Tag: chicken

By Posted on Posted in Recipes No Comments

Its sad to see it fall from the number one spot on the site, but it must be done; the bacon must be ousted from its perch a top the chronological post listing and make way for the new.  Thankfully I left something legendary there when I went on an unplanned sabbatical, life just got to busy and my diet tanked.  Thankfully for my health and my free time, life has gotten a little less hectic and cooking has once again commenced.  Not that we weren’t cooking before it was just not note worthy.

A couple weeks ago the local grocer had chicken sausage on sale and what was I to do but scoop some up.  Since then it has been sitting in my freezer waiting to be used, well last night was its time.  We are past due for fresh soup in this home and so into some soup it went.

Lentil and Chicken Sausage Soup

Last night I got everything ready and threw it in the slow cooker in the refrigerator except for the lentils which I added this morning when I pulled it out and turned it on.  My goal being the only one here for dinner was to write this while eating a bowl of the soup, in order to provide an honest review.  Well I have eaten two bowls and have not managed to write a bit of a post.  It doesn’t help that I came home from work famished, but it was a pretty tasty batch of soup.

I had mine just garnished with a handful of freshly ground parmesan cheese, had my wife been here she surely would have added sour cream to make it creamy and cilantro to make it more complex.  Call me simple but I am going to stand by just the parmesan for this one.  You will have to let me know which way you prefer when you make it for yourself.

[dc_getRecipe id=”21″]

Tagged with: , , , , ,

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes, Reviews, What's for dinner 1 Comment

I came into this with high hopes.  I have been infatuated with how tasty it looked.  I kept counting down the days until Wednesday to give it a try.  I found this recipe last week for Grilled Mexican Roadside Chicken, and it looks delicious and sounded interesting.  So I whipped it up today per the recipe, but in lieu of a whole chicken used several drumsticks I had in the freezer, same concept.

Grilled Roadside Mexican Chicken

And I have to say it was not bad chicken, but it wasn’t chicken that left me wanting more either.  It let me down.  It was juicy, but I attribute that more to technique than the recipe.   I had high hopes for it and it just fell short, flat on its face at my feet, I was disappointed but when piled onto of a salad with some taco-ranch dressing it was almost just like any other chicken, but perhaps with just a hair more Mexican flavor and eaten that way it was quite alright.  So here is a copy of the recipe should you wish to try it.  I did use half the amount of cinnamon because that was all I had around.

Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp ground ancho chile pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 garlic cloves pressed
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 c fresh orange juice
1 tsp Kosher salt
chicken (parts or a whole)

Instructions
If using a charcoal grill, get some charcoal going in a chimney (I used half a chimney full).  Mix all ingredients except chicken together in a bowl to create a wet rub.  Once the charcoal is ready place all of the coals on one side of the grill to set up a cool zone and a hot zone.  Place the chicken on the cool side of the grill, brush healthily with the wet rub.  Turn chicken and brush the other side with the wet rub.  Cover the grill and cook until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken reads 165°F; basting with any remaining rub throughout the cooking period.  Remove chicken from grill and allow to rest for a while 5-10 minutes for parts or 10 to 15 minutes for a whole chicken.

The original recipe called for green onions to be grilled once the chicken was done, maybe this is where I went astray.  It also called for a whole chicken and not for parts, maybe that was the problem.  Either way it wasn’t bad, but like I said it let me down, it wasn’t all I had hoped for and the process of making the rub filled my kitchen with a heavenly familiar aroma of Jerk Chicken and made me think, why am I not making Jerk Chicken?  Well I may just have to do that soon.

Tagged with: , , , , ,

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes No Comments

Chicken.  Blah.  Ok, maybe I should say we eat more chicken than we rightfully should, I mean we should have way more pork and beef in there somewhere, but chicken it more often times than not is.  So with that we try to spice it up and give some flavor to the unflavorable, so today (actually last night) I set out to make a balsamic glazed grilled chicken.

Balsamic Glazed Grilled Chicken

And I must admit it was rather tasty, albeit quite sweet, which for some reason I was not expecting.  Once I got past the sweet and onto the rest of the chicken it was as I said rather tasty, very tender and juicy; which is always better than dry chicken.

In hindsight I should have cooked my stuffing a little bit before shoving it in the bird.  The breasts and thighs of the bird were ready about 20 minutes before the stuffing reached a safe temperature, which much to my surprise did not dry out the meat or give it even the slightest burnt taste.

I grilled the bird on my Weber kettle over charcoal for about an hour and twenty minutes, the bird was just shy of 4 pounds.  I replenished the charcoal once at about 45 minutes with six fresh briquettes on each side and a handful of apple chips.  Once the breasts were about done I glazed the bird liberally and let it finish out its cooking, which because of the stuffing was longer than anticipated when I applied the glaze.  But it didn’t seem to burn.

Ingredients
1 chicken (or parts if you don’t wanna mess with a whole bird), about 4 pounds
1 medium onion
1 stalk celery
1 clove garlic
1/2 c ketchup
1/4 c balsamic vinegar + extra
6 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper + extra
a few stalks of rosemary

Instructions
To make a rub combine 2 tbsp brown sugar with paprika, chili powder, cumin, lime juice, oil salt and pepper.  Mix well and rub all over chicken making sure to get plenty under the skin.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

On cooking day remove chicken from refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.  Chop up onions into large pieces, chop celery, rosemary and garlic and combine in a bowl with pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and stuff in bird (if I were to listen to my advice I would likely bake the stuffing at this point prior to stuffing the bird for say 20 minutes in the over).

Prepare the grill for indirect cooking, clean and lube the grate and toss the bird on the grill. Once the chicken is on the grill prepare the glaze by combining ketchup, vinegar, 4 tbsp brown sugar and oregano.

Once chicken is nearly done brush chicken liberally with glaze mixture.  Cook until internal temperature of chicken breasts and thighs is 167°F and stuffing is 165°F.  Once pulled allow chicken to stand for 15 minutes before slicing.  Enjoy

Without the glaze I dare say the chicken would have been quite south western but with the glaze it was sweet and magical.  Now if I can just figure out what to do with the left overs.

 

Tagged with: , , , , ,

By Posted on Posted in Recipes 2 Comments

We are on the chicken kick again and I must say I have a new favorite this year, it is honey mustard marinated chicken on spinach with a honey mustard vinaigrette, made from all the left overs from cooking the chicken…so tasty and so easy.

Honey Mustard Marinated Chicken on Spinach

Like most marinades, the beauty is that once its marinating the only thing left to do is cook it up when its time for some chow.  The problem is that we don’t want to eat the same marinade necessarily when we marinate something and end up with 20 bottles of marinade in the fridge.  So we have started making our own, we make just enough for the two of us, using stuff we have around the house and when we are done, we don’t have to worry about a partially used bottle hanging around.  So without further ado here is the recipe:

Ingredients
1/4 c dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp whole mustard seed
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions
Mix all ingredients together well and pour over chicken in a zip lock.  Squeeze air out of zip lock and seal.  Work marinade around chicken and leave to marinate over night in the refrigerator.  Occasionally redistribute the marinade in the bag.  The next day open the bag and take a huge whiff, it smells fantastic.  Cook chicken however you would like, in a pan on the stove, in the oven or my personal favorite grill it.  You could probably even nuke it but I am not sure, I avoid the microwave like the plague.

Enjoy, I have some more chicken to eat.

Looking for more ways to enjoy chicken?  Here are some ideas for chicken.

Tagged with: , , , , , ,

By Posted on Posted in Grilled Goodness, Recipes 2 Comments

The chicken we had for dinner tonight was good, it tasted like the Teriyaki Chicken you would expect, but the sauce on its own was outstanding.  I made the sauce at lunch today and had to deal with the memories the sweet and savory flavor of it all afternoon.  It was most tasty.

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken

So the grilled part was easy throw it on the grill directly over some hot coals just long enough to get sear marks on both sides and then it was off to the other side of the grill to slow cook them to perfection.

The Teriyaki Sauce from scratch was almost as easy as grilling the chicken breasts, once the sauce was made I marinated the chicken in it for a couple of hours before grilling.

Ingredients
1/3 c reduced sodium soy sauce
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c cold water
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp corn starch
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions
Combine all ingredients except water and corn starch in a small sauce pan.  Combine corn starch and water separately from the rest of the ingredients.  Mix both together in the sauce pan and heat over medium heat until it reaches a boil.   Remove from heat and use immediately or refrigerate and save for later.

This stuff is good, its really good.  I am thinking some Teriyaki Jerky might make an appearance this weekend.

Tagged with: , , , , ,