Pollo Asado

I've started getting sucked into The Voice this season. Past seasons, I've just watched if, for example, it was on when I was at the gym, but I never really tuned in at home or recorded it.  For some reason, I'm totally hooked on this season. One of the contestants is from the city where I live - I tell myself I watch to cheer him on (nevermind that I think he said he moved out of the suburbs a while ago).

Usually when I watch, I have a cat on my lap. In one of the blind audition episodes, said cat started meowing pretty loudly when one of the hopefuls was singing off-key.

Fast-forward about a week or two and The X Factor was on (I wasn't actually watching - I just forgot to turn off the TV when the show I was watching was over). One of the contestants was absolutely murdering a Kelly Clarkson song, and again, the same cat started meowing loudly. 

Back to The Voice - kitty was not a fan of the woman who ultimately won the battle where the contestants sang Katy Perry's Hot and Cold.

I'm still haven't decided if I think she really likes bad intonation and is trying to sing along or if she's offended by the bad singing. 

This is another recipe I made back when the weather was nice and warm. I miss that weather. We first made  it and used the meat as tacos, but I felt the flavor was too subtle to make a great taco. The second time we made it, we ate it off-the-bone, which really brought out the hints of garlic, onion, and citrus. This will be a great one to make in the dead of winter when I'm really craving a nice hint of summer.

Pollo Asado

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

Serves up to 8

Prep Time - 2-24 hrs (mostly inactive)

Cook Time - 25 min

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1/2 cup orange juice*

2 lemons, juiced (save the halves)

2 limes, juiced (save the halves)

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 onions, peeled and copped into big chunks

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

up to 16 chicken parts (we used 6 but the marinade is plenty for more

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, combine the olive oil, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic. Whisk to combine. Save the little of the marinade for basting during the cooking process, and put the rest in a large ziplock bag and place the chicken parts in the bag. Add the fruit halves and onion chunks. Toss everything to combine. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hrs, up to over night.

About a half hour before you're going to cook, take the chicken out of the fridge and put it on the counter to get the chill off. 

Preheat a grill to about medium heat (or a broiler to high). 

Place the chicken on the grill and cook until cooked through, turning a few times, and marinading with each flip. This probably will take about 25 minutes whether you're broiling or grilling your chicken.

*I can not strongly advise enough not to try squeezing your own. My hand muscles hurt for several days after I tried to squeeze my own orange juice for this recipe.

Tandoori Chicken

Who else out there is totally feeling humidity bunny lately? Anybody with me? 

When it's this warm, cooking is about the last thing on my mind. When I do cook, it's usually to whip up a marinade so that my husband can eventually grill it whatever we're marinading.  He's a good sport - standing over a hot grill when it's so hot out to cook dinner. If only it were cool enough to sit outside on the deck and eat, I'd be in business.

Tandoori Chicken with Mint Raita

Cooking Light, June 2012

Grilled Calzones

My husband went to college in Iowa City (go Hawks...?).  It's a lovely little city with a lot of really wonderful food places. My personal favorite is a place called Sam's. Their calzones are A-mazing. Truly. I find myself craving them at random. In fact, if someone would bring one to my house right now, they would be my favorite person ever. Unfortunately, Iowa City is over 4 hrs away by car and we only get down there once every year or two. So when we go, we have to make it count. And the rest of the time, we try to replicate their calzones.

This was our latest attempt (using our brand new pizza stone!). While they were delicious, they still didn't capture the magic of Sam's. My husband is convinced it's all about the sauce and we just haven't found the right sauce recipe yet. I'm willing to entertain this argument...

Grilled Calzones
Makes 2

Here's what I did...

Get some fresh pizza dough and divide it in half. Roll each half out pretty thin. Put one half on a lightly-oiled pizza stone. Put down on half of the crust a layer of shredded cheese, a layer of pepperoni, a small layer of cheese, some browned Italian sausage crumbles, another small layer of cheese, more pepperoni, and then more cheese. Fold in half and then crimp up the edges.

Bring the other half over to the pizza stone and repeat.

Brush some oil on the top of both.

Put on a warm grill and cook until the dough is clearly cooked. You may want to flip it a couple times during cooking to ensure that both the top and bottom are cooked and the cheese inside is evenly melted.

Cut the calzones into strips and serve with marinara.

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza

My husband and I were recently in Mexico. We ate a ton of great food while we were there, including barbacoa and conchita pibil tacos that I still dream about. I even went out and bought achiote seeds so I can make cochinita pibil at home. This is not a post about either of those (yet). Rather, this is my version of Papa Murphy's BBQ chicken pizza.  It's going to get cold and snowy soon, so you should make it soon!

Grilled BBQ Chicken Pizza
Serves 3ish

INGREDIENTS
1 ball pizza dough (I like this recipe)
2 boneless chicken breasts
Barbeque sauce (I like this recipe)
1 small red onion, sliced
3-4 scallions, chopped
4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
2 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your grill and oil the grates. Grill should be heated to about medium.

Season the chicken breasts with salt & pepper. Grill until lightly charred and cooked through. Cut into thin-ish slices and set aside. At the same time as you're cooking the chicken, cook the onions in a grill basket (this is optional, but I think it tastes better go get rid of the raw onion-y flavor).

Roll out the pizza dough to about a 14-inch round. Brush about 1 TBSP oil on the top put the oiled side down on the grill. Cook for about 3 minutes. Take off the grill, oil the raw side, and flip over. Put down your BBQ sauce, cheeses, chicken, onions, and scallions. Put back on the grill, raw side down, and cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is cooked through (about another 3-5 minutes).

Grilled Pizza Margherita

My favorite pizza, hands down, is a pizza margherita. A nice crispy crust, a fresh tomato sauce, fresh basil, and mozzarella is all I need. I've been on the hunt for the best pizza margherita since the first time I got back from Italy (12 years ago... *feels old*). I found it a few years ago at a restaurant in Minneapolis, but I don't have the time to drive up there every time I get a craving. By the way, if you're a twin cities resident and you read this blog, please don't recommend Punch. I've been there. Yes, I know they claim the owners are from Naples. Their pizza sucks donkey balls.

During this process, I also discovered that I get irrationally annoyed when people call something margherita but it's clearly not. I was at a pizza place not too long ago where their margherita was advertised as having olives on it. Another one had goat cheese and gorgonzola. I'm pretty sure I saw one once that had bacon on it. Maybe delicious... margherita, not so much.

I also discovered a few places that spell it like the Mexican-ish blended tequila cocktail. I half hoped the pizza had some form of liquor and lime incorporated. But no.

When we were watching an episode of Good Eats not too long ago, we decided we had to give making our own on the grill a go. And despite the fact that pizza should be delivered to my house in about an hour, I venture that this stuff is better than anything you can get at most pizzerias.

So get to it. Make this pizza. And if you do, bring me one, OK?

Grilled Pizza Margherita
Recipe from Alton Brown, Adapted
Makes 1 large pizza or 2 small

INGREDIENTS
1 recipe pizza dough
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp dried oregano or Italian seasoning (optional, but I recommend it)
4-6 basil leaves, torn
2-4 oz sliced fresh Mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS
Make your dough and roll it out so it's pretty thin - use your judgment how thin, but I'd say we usually do somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch thick. Lay it on a greased pizza peel or the back of a cookie sheet.

Oil your grill grates and preheat the grill to medium.

Once heated, brush your dough with about 1-2 tsp of oil and put your dough on the grill and cook for about 3 minutes. Take it off the grill, brush the raw side with oil, and flip it over.

Put the tomatoes on the grill and cook them until they're nice and soft and mashable. This should take somewhere between 5-10 minutes (it usually takes us about 8).

Put the tomatoes on top of the dough (cooked side) and mash up to make the sauce. Put the torn basil leaves on top of the sauce and top with sliced mozzarella. Return to the grill and cook until the crust is done and the cheese is melted, about another 2-3 minutes. Let cool a bit before cutting and eating.

Now Blogging from a New Location (and Taco Pizzas)

I know I've been gone for a while. Quite a while. I have a good reason, I swear! My husband and I bought a house and we moved! We're finally starting to get (at least a little) settled in. I'm still getting used to my new kitchen. It's been a process. But I do have a great recipe to share with you. I came up with this one when I was desperately trying to figure out what to do with various things from my pantry and freezer before we moved. I'm not completely sure why frozen pita bread inspired me to make chicken taco pizzas, but I went with it. At any rate, it was a good decision. You should do yourself a favor and make these.

Grilled Chicken Taco Pizzas
Serves 2ish
Cook & Prep Time - about 50 minutes (30 minutes are inactive)


INGREDIENTS
3-4 pita breads
1-2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Mexican-ish spices (described below)
red onion, sliced thinly
green bell pepper, sliced thinly
jalapeno pepper, sliced thinly
Monterrey Jack cheese
Olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Make a Mexican-ish spice rub. I combined about 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/8 tsp dried oregano. Rub this into the chicken breast and let it marinate for about 30 minutes.

Grill the chicken breast and the veggies until chicken is cooked through and veggies are soft. Remove both from the grill and cut the chicken into narrow strips.

Brush the pita breads with some olive oil and put down on the grill. Let cook for about a couple of minutes and then take off the grill, flip over, and brush the other side with olive oil. Top with chicken, veggies, and Monterrey Jack cheese. Return to the grill and cook for a few more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serve with your favorite taco condiments, like salsa and sour cream.

Chicken Souvlaki

We love to grill. Even though we grilled a few times this winter (including once when it was 1 degree outside), we have started firing up the grill more often since the snow has started melting. One of the first things we made was Chicken Souvlaki, which, basically, a chicken kebab marinated in a blend of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and dried herbs. We served it on pita bread with tzaziki sauce, onions, and diced tomato, sort of like a gyro. The flavors are truly amazing. I was a bit skeptical making a marinade with so much balsamic vinegar, but it really is the star of this marinade. Give it a try - I know you'll love it.

Chicken Souvlaki
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com
Serves 3-4
Prep Time - 5 minutes
Inactive Prep Time - at least 8 hrs
Cook Time - about 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

Optional garnishes:
Pita bread, warmed up
feta cheese
lettuce
diced tomatoes
sliced onions

DIRECTIONS
Mix together the garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, rosemary, salt, & pepper in a zip-lock bag. Add the chicken and marinade in the refrigerator for at least 8 hrs, up to overnight.

About 30 minutes before you're ready to start cooking, take the chicken out of the refrigerator and put on skewers. Discard the marinade.

Pre-heat the grill and place the skewers on the prepared grill. Cook until juices run clear, about 5 minutes per side.

Remove from skewers and put on pita bread and top with your favorite pita toppings.

Tandoori Chicken

Don't you hate it when you need a small amount of something for a recipe, but end up having to buy a huge quantity of it because the store doesn't sell any other quantity? I recently found myself with a big tub of plain yogurt and had no idea what to do with it, aside from the half cup I needed for a stroganoff recipe. So, after I made the stroganoff, the yogurt sat in my fridge. Then, when I was looking through my recipes, I found a recipe for tandoori chicken that looked great. And it was. Even my husband, who previously thought he didn't like Indian food liked it.

Tandoori Chicken

Recipe adapted from several at Allrecipes

Serves 4

Prep Time - 10 minutes (plus marinading time)

Cook Time - 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 medium onion, finely diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 TBSP freshly grated ginger

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp ground cloves

8 chicken pieces, bone-in

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, mix together the yogurt, lemon, onion, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, garam masala, cayenne, cumin, coriander, and cloves.

Rinse and pat dry the chicken. Cut a few small slits, lengthwise, into the chicken pieces and place them in a ziplock bag. Place the yogurt over the chicken and refrigerate for 6-24 hrs (generally longer is better).

About 30 minutes before you're going to cook the chicken, take it out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter.

Preheat your grill and lightly oil the grate. Take the chicken out of the bag and shake off any excess marinade. Cook the chicken until cooked through, turning a couple times, about 20-30 minutes.

Barbeque Sauce

I know that ketchup is one of the main ingredients in barbeque sauce. So, it shouldn't have surprised me when I looked at the ingredients to my favorite barbeque sauce and saw that the first ingredient on the list was high fructose corn syrup. I was prepared for it to be high on the list, but first absolutely floored me.

A while ago, I started buying organic ketchups because we decided we like the taste of ketchup made with sugar better than ketchup made with high fructose corn syrup. Unfortunately, I went a little crazy at the store and made our fridge look like we were on a ketchup bender - we ended up with about 3 bottles of the stuff in the fridge. So, I decided to make barbeque sauce. I was a little hesitant at first, after one terribly failed attempt, but I gave it another try and I am so glad I did. This sauce had nice heat to it, and we have now tried it with both chicken and pork and it's fantastic with both. I'm glad I made a double batch.

Spicy Barbeque Sauce

Recipe from Epicurious, adapted

INGREDIENTS

2 TBSP oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1/3 cup finely chopped celery (I think I used 2 ribs, total in my double batch)

1 TBSP minced garlic

1 TBSP paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 cup ketchup (try to use organic)

1/2 cup beer

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add onion and celery and cook until tender, probably about 5 minutes. Add garlic and spices and stir. Cook for about a minute. Add the ketchup, beer, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce.

Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Grilled Wings

One of my favorite restaurants in the twin cities, Khan's Mongolian Barbeque, has these really great chicken wings. I've wanted to try to replicate them for years but could never find a copycat recipe for the marinade. Finally, at the suggestion of my husband, I decided to just look through my fridge and pantry and try to come up with a similar combination. We grilled them, and they were fantastic, but I'm sure they would be great baked or fried, too.

Grilled Chicken Wings

Serves 2-3

Prep Time - 5 minutes

Inactive time - at least 2 hrs

Cook Time - 10-12 minutes

INGREDIENTS

10-12 chicken wings

4 TBSP soy sauce

3 TBSP teriyaki sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 TBSP brown sugar

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4-1/2 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

Combine all ingredients, soy sauce through pepper in a zip-lock bag. Add chicken wings and make sure the marinade coats them all. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hrs.

Preheat the grill and cook the wings about for about 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked through.

Serve as either an appetizer or a main course.

Grilled Pizza

Have you ever grilled a pizza? And I don't mean getting one of those grilled pizza pans from Papa Murphy's; I mean actually putting the crust on your grill and actually cooking the pizza on the grill. If not, you should. I know, I know, the thought of putting raw pizza dough directly on the grill is scary, but you can do it. I'll be there with you.

Grilled Pizza

Grilling a pizza is a quick process, so before you begin, make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go and outside at the grillside. So, if you're using veggies, get those chopped up and on a platter or bowl. If you're using toppings, get those ready too. If you're making sauce, get that ready, too. Having this all ready and at the grill before you get started cooking it will help you tremendously.

Heat your grill to 350 degrees.

Roll out your favorite pizza crust on a lightly floured surface. Don't worry about it being particularly pretty or organized. What matters is that it's about 1/4-1/2" thick. Put that crust on the back of a cookie sheet (or a pizza peel, if you have one) and take it out to the grill. You can use any crust you want, but I used this one from Mario Batali and it worked great.

Make sure the grate on your grill is well-oiled. Put the pizza directly on top of the grill. Trust me - it won't fall through. Cook for about a minute or two and then flip it over. Immediately after you flip, add your toppings. You should do this quickly to make sure your pizza doesn't burn.

After your toppings are added, cook for another minute or two. Remove from the grill. Let sit for a couple minutes before cutting. Your pizza will have a nice grill flavor, and will also have a great crunch like woodfire pizzas.

Beer Can Chicken

Before I get started with this post, I have to say this: you must make this chicken. Now.

Beer Can Chicken was something I wanted to make for a long time, but didn't because I had a notion that it had to be grilled, and we didn't have a grill. So, when we got a grill, it was one of the first things I decided to make. Well, I should say that I enlisted my husband and his spectacular grilling skills to help me make it. I'm not sure why I put it off for so long - it really couldn't have been much easier and was the tastiest chicken I've ever had. You really do have to make it.

Beer Can Chicken

Recipe by Adam Gertler, via Carrie's Sweet Life, adapted

Serves 3-4

INGREDIENTS

1 (3-4 lb) chicken

1/4 cup kosher salt

1/4 + 1/8 (0.375) cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup paprika

1/8 cup chili powder

1/2 tsp dried rosemary (crushed lightly)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/8 cup garlic powder

1 can beer

2 sprigs rosemary

2-3 cloves garlic

DIRECTIONS

Mix all spices together. Rub all over the chicken, including the inside cavity. Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hrs, up to overnight.

When time to cook the chicken, open the beer and get rid of about half of it (what you do with the beer after you take it out of the can is your choice. ;) ) Put about 2 sprigs of rosemary and 2-3 cloves of smashed garlic in the can.

Put the can in a beer can holder (as seen in the picture below) and put the chicken on top of the holder.

Grill for about 1 1/2 hrs. Take it off the grill and let rest, either on the can or off the can, for about 10 minutes before carving.