Let’s throw something fun on the smoker!
During weekly meal planning with my wife Stacey, she asked me if I wanted to make something for dinner on my kamado grill. My mind got to thinking about what we had on hand, and I remembered that Stacey had picked a lot of jalapenos and some sort of long green pepper from her garden this summer that we had stashed in the freezer along with 1lb portions of chicken breast. An idea popped into my mind and a dinner was planned! Sauteed peppers, provolone, rolled up in chicken was going on the menu!
I’ve done these rolls before, and they are great with either chicken or beef. But to start, you need some peppers. I added a red bell pepper to the mix for it’s flavor and to add some color. The peppers, along with some onion, were finely diced and sauteed in butter until the onions were translucent and the peppers soft. I did de-seed the peppers, except for the jalapenos, as I wanted a little heat on them.
The next item to prep was the chicken. I selected two chicken breast, approximately 1 lb each, trimmed any fat from them, and pounded them with a meat tenderizer until relatively flat. If you do this, make sure you cover the chicken with clear plastic wrap so that you don’t get little bits of chicken and chicken juice splattering all over your kitchen.
Once the chicken was flattened out, I arranged it on some clear plastic wrap, slightly overlapped, so it could be easily rolled up. I then selected a BBQ rub from the pantry to sprinkle on the chicken. I went with Fox Bros. BBQ’s rub; they have a restaurant in Atlanta, and their brisket chili is AWESOME (especially on tater tots). This rub is sold in local grocery stores, but any BBQ rub that suites your tastes would be great to use!
Next comes the cheese! Any cheese can be used; I went with provolone because I enjoy the flavor when it’s melted up with the peppers. Simply just slap down slices and try to get some good coverage on the chicken. I left a little space at the top of the chicken free to overlap once it was all rolled up.
And the last thing needed before rolling up the chicken is the pepper mixture. I simply spooned it over the cheese and spread it out evenly.
Rolling the chicken up can be a little trying on the patience, but having the plastic wrap to help, and butcher’s string pre-cut and ready, makes it a little easier. Once you have a decent roll, tie it up with the string to help it hold its shape. I also sprinkled the outside with more of the Fox Bros. BBQ rub.
I prepped the grill with lump charcoal, and pieces of whisky barrel staves from Jack Daniel’s Distillery. The smoking wood from Jack Daniel’s was a Christmas gift from my wife that I was waiting to use for a special meal. A ceramic diffuser was used to keep the direct heat away from the chicken roll.
I’m using a BBQ Guru CyberQ bbq controller with my Vision Kamado Professional S Series kamado grill. The CyberQ makes maintaining and following your cook super easy. In fact, I was able to monitor the progress, on my phone and laptop, while playing Call of Duty on my Xbox!
Once the chicken roll was on the smoker, I inserted a temperature into the center, and set my desired temperatures. With the CyberQ bbq controller, the kamado was set to hold around 250°, while the desired chicken temperature was set to 165°. The chicken roll was on the smoker for two hours and forty-six minutes for the duration of the cook.
(The top line is the kamado temperature, and the bottom is the peppery chicken roll.)
I wrapped the finished chicken roll in foil, and then in several towels, before dropping it into an empty cooler to allow it to continue to stay hot for a little. A short time later, it was ready to slice and serve! I made up some cheese rice from Knorr to go with it; it was all great!
The take aways:
- It’s fun messing around in the kitchen and making something like this.
- Technology like the CyberQ bbq controller is really neat!
- Dinner was great!
