Is it just us, or does bombcyclone make you think of sausage rings?

Is it just us, or does the #bombcyclone make you nostalgic for bonfires and summer days? ...This recipe makes it seem like bonfire cookout is not that far away.

 This dish is great for outdoor cooking, and the ingredients are easy to transport for a campout. That said, with a few adjustments, it's also deliciously cooked on a stovetop when the idea of braving the elements leaves a bit to be desired. 

As cooked at Louisville's Bourbon & Beyond by bonfire cookout, in collaboration with Chef Alejandro Cantagallo

Ingredients

• Italian sausage ring (Ask the butcher to keep it whole)
• Spanish Onion, peeled and sliced in strips
• Bell peppers, Ribbed, cut in 1/2 in strips (red, orange or green pending your taste)
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Olive oil

Photos by Eric Savage 2017

Photo by Bill Bernal

Recipe

On a VERY hot plancha, place peppers and onions without oil. May substitute and cook indoors on a stove top using a cast iron skillet like this fantastic one from Field Company or cast iron casserole dish like this one from KitchenAid.  

Allow onions and peppers to char by not agitating them, don't be scared if they burn a bit. 

Once charred well on one side, season liberally with salt and pepper, and then add oil.

Move onions and peppers around until onions just start to turn translucent (approximately 10 minutes pending heat source). Remove from plancha and put aside. 

With fire at medium to high heat, place sausage on lightly oiled plancha and cook until seared on one side (pending size, may be 5-10 minutes). 

Once seared on one side, flip and “bury” underneath the reserved onions and peppers until fully cooked (another 5-10 minutes pending size).

Serve as is, or in a toasted bun, covered in onions and peppers.

Enjoy! 

A sample of a plancha, as seen at Bourbon & Beyond with Love & Fire by bonfire cookout. 

Sunday Supper never looked this good...

Recipe by Chef Ty Hatfield

Ingredients

2 Ribeye steaks, thick cut (at least 1 ½ inches thick)

Chimichurri

1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley

4 Tbsred wine vinegar

3 garlic cloves, chopped (2 1/2 tablespoons)

3 Tbs oregano leaves

3 tsps crushed red pepper

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Liberally season steaks with salt and medium grind black pepper. Grill over medium high heat on all sides being aware of flare ups and moving the steaks if neccesary. Cook to desired doneness and let rest for at least 10 minutes in a warm spot. Slice as desired. Serve with room temperature chimichurri.

For Chimichurri, chop herbs and combine with remaining ingredients and process in food processor until smooth. Season to taste.

Paul Alward has a killer recipe for catfish...it may include ash and dirt.

Paul Alward, farmer & co-founder, Hudson Valley Harvest @hudsonvalleyharvest

First memory of campfire cookery

...as a young kid with a freshly caught catfish, inexperiencedly filleted, cooked unevenly, on the flattest rock we could find, frequently poked with sticks for no good reason, seasoned in falling ashes and dirt, and absolutely unforgettably delicious.

Favorite memory around a bonfire

...was watching the shadows of smoke rise skyward, overlooking Fontana Lake in the Smoky Mountains.

Worst experience in the outdoors

What seemed to be the cold, unending rain camping in southeast Alaska.

Can’t wait to

...have the time and opportunity to patiently cook a whole pig underground someday.

Fire dancers and pioneer dresses, OH MY!

Katie Roller, Director of Marketing & PR - Wagner Vineyards and Wagner Valley Brewing Co. @ktlroller

First memory of campfire cookery?

Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows over a bonfire in my backyard of the house we grew up in. I was very lucky to grow up with a forest as my backyard.

Favorite memory around a bonfire?

Watching fire dancers dance around a beach bonfire in Montañita, Ecuador when I was a translator in South America after college.

Worst experience in the outdoors?

When I was in high school, I did a 3-day pioneer trek with a church group.  The overall experience wasn't bad, but we had to wear long, multi-layered pioneer dresses in the summer heat and every day our lunch was beef jerky. To this day I cannot eat Slim Jims.

Can't wait to...

experience the Catskills, make new friends, and discover fun, new pairings with open-fire recipes. Really excited about the goat! :)

'Tis the Season for Tomatoes

Charred Tomato Salad

Recipe by Chef Ty Hatfield

Ingredients

2 pounds Heirloom tomatoes

⅓ cup sherry vinegar

¼ cup dijon vinegar

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

6 oz. rustic bread (sourdough, ciabatta, country loaf)

10 basil leaves

Salt and pepper

Grill 2 whole tomatoes over high heat until deeply charred rotating until the entire tomato has been charred. Make sure though to not grill to the point of the skin turning grey/white.

Place grilled tomatoes in blender skins and all with sherry vinegar and mustard and slowly blend until smooth and then increase speed and slowly add olive oil.

Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Grill bread whole until deeply toasted and slightly charred. When cool enough to handle break into bite size pieces.

Cut remaining tomatoes into medium sized wedges and dress with vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the bread at the bottom of a bowl or plate and place dressed tomatoes on top and garnish with torn basil leaves.

Anthony Delois has us thinking about hand-cranked ice cream and live fire biscuits

First memory of campfire cookery?

Outside of s'more cooking, my first real cookout experience came on a whitewater rafting trip. My father took me rafting when I was 12 and it was an overnight trip. The guide whipped up a biscuit dough and cooked it in a Dutch oven buried in our campsite. He brought a hand-cranked ice cream maker and we all took turns cranking it. Once the ice cream was finished, the lid was lifted off the Dutch oven. We scooped out the buttery biscuits and loaded them with melty ice cream goodness. It was smokey, buttery and fucking delicious. 

Favorite memory around a bonfire?

I will always remember watching full moons rise over Bear Mountain on Bear Pond in Waterford, Maine around a campfire. Once a summer it was a ritual at my camp. Always majestic. 

Worst experience in the outdoors?

My dad took me camping and used poison ivy for kindling. The trip ended quick, as I was rushed to the hospital. I have a severe allergy to that shit. 

Can't wait to...

hike the 100 miles of wilderness in Maine. Oh that, and opening my hotel and restaurant. 

Alejandro's father was right...be careful what you wish for.

Growing up in Queens, the son of South American immigrants, Alejandro had an early start in the food world helping his father out in the family's butcher's shop. Throughout his twenties he worked his way through the front of the house at a number of north shore country clubs and later shifted gears by attending CUNY CityTech’s hospitality management program. In 2010 Alejandro opened Floresta and despite acclaim closed a year later to pursue a career in teaching while working for the Union Square Hospitality Group.

Currently, he is an adjunct lecturer in the Hospitality Management Department at CUNY New York City College of Technology and is seeking a Masters Degree in Labor Studies from the CUNY School of Professional Studies. Through his academic work Alejandro hopes to contribute positively to workers rights in the hospitality field. Alejandro's current instructional workload includes first and second level culinary classes as well as food and beverage management and food safety classes. Recently Alejandro has started to provide consulting services for menu development, cost control, health and safety compliance as well as event planning through Son of the Butcher Consulting.

My first memory of campfire cookery...

Having an Argentine father who happened to be a butcher means that I grew up enveloped in the wisps of hardwood smoke my whole life. My first vivid memory of cooking over an open flame was when I was about ten years old and my father standing by the grill called me over, looked down at me, bent over and whispered into my ear, “Be careful what you wish for…if you do this now, you’ll be doing it for the rest of your life”. And with that, he handed me the tongs and I never looked back.

My favorite memory around a bonfire

I joined the Boy Scouts when I was twelve, and was already familiar with wood and fire from cooking at home. But what I had never seen, and would never forget, was the opening bonfire of summer camp at Ten Mile River. The scouts had built twenty foot high stacks of wood that they ceremonially lit at dusk. Staring open-mouthed at the way the flames shot up the stack of wood until it was enveloped in light--I still remember the shock of sitting in the back row of the amphitheater and feeling the heat kiss my skin as if to remind that fires' beauty is only matched by its power.

Worst experience in the outdoors

SLUGS! I don’t know how or why, but on one fateful trip, when I reached into my bag the morning after we arrived I felt what must have been like 40 slugs. Needless to say I almost ran home yelling at the top of my lungs.

Can't wait to...

Share some stories and break bread withs folks while we cook and drink into the night.

Cliche or not, dancing embers still mesmerize Mr. Dana Koteen.

"The town I went to high school in had two main schools: North and South. There was a third, smaller school that I would graduate from called The Village School, the motto of which was 'The road to success doesn't just go North and South.' I have almost always taken the road less traveled."

In 2013, Dana would again take the road less traveled to begin shaping Restaurant Reason into the industry standard for training in restaurants. He joins the bon*fire team with intense passion for hospitality, a deep love of food, a passion, and a history of spending summers barefoot in the hills of Vermont to a soundtrack of 70s folk music, reggae and the smacking sound of hacky sacks.

First memory of campfire cookery...

was a three day overnight I went on at summer camp. I was 9 or 10 and the hikes were usually one day, one night, or two nights - the latter really being for experienced or ambitious campers. I don't really remember what we ate, but I remember setting up the fire and then making sure to "leave the campsite as we found it" when we were done.

My favorite memory about a bonfire

...besides the inaugural event last summer at Satur Farms, was also at summer camp. I'm not sure if I was really little or the fire was really that big, but it felt like the logs were ten feet tall!! It was so bright against the night sky, and the warmth coming off of it was incredible. Maybe it's cliche, but I remember watching the little fly-aways float up into the air and being totally mesmerized.

The worst experience in the outdoors

...was that same three day overnight camping trip. It rained and I was soaked, we got lost, I was hungry and tired, and I'm pretty sure I cried. I remember one moment, boots soaked through and standing in mud, just crying. So embarrassing!