Grilled Chicken with Roasted Garlic-Oregano Vinaigrette

It's taken a while, but Bobby Flay has finally won me over. A friend kindly gifted me his newest cookbook, Grill It! Which, I can not wait to work my way through this summer.

I tried my first recipe from this book on Saturday and was just blown away by the flavor. Can you say, Drop-Kick-Your-Dog-Delicious? I can! This now officially my new favorite summer "For Company" dinner. Not to mention it looks beautiful on a plate!

Tip:
My chicken breasts were 16oz each vs. Bobby's recommended 8oz in this recipe. Therefore, they took a bit longer and I was standing ready with a probe thermometer. Your chicken should be between 160 and 165 degrees before pulling it off of the grill.

Grilled Chicken with Roasted Garlic-Oregano Vinaigrette and Grilled Fingerling Potatoes
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, 2007

For the roasted garlic-oregano vinaigrette:
8 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I used champagne vinegar)
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes

For the grilled chicken and potatoes:
12 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
Kosher salt
Olive oil
4 (8-ounce) bone-in chicken breasts
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh oregano sprigs, for garnish

For the roasted garlic-oregano vinaigrette:
Combine garlic, vinegar, oregano, parsley, honey and salt in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the oil and process until emulsified. Stir in the red chile flakes.

For the grilled chicken and potatoes:
Place potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with cold water and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until a paring knife inserted comes out with some resistance. Do not cook the potatoes all the way through because they will continue cooking on the grill. Drain well and when cool enough to handle, slice in half lengthwise.

Heat the grill to medium.

Brush the chicken and potatoes with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken on the grill, skin-side down and grill until golden brown and slightly charred, 6 to 7 minutes. Turn the chicken over and continue grilling until just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. A few minutes before the chicken has finished cooking, place the potatoes on the grill, cut-side down and cook until lightly golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn over and continue grilling about a minute longer. Remove the chicken and potatoes to a platter and immediately drizzle with the roasted garlic-oregano vinaigrette. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with oregano sprigs.

Firecracker Salmon

Found a new salmon recipe we're crazy about- Firecracker Salmon, courtesy of Whole Foods. It's a lot sweeter than our normal Asian Grilled Salmon. But, delicious all the same!
Firecracker Grilled Alaskan Salmon
Serves 4

A blend of sweet and spicy, try this salmon next time you light up the grill. Since it has some sugar in the marinade, make sure to oil your grill well or wrap each fillet loosely in heavy foil and place directly on grill to avoid sticking.

4 Alaskan salmon fillets, 4–6 ounces each
1/4 cup peanut oil
2 tablespoons Soy sauce
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon grated ginger
1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/8 salt (if desired)

Place salmon fillets in a glass dish(I use a zip top bag). Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over salmon. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator 4–6 hours.

Remove salmon from marinade and place on a well-oiled grill 5 inches from coals. Grill for 8–10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at the thickest part. Turn halfway through cooking. (You may also wrap and seal with foil to form a packet). Cook covered, 20–25 minutes on medium-hot grill or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

Nutrition Info
Per Serving (170g-wt.): 260 calories (120 from fat), 14g total fat, 2g saturated fat, 29g protein, 4g total carbohydrate (0g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 80mg cholesterol, 800mg sodium

Grilled Pizza

If you ask me my favorite thing to grill, I'll always say pizza, hands down. It's the closest I can get to brick oven at home. Not to mention easy, tastier and cheaper than take out.

I do make my own sauce, but you can certainly keep it easy and buy prepared sauce. I also make my own dough, which I'll be providing a recipe for here. But, you can purchase a store bought dough and use it just as easily. The trick is lightly oiling your grates, really cranking the grill to get things started and making sure to oil up the dough. I also think making "personal" size pizzas keeps things manageable and moving right along.

Typically, I will make the dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge so it's ready to go when I am. (I do let it come to room temp for about 45 minutes to an hour before handling).

I use a pizza cheese mix that I throw a little oregano into as well. When I'm ready to top the pizza, first goes on the sauce, then I top w/ meats (we used canadian bacon and pre-cooked sweet turkey italian sausage) and then cheese.

This is the recipe that I've found so far to work best:

Grilled Pizza Dough
Gourmet June 2003

Chris Bianco, the owner of Pizzeria Bianco, in Phoenix, makes our favorite pizza dough. He showed us his technique for our October 1999 issue, and we've been building on it ever since. Here, we've adapted his recipe slightly to make it work on the grill. This recipe is an accompaniment for Grilled Pizza Margherita.

Makes 1 lb dough, enough for 2 (9-inch) pizzas. (I make 4 from this)

1 (1/4-oz) package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 3/4 to 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading and dredging
3/4 cup warm water (105-115°F)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1/4 cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until mixture appears creamy on surface, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn't, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir together 1 1/4 cups flour and salt in a large bowl, then add yeast mixture, oil, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water and stir until smooth. Stir in enough of remaining flour (1/4 to 1/2 cup) for dough to come away from side of bowl.

Knead dough on a work surface with floured hands, reflouring work surface and hands when dough becomes too sticky, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 8 minutes. Divide dough in half and form into 2 balls(I did 4-- 2 a piece inside of oiled gallon zip top baggies), then generously dust balls all over with flour and put each in a medium bowl. Cover bowls with plastic wrap and let dough rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. Dough can be allowed to rise, covered and chilled, 1 day. Bring to room temperature before kneading.

Form pizza rounds:

Do not punch down dough. Gently dredge 1 ball of dough in a bowl of flour to coat, then transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Holding 1 edge of floured dough in the air with both hands and letting bottom touch work surface, carefully move hands around edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel), allowing weight of dough to stretch round to roughly 7 inches in diameter.

Lay dough round flat on floured surface and continue to stretch by pressing dough with your fingertips, working from center outward to edge, stretching it into a 9-inch round. Transfer to a large floured tray and make another round in same manner, then place it next to other round. Lightly rub a long sheet of plastic wrap with flour, then invert loosely over pizza rounds and let them stand to puff slightly while preparing grill, 10 to 20 minutes.

To prepare gas grill:

Preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderate.

To grill pizzas:

Remove plastic wrap from both rounds of dough and lightly brush dough with some oil. Carefully flip dough rounds, oiled sides down, with your hands onto middle of lightly oiled grill rack and brush top of each with oil. Grill crusts, uncovered, until undersides are golden brown (rotate them if 1 side of grill is hotter than the other), 2 to 3 minutes on gas grill or 4 to 6 minutes on charcoal grill.

Flip crusts over with tongs and a spatula and top each crust with half of tomato sauce, spreading evenly over dough and leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly over sauce and grill pizzas, covered with grill lid, until undersides are golden brown and cheese is melted, about 3 minutes on gas grill or 5 minutes on charcoal grill.

Scatter basil over pizzas. (If using meat-- place pre-cooked meat on pizza after sauce and then cover w/cheese).

Grilled Chicken Tarragon

Please meet my new favorite ingredient: Lea & Perrins "white" worcestershire sauce. FAB-u-lous!

Apparently, this is supposed to be great by itself as a marinade. But, I went hunting around the internet today for a spiffy recipe and found a great one on the actual L&P site-- Grilled Chicken Tarragon. It's a winner. Hubs and I both agreed it should be on our regular grill rotation.

I also found a White Wine "Beer Butt" chicken that uses this ingredient. Sounds interesting, so I kept the recipe for weekend experimenting sometime later down the road.


Grilled Chicken Tarragon

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Lea & Perrins® White Wine Worcestershire Sauce
3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 Tbsp. Finely minced shallots
1 Tbsp. Minced tarragon
4 Raw boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1-1/4 lbs.)

Instructions:
Prepare marinade by cominbing all ingredients except chicken.

In gallon baggie, pour 1/2 cup marinade over chicken; turn to coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator up to 3 hours. Refrigerate remaining marinade.

Remove chicken, discarding marinade. Grill or broil, turning occasionally and brushing frequently with marinade that was refrigerated separately, until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

Grilled Lemon Chicken

I'd been holding on to this recipe for a couple of years now, always knowing I would eventually try it. It's the only recipe unused to last this long in my stack of "To Try" recipes :) And boy am I glad I kept it!

This recipe is really delicious and gives my favorite store bought marinade a run for it's money. I'm not keen on overpowering citrus though and would knock back the lemon zest and juice to half of what is asked for here. But, overall a keeper recipe!

Grilled Lemon Chicken
Gourmet June 2005

Food Editor: Melissa Roberts-Matar Father: Richard Roberts, Monsey, NYSummer and my father's grilled lemon chicken are synonymous for me. Like the alphabet-shaped pancakes he cooked on weekend mornings, this is a signature creation, and one he perfected over time.
The chicken picks up a bright citrus flavor in an unusual marinade made with lemon, oil, and egg. Dad likes to serve it with homemade potato salad and iced tea spiked with mint leaves.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil(I used canola)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 (3 1/2-lb) chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces (I used chicken breast filets)

Make marinade:
Combine all ingredients except chicken in a blender and blend until emulsified.
Prepare chicken:Put chicken pieces in a nonreactive bowl or dish or a large sealable plastic bag.Add marinade and turn chicken once or twice to coat. Marinate, covered and chilled, at least 8 hours(I did overnite). Bring chicken to room temperature 30 minutes before grilling and discard marinade.

To cook chicken using a gas grill:
Preheat all burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then adjust heat to moderately high.Sear chicken on lightly oiled grill rack, uncovered, turning over once, until well browned, 4 to 8 minutes total. Turn off 1 burner (middle burner if there are 3) and arrange chicken on rack above shut-off burner. Cook, covered with lid and turning over occasionally, until just cooked through, about 12 minutes for wings, 18 to 20 minutes for breasts, and 20 to 28 minutes for dark meat. Transfer chicken as cooked to a platter.

Cooks' notes:• Chicken can be marinated up to 24 hours.• If you aren't able to grill outdoors, chicken can be seared in batches in a hot well-seasoned ridged grill pan over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer chicken as seared to a large baking pan and bake, skin sides up, in middle of a preheated 375°F oven until just cooked through, 20 to 25 minutes.

Asian Grilled Salmon

It's a gorgeous day here and I'm ready to grill! This also means a turn to healthier eats. Which is a welcome reprieve after stuffing ourselves silly in Vegas! This is also a crowd pleaser for BBQ's or hosted dinners (provided your guests like fish). This is tied for first place as far as our favorite recipe for Salmon. (I should add that DH hates salmon, but knows he should eat it for the Omega 3's. He doesn't even gripe when eating this dish!) Asian Grilled Salmon
Copyright, 2001, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, All Rights Reserved

1 side fresh salmon, boned but skin on (about 3 pounds)
(Most of the time, I use 2 filets and halve the marinade for the 2 of us)

For the marinade:
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good soy sauce(I use Tamari, low sodium)
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Light charcoal briquettes in a grill and brush the grilling rack with oil to keep the salmon from sticking. While the grill is heating, lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board and cut it crosswise into 4 equal pieces.

Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Place the salmon skin side down on the hot grill; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in.

Grill for 4 to 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4 to 5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don't worry; it will keep cooking as it sits. Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.