Still obsessing over the deep fryer we decided to play with Edward Lee's Adobo Chicken and Waffle recipe and make it into something of our own. This is Hot Fennel Fried chicken with a peruvian green sauce and pickeled fennel to cool down your mouth. Want to try it at home? Be our guest!  Recipe Here

With our brand new deep fryer the first thing we made was fried chicken. We trusted Edward Lee with the recipe for this one. His Adobo Chicken and Waffles from Smoke and Pickles was amazing. 

Our new favorite cookbook is Mexico. It gave us a great recipe for Escabeche. A delicous pickeled topping for pork tacos. 

One of our favorite dishes is Ropa Vieja. This dish is great finished with Aji Amarillo peppers that are peruvian but they are spicy and pickled. 

Full Belly Blog's Award winning Orchiette Ragu. We took home People's Choice Award! 

These mini pot pies have the flavor of pimento berries and scotch bonnet peppers. The classic Jamaican cooking profiles go great in a small pot pie! Here is our recipe. 

Bowtie pasta with winter squash puree, sage and pancetta. Topped with crispy kale. 

Braised short ribs 

Spare Ribs with fennel, lemon and crushed red pepper over goat cheese polenta 

Roast chicken with green onion salsa and squash. 

These were inspired by Chef Edward Lee who made Curry Pork Pies in his latest cookbook Smoke & Pickles. We trust that the pork would be good too but since we just did a whole pig we were a little sick of pork. Lamb seemed like a great substitute. They were heavenly. 

55 pound pig smoked for 10 hours! 

The pig 

Pulling the smoked pig.

Ribs that sat in our very own wine brine - red wine and salt - for 24 hours. Then smoked with Italian seasonings and fennel for 4 hours. Fall off the bone delicious!

Recipe Here

Flank steak butterflied and stuffed with your choice of ingriedents. We did a variety of mushrooms, peppers, mozzarella, asiago and wild arugala. 

Pulled pork from our smoked pork shoulder. When your shoulder is done it should just tear apart by pressing on it. We put this on hamburger rolls and topped with some vinegar sauce. 

Pork shoulder smoked for 16 hours. We cut most of the skin off before we smoked it because that part usually doesnt get a crisp as we would like. It left a thin layer of crunchy bark. 

Ahhh short ribs. The tender little pieces of beef that are so juicy and so delicious. We usually smoke them or put them in the pressure cooker but today we grilled them, cut them thin and made a sandwich. The result? Heavenly. 

Recipe Here

We smoked this lamb shoulder for 10 hours and put on some sauce that is from an area in Kentucky where they do lamb for BBQ instead of pork. 

These crostinis were made with fresh ingredients from the Catskills. There is one with black trumpet mushrooms sauteed in butter over ricotta cheese and grilled bread. The other is tomato, basil and mozzarella with salt and pepper over grilled bread. A wonderful snack! 

At the end of the summer we are doing a whole pig roast. To practice we have been cooking different cuts of the pig to see how they cook while being smoked. The traditional way to make Jamaican jerk pork is to take the bone off the shoulder. Jamaican jerk seasoning is really hot so use as many peppers as you think you can handle. We thought that by removing the bone the cooking time would be shorter but to be safe I would say cook for at least 8 or 9 hours. 

Recipe Here

Fresh summer tomatoes

The idea for this recipe comes from our constant thoughts about food from New Orleans. We can't get that Cajun flavor out of our minds. The recipe is pretty simple - grilling kebabs, toasting buns and assembling. There will be many more versions of these kebab dogs to come!

Recipe Here

This is a recipe I created based off Nancy Silverton's Mozza cookbook. I used lamb instead of veal and beef. 

Homemade pasta is the best! 

We just recently visited Nola and tried to recreate our experience by doing our own crawfish boil. YUM!

This pork shoulder was the third we have done. Since getting our Weber Mountain Smoker we have been taking BBQ to the next level. In the past our pork shoulder has been good not great. Our new toy makes it great. We smoked the shoulder for 9 hours and at the end it tore apart completely. It was beautiful. 

Recipe Here 

Risotto in a cast iron pot is the best. The bottom gets crunchy and brown and the top is fluffy. Fresh seafood makes it a great sunday night meal. 

The first smoke of the season is always special but this one was a little more meaningful. We were using our new Mountain Weber Smoker for the first time. As you have seen from past posts we were doing just fine with the regular Weber grill using indirect heat but this summer we are taking it to the next level. These ribs were inspired by a Thai pepper pickle recipe we created using fish sauce, vinegar, lemon grass and Thai chilies. This recipe is hot like most Thai food is so if you can't handle the heat cut down on the chilies.

Recipe Here 

These ingredients were for our skirt steak pistachio sandwiches.

Who doesn't love crispy creamy mac and cheese? We wanted to put our own twist on this comfort food by adding homemade chili powder and crispy bacon. The better quality cheddar you use in this recipe the better tasting the mac will be.

Recipe Here

This is my smoked turkey I did for Thanksgiving this year. It's a great way to spice up your Thanksgiving dinner!

Homemade raviolis with homemade sausage. 

Our very own andouille sausage. We love making our own sausage.

This chili is not to be confused with our Arrogant Bastard Chili. This is a whole new thing. We made a roux and cooked our fresh veggies in this to make this dish rich and flavorful. The roux gives the chili its red velvet color. Like any FullBellyBlog dish this is no ordinary dish. This chili is made without beans, hamburger meat, and tomatoes. We used our pressure cooker to speed up the cooking time but if you don't have a pressure cooker (get one) you can cook this on the stove until the meat is tender. 

Recipe Here

A very simple dish with homemade cavatelli. I had some leftover cavatelli and just came up with a butter, garlic and white wine sauce. Top with a little red pepper flakes. 

One of my favorite dishes from Ina Garten. Bowtie Pasta with Broccoli and Lemon. I add sausage becasue it gives it a little bit of heat. 

We wrapped a lamb leg in avocado leaves and smoked it for a few hours. Underneath the lamb leg was a pot with veggies and stock that got all the drippings from the lamb fat. We shredded the lamb and made into tacos. 

I had leftover homemade orchiette and some italian hot sausage. I came up with a simple red sauce to marry the two it was great! 

I recently started reading the book, Heat and became obsessed with the idea of making homemade pasta. I really was tempted to quit my job and move to Italy and learn how to make pasta. In the book he talks about how the only way to really learn is to learn from someone in Italy who has been doing it their whole life. Although I studied in Rome my Italian is not strong enough to pack up my life and move there. So for now I will practice making it in my kitchen. I just went out and bought a pasta roller, (I know it’s not authentic), and am loving this machine. This post will be updated as I learn to make new pasta shapes, new dough recipes and new sauces for my homemade pasta.

Recipe Here

Homemade pizza on the grill. 

Fresh peppers for our oxtail stew. 

Danny's family is from Maine. They brought some fresh clams down to NY as as a treat. All you need is butter!

This recipe is from The Desperate Housewives Cookbook. I know that's a little odd but it's delicious. My Mom makes it all the time and it is one of my favorites! 

Short Ribs cooked in Barolo wine is a delicious version of a ragu. You can make the Short Rib a few days before you serve. This recipe serves 4 with room for leftovers!

Recipe Here

Mussels are a great meal because they are cheap, easy to cook, and can be paired with almost anything. Duck and fennel go perfectly with mussels. We cooked our own duck stock then paired it with white wine and vegetable stock. In went the homemade duck sausage and fennel. This was the perfect way to break in our brand new kitchen.

 Recipe Here

Danny created this dish after his favorite cocktail. Tomatoes, olives and little bit of spice. 

We are huge fans of skirt steak, mostly because it is a cheaper cut of beef. Other people must be catching on to how great skirt steak is because it's hard to find cheap skirt steak anymore. After cooking this dish our new cheap cut is hangar steak. We cooked it pretty rare here but it was flavorful and delicious. In this Chimichurri sauce we used our homegrown Greek oregano along with a hint of orange.

Recipe Here

David Chang has a show on PBS called, "The Mind of a Chef", which we recently discovered. This show inspired us to make chicken soup. Danny's favorite soup is Progresso's Chickarina soup which is where we came up with the idea for the chicken meatballs. After collecting and drying all of our herbs we grew this summer we used some of the fresh fennel seed and lemon thyme in these meatballs. Hope you enjoy this on a cold winter day!

Recipe Here

Most Gringos, ourselves included, don't know much about Mexican food.  The elaborate preparations and regional intricacies are usually lost in the typical, one-size-fits-all "joints" one finds north of the border.  It's a shame.  Mexican food: the soulful child of European and Mayan parents, rivals any cuisine in assertive style and compelling flavor.  Lizzie and I are two certified "Gringos" from the tri-state area and have begun the journey into our southern neighbor's cuisine with Rick Bayless, author of Everyday Mexican, as our guide.  We have customized one of his recipes for Enchiladas from Mexico City, for our Enchiladas De Dos Gringos.

Recipe Here

These are the tomatillos we used in our Enchiladas de Dos Gringos

On this beautiful Sunday we made some pizzas to celebrate the end of a great summer. We came up with two completely different toppings. The first one being a ricotta, lemon, basil pizza, which was light but really flavorful. The second being a guanciale mozzarella pizza which was savory and rich. Both are delicious and both are easy to make.

Recipe Here

Homegrown chili peppers. Getting ready to pickle for the Winter.

While Bloody Mary's are generally thought to best compliment a cold morning, we used the power of fire and smoke to transform the winter classic into a delicious summer cocktail that pairs well with any backyard BBQ.  Oak smoked tomatoes, pulla pepper infused vodka and canned chipotle juice are some of the original elements we used to make our spicy, Smokey Marys.

Recipe Here

Danny and I were thinking about how we should cook something other than just BBQ this past weekend. We couldn't part totally without that grilled flavor so we decided to grill some lobster tails paired with homemade red curry. Red curry is not something that we usually eat so when we set out to make our own we made sure to buy some canned pastes at the store to get an idea of the flavors. Luckily we have a great Asian market around us and found mostly all of the ingredients that are in an authentic red curry sauce. It was spicy but the coconut rice we made to go along with it really cooled the dish off. You gotta try this dish!

Recipe Here

Real pulled pork takes a long time. That's what makes it good. I suppose you could save time: dice up some pork loin and pour on liquid smoke after you pressure cook it. You could also buy a Honda, slap a stripe on it and call it a race car. But its not. And it never will be.This is how we made out pulled pork.....

Recipe Here

Fullbellyblog's newest toy is a motor operated rotisserie attachment for a Weber charcoal grill.  We wanted to christen the spit with something new, original and delicious: Duck!  The bird marinated in a mixture of expected Asian ingredients with one unusual addition: Root Beer.  The sweet taste and complex flavorings of the soda complimented the Chinese 5 spice powder and molasses.

Recipe Here

This idea was completely made up by yours truly. A couple days ago I heard about someone grilling avocados so my mind went straight to smoke. I thought about how good the creamy avocado flavor would taste with some hickory smoke. Danny and I went to the store to get ingredients. As we were walking out there was a huge bin of watermelons. It occurred to me that instead of the tomatoes used in the guacamole we could use watermelon. This dish was really flavorful. We ended up pairing it with some grilled pork tacos. The only thing I might change and Danny does not agree with this is that I would use one fresh avocado not smoked to keep some of the original flavors. He thought it was perfect this way. Try both!

Recipe Here

We are calling these exploding ribs because we actually almost blew up the back yard while cooking these. We're still hoping the Landlord does not realize what we did. Apparently if concrete gets too hot it explodes. Halfway through cooking these we heard a huge explosion and a boy down the street yell "fireworks!". We ran back and saw that there were chunks of charcoal everywhere. Thankfully the ribs were fine. Oh yeah and the house too. Note to self- don't overheat concrete. We came up with this recipe from two small idea's the first being dehydrating lemon zest in our food dehydrator and the second being a red wine cured sausage we had. Realizing these ideas would be perfect for some slow cooked ribs. These took around 4 and a half hours. They were so moist on the inside and crisp on the outside that I think they were our best ribs yet.

Recipe Here

While we can't claim that we invented this clever technique, we can vouch for the remarkably juicy, tender chicken it produces.  Beer can chicken is simple, tasty and has an extra dash of showmanship that will appeal to all serious grill junkies. 

Recipe Here

I think I had been craving wonton soup for at least week before making this. I wanted good wonton soup, not the bland crap you get at a Chinese restaurant. Danny and I came up with the idea of making duck wonton soup. This is totally different than what they serve in China but who cares. It was awesome! We made our broth from duck stock and the wontons are filled with duck. We used our pressure cooker to speed up the process of making duck stock. The results? DELICIOUS.

Recipe Here 

Grilling summer tomatoes can add a nice smokey flavor to the sweet veggies. 

This dish inspired us to create our blog. After getting Nancy Silverton's Mozza cookbook for Christmas we created this pasta dish. It was so delicious and beautiful we thought we should create a place for everyone to see what we're up to in the Kitchen.