Nothing says summer like smokies – and what is better than regular smokies? Elk Smokies from Urban Butcher. Nice and lean for those of you who, like me, like smokies full of flavour but don’t like the associated fat. These smokies have an ever so slightly gamey flavour that you get from good elk meat and are absolutely delicious.

In classic us fashion, we didn’t just want to just have a smokie on a bun – boring. So we barbequed some onions and peppers, and added a delicious but simple garlic aioli (that was more interesting than ketchup) that would compliment the flavour of the smokies. So hurry up and grab yours for bbq season and enjoy this elevated classic.

INGREDIENTS

4 Elk Smokies (1 pack)
4 smokie/hot dog buns
1 large yellow onion (white onions will also work, if that is what you have on hand)
1 large red pepper
Spray canola oil

For the garlic aioli:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 heads of garlic
2 tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Turn on the barbeque to medium-high heat or 425F. Start by preparing to roast your garlic – if you already have roasted garlic at home, you can skip this step.

Tear off two small sheets of tinfoil and set aside. Chop off the tops of the garlic heads, leaving all the skins on, just exposing the top of the cloves with your cut. Place one garlic head in the middle of each tinfoil sheet and drizzle with about 1 tbs of olive oil. Pull the corners of the tinfoil above the garlic to pull all the edge together making a tinfoil ball or raindrop shape. Place the tinfoil balls on the barbeque and cook for 20-30 mins on indirect heat until the garlic is soft and starting to look caramelized. If you would prefer to do this step in an oven, find our recipe for roasted garlic here.

While your garlic heads are roasting, prep your vegetables. Start by cutting the ends off your onion and carefully place 3-4 skewers in it across the rings (with the grain). Cut with the grain of the onion, in between your skewers, carefully cut the onion into 3-4 sections, each of which hold entire rings of onion and are held together with a skewer forming an onion disk (see the included pictures for what I mean). For the pepper, simply remove the stem and seeds, and cut in half. Spray the onion disks and pepper halves on both sides with spray canola oil to ensure they don’t stick to the grill.

Once your garlic is ready, put it aside to cool (and open your tinfoil package to expedite this). Place your elk smokies, pepper halves and onion skewers on the bbq on direct heat. Cook for about 4 minutes a side, or until the smokies reach an internal temp of 160F, the onions start to become translucent and the peppers start to soften and have blackened grill marks. Once cooked, remove from the heat and set aside. Note you can also choose to toast your smokies buns if you wish.

While your meat and veggie cook, you can start on the aioli. Remove all of the garlic cloves from the skins, and place in a small sized bowl. Add the mayo and lemon juice and mush/whisk together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Before beginning to assemble your smokies, first slice the peppers lengthwise to the same approximate width as the onions, and then prep your onions. Remove the skewers from the onions, and halve the onion disks to create slices approximately the same size as your peppers.

To assemble, layer some aioli, peppers, onions, and an elk smokie. Eat immediately and enjoy warm.

Makes 4 smokies.