My Chicken Delicious

If I'm craving chicken and don't want to make something, I go to Chicken Delicious.

But I've I'm craving good chicken at home, have some time to think about it and a little time to go it...I make this, my infamous Pollo Verde. I don't follow a recipe. I've made it enough times, I just know when things are going to be all right. Here is a previous version.

Pollo Verde

To start with my green chicken, we start with what will become the marinade. 1 bunch of cilantro, leaves and most of the stems. Well washed. Several times. You don't want any sand in the leaves. Discard any brown or black leaves, those are nasty! Then you need some peppers. Please, no bell peppers. And you want mostly green peppers. I used Ancho, Sweet Banana and Jalapeno. Usually I only use one jalapeno, but I taste it to see how the spice level is. If it's mild, I'll go with two. With the other peppers, I usually try to have 3-4 each. Roughly chopped, with the seeds removed. Plenty of salt and ground black pepper. The rest of the green comes from lime juice. Usually I go with two limes. And for something fun, add about 1/2 a teaspoon of whole coriander seeds. **Note, I added whole, I should have smashed them a little. Crunching of those seeds--little brown seeds towards the top of the picture--is an experience; I'm talking flavor. Anyway. Drop in about 3 tablespoons of olive oil as well. Whiz it all together in the food processor or blender until smooth and sauce-like. Oh, if you like, you can add some garlic. I prefer to skip the garlic.


Reserve about 1/3 of the sauce for serving later with your chicken and for brushing on while the chicken grills. **See, there are more coriander seeds that didn't chop up in the processor. When you bite into them, they have a highly floral flavor. Very interesting. Not awful. But very interesting. Pour the rest of the green sauce over chicken thighs. I only use chicken thighs with this recipe. It's just that good. Boneless/Skinless is good, but you want the dark meat. If you're going to make this, use chicken thighs, you'll thank yourself later! Make sure the chicken is fully coated, seal in a bowl or zip bag and set in the ice box over night.


To accompany the chicken, we have some tasty morsels. Heirloom tomato, diced, salted and peppered.


Avocado, diced, salted, peppered, lime juice.


Grilled corn, little olive oil, salt and pepper, cut off the cob after cooking.


Pollo Verde can work on a grill pan or in the broiler, but the best--flavor and technique is on the grill. I like to have a pile of hot coals to one side of the grill. Get the chicken nice and seared and starting to char, then I'll move it to a cooler side of the grill and let it finish cooking with the cover on the grill. The corn, I just move it around a few times until charred. When the chicken is almost done, I spoon some of the extra verde sauce on and allow that to get one final sear over the hot coals.


I like to serve Pollo Verde with a tortilla of some sort. I happened to have these sun-dried tomato wraps. They worked well. I tossed them on the grill for a few seconds on each side when the chicken was done.


I pile all the ingredients on my plate and make little 'tacos' with all the goodies. Corn, tomato, avocado, chicken and some sauce. Wrap it up and chow down.


And towards the end, I get bored with the tortilla and just start mashing everything together. Amazing! This particular time, the tomato and corn were fresh from the farms. Both were supremely sweet and the tomato was particularly juicy. The only thing missing from this amazing line-up was some diced jicama that I wanted to add for crunch. I grabbed one from the grocery store, but I realized when I was in the check out, that half of it was rotten. If I get jicama, I make a quick orange/cumin vinaigrette that I dress the jicama with. Add that to the pile and you're in heaven!


This is one of my signature dishes. It's amazing. Great flavors, great spice levels, fresh, satisfying. All just right.

Next time though, I'm going to try gilding the lily...and adding a splash or two of a dry, crisp white wine to the verde sauce and see how that goes. Something tells me I'll slip into a food coma if it works out, never to be heard of again. Beautiful flavors.

A Healthier Chicken Parm

I really liked this. I first experimented with this a few weeks ago. Instead of frying breaded chicken cutlets in oil, I put them on the grill pan. It worked! The flavor is good. The texture is crispy, but light. And most of all, the chicken doesn't feel heavy, oily or otherwise weighed down my oil. Don't get me wrong, I love some fried goodness, but I wanted to try a healthier alternative. Let's get started.

A Lighter Chicken Parmesan

To get started, you need to prep your coating for the chicken. Use large plates or pans to help with preventing too much mess. You need three plates. Plate 1: seasoned flour. I use regular white flour, plus salt, pepper, ground oregano, garlic powder and some cayenne pepper. This will dry the chicken and give the coating something to stick to! Plate 2: eggs, whisked with a wee touch of water. The egg needs to stick to the flour. In turn, the eggs helps the outer coating to stick. Plate 3: the breading. For this application, I used two types of bread crumbs. Traditional plain breadcrumbs and Japanese-style Panko breadcrumbs. I did this for one reason; since I'm not frying these in oil, I want to make the coating as crunchy as possible. The panko help with that. Since panko are more expensive than regular, I used a mix to help spread the wealth as it were. Season the breadcrumbs with a variety of herbs; an Italian blend or use basil, parsley, thyme, savory, oregano. Or use something completely different, whatever you like.

To coat the chicken, pat them dry with a paper towel, dip in the flour and coat all sides, dip in the egg and coat all sides then dip into the breadcrumbs and press down on all sides to get a nice hearty coating on the chicken.

Now to cooking. I used a grill pan. No oil, just get the grill pan nice and hot over a medium-high flame. Gently lay the coated chicken cutlets on the pan and cook for a few minutes per side. Lift gently to take a peak on the underside. You're going to start to see grill marks and a nice golden color.

The first side is done. Finish the next side. In this particular instance, I wasn't concerned about the chicken being cooked through as it was going to go in the oven for up to 10 minutes, and will finish cooking there. If you are not using the oven, lower the heat and let the chicken cook an extra few minutes per side to cook all the way through. You need to lower the heat or you will end up with scorched coating and a raw interior.

When the chicken was browned, I placed on a baking sheet and spooned on some leftover red sauce from the other night, and sprinkled on the parm.

Place some mozzarella cheese on top and place in the oven. I did about 5-7 minutes in a 350 degree oven to finish cooking the chicken and melt the cheese. For the last 2-3 minutes I put the chicken under the broiler to make the cheese bubbly and golden brown. If you really want to make this a lighter, healthier chicken parm, use less cheese, use a fat free cheese, whatever you like. I happened to have the grocery store, part skim mozz. It was good. If I was being decadent, I would have gotten some fresh mozz and used that. All good. Use what you like.

Wonderful! Flavor and texture are wonderful. You still get the cheese goodness, but with a lighter tasting, extra-crunchy chicken. Yeah!

A new twist on "Fried" chicken cutlets

Last night's dinner was on the fly. I was running home after working a little late, picking some things up quickly at the grocery, picking up DancerinDC at the metro, the swinging by the community center to pick up fresh eggs, first strawberries of the season and probably the last of this season's asparagus. What was I to do???

I got chicken in my mind and thought about doing a fried cutlet kind of them. But I wasn't totally in the mood. Well, I went that route and thought it through on the way home. Instead of frying the cutlets, I'll bread them and then grill them! It worked!

Chicken cutlets coated with flour, dipped in egg, then coated in seasoned bread crumbs. Great texture and good flavor.

Since the grill pan was out, I decided to grill the asparagus we just picked up. Tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper and dropped on the pan. Leave them on one side until you can start to smell them cooking, then flip them over and give them another few quick minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, I wanted to revisit the Hollandaise Sauce fail from a few weeks ago. I learned from my mistakes and got it right this time. But I also went a step further and turned my Hollandaise into a Bearnaise Sauce. This may not be completely authentic, since I didn't have tarragon, but it was good. Prior to mixing the eggs and butter, I sauted some finely diced shallots in a little butter until they were almost tender, I turned the heat up and added some white wine, salt, pepper and a pinch of dried oregano to replace the tarragon. Simmer until the wine is reduced to about 2 TB and thickened. Halfway through whisking the melted butter into the Hollandaise, I stirred in the shallots and wine. I continued with the rest of the butter. So good!

The cutlets and asparagus would have been nice like this. Perhaps a wedge of lemon to brighten things up. But really...

...why not gild the lily and spoon over plenty of Bearnaise Sauce for the ultimate indulgence. The three items perfectly complemented each other. The sauce held and did what it was supposed to. The asparagus was perfectly cook, just a smidge before being tender and the chicken was crispy, crunchy and not fried or oily. All in all a good dinner. Also complemented with a bottle of white bordeaux.

Grilled Pizza

With a little guidance from Tony Food, I tried something new this Saturday; Grilled Pizza. A pretty good success, but I'm not quite master of my domain yet.

First, we must make dough. You will need just over three hours of time, with short periods of work into between.

The Dough
from Tony Food, adapted from Alice Waters:

2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup rye flour (or whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup plus 1Tbsp warm water,
2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 tsp table salt (1 1/4 for kosher)
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

The yeast...

The flour...

The sponge...flour, water, yeast. To make the sponge, combine the first three ingredients and allow to proof for 20 minutes. Cover and place in a warmish place.

The sponge after twenty minutes. Add the remaining four ingredients and knead until combined and tacky.

Place the dough ball in an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp towel, again in a warmish location and proof for 2 hours.

The proofed dough. After the two hours of rest, punch down the down and re-form into a ball and allow to rest for another 45 minutes...

Prepped for the second proofing.

After 45 minutes, you can divide the dough into 2 equal size balls and begin forming your pizza rounds. Start with your fingers and push the dough into a flat round. Use a rolling pin to continue rolling to your preferred thickness. Try for about 1/4 inch thick.

Prep your pizza toppings. Sauce...cheese...check. Meats and veg should be partially and/or fully cooked. The pizzas will cook quickly on the grill so you want them to be ready to cook quickly or finish cooking quickly. I made two pizzas, 1) tomato, mozzarella and basil 2) tomato, mozzarella and sausage. I pre-cooked the sausage.

Make sure your grill is hot and the grill grate is cleaned and oiled.

Brush one side of your dough round with olive oil and carefully place your dough round over the coals, oil side down. The dough will immediately start to cook and bubble. Watch closely. With the hot coals, the dough can burn easily. Slide the dough around to prevent too much burning. Oil the top side of the dough and flip to cook the opposite side...

...now with the grilled side up...start dressing your pizza...

...sauce, basil...and later the cheese. Allow the crust to finish cooking. The mozzarella melted beautifully, but it did not get brown and bubbly like a pizzeria style pizza...because I was expecting it...the bottom of the crust burned a bit...

...I learned from my error and corrected pizza two. The sausage pizza was cooked to near perfection...

...the cheese could have melted a bit more...but still very tasty!

...and here's the first pizza.

When all was said and done...we ate very well! The tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza was simple and classic. The parts of the crust that weren't burned black, were very crisp. Per the recipe, the dough/crust was great! The sauce was simple...canned, whole tomatoes, little salt, little sugar, little oregano...done. No cooking. Very nice.

However...the sausage pizza was much better. Something about the sausage and the grill/smokey flavors just played so well together. Totally and completely satisfying. I will certainly try one again.

Lessons learned:
*Don't try to make two pizzas on the grill at once. Especially if the coals aren't even, you'll have uneven cooking and moving uncooked dough around a grill just makes a mess of your crust.
*Make sure you have the appropriate heat level in the grill. To hot and you'll just scorch the dough. To cool and you'll have flabby crust.

Can't wait to try this again...grilled pizza is awesome...pizza goodness in summer, without firing up the oven!

Thanks Tony!

Pollo con pina y jengibre

Last night's dinner was a treat...and I don't know how to classify it! Besides delicious that is...!

Chicken thighs, brined for an hour in a mixture of water, salt, pineapple juice and fresh grated ginger. The chicken was then grilled and glazed with Pineapple & Ginger Jam by Martha's Jam, here in Cheverly, MD. I kicked the jam up a bit with some cayenne pepper to cut the sweetness. I want to call the dish "pollo con pina y jengibre" (Chicken with Pinapple & Ginger), but the Spanish implies a Mexican/Latin/Spanish dish. However, the flavors were more reminiscent of Hawaiian/South Pacific Islands/tropical influence...it was almost a grilled Sweet & Sour Chicken. It was delicious and I look forward to my leftovers for lunch today!

I served the chicken with grilled peppers and rice. I wanted to throw some pineapple on the grill as well, but forgot to get some at the (left my shopping list on my desk!).

The chicken takes about 15 minutes to grill over a hot fire. Of that time, I usually keep the grill covered for half the time. This combo seems to give me good results with the grill/char and making sure the chicken is cooked through.

Partial Fail/Partial Win

Looks tasty. It was easy. Great, fresh ingredients. What went wrong?

I over-cooked the pork chops on the grill. They were like leather. But the flavor was still good, even if they were dry and tough. They were brined in a salt-water/orange juice solution, then seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin and coriander. Maybe the acid in the OJ toughened them up???

The corn was fresh from the market, as were the peppers. The corn was roasted on the grill...great! The peppers and some shallots were sauted in butter, the corn was added to heat thru. A final whiz of lime juice was added at the end. The lime and this type of pepper didn't play well together...and combined with the corn, the flavor was off and strange.

Oh well...no biggie...mistakes happen...moving on....

Leftovers and Catch Up

Apologies for my regular readers...summer's a harder time for me to keep my nose to the grindstone and update the blog on a regular basis. I'm still cooking, just not taking photos as often, or pontificating about food as much.

Regardless, I made a few good meals this past week. The first...

Beef Pot Pie, using up more of the leftover grilled brisket.

To start, I sauted some onions and rosemary in butter. I hope heaven smells like this! ...well, as least once a week! So fragrant and beautiful. The resinous aroma of rosemary is so calming and relaxing for me.

After the onions are soft, I add some flour to the butter to make a roux. Let the roux cook for a few minutes until it starts to smell toasty and nutty and the color darkens slightly. Stir constantly. I then added a few glugs of beer and some beef broth and chicken broth. When using canned beef broth, it's usually a good idea to cut it with some chicken broth. The canned beef broth is fine, but on it's own can taste metallic overly fake. The diluted version tastes a touch more natural. The sauce will be thick and velvety. Add some boiled potatoes and carrots. Stir in the chopped up brisket. Simmer for a few minutes over low heat.

Pour the mixture into individual baking dishes. I had two medium sized ramekins. Cover with pie dough or puff pastry. I had frozen, store bought dough. I carefully cut out rounds and laid them over the pie filling. Poke a few holes in to let the steam out. Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.

Handle the dish gently and serve hot. Delicious! This was very satisfy and super filling. Not a summer dish, but when you're using up leftovers, that's OK!


Delicious meal #2 was a special request. The Kara was visiting for the weekend and asked for the Chopped Mexican Salad with Jicama. This is an amazing salad. Usually it's a composed salad with the ingredients laid out and you scoop what you like. We were being more causual, so I chopped and mixed.

Here we have grill roasted corn and green bell peppers. There are some yellow cherry tomatoes from the market...as was the corn and bell pepper. I had one leftover red tomato from the store. There is also a small amount of jicama. I was sad. I bought a GIANT jicama at the store...it was the only one not soft and squishy...when I cut it open, rotten...I was only able to harvest about 1/2 a cup of good jicama. Oh well...


Add some avocado, cilantro and the dressing...an orange-lime dressing with shallots and cumin. Toss and serve. Crunchy, tangy, creamy, fresh, vibrant! Happy.


I served with my grilled Pollo Verde (a favorite!) and some fresh whole wheat tortillas, also from the market. Cut the chicken up and roll up in the tortillas with scoops of the salad. The ultimate, fairly healthy burrito! No cheese, no rice, extra helpings of vegetables!

July Fourth!

Originally I was planning on some chicken for the 4th. At the last minute I changed my mind and planned on making grilled fajitas. They was good!!!! I wanted flank steak, couldn't find it...so I ended up with brisket. Which worked pretty well.

The meat was seasoned with a blend of salt (3 tsp), pepper (2 tsp), paprika (2 tsp), garlic(2 tsp), thyme(2 tsp) and a pinch of dry mustard. The dry rub sat with the meat for 30-45 minutes. I think the brisket cooked for about 30 minutes over indirect, medium high to high heat.

Then there was the issue of veggies. I went with one large red onion, 2 green bells, and one each of orange, red and yellow. They were lightly drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. I wrapped them in foil and put them over indirect heat as well. After about 15 minutes, I opened the foil up and moved them over high heat. No rhyme or reason for how I cooked them, I wanted them just about soft and smoky. It worked.

Slice the beef thinly, on a bias. Serve with rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa and tortillas. Yum. Speaking of beans...I don't really do much with beans...but in this instance...I sauted a little red onion in olive oil until tender and starting to brown. I added two cans of black beans, drained and rinsed. Season liberally with salt & pepper, oregano and chipotle chili powder. Since the beans were dry, I felt they needed something extra...I had a beer in my hand...glug glug, about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of Corona. Then I stirred in a tablespoon of tomato paste. Cover and simmer until warm. The guests seemed to like them.


Thanks to DancerinDC for the photos.

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.

Summer Lovin'

What I'm about to say has the potential to cause riots and break out in a civil wars. But I have to speak the truth.

Topic:
Wisconsin Beer Brats

How can Beer Brats be so incendiary? It's how you make them.

There are hard-core fanatics that go in one direction and those that go in the other direction.

To make Beer Brats you have to start with a Johnsonville Bratwurst. That's it. Other brands just don't work for me. As far as I'm concerned, Johnsonville is the only way to go for Beer Brats.

Here's where I think people see a difference...

I take the bratwursts out of the package and toss them on a hot grill. Get them good and charred. Smoky. Don't burn them and don't worry that they don't cook completely. They will continue cooking in a warm, steamy beer bath in a bit.

Once charred, take the bratwurst off the grill and submerge them in a mixture of beer, butter and onions. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot, on a bun with mustard and if you are a heathen like me, ketchup.

What's so bad about that??? There are folks who insist that you parboil the bratwurst in the beer before grilling begins. That's fine, but I don't think the beer flavor, which is the purpose of a Beer Brat, sticks around after you grill the wurst. By simmering & finishing the cooking in a beer bath, you will have a stronger beer flavor and a plump, juicy sausage. Perfect! And who doesn't love a plump, juicy sausage!???!!!

Wednesday night's dinner was bratwurst and fresh corn on the cob, both on the grill.

After the wurst get a nice sear on the outside, take them off the grill and...

...put them in a bath of beer, onions and butter. In this case, I had a medium-body, hoppy beer with onions I had grilled the night before. I used about 1/2 a stick of butter. Because butter is good for you.

Leave the corn on the grill until it because nice and charred as well. I think the most important step for grilling corn actually occurs before grilling starts. You need to soak the corn in water for at least an hour. This will trap some water between the kernels and the husks, creating additional steam to help cook the corn.

Beautiful. The corn, not being locally grown and just picked, was a little starchy, but still tasty. I kicked up the flavor some by making a chili-lime compound butter to put on the corn. Take one stick of butter, at room temperature, and mix with some chili powder (I used Chipotle & Cayenne powders), the zest of one lime and the juice of half a lime. Add some fresh black, cracked pepper. Mix together until well blended and spread on the hot corn. Hot and dripping in more butter. Yum.