cooking with dreads: March 2011

The Charlotte sun is shining, the frost is gone, and the covers are coming off the grills.

Want to really impress your friends at the first BBQ of the season? Try out this delicious chicken recipe!

Menu:

Grilled half chicken with grilled romaine salad and roasted potatoes.

Shopping list:

2 whole chickens ( I bought ours on sale at Harris Teeter for .40 a lb)
Sweet peppers
Yellow onion
On the vine tomatoes
Romaine lettuce
Garlic
Parsley
Rosemary
Basil
1 lemon
Olive oil
Red wine vinager
Russet potatoes
Butter

*just a warning, this can get a little graphic...

De-boning the Chicken:

Place a cutting board on top of a wet towel (this helps the board stay in place as well and helps in absorbing blood from the chicken). Working close to a sink is also helpful in keeping the kitchen tidy when cleaning a chicken.

Remove the chicken from the bag in the sink, it is usually pretty full, and remove neck, gizzards and any other parts stored inside the chicken and rinse off the bird. Save the innards in a bowl to make your stock.

Place the rinsed and dried chicken breast side up on the cutting board

Cut slightly between the breast, and the meat will pull away so you can see breast plate better.

Kitchen shears work great here as well.

Pressing hard, cut through the breast and open the bird up.

The spine will be facing you. Cut both sides away from the spine; this should cut easily with a little pressure. If it seems too hard, you are most likely cutting too far from the spine.

You will be left with two equal sides and a spine.

Toss the spine in with the stock.

Fill stock with enough cold water to cover all bones and bring to a boil.

Skimming the top of the stock as it boils helps remove fat and and cloudiness from the bones as they cook resulting in a clear stock.

Flip each side over to expose the flesh, skin side down.

Facing you will be the ribs, we want to remove these (not absolutely necessary but will lead to a bigger WOW factor during presentation, not to mention easier eating). With a sharp paring knife, follow the ribs pushing the meat away.

This will take a few tries but the more you do it the less meat you will remove in the process.

Once removed, the only bones remaining should be the leg, thigh and wing bone. These bones help to keep structure and they are easier to eat around then the rib bones.

Now for the last bit of pizzazz: Frenching the leg bone.
Half an inch away from the knuckle, cut around the bone, as you would to open a wine bottle. This will take a bit of pressure to cut through the nerves.

Careful: watch your fingers! Slide the knife between the meat and bone toward the knuckle and pull the meat over the top. The shape of the knuckle will help guide the knife.

Ta-da! Your first Frenched bone.

Now for the marinade:

In a blender, food processor, or hand blender (my favorite), mix herbs, lemon juice, garlic and salt/pepper. Slowly add in oil to incorporate.
Use 2/3 of mixture on the chicken and save rest for vegetables.

Season chicken with salt and pepper and the pour marinade on top. Allow 1/2 hour to marinate.

After it has marinated:

With a CLEAN grill on medium high, place the chickens skin-side down first (you always want to cook your presentation side first. Once the grill or pan has been cooked on, it's not going to sear the bottom side quite as nicely). Once seared turn the grill to medium and cook each side for 20 minutes.

Cold Grilled Salad:

On a clean cutting board cut vegetables (onions, peppers and tomatoes). I like leaving the stems of the sweet peppers on for presentation.

In saute pan, toss in cut veggies (sans lettuce) with remaining marinade and grill, careful not to over cook the tomatoes or they will loss their shape.

Lastly, place fresh romaine leaves on the grill just to wilt a little (10 seconds tops).

Place vegetables in the fridge to cool down.

Potatoes:

Large dice the washed russet potatoes and saute in minced garlic and oil. Once they have started to brown and your chicken stock, about a cup at a time and allow stock to reduce. Repeat until potatoes are soft.

Once soft, add 1 tablespoon of butter and toss in oven at 350 for 10 minutes.