Grill Roasted

The other night I took a stab at adapting an oven roasted chicken recipe and putting it on the grill. The oven roasted recipe has delicate flavors and I wasn't sure how it was going to hold up on the grill. Would the fire, intense heat & smoke suffocate the gentle aromatic herbs and subtle sweetness. Well, I'll be dipped in honey, it didn't! Dinner was great!

Grill Roasted Provencal Chicken
with Honey and Thyme

Here's the original recipe.

To start, I brined two pieces of chicken. They were chicken quarters, thighs and legs. The brining solution was about 3-4 cups of water, 1/4 cup kosher salt, 2 TB honey, 1 tsp dried lavender flowers and 1 TB Herbes de Provence. Soak the chicken for an hour. When ready to cook, drain, rinse and pat dry.

Before you begin grilling, make your glaze. Herbes de Provence, lemon zest, shallots, fresh chopped thyme, honey, lemon juice and olive oil. (Quantities in the original recipe linked above)



Brush the glaze on the chicken and place on the grill. Brush the glaze each time you flip. For the grill roasting, I put the charcoal in two sections down the sides of the grill, leaving an emtpy section in the middle. Don't place the chicken directly over the coals or it might start to burn (remember there is honey in the glaze). My chicken took about 20-30 minutes to cook. Keep covered for most of the cooking time.


At the very end, I put some carrots that I had par-boiled onto the grill to get some char on them. There were just the right texture and the high heat carmelized them just a touch. Great!

I was surprised to see the tender lavender and thyme flavors stick around after roasting on the grill. The lavender was subtle, which is very important. It it becomes too strong you feel like you're eating potpourri. I've decided I won't cook chicken on the grill that isn't brined. It can become to tough and dry. Brining allows for making mistakes and still gives you a great dinner! Woo Hoo.