For the holidays this month, we're going to show you four simple recipes that will add a ton of flavour to your table! There are several recipes included in our Complete Christmas Dinner Series, so we're going to have to break them down into parts (see below). Subscribe to our newsletter to see them first!
The Menu:
Part 1: Smoked Cream Cheese Appetizer and Barbecue Potato Casserole Side Dish (today!)
Part 2: Barbecue Spatchcock Thanksgiving Turkey (coming Dec 16th)
Part 3: Smoked Cherry Bourbon Smash Cocktail and Smoked Blackberry Streusel for Dessert (coming Dec 21st)
With no further ado, here's part one of three!
Appetizer: Smoked Cream Cheese
Get ready to embrace all the future calories you're about to devour, because this Smoked Cream Cheese recipe is addicting.
Ingredients:
- 1 package (8oz) Cream Cheese
- Prairie Smoke and Spice Tumbleweed All-Purpose Seasoning
- 4 Tbsp. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Directions:
STEP 1: Get your favourite smoker up to 225°F. We'll be using one of the best, the Yoder YS640 Competition Pellet Grill. In the hopper, use a nice flavored wood like cherry, apple or hickory. You can check out some potential options by clicking here.
STEP 2: Score your brick of cheese on the top to create a diamond pattern. Use our Big Boy Smoking Paper to keep your counters clean while food prepping!
STEP 3: Take one brick of Cream Cheese and rub the Wildly Delicious Smoked oil all over it like you're about to give it the massage of it's life
STEP 4: Apply your Prairie Smoke and Spice Tumbleweed All-Purpose Seasoning until it's completely coated.
A tip for this step: once you think you've put enough on, add a little more. Just trust us.
STEP 5: Place the brick onto a small tin foil square and onto a baking rack or the top shelf of your grill. Just make sure it'll be an indirect cook - you don't want all that cheesy goodness to melt and fall through the grates, never to see the light again!
STEP 6: Smoke your brick for at least two hours. You're looking for your cream cheese to still be intact with a little jiggle, like Jolly Saint Nick.
STEP 7: After two hours of letting that smoke infuse nicely into the cheese, pull the cheese off the grill and enjoy it with crackers, chips - anything that'll give you a good crunch!
Congratulations, you just took charcuterie boards to a whole new smoky level!
Optional: You can top or serve on the side with a variety of jams, pepper jellies, or go all out and add some bacon jam!
Side Dish: Barbecue Potato Casserole
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. Classic Cut Bacon
- 5 lb. Russet Potatoes
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Prairie Smoke and Spice Tumbleweed All-Purpose Seasoning
- 1 Head of Garlic
- 1 Cup of Sour Cream (and more for serving)
- 1 Cup (2 sticks) of Unsalted Butter
- 1 Cup of Sharp Cheddar (grated)
- 1 Cup of White Cheddar (grated)
- 1/2 Cup of Green Onions (diced)
- Note: Be sure to only use the green part (do not use the white bulbs)
- Duck Fat Cooking Spray
- Salt to Taste
Directions:
STEP 1: Get your beloved pellet grill up to 425ºF.
STEP 2: Coat your Potatoes in a thin layer of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and season them with Prairie Smoke and Spice Tumbleweed All-Purpose Seasoning
STEP 3: Trim just the tip of the Head of Garlic, just enough to expose the cloves. Place on a sheet of foil and drizzle Extra Virgin Olive Oil all over it.
STEP 4: Now, wrap the Head of Garlic in the foil and place it with the Potatoes on a sheet pan.
STEP 5: Next, put the Bacon on a wire rack over a foil-lined sheet pan or foil tray. Be sure to place it in indirect heat, on the higher shelf or off to the side, and cook that sucker until it's crispy. This should take about 45 minutes.
STEP 6: Transfer the potatoes to the main cooking grate and roast them until they're soft enough that you can stab them with a toothpick with ease. This should take about 60-75 minutes, but you can pull the garlic head out at around 45 minutes.
STEP 6: After they're soft enough, pull the potatoes off the grill and scoop out the insides and place them into a separate bowl. Wow, first stabbing them and now scooping out their insides? This is what holiday spirit is all about right? Just kidding. Back to the recipe, this is best done when the potato is still warm.
STEP 7: Next, take a handful of the potato skins, chop them up and put them aside for later.
STEP 8: Squeeze the now roasted Head of Garlic from their skins and add them to the potatoes. Also add your sour cream, butter, white cheddar, half of the bacon, and half of the green onions.
STEP 9: Add about two tablespoons of your Prairie Smoke and Spice Tumbleweed All-Purpose Seasoning to the mix.
STEP 10: Now mash and mix everything up until it reaches your desired consistency. Periodically add salt as needed.
STEP 11: Next, spray a casserole dish or tinfoil pan with Duck Fat Cooking Spray and transfer the potato mixture into it. Be sure to level out the top and make it nice and flat, so that everything cooks evenly.
STEP 12: Sprinkle the sharp cheddar evenly over the top.
STEP 13: Bake until the cheese is melted and slightly browned on top. This should take about an hour. Don't burn it!
STEP 14: While that heavenly casserole cooks, take a couple of tablespoons of bacon grease from the foil lined pan and warm it up in a small skillet. Add the handful of diced potato skins you put aside earlier and cook them up until they're crispy.
STEP 15: Time to serve the Barbecue Potato Casserole! Be sure to top it off with the remaining green onions, bacon, crisped potato skins, and drizzle sour cream.
Recipe written by barbecue enthusiast Andrew Plaza. Follow him on Instagram for more barbecue goodness by clicking here.
