Lemony Chicken

Tonights meal is a variation on several lemon chicken recipes that I have either tasted or seen elsewhere. Always wishing to mix things up a little I threw in some country dijon mustard to give it a little texture.

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken breast
• assorted vegetables

For the marinade and baste:

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon country dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon oven roasted garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Pinch of cumin

For the vegetables

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Begin by combining the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Nothing fancy here, Just throw them all in together, mix them up well and you're done!

Put aside a few tablespoons of the marinade in a separate dish.

Next take a chicken breast or two, clean and trim as necessary before flattening them a little with a tenderizer.



Place the chicken in the bowl containing the marinade and ensure that it is well coated then put it in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

Preheat your grill.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and place on the preheated grill basting the remaining marinade over the chicken for the first few minutes of cooking.

Continue cooking for about 6 to 8 minutes on each side, until the juices run clear turning occasionally to ensure even cooking.


While the chicken is cooking place a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet or wok and stir-fry some pre-cut vegetables of your choosing.

Remove chicken from the grill and plate along with the stir-fried vegetables. Remember the marinade we set aside at the beginning? Drizzle this lightly over the cooked chicken and veggies for a finishing touch. That's it done! Hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Till next time, eat well!

Stick your Ribs together!

Okay, so those of you that have been following Lea's food blog over at http://copperpots.blogspot.com will have already seen my last batch of ribs and a desire to improve upon them the next time. Well this is the next time and they are GOOD! Read down to the bottom to see what I did differently!

To re-iterate Lea's post, here's the guts of it all:

"First, he asked me to make a rub for them... I'd never made a rub before so I jumped online a combined a few different ones I found depending on what we had in stock. We were short chili powder so it did prove to be a challenge... but in the end I wound up using: dry mustard (I used dry English mustard), paprika, cayenne, parsley, black pepper, Mrs. dash, and salt. We let them sit with the rub in the fridge for about 3 hours...

From here Dave completely took over. First he boiled them in 3 bottles of dark beer (his own brew!)and some water for an hour....















Here they are fresh out of the pot, rub still intact...















Then to the grill they went to cook for another hour... occasionally basting with some BBQ sauce. Unfortunately it was getting late at this point, and here we can see Dave basting in the almost-dark:















They turned out delish, with a bit of a bite from the rub."

Okay, so what did I do different? Well my main criticism over the last batch was they were a little of the chewy side. I'm used to working with baby backs and these were spare ribs of the larger, meatier with more connective tissue variety. Therefore it stands to reason that larger ribs take longer to tenderize! So this time using the same rub, and the same boil in beer method as before I let them soak a while longer, a little over a hour to be exact. Then it was out to the grill..........A little less heat and a few more turns to make sure of an even cooking.

As before I used the Jack Daniels baste to sweeten up the affair and complement the slightly spicey bite provided by the rub.

I have to say this time they were a LOT better but all said and done I think I prefer baby back ribs!

Until next time, eat well!

West Indian Style Grilled Chicken

Wednesday is pool night for me and now that Lea and I live a little closer to the pool hall we have time to eat together before I go out to play! This leaves me (I finish work earlier) with a perfect opportunity to step into the kitchen and practice my culinary skills.

This dish is inspired from a sort of Caribbean/West-Indian assumed style.

Anyway, here's how it all worked out.
















Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts

Can of blackeye peas

1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon curry powder
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped cilantro
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon honey

Mix the paprika, curry powder, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, lemon juice, garlic, cilantro, salt and pepper with the melted butter to a smooth paste.

Next mix in the honey to complete the marinade and baste the chicken all over.

Cut small slits in the surface of the chicken breasts and spread the marinade all over the chicken.

Put the chicken in the fridge to absorb the marinade for as long as you can (I'd suggest a minimum of about an hour).

Prepare the barbecue and preheat as required.

Place the chicken directly on the grill and adjust the heat for an even cook. Apply any remaining marinade as a baste during the early stages of cooking and turn as necessary until thoroughly done.

I served the dish with blackeye peas to complete a simply delicious and easy to prepare West Indian style meal.


I'd love to hear from anyone with suggestions or variations for this recipe or alternately just to hear you enjoyed it.

Until next time, eat well!

Food, food, glorious food!!

More to come soon........................