Cedar Tilapia

I adapted this recipe for the grill. The original recipe came from my sister. It's quick, easy, and delicious.

Cedar Tilapia



Prep Time: 10-20 minutes
Time to Marinade: 1 hour (soaking time for the cedar wraps)
Grill Time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:
1.5 Pounds - Tilapia
1 - Large egg
1 Tbs. - Water
1/4 Cup - Olive oil
1/2 Cup - Grated Parmesan

Spices:
Sea Salt - To Taste
Pepper - To Taste

Other items:
Cedar Wraps - (Soaked for approx. 1 hour)
Butcher String - (Soaked for a few minutes)

Directions:

1.) Preheat grill to medium heat. If you are using cedar wraps, don't forget to soak them for ~1 hour.

2.) Mix egg, water, and olive oil.

3.) Dip each tilapia fillet one by one into the egg mixture. Remove and LIGHTLY sprinkle both sides with pepper and sea salt. Add a generous amount of grated parmasean to both sides of the fillet.

4.) Wrap fillets in the cedar wraps (one or two per wrap) and tie off with butcher string.



5.) Grill over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, or until fish has reached desired internal temperature, turning halfway through.

6.) Remove from grill. Cut butcher string, remove fillets, and enjoy.

Cedar Wraps

I was shopping for some planks when I came across these:





They're thin cuts of Cedar wood. The idea is that you wrap your food in these bad boys before grilling. Since they were only $6.95 for a pack of 10 on Amazon, I had to give them a shot. I decided to grill some tilapia, something I had been meaning to do for a while (see the recipe above).

The Good: Added a delicious plank-like cedar taste to the tilapia at a small fraction of the cost

The Bad: They're very small, limiting what they can be used for; They're flimsey and break easily; They're thin enough to become a fire hazard if you're grilling a cut that will take more than 10-20 minutes.

I would recommend these and I'll be using them again whenever a cut of meat/fish is small enough to fit. For larger cuts, I'll stick with planks.

4th of July BBQ

For the 4th, we had some of our friends over for a BBQ. Although I didn't get pictures of every course of the meal, here's an overview:

We started off with Chicken Kabobs:


I prepared the chicken using my standard lemon/lime recipee, then cut it into cubes. I added onions, red and yellow peppers, and zucchini. The zucchini I seasoned with olive oil, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning.

After the kabobs, I finally got around to making the cheese steak I've been wanting to make. Although, I didn't realize that a tenderloin cost $60-100, so I used a couple of roasts instead. It tasted amazing, but in hindsight I should have used some New York steaks instead. The roast didn't hold up to being stuffed too well. Much of the cheese melted out (catching my just-cleaned grease pan on fire yet again).

We then moved on to the sliders:


The process was simple. My wife made some small burgers from ground beef, adding chopped onions and some hamburger spices. We served them on french rolls with cheddar cheese.


The Grilled corn was simply amazing:


I've seen many different methods for cooking grilled corn (sheared and wrapped in tinfoil with ice, etc.). I decided to leave the husks on and throw them straight on the grill, rotating a quarter turn every 5-minutes or so. It took ~20-30 minutes to grill on high. I just waited until the husk was charred all the way around.

For dessert I served grilled bananas. Here's the recipee:

S'More Bananas
Prep Time: 5-10 minutes
Time to Marinade: N/A
Grill time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:
Bananas
Chocolate Chips
Mini Marshmallows
Brown Sugar

Directions:
1.) Leave the banana in the peel. Cut the banana in half lengthwise, but don't go all the way through the back end of the peel (think of a hot dog bun).

2.) Open the banana wide enough to sprinkle with brown sugar. Then add a layer of chocolate chips, followed by a layer of marshmallow. Close the banana again and wrap in aluminum foil.

3.) Grill for ~5 minutes on high.

4.) Open the banana and eat with a spoon.