Picky Eater's Grilled Chicken

So we had some neighbors over for dinner on Saturday night. Somehow we ended up in a neighborhood of people who are absolutely nothing like us, which is just fine by me. All of our immediate neighbors are empty-nesters, mostly native to TN. This actually turns out to be an ideal situation because most of these people have lived life enough to be decidedly un-fussy.

I happen to know the male half of the couple that came to our place for dinner is very picky and has pretty different taste than us. His wife teases him because he thinks Italian food is exotic. What the heck was I going to feed him. We eat almost exclusively foreign-inspired cuisine, don't eat much meat, and almost never make southern food. Plus, I didn't really want to cook indoors.

So, I went with grilled chicken, which seems pretty universal for non-vegetarians at least.

This recipe, Peruvian Grilled chicken, is from Gourmet. I felt like the ingredients were fun enough to satisfy B and myself, but tame enough for the non-adventurous neighbors. It was, indeed, delicious. It'd be great for kids.

Ingredients
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
5 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika for a little oomph)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 whole chicken (about 3 1/2 pounds), quartered

Accompaniment: lime wedges

Instructions
Marinate chicken:
Blend soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and oil in a blender.

Put chicken in a large sealable bag and add marinade. Seal bag and marinate, chilled, 8 to 24 hours.

Grill chicken:
If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom and lid of grill. Light a large chimney starter full of charcoal (preferably hardwood). When coals are lit, dump them out along opposite sides of bottom rack, leaving a space free of coals (the size of the quartered chicken) in middle. When you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grill rack directly over coals for 3 to 4 seconds, coals will be medium-hot.

If using a gas grill, preheat all burners on high, then reduce heat to medium-high.

Discard marinade, then pat chicken dry. Oil grill rack, then grill chicken over area with no coals (or over a turned-off burner), skin side down first, covered, turning over once, until cooked through, 30 to 35 minutes (add charcoal to maintain heat).

Cooks' note: If you aren't able to grill outdoors, chicken (quartered) can be roasted in middle of a 500°F oven in a 13- by 9-inch roasting pan with 1 cup water 30 minutes, then tented with foil and roasted until browned and cooked through, about 15 minutes more.

Fish Tacos with Guac

Okay, so this isn't really a recipe at all as much as it is an idea for a dinner. Fish tacos is just one of those dishes that lends well to winging it

Ingredients
Fish
Firm white fish (I used mahi)
Lime
olive oil
salt
pepper

Guac
2 haas avacado, cubed
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
1/4 cup cilantro
juice from 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil
salt to taste

Corn or Flour tortillas

Instructions
1. Marinate fish in lime, olive oil, salt, and pepper 15-20 minutes
2. Grill
3. While fish grills, mix together ingredients for guac
4. Grill tortillas 15 second on each side, just until starting to brown a bit
5. Serve fish and guac atop hot tortillas

Sweet-Hot Bbq Tater Fries

These were in the same feature from which I got the spicy turkey burger recipe. They were really really delicious. I cut back on the brown sugar a bit, because I prefer the spicy over sweet. But you really can't beat a sweet / spicy combination. Go heavy on the fresh rosemary!

*Photo from www.epiciruous.com
Source: Bon Apetit

Ingredients
2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick slices, each slice cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon (packed) golden brown sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Additional olive oil

Instructions
Prepare barbecue (medium heat). Place potatoes in 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Add 1/4 cup oil, chopped fresh rosemary, brown sugar, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper to potatoes. Sprinkle potatoes with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Brush grill lightly with oil. Place potatoes on grill, spacing about 1 inch apart. Grill until potatoes are tender and slightly charred, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes total. Transfer potatoes to bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.

Spicy Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers are one of those dishes that has the potential to be really really bad, especially if you are trying to be health conscious and use extra lean ground turkey breast. The burgers tend to turn into hockey pucks. Normally, I just wing making the burgers, but yesterday I decided to try an actual recipe and was very very pleased with the results. You mix salsa and fresh cilantro into the meat of these burgers and it makes them lighter and more moist. I liked these so much that I think I'll be tempted to make them again this weekend. Serve with a side of spicy grilled sweet potatoes.

Source: Bon Apetit

Ingredients
1 1/4 pounds lean ground turkey
1 cup mild salsa, divided
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
1 tablespoon chipotle-flavored hot sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

4 crusty rolls, halved horizontally, toasted if desired
4 lettuce leaves

Instructions
Mix ground turkey, 1/2 cup salsa, shallots, cilantro, 3 tablespoons oil, hot sauce, cumin, salt, and pepper in large bowl. Shape turkey mixture into four 3 1/2- to 4-inch-diameter patties.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add burgers; cook until brown, about 3 minutes per side. Reduce heat to low. Sauté until burgers are cooked through, about 4 minutes, turning occasionally.

Arrange roll bottoms on 4 plates. Place lettuce, then burgers on roll bottoms. Top each burger with 2 tablespoons of remaining salsa, then roll tops.

Spicy City Chicken

Source: Food tv

This is one of those recipes I would have never tried. On the food network, it only has two reviews, one of which is not great. And, the sauce is rather rich with some butter and cream. So, I have to give credit to Bernardo for finding and making this one. It has become in high enough favor to enter our normal rotation.

The chicken is very basic, but the sauce makes the dish. It has a flavor I would not have predicted from the ingredients list. It is very complex and aromatic with just enough acid from the vinegar. Serve over a bed of basmati rice with grilled pineapple. As I sit here entering the recipe at 8:55 am, I am hungry just thinking about it. Warning, this is a weekend meal. The sauce takes quite a bit of preparation.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 shallots, diced
4 large mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 bunch cilantro, stems and leaves separated
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped with seeds
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 cups chicken stock or canned broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 pounds boneless chicken breasts and thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
6 scallionsMake the sauce by melting butter in a skillet. Cook shallots and mushrooms until soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add cilantro stems and 1/2 the leaves, jalapeno peppers, and cumin, lower heat and cook for 5 minutes. Add chicken stock. Turn heat to high and cook until liquid is reduced by half. Add cream and return to a boil. Remove from heat. Puree in a blender, strain, and return to heat.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar, and vinegar together in a small bowl. Pour one cup pureed sauce into egg mixture to temper. Then combine egg mixture and puree, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until sauce is thick and smooth. Keep warm.

Preheat broiler or prepare grill. Season chicken lightly with salt and pepper, since sauce will be spicy. Mix oil and lime juice in a small bowl and brush chicken and scallions with it.

Broil or grill thighs about 12 minutes, breasts about 9 minutes, and scallions about 2 minutes per side. Always grill chicken skinside down first.

Arrange grilled chicken over a bed of Basmati Rice and spoon sauce over all. Garnish with the remaining cilantro leaves and scallions, and serve immediately.

Grilled Salmon Vera Cruz

Rick Bayless is one of our favorite chefs, and conincidentally a Chicago restaurant owner (our three regular blog readers and commenters are all IL natives). He cooks classic and updated Mexican cuisine, but not what you think of Mexican. His dishes are frequently light, quick, and flavor packed. Tonight, we made this grilled Salmon which lived up to our expectations of his recipes. We served with a side of grilled quash. I only used 2 salmon steaks tonight, and plan use leftover sauce over grilled chicken tomorrow. For you vegetarians, this sauce would be nice over a mixture of grilled summer veggies and a bed of white rice.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for oiling the grill and the salmon
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
7 cups diced (1/2 inch) ripe tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves, plus a few sprigs for garnish
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1 cup pitted, roughly sliced green olives (preferably manzanillo olives)
1/4 cup capers, drained and rinsed
3 pickled jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and thinly sliced
Salt, to taste
6 salmon steaks (7 to 8 ounces each), about 1 inch thick

1. Prepare the sauce: Place oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the tomatoes, chopped thyme, lemon zest, and half of the olives, capers, and peppers. Simmer briskly, stirring, for about 5 minutes to evaporate some of the liquid. Reduce the heat to medium-low, stir in 1 cup water and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt. Cool.

2. Preheat a gas grill to medium-high or light a charcoal fire and let it burn just until the coals are covered with gray ash and very hot. Reduce the heat on one side of the gas grill to medium-low or set up the charcoal grill for indirect cooking by banking all of the coals to one side, leaving the other half of the grill empty. Set the cooking grate in place, cover the grill and let the grate heat for 5 minutes.

3. Oil the grill and both sides of each salmon steak; sprinkle fish with salt. Cook the salmon over the hottest part of the grill for about 4 minutes, until nicely browned underneath. Carefully flip over the fish onto the cooler side of the grill; cook 2 to 4 minutes more for medium-rare.

4. Spoon the sauce into a deep platter and nestle the fish in it. Let stand at room temperature for about an hour to bring together the flavors of the fish and the sauce.

5. To serve, sprinkle the fish with remaining olives, capers, and peppers; garnish with the thyme sprigs. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 460 calories, 15g carbohydrates, 42g protein, 25g fat, 110mg cholesterol.
Nutritional Breakdown: New Wellness, Richmond, Va