Christmas Eve 2009
Fire and Ice Cajun Chicken Sticks

Grandville's BBQ Sauces

www.grandvillesbbqsauce.com

Fire & Ice Cajun Chicken Sticks, Wings o’ Fire, Teriyaki Shrimp Skewers

My mother loved to get the whole family together on Christmas Eve. We would gather around the tree and say a prayer and then sing Happy Birthday to Jesus where she would bring out a cake with a candle that one of the grandkids got to blow out. Then the kids could do the tree. We did it this way so everyone could be at home or with other family on Christmas morning.

There was so much excitement and activity that she did not try to have a big Christmas dinner. Instead she would have a big spread of what I call finger foods. She would cook for days putting the Christmas Eve meal together and we would all bring our best to add to it.

Tonight’s meal is something my mother would have loved.  We grilled up some Fire & Ice Cajun Chicken Sticks, with a Fire & Ice dipping sauce, Wings o’ Fire with a good blue cheese dipping sauce and a batch of Teriyaki Shrimp Skewers.

I know she is still with us…

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Grill: 300

Pellets: Hickory

Fire & Ice Dip

Ingredients: Fire & Ice

1 lb. sour cream

2 scallions, fine chopped

3 jalapenos, fine chopped

1 bunch fresh mint, chopped

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

4 Tbsp. brown sugar

4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice

2 Tbsp. garlic paste

Place everything in the blender.

Directions: Fire & Ice Dipping Sauce

Place everything in the blender and puree. Then, back into the fridge until you are ready to serve. Try and give it a few hours so everything can get happy.

Blue Cheese Dip

Ingredients: Blue Cheese Dip

1 cup garlic mayo (you’ll find the recipe on our site)

1 cup sour cream

6 oz. crumbled blue cheese

¼ cup wine vinegar

3 Tbsp. lime juice

2 Tbsp. garlic paste

Directions: Blue Cheese Dip

Place blue cheese in a bowl with the vinegar and lime juice mix well. Add garlic, mayo and sour cream, mix well. Then into the fridge until served, at least an hour or so.

Chicken in Cajun Marinade

Ingredients: Fire & Ice Cajun Chicken Sticks

2 Lbs. chicken breast strips

½ cup Cajun spice mix (Check the salt content in store bought spice mixes. The one I used was almost too salty.)

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup lime juice

2 Tbsp. crushed garlic

Bamboo skewers, soaked in water

Grandville’s Cajun Gourmet BBQ sauce

Directions: Fire & Ice Cajun Chicken

Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together. I like to use a zip lock bag because I can get all of the air out and everything is evenly covered. Put the chicken into the bag and pour in the marinade and seal.

Then put it into a bowl (in case it leaks) and into the fridge. I like do it overnight, but two hours or so will work if you are in a hurry. When you are done marinating, slide two pieces of chicken onto your skewers.
 
If you use bamboo skewers remember to soak them at least 30 minutes in water so they don’t catch fire on the grill. These are ready for the grill; they will cook faster than the wings so put the wings on first. Save the marinade to brush onto the wings.

We put two pieces of chicken onto wet bamboo skewers.

Ingredients: Wings

5 lb. bag of wings

Grandville’s Extra Spicy Gourmet BBQ Sauce

Wings Ready For the Grill

Teriyaki Shrimp Ready for the Grill

Ingredients: Shrimp

2 Lbs. jumbo shrimp

Teriyaki marinade

2 Tbsp. red pepper flakes, or to taste

2 Tbsp. dried crushed garlic

Bamboo skewers, soaked in water

Directions: Shrimp

Clean and peel the shrimp (leaving the tails on for handles).  Place in a zip lock bag with the marinade and seasoning. Again, I like to marinate overnight but, if time is short an hour or two will work.

The shrimp will cook the fastest so it will go on last for about 10 minutes. Because it has been marinated in the Teriyaki you will not be able to see it turn orange when it is ready so keep an eye on it.

Cooking Directions: Traeger

Open the lid and set the dial to “smoke”. After about five minutes, shut the lid.  Give it about 10 minutes to heat up.  Then, turn the heat up to 300 degrees. Notice that Patti has lined the drip pan with foil for me, it makes for easier clean up.

Brush with the left over marinade.

Place the chicken wings directly onto the grill for 10 minutes and brush with the leftover marinade you used on the breast strips. Then, roll them over and brush them again.  Let them go another 10 minutes. Add the breast sticks; turn them in about 7 minutes. After you turn the breast sticks, add the shrimp, Brush everything with its own BBQ sauce.

The Extra Spicy sauce for the wings, Cajun for the breast strips, teriyaki for the shrimp. Turn everything in 5 minutes and brush with more sauce.

A Loaded Traeger

Wings O’ Fire

Fire & Ice Cajun Chicken Sticks

Note: I get a lot of questions about the kind of pellets you can use with a recipe. Keep in mind that a recipe is just an outline. Some you need to follow closely like when you are making bread. But, most you can do anything you can dream, our favorite way to cook. Feel free to mix and match the pellets until you find a combination you really like.

Grilled Teriyaki Shrimp

Directions: Gas Grill
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Grill: Direct Medium Heat

Preparing Grill: Medium Direct Heat

Preheat your grill to medium heat (300 - 350). Add your wet hickory chips to the fire and oil the grill. A cooking spray is easiest for this. (Note: you can add your hickory directly to the grill or you can use foil smoke packets.(Two handfuls wet chips and one dry, fold foil into a packet, poke holes in it with a fork and you’re good to go.)

Preparing Charcoal Grill

Get the grill ready, you will want your temperature of around 300 degrees. You are going medium heat here for about 30 minutes or so. Add your “drained wood chips” and you are good to go… Your cooking times and temps will be the same as above.

Note: I use a spray bottle when cooking on the grill filled with a Worcestershire sauce and liquid smoke mix that keeps things moist and adds tons of flavors. (Mix is 3 parts Worcestershire with 1 part liquid smoke)

About our Recipes

We cook most of our recipes on our patio where we have a lineup of grills. Including Traeger, Charmglow, Char-Broil, Brinkman and Weber. I call it our “Wall of Grill”. Our grilling styles will fit pellet heads, gas, and natural wood and even charcoal purists. Almost any of our recipes can be done on any kind of good grill.

The important thing to keep in mind is TIME & TEMPERATURE. You can do some of them in the oven or crock pot, but, then you lose all the flavors you get from cooking outdoors. But, sometimes it does rain.

Remember that a recipe is simply an outline; it is not written in stone. Don’t be afraid to make changes to suit your taste. Take it and run with it….

Enjoy,

Ken & Patti

For a REAL GOOD BBQ Sauce check out Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ Sauces 

Steve 360 943 2861 @ www.grandvillesbbqsauces.com

I really like the Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ sauces. First thing you think is that I am paid to say this. Wrong, I have NO PAID ADS on our site at this time. But I am lucky enough that a few folks think well enough of our site that they have sent us samples for us to review. To me it is real simple, the things I don’t care for I don’t use and you don’t hear about. The Good Stuff (Hot & Spicy) I use a lot. If folks keep sending it, I’ll keep using it. Keep in mind that I have no problem with any one sending money either … LOL.