About a month ago, the nice folks working on the latest President’s Choice promotional campaign asked me if I’d be interested in reviewing some new products from the meat department. It’s BBQ season, and I was more than happy to oblige!
Here’s what they’d like me to tell you:
PC® Tender and Tasty™ beef is cut from Canada AAA or USDA Choice grade beef, restaurant quality beef superior to previous Canada AA offerings. PC® Free From™ beef, chicken and pork products are specially selected and raised without the use of antibiotics. Loblaw is also increasing the amount of meat it is sourcing from Canadian producers.
They also sent along two coupons for a free PC® Tender and Tastyâ„¢Boneless rib grilling steak, one of which I’d like to share with you, and a PC sea salt and black peppercorn grinder, which I love too much to share. In fact, I love it so much I bought one to keep at my desk for lunches at work. My new absolute favourite lunch is a hunk of old cheddar and two tomatoes cut into quarters or eighths and generously sprinkled with freshly ground sea salt and black peppercorns. I have been known to lick the plate.
Ahem, anyway, back to the free meat… as I said, I have one coupon to share with you for a complimentary rib steak, maximum value $15, redeemable at the usual places where President’s Choice products are sold: Loblaw, Fortinos, Superstore, Provigo, Independent, etc.
If you’d like to win some free meat (heck, I just like saying free meat — imagine the google traffic!) just leave a comment with your favourite BBQ meal ideas. One winner will be chosen at random on Saturday, June 13, and the coupon will be sent to you via snail mail shortly thereafter.
Here’s one of my family’s favourite BBQ meals: grilled chicken fajitas. Take two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and place in a large freezer baggie with a good drizzle of olive oil and a package of fajita seasoning. Toss to coat, and leave to marinate for at least an hour. Slice up a red, yellow or orange pepper and a white or sweet onion, and place in the middle of a large sheet of aluminum foil. Squirt with half a lime, sprinkle with cilantro and red pepper flakes if you like it spicy. Wrap the foil around the peppers and onions and roll the edges to seal them.
Grill the chicken on medium-high heat for about 6 minutes per side, turning once. Place the aluminum-wrapped veggies on the bun rack if you have one, or off to the side of the direct heat, while you are grilling the chicken. Be careful opening the foil packet — it’s steamy and full of juice. Cut the chicken into strips, and serve with warm tortillas, salsa, grated cheddar or Monterrey Jack cheese, and guacamole. Mmmmmmm! Grilling the fajita seasoning makes for a nice blackened chicken.
OK, there it goes…. “Matambre a la pizza” (Something like “Pizza-On-A-Flank”)
– Buy a flank (At President Choice of Course!)
– Turn your grill at 375
– Throw the flank in and cook it until you are close to your desired point.
– grab: Pizza sauce, Ham, sliced cheese (provolone is great, Swiss can be or any other you like)
– Put it on top of the flank in that order (sauce, ham, cheese)
– Continue cooking’till your point is reached, cheese must be melted for a better experience.
– Enjoy, i apologize in advance for any grammatical error you may find.
G
Sizzling skewers. Allergy alert : peanut butter.
Whisk together equal parts peanut butter, soy sauce, BBQ sauce and a bit more than equal hot water. Couple of Tbsp of mustard. Touch of cayenne pepper.
Slice up a few chicken breasts. Put chicken and 1/2 sauce in a ziploc bag. Place in fridge for at least 1 hour. Thread chicken on skewers and BBQ. Use the other half of the sauce for dippin’! Yummy.
And as a bonus it is a Plan B recipe!
My fave meal in the summer is steak and veggies on the BBQ.
I don’t like to play around with the meat, a simple seasoning is added to each side and grilled. But, the veggies…onions/peppers/carrots/potatoes…all go in my grilling basket after tossing them in olive oil/balsamic vinaigrette.
Yummy! Happy bbq’ing!
Really Good Barbecued Ribs
This recipe takes two days to make, so you have to start the day before you want to serve the ribs. But it’s SO worth it.
Day 1:
Rib Rub
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/4 to ½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne (depending on how hot you like it, err on the side of less rather than more)
Combine all ingredients and transfer to an air-tight container. This will make more than you need for one meal of ribs, so put the leftovers away for your next rib feast.
Take 2 racks of baby back ribs (or however many racks you are going to make. I always use the baby back ribs because they turn out better than side ribs. I buy lots for the freezer when they go on sale) and rub generously on both sides with the rib rub. Brush off the excess with your fingers. Wrap each rack tightly in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.
Day 2:
About 3 ½ to 4 hours before you plan on serving the ribs, take them out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Unwrap the racks and place them meaty side up on the cookie sheet. Cover loosely with more foil. Put ribs in oven for 3 hours at 275.
About an hour or so before you plan on serving the ribs, light the barbecue and heat to medium-low. Spray the grill with a little Pam or other spray oil to prevent sticking. Take the ribs out of the oven (when the 3 hours are up) and cut each rack into 3 or 4 pieces, 2 or 3 ribs to a piece, this will make the pieces easier to flip on the bbq than the whole rack. Careful though, because the ribs will be pretty tender by this point.
Put the ribs on the bbq and grill for 5 or 10 minutes each side. Then slather on your favourite barbecue sauce and grill on low, turning every once in a while until they are done to your liking. (For sauce I use half President’s Choice Smokin’ Stampede Beer and Chipotle Barbecue Sauce, and half Diana’s Chicken and Rib Sauce.) Mmmmm. The ribs are tender, and sweet from the sauce with a bit of bite from the cayenne in the rib rub.
Now I am really hungry and it is two hors until dinner!
I actually received the same review offer, so I don’t want to enter. Just wanted to say I love the salt/pepper grinder too!! Best thing ever!
it’s hard to beat a yummy steak on the bbq, but in foil pie plate (or foil pan) slice potatoes thinly, add butter and sliced onions. Wrap in tin foil and cook.
Well, potatoes, onions, and butter in a foil pack are right up there with my BBQ season favorites. My husband has this great way of grilling a small rib roast (or a very large rib steak!) with basic steak spices. It takes about 30 minutes or so to get it grilled med-well on the outsides and medium-rare in the middle. We slice up the steak and serve it up to everyones liking. We usually get about 4 servings out of one roast and guests usually ask if we served tenderloin!
One of my favourite BBQ recipes came from Wish magazine. It’s a super easy rib recipe:
Put your ribs in a slow cooker. Cover in root beer (really!). Let simmer on low. When ribs are cooked, brush with BBQ sauce and grill until nicely charred. That’s it!
marinate in a bottle of pomegrante juice – seriously
This goes with your fascination with saying “free meat” – I love me some sausage on the grill! Hmmmm. . . . sausage. The Saslove’s in Westboro makes a Lamb sausage that is absolutely to die for! All of their homemade sausages are good but it’s rare to find a lamb sausage. You can pick up some buns at any one of the great local bakeries and slather on some tzatziki and you are good to go. Not exactly a recipe but some good local eats. Happy grilling!
We love doing Ribs on the BBQ. We cook ours completely on the BBQ.
BBQ on low
simple rub on the ribs.
Cook slowly for 1.5 hours to 2 hours.
brush with Fav BBQ sauce (right now ours is Dianne’s Rib and Chicken sauce).
cook another 5 to 10 mins per side, and enjoy!
We’re big fans of barbecued shrimp.
Defrost the little fellas, dump them in a tupperware with lid, add a bottle of Our Compliments Cilantro Chilli Lemon sauce shake and let sit until ready to bbq. Use bbq wok, toss shirm to wok and cook until pink. Delish! 🙂
I love the idea of the chicken fajitas on the bbq. Never thought to do them like that.
I guess my favourite recipe is my grandmother’s ribs. It’s labour intensive but so worth it. First, it’s pork back ribs, not side, and not beef. You steam them on the stove or in the oven with onion, celery, carrot chopped up, throw some herbs in (like thyme) if you have them. Then, when they are cooked but still full of moisture, it’s on the to bbq where they are basted in a homemade bbq sauce (very simple – ketchup, yellow mustard and maple syrup – you choose your ratio). Seriously AWESOME.
Also, the stock and vegetables, cooked down with any leftover bbq sauce make the most excellent gravy for rice or potatoes or veg on the side of those ribs.
Nikki, I saw that one in wish magazine too, while I was waiting in a Dr’s office no less. I was trying to remember if I had misread it and forgotten some ingredients but you confirmed it for me thanks 😉 Plain old rootbeer it is I’m trying it tonight with some of my homemade apple-honey-barbecue sauce.