Rueben's Stir Fry Bok Choy with BBQ'd Pork Butt

I was touching bases with a number of BBQ blog sites early this morning and got myself all worked up looking at all the fantastic food pictures and reading up on their recipes. If you have never looked at Cowgirl's Country Life and HomesickTexan BBQ and food blog sites you are missing something. Just one look and it's like instant hunger. They are super talented and creative cooks, let me tell you. And, as I mentioned, I fell victim to the curse.

Well lucky for me I had some leftover bbq'd pork butt shish kabob chunks. So I decided I would stir fry it up with some vegetables that I had on hand.

Here is what I did...

Here are the basic ingredients, one red onion, two heads of bok choy, 1 1/2 cups of sliced bbq'd pork butt shish kabob, 1 julienned carrot, 3 cloves of minced garlic.

This is how I slice the onions (stir fry fashion).

The garlic is minced but not too fine.

The carrot is juilienned about 2-3 inches long.

I separate the bok choy leaves from the stem and cut the larger pieces in half. I use 2 of these pictured.

The bbq'd pork butt, previously skewered and in 1 inch cubes, are sliced into smaller pieces as shown.

I like to use a wok for stir frying. That's what they're made for.

I saute the onions first, in a little olive oil, until they are caramelized. Then remove them and place into a bowl.

Next, I stir fry the pork butt and carrots in one tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a  pinch of basic rib rub. I set the pork and carrots aside in another bowl.

I then stir fry the boy choy and garlic in a half of teaspoon of olive oil, 3 tablespoons of water and 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce. I also add 2 pinches of basic rib rub. After the leaves soften just a little I add the rest of the ingredients and stir for about 1 minute over medium heat reducing some of the liquid.  I add salt and black pepper to taste.

When I stir fry, I like to stir fry the ingredients separately so that I can control the taste and consistency of each one.

And here is the final product.

This is very quick and easy to make. You can adjust just about any ingredient you like to your individual taste. That's the beauty of stir fry. It really is just another method of cooking your leftovers.

I am sure you will like the overall flavor and that of the individual ingredients. With this recipe, no one individual ingredient overpowers the other.

Enjoy!!

Until next time....

Cornish Game Hens for Dinner!!! Oh Yeah!!!

I know you probably are saying to yourself that a lot of my post titles are associated with "dinner". Guilty as charged. I love to BBQ and Grill every chance I can, so in order to give my wife a break, I do as much cooking as I possibly can. And when I cook, it is usually outside on the BBQ pit.

On this occasion, I decided to smoke up some Cornish game hens. It had been a while and I love these little buggers because they are so juicy and tasteful.

Cutting through the chase, here is what I did....

All rubbed down using a salt, black pepper and garlic powder blend. And I don't tie my birds. I like their wings flopping around. Looks kinda cute like a floppy-eared puppy.

Got the lump charcoal burning down in the chimney starter.

Set up for indirect smoking. As you can see most of the charcoal and wood chucks are on the left side. I place the hens on the right side of the grill.

Temperature gauge on the lid reads 270. That's close enough for me.

I always place a turkey fryer gauge at the grill level due to the difference in temperature between the grill height and the grill lid. Here the temp reads 310 which is a 40 degree difference. That makes a big difference in cooking time and will affect the final outcome if you are not careful.

Hens after about 50 minutes. You can see the turkey fryer gauge probe on the upper portion by the game hens neck.

Turned the hens to the backside to brown up the bottom.

And here is the final outcome after about 1 hour and 50 minutes grill time. They were cooked just right. Nice and juicy. Game hens are quick to cook internally so be ever vigilant.

It was another good night on Guam.

Until next time....

Quick Steak Dinner

Smoked some tuna the other day and thought it would be a shame to waste all those coals so I slapped on a Chuck steak. 

Now a Chuck steak may not seem like anything special, but they are a great value. They have a great flavor and are tender if you choose the right steak. It must be very marbled. And Chuck steaks are very inexpensive.

Take a look at this steak...


Look at those juices flowing out. I wish I could find a way to keep all those flavor juices in.


Flipped over and looking good.


I like my steak medium and that is what I have here.


Steak, peppers, salad and white rice, simple but delicious.

Well, my wife and I had a great little impromptu dinner having made use of those leftover coals. I can think of worse things to do, but this wasn't one of them.

Just another way to end the day.

Until next time....