My new go-to meal

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
• leftover zucchini with bacon & onions
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This is becoming my new go-to meal this summer. Tonight's dinner was basically a repeat of our dinner from June 4 of this year, except that we had the leftover zucchini from Saturday, and tonight's salad bar featured purchased mixed lettuce, sliced carrots from the CSA, sliced cucumbers from the CSA, sliced banana peppers from the CSA, and mixed cherry tomatoes from my dad's garden. Yum!

Grilled chicken

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• rosemary-onion focaccia
• summer squash with bacon & onion
  
• green salad "bar"
  

This is how I make my grilled chicken. I'm not saying this is how YOU should do it, but this is what works for me with my grill setup. All I do is take some bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks, give them a rinse, dry them with paper towels and then sprinkle them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. Then I set up my three-burner gas grill for slightly indirect grilling, turning two burners up to medium-high and leaving the other one off. I put the chicken skin-side-down over the two lit burners for about five minutes or until the skins have picked up some color (sometimes the color they pick up is BLACK, but that's okay). Then I turn them over and move them to the unlit burner, leaving them to cook for about 30 minutes or until done. I have to babysit them quite a bit because I'm still getting used to this new grill, but so far I've managed not to dry them out or undercook them with this method. Feel free to use an instant-read meat thermometer to make sure they're done (around 170 degrees F or so).

I am so excited about this focaccia, because it came from a recent cookbook purchase, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I can't reproduce the recipe here because of copyright issues, but they also have a blog that, if you scroll down far enough, lists the master recipe (for boule bread). That's the dough I used, for those who have the book. I just whomped off a canteloupe-sized hunk of dough as instructed, stretched it into a focaccia shape on a silpat-covered baking sheet, layered on some red onions (from the CSA) sliced paper-thin along with some snipped fresh rosemary (from my herb garden), kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of EVOO. Then I baked it at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes or until it turned golden. (In the book, you bake most of the breads over a broiler pan into which you pour some hot tap water, so the bread steams. I TOTALLY forgot that step until the bread had been in the oven for a full 20 minutes. It still came out great, just took a little longer to cook!)

Everyone LOVED this focaccia! So far we give this particular bread cookbook a HUGE thumbs up. I made a loaf of plain boule from it the other day and that was awesome, too. I plan to post a full review of this book pretty soon, so check back for that!

ANYWAY, again with the squash, bacon and onions, I KNOW! I can't help it. I love it like that. This time I made it with crookneck bi-color summer squash from the CSA, a red onion that was NOT from the CSA but from a local farmstand (and did not include the green tops, more's the pity) and some random applewood-smoked bacon I had in the freezer. And I didn't bother with any herbs, just salt and pepper. YUM!

Tonight's salad bar was just there for the people who don't like squash (read: everyone but me) and included purchased mixed lettuce, sliced cukes from the CSA, and chopped baby carrots. BORING. But whatever.

Dinner with the folks

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken thighs & drumsticks
  
• grilled potato-onion packets
  
• grilled zucchini
• green salad bar
  

Yes, you read that right. Every single element of tonight's dinner was grilled, except the salad. My parents came over for dinner and I was in full-on cookout mode. The 90-degree temperatures helped with that a bit, I think.

Grilling chicken is SO much easier on my new grill than it was on my old one. The old one only had two burners and didn't do indirect heat well AT ALL. But the new one has THREE burners and works a treat for stuff like this!

Sooo, here is how dinner came together:

First I cut some small red potatoes into quarter-inch slices, then did the same with a small sweet yellow onion. I alternated layers of potato and onion on a big sheet of heavy-duty foil, adding little dabs of butter along with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then folded the whole thing into a big foil packet.

I lit TWO of the grill burners, leaving the third burner unlit, and put the foil packet on the bread shelf of the grill over the unlit side. I left it there while the other stuff was cooking and it came out perfect -- nice tender potatoes and sweet, soft onions. Yum!

While the grill was heating up (with the foil packet of potatoes and onions already on it), I rinsed the chicken thighs and drumsticks, dried them on paper towels, then sprinkled them with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper. I stuck them skin-side down on the lit burners of the grill over medium-high heat for maybe 4-5 minutes just to crisp up the skins, then flipped them to skin-side up and moved them over to the unlit burner. Then I turned the other two burners to low and let the chicken cook, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes (I was making a LOT of chicken).

About 10 minutes before the chicken was done, I sliced a couple of zucchinis (from the CSA share) lengthwise, brushed them with EVOO, sprinkled with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, then cranked one of the lit grill burners up to medium-high and grilled them for just a couple of minutes per side (same way I made them the other night). Yum!

Tonight's salad bar was just mixed lettuces (from the grocery store, because my garden lettuces suck right now), sliced cucumber (ditto), sliced baby carrots (tritto), quartered tomatoes (er, quitto?), and rings of green bell and yellow banana peppers, both from the CSA share.

A perfect summer dinner, and actually pretty easy once the small amount of prep was done.

MORE grilling in February

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• grilled sweet onion
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Oh dudes. This very nearly went terribly wrong.

Remember when I said it was really warm this weekend? Yeah, yesterday it got up into the 90s. Which is just insane, but it made me want to grill that much more. Now, I read the weather forecast. I knew a cold front was supposed to come through last night, and that today it would be chilly and windy. I just didn't realize HOW chilly and windy. But I had promised my kids grilled chicken for dinner (DH the poultry-allergic guy was working late) and I was determined to deliver.

So, it took forever to light the grill because of the wind. And also because of the wind, the inside of the grill didn't get nearly as hot as I really needed it to. And so everything took FOREVER to cook, but it all worked out okay in the end.

First I rinsed and dried the chicken parts, then I sprinkled them on both sides with Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper. Long story short (I had to check them A LOT for doneness, and of course every time I opened the grill, the temperature dropped FURTHER) I ended up cooking them for about 18 minutes skin side down, and another 20 or so skin side up. They actually came out really juicy and delicious with crisp, flavorful skin, but it took about twice as long as usual to get them to that point.

The onion was a good idea in theory. In practice, the lower temperature of the grill kind of worked against me. What I did was peel and slice a sweet yellow onion (a 1015 or Walla Walla or Maui or something like that), layer the slices with dabs of butter, salt and freshly ground pepper, wrap it in heavy-duty foil, and cook it alongside the chicken, turning it halfway through the cooking time. It ended up not cooking and caramelizing as much as I was hoping. Maybe it would have worked better if I'd laid it out in a single layer inside the foil instead of re-assembling it into a round onion shape. Oh well. It was still flavorful, and even the girl child, who NEVER eats onions, thought it was good. Go figure!

Tonight's salad bar was mixed greens, sliced carrots, sliced cucumber, and grape tomatoes.

Come back, warm weather! I'm not done grilling!

Delicious chicken

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs & drumsticks
  
• roasted Brussels sprouts
• green salad "bar"
  

Oh dudes. I loves me some chicken legs.

I had six thighs and six drumsticks (bone-in, skin-on in both cases). I rinsed them, patted them dry, stuck them in a roasting pan, sprinkled them liberally with coarse salt, gave them a few shakes of freshly ground pepper, scattered some fresh thyme leaves and snipped fresh rosemary on top, then roasted them at 425 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Perfection.

I got the Brussels sprouts recipe from a recent post on Slashfood. Except I did them at 425 degrees instead of 400, because I cooked them alongside the chicken. I should have knocked back the cooking time accordingly, but I didn't, and they were a bit overdone (but still edible, especially for someone like me who will eat damn near anything).

Tonight's salad bar was butter lettuce and radicchio with sliced baby carrots and grape tomatoes on the side.

Perfect summer supper

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken leg quarters
• grilled onion and potato packet
• salad of baby spinach and strawberries
  

Oh y'all. This was SO GOOD.

The chicken was easy. I just sprinkled each leg quarter with some Jane's Krazy Salt and freshly ground pepper, then grilled them skin-side down over medium-high heat for five minutes or so to get the skin nicely browned and crisp. After that I flipped them to skin-side-up, turned the grill down to low, and let them cook for another 20 minutes or so. They were tender, juicy and delicious.

The onion and potato packet was likewise easy. I just thinly sliced some onion and some little red-skinned potatoes (because that's what I had; do use a waxy vs. mealy potato, though) and layered them in a piece of heavy-duty foil with some butter, salt and freshly ground pepper. I sealed it all up nice and tight and stuck it on the grill when I turned the chicken. It was done when the chicken was done, and it was SO YUMMY. The onion got all sweet and slightly caramelized, and the potato was nicely tender. Mmmm!

The spinach salad could not have been easier; just dump a bag of pre-washed baby spinach into a bowl and add halved (or quartered or sliced) fresh strawberries. I served it with a bottled raspberry vinaigrette.

I washed everything down with a nice glass of white sangria. Earlier today I combined a bottle of pinot grigio (it's what I had; just use whatever white wine is laying around) with some cognac and a can of peach nectar. Then I sliced in a couple of fresh nectarines and let it all kind of get happy for a couple of hours. To serve, fill a collins glass (that's the tall one) with ice and then pour it about half full of the wine mixture. Scoop out some nectarines and drop those in the glass, add a couple of fresh raspberries, then top it off with club soda (or if you like it sweeter, use a lemon-lime soda). It's kind of like a homemade wine cooler, but NOTHING like that pre-bottled crap you buy in the store. So good, and excellent with grilled chicken!

Yum!

Tonight's Menu

• grilled chicken drumsticks & thighs
  
• leftover big-ass green salad
  

Is there anything yummier than grilled chicken? I think not.

Tonight's dinner was dead easy. All I did was bash up some dried rosemary with the mortar and pestle, add some Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper, then sprinkle that liberally over several chicken drumsticks and thighs. I started them on the grill over medium-high heat to get the skin nice and crispy (I don't mind a bit of black on the skin, but if you do you'll want to watch them closely during this phase), turning every couple of minutes for a total of maybe ten, then turned them down to low and cooked for another 20 minutes, turning once during that time.

My crappy gas grill doesn't do indirect heat well, so I'm stuck turning both burners down as low as they will go for stuff like this. How long YOU cook them will depend on how big the pieces of meat are and how hot your grill is, so for God's sake use this as a GENERAL guideline and, er, watch your meat.

Anyhoo, with this particular meat on my particular grill, this technique worked a treat and it was delicious. Crisp, nicely seasoned skin and delicious tender smoky meat that didn't dry out. DH worked late (he is allergic to poultry, so whenever I serve it you can assume he isn't here) and the Badger children and I absolutely gorged ourselves until we nearly dozed off in our plates!

Yum, indeed!

Mixed grill

Tonight's Menu

• grilled boneless pork chops and chicken leg quarters
  
• chuffed potatoes
  
• caramelized brussels sprouts with toasted almonds
• leftover salad
  

I KNOW! I have not been posting. Sorry about that. It's mostly been same old, same old around here (except that the other night I made spiced pork tenderloin with grilled stone fruits -- apricots and peaches -- and it was FABULOUS).

Anyhoo, I finally made a trip to the natural food store for the GOOD chicken so I decided to grill tonight. I sprinkled both chicken and pork with Jane's Krazy Salt and garlic pepper (the chicken got a coating of EVOO beforehand). I grilled the chicken for 10 minutes per side over medium-high heat, then turned off the burner they were on (gas grill) and left them there while I grilled the chops for 4 minutes per side on the other burner. Other than the chicken catching fire multiple times, it all turned out swell.

Chuffed potatoes were the usual deal -- red potatoes cut in half or quarters, parboiled then chuffed up in a hot pan with some butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

I have made the caramelized brussels sprouts before. This time I made the recipe exactly except I substituted toasted almond slivers for the pistachios.

Vinho Verde was a nice accompaniment to the meal.

Yummy chicken

Tonight's Menu

• Nigella's slow-roasted chicken with garlic and lemon
  
• quinoa
  
• big-ass salad
  

Yes, I made Nigella's chicken again. It's SO DAMN YUMMY. This time I used thighs and drumsticks. DH had leftover meatballs.

She's got legs

Tonight's Menu

• roasted chicken thighs and drumsticks
  
• leftover steamed rice
  
• green salad
  

There was plenty of pork and pineapple leftover from last night so I let DH have that while the kids and I had roasted chicken leg parts. Yum! I'm going to make an Asian-inspired chicken salad from the leftovers, I think. I'll let y'all know how it comes out!

Day 72

Adult Menu

• grilled chicken leg quarters (with or without barbecue sauce, as you like)
  
• grilled nectarine halves
  
• cold salad of red potatoes, fresh mozzarella, homegrown cherry tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts
  

Girl Child
Had a drumstick (no barbecue sauce), a piece of toast, and some raw baby carrots.

Boy Child
Had two thighs (one with barbecue sauce, one without) and a clementine.

DH worked late again so I picked up some chicken while the kids were at taekwondo. It was sooo yummy, y'all! I also made my favorite bastardized white sangria with a bottle of cheap pinot grigio, a can of peach nectar (I mixed a couple of Tbs. of the nectar with some bottled barbecue sauce for the chicken, though), some sliced nectarines, raspberries, and some club soda. If you're not going to consume it all right away, then just put the wine, nectar and nectarines in a pitcher and stick it in the fridge, then add the raspberries and club soda to each glass individually before serving. Otherwise the raspberries get weird and the club soda goes flat.

The potato salad is my new favorite thing (besides the sangria)(and grilled EVERYTHING, obviously). All you do is cut some little red potatoes in quarters, then simmer them for about 15 minutes, drain and let cool. Then you toss in some halved cherry tomatoes (or quartered, slightly larger tomatoes), some fresh mozzarella (either the little balls or a big ball cut in wedges), and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts (do NOT drain, the marinade is your dressing). Season with salt and pepper, stir in a chiffonade of fresh basil, and pop it in the fridge. Yummy! And it goes great with grilled meats, which are apparently the only kind I'm eating this summer.