet griller for the day.

Try to have someone who can run back and forth and help you, and perhaps put things in the oven to keep warm until everyone is ready to eat.

Learning to grill can be a lonely job, but one whose product will be greatly appreciated by everyone when it comes time to eat.

Remember, the more you grill, the better you’ll get at it, so cook out as much as your heart desires this summer. Learn about your grill, the correct times for the meats and vegetables and fish, with foil, or without (with is very handy for quick clean ups, and you can still get the BBQ’d smoky taste if you prick holed in the foil.

Your network of family and friends will grow once the word starts spreading that you are the king (or queen) of the neighborhood grill.

Grill at the proper temperature. A gas grill will give you a more even cooking temperature over the entire surface of the grill.

If you use a charcoal grill or a smoker, know where the temperature is the hottest on the rack, and start your meat out in that area. When it is close to being done, move it to the cooler side to finish cooking more slowly, or even to rest the meat and keep it warm.

Remember that meat will continue cooking once it is left to stand, so keep it warm and it will be just right when it comes time to eat.

While we are speaking about temperature, let your grill get good and hot before putting anything on it. Some people think that you don’t have to preheat a grill, but meat cooks better when it has reached the correct grilling temperature.

You wouldn’t put your roast in a cold oven would you? The same goes for the grill. If you want, use a thermometer to gauge the temperature before grilling your meats. You should have a meat thermometer ready as well to help you gauge how well done your beef is.

It is also handy for chicken, because you sound always cook a chicken with a bone in it to a minimum internal temperature of 160 F. Anything else is unhealthy and puts you and your family and friends at risk of salmonella.

Chicken takes a long time to cook depending on the parts of the bird you are grilling, and especially if you are cooking it with the bone still in.

One good way to be sure that your chicken is cooked just right is to pre-bake your chicken in the oven as if you were going to eat it roasted, and then put it on the grill to reduce the cooking time.

Or, you can roast it, and just add BBQ sauce, so that way your whole grill is not being taken up with chicken when others are waiting for burgers and hot dogs. And so you don’t have to worry about how to keep all the chicken warm while the other food cooks.