Grilled Chicken Satay

There are about a million chicken satay recipes out there.  For my husband's annual work party I whipped this one up because it had the most pantry-friendly ingredients and the easiest directions.

And guess what? I turned out pretty darn good.

INGREDIENTS

 

3 TBS smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup lime juice
3 TBS curry powder
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cubed

DIRECTIONS

In a large mixing bowl combine peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, curry powder, garlic and hot pepper sauce. 

Divide the sauce.  Pour half of the sauce into a large zip lock bag.  Place the chicken in the marinade and leave to marinate for about 12 hours, or overnight in the fridge.  Place remainder of sauce in a bowl to serve with chicken when cooked.

When ready to cook, preheat broiler or grill to high.  If it's summer time, grill away.  If it's 25 below zero windchill in Upstate NY in January... lay the chicken on a foil-covered cooking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Serve immediately, with reserved sauce to dip. 

 

VERDICT

This probably would be phenomenal over the grill.  Just baked in the oven is perfectly fine, but I know it would be even better with those grill marks across the chicken.  This makes a great dinner or appetizer for a crowd.

Chipotle Chicken Kabobs with Avacado Cream Sauce

I guess it goes without saying, but the weather in Upstate NY can be CRAZY!  Monday it was 45 degrees and raining.  It was a cold, miserable day.  The next day it was sunny and 70.  So while we were supposed to make eggplant parm over pasta last night... it really didn't seem like a comfort food night.  It seemed like a grilling night.

So instead of my first attempt at eggplant parm, I give you Chipotle Chicken Kabobs:

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken: 
Juice of 2 limes
½ cup of vegetable or canola oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
¾ tsp. chili powder
¾ tsp. paprika
½ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 chipotle in adobo, seeded and minced
2 lbs. chicken breasts and/or thighs, cut into 1½-2 inch pieces (I used 2 breasts and 4 thighs)
Minced fresh cilantro, for serving

For the kabobs:

Fresh vegetables, to taste (I used patty pan squash and red peppers).  Grab whatever you've got in your fridge or garden and chop into 2-inch pieces)

(Note 2:  Patty pan squash?  Double points for using something from our CSA share this week!)

For the avocado cream sauce: 
1 avocado, split and pitted
½ cup low-fat greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

 In a medium bowl combine the lime juice, oil, spices, garlic, brown sugar, and chipotle.  Whisk together to combine.  

Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and mix well to ensure that they are all coated and mostly submerged.  Cover, refrigerate, and let marinate for 30-60 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a grill to medium-high.  When the chicken is done marinating, thread the pieces onto skewers for grilling, alternating with fresh veggies.    Dispose of the excess marinade.  

Place the kabobs on the grill and let cook, turning once or twice, until all sides are slightly browned.  Remove to a plate and let rest 5-10 minutes.  Sprinkle with minced fresh cilantro, if desired.

To make the sauce, combine the avocado, yogurt, garlic and lime juice in the bowl of a food processor or a blender.  Process until smooth.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve alongside the kabobs for dipping.

VERDICT

This chicken was HOT!   Spicy hot!  It was nice to have the cream sauce to cool it down a bit.  Although.... I'm not sure this exact cream sauce is exactly what this chicken was asking for.  Don't get me wrong, it was good... I just don't know if the sauce was perfect.  It was good, and would be great in place of sour cream on something like quesadillas.  

Bonus:  Serve this up with Jalapeno & Cheddar Corn Bread!

Arugula Mozzarella Pizza on Naan Bread

This week as I was pulling into the driveway after 6pm I talked to a friend who was also just getting home.  They were ordering pizza because "I can't get home this late and make dinner!  Who has time for that?"

Friend, meet grilled naan pizza.  You can make it in less time than it takes for the Domino's driver in the busted up 1996 Honda Accord to deliver fake pizza to your door step.

INGREDIENTS

2 naan breads (garlic flavor is great!)
pizza sauce (or regular tomato sauce and fresh tomato chunks)
fresh mozzzarella (or the shredded bag kind)
dash of oregano
Italian seasoning- to taste
Arugula- optional

DIRECTIONS

So you can see that my ingredients are pretty loosey-goosey.  Same for the instructions.  Make the pizza, throw it on the grill (around 300 degrees is good- keep it low and slow) for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese melts.

VERDICT

Use whatever you have in your cabinets.  You honestly can't get this wrong.  As long as you have some kind of tomato product, some kind of cheese, you're golden.  So put the phone down.  Dinner is on the grill.

If arugula and fresh mozzarella are too exotic (or you don't have them on hand... because, you know... I wouldn't normally if I didn't have my week's meals planned out), try one of these quick pizza recipes instead:

Grilled Pesto Pizza
Grilled Pizza

CSA Summer Challenge: Grilled Pesto Pizza

Here's this week's haul from the CSA Share:

Lettuce
More lettuce
Swiss Chard
Kale
Raddishes (or are they beets?)
Dill
Sugar Snap Peas

 And I have to admit... I am hopelessly behind.  The lettuce is easy, it gets cleaned, dried, and tossed into a large container for salads immediately.  But the Swiss chard?  I STILL haven't eaten last week's portion.  And the dill?  Into the freeze it went, to be used at some later time.

And since I'm so hopelessly behind, I finally used last week's garlic scape pesto that has been in the fridge just waiting to be tried out.  Remember that?  You can find that recipe HERE.

So back to the pizza.  I love grilled pizza.  Over the last few years since we've discovered that you can grill it we've made numerous little tweaks to make it easier and tastier.  Here are a few pointers we've learned by trial and error:

-keep your heat low- under 200 degrees if possible.  If the heat's too high the outer crust will burn, and no one wants a burned pizza.
-take time to assemble each pizza.  We used to both stand over the grill- him cooking the dough and me slapping the sauce and cheese on in a hurry to get it on there before the other side burned.  Who needs that stress?  Now he cooks one side, brings the dough back in, I top it and take it back out for it's second stint on the grill.
-Make sure all of your ingredients are in place and cut up before you start.
-Let the dough sit out on the counter for 20-30 minutes so it stretches out better when you are ready to flatten it out and use it.

Here's what we used for the Pesto Pizza:

INGREDIENTS

Pre-made pizza dough (the kind from the rolled Pillsbury can is fine, the fresh ball from the super market is better
Pizza cheese, or shredded mozzarella cheese
Garlic Scape Pesto, or jarred pesto
olive oil

DIRECTIONS

Dry dough sticks to everything.  So lather up your hands and a cutting board with some olive oil and roll the ball out, making sure it's evenly coated with olive oil.  Once rolled into a large circle (or in my case, usually an odd-shaped rectangle) cut into smaller workable pieces.

Put each piece on the grill on low heat to cook one side.  Once grill marks appear, turn over and add toppings.  Grill again until cheese is melted and under side is now cooked as well.

VERDICT

Once you've got it down grilling pizza is one of the easiest summer dishes you can make.  We made a mix of green pesto and regular tomato pizza's this week.  Yum!

Tilapia Piccata with Snow Peas

Yeah, I know, two piccata recipes really close to one another.  But I wasn't satisfied with the chicken piccata so I wanted to try again.  With fish.  On the grill.

INGREDIENTS

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 4 U.S.-farmed tilapia fillets (5 oz each)
• 1 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons capers
• 12 oz snap peas
• 1 lb red potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 cup white wine, divided
• 1 lemon, cut into 4 wedges

DIRECTIONS

Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray.

Season tilapia with 1/2 tsp salt; place 1 fillet in center of 1 half of each piece of foil. Sprinkle each fillet with 2 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tsp capers.

Toss snap peas with potatoes and remaining 1/2 tsp salt; divide evenly among packets. Dot each fillet with 1 tbsp butter.

Fold foil to close and crimp 2 sides of each packet, leaving 1 side open; pour 1/4 cup wine into each packet. Crimp third side of packets to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 12 minutes. Carefully cut foil to open.

Serve with lemon wedges.

VERDICT

First of all, let me just say that the potatoes were fully cooked.  I was so skeptical about the potatoes because I figured there was no way they were going to be cooked in 10 minutes.  No way.  They take at least 30 in the oven on 400 degrees!  But they were the perfect consistency.

As for the rest.... it was a quick and easy foil pack dinner.  The taste was fine.  My husband loved it, I was more ambivalent about it.  There was nothing wrong with it, it just wasn't amazing.  But it did have enough capers to make me happy :)

NUTRITION

436 calories per serving, 15 g fat (8 g saturated), 28 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 39 g protein

Recipe Credit:  Self Magazine

Sweet and Sour Chicken Packets

I am loving foil packet dinners this summer.  There's no need to clean the grill of the last meal's leftover mess and the clean-up after dinner is a breeze.

Of course, I tend to dump the packet onto a real plate.  Considering you can just cut an "x" in the packet and eat it right out of the foil, the clean-up could be zero if you choose.

INGREDIENTS

4  boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb)

1/2cup sweet-and-sour sauce

1 can (8 oz) pineapple chunks, drained

1 medium bell pepper, cut into strips

1/4 small onion, cut into small wedges

1/2 cup chow mein noodles, if desired

DIRECTIONS

Heat gas or charcoal grill. Cut four 18x12-inch pieces of heavy-duty foil; spray with cooking spray.

On one side of each foil piece, place 1 chicken breast (I chopped the chicken into chunks, but you can leave it whole if you choose). Top each with 1 tablespoon sweet-and-sour sauce and one-fourth of the pineapple, bell pepper and onion. Top with remaining sauce.

Fold foil over chicken and vegetables so edges meet. Seal edges, making tight 1/2-inch fold; fold again. Allow space on sides for heat expansion.

When grill is heated, place packets on gas grill over medium heat or on charcoal grill over medium coals; cover grill. Cook 15 to 20 minutes (12-15 if your chicken is in chunks), rotating packets 1/2 turn after 10 minutes, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170°F). Place packets on plates. Cut large X across top of each packet; fold back foil. Top with chow mein noodles.

VERDICT

I never fail to be amazed at how fast food cooks in a foil packet.  Remember the potatoes that take 30 minutes in the oven being done in 10?  The same rule applies here to the chicken.  I left the packets on the grill for 15 minutes and overcooked my chicken chunks.

So watch your time- you can always carefully open the packets to make sure the chicken is cooked through.  
All in all- another quick, easy meal for summer!   

NUTRITION

1 Serving

Calories 230

Calories from Fat 45

Total Fat 5g  Saturated Fat 1g  Trans Fat 0g   Cholesterol 75mg   Sodium 180mg   Total Carbohydrate 19g   Dietary Fiber 1g  Sugars 15g   Protein 27g

Adapted From:  Betty Crocker

Creamy Grilled Chicken Piccata

I love the caper/lemon combo in traditional Chicken Piccata.  So this grilled version (served with lemony pasta) has to be a hit, right?  After all, I found the recipe on Pinterest. 

INGREDIENTS

For the Chicken:
Juice of 1 lemon (3Tbsp)
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp basil or oregano
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

For the Pasta:
2 cups dried penne pasta (I used rigatoni... so whatever short pasta you have on hand is fine.)
2 Tbsp butter
Juice of 2 lemons
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
2 tsp dried basil
2 Tbps capers
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

Combine first 6 ingredients for the chicken marinade and mix well.  Place chicken in a ziplock bag and pour marinade over chicken.  Marinate overnight in the refrigerator, or for at least 30 minutes.  When ready, grill until done.  Allow chicken to rest for a few minutes and then slice into strips to serve over pasta.

While chicken is grilling.  Cook pasta according to directions.  Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water and drain.  In same sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat.  Whisk in garlic and lemon juice.  Pour in half and half and whisk until hot.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  Add the parmesan cheese, basil and capers, and heat until cheese is melted.  Check the consistency of the sauce and add some of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if necessary.  Toss in pasta.

Serve in pasta bowls with grilled chicken on top.  Sprinkle with more parmesan if desired.

VERDICT

For all my great expectations, this was just an average recipe for me.  The chicken was fine.  It was tasty.  But it wasn't lightly battered and covered in capers.  The pasta, on the otherhand, was very lemony in flavor and was covered in capers.  Maybe a little too much lemon.

Overall- good dinner.  Not great, at least not to my tastes.  I'd love to hear what you think!

Beef Negimaki

I love foil packet dinners. They're quick to cook, and clean-up is a breeze (toss the tinfoil!).  This healthy recipe came from the Self website.

Of course, you can only eat out of the tinfoil if your tinfoil isn't the cheap kind that punctures easily with a fork. Because then you have a soggy mess on your lap...  We tend to dump them out onto plates once they've been removed from the grill and cooled a bit.

INGREDIENTS

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 lb top round, thinly sliced and cut into 12 strips (6 inches by 2 1/2 inches each)
• 8 scallions, cut into 3-inch-long pieces
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
• 1 cup instant brown rice
• 1 lb broccolini
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
Heat grill. Fold four 18-inch-long pieces of foil in half; unfold and coat inside with cooking spray.

Combine hoisin, soy sauce, vinegar and oil in a bowl; coat beef with marinade. Place a handful of scallions and carrots on end of 1 strip of beef (tips should hang over edges of meat); roll up beef to enclose vegetables and secure with a toothpick.

Repeat with remaining beef, scallions and carrots. Place 1/4 cup rice in center of 1 half of each piece of foil; top rice with 3 beef rolls each. Surround rice and beef in each packet with 1/4 of Broccolini; season all with salt and pepper.

Fold foil to close and crimp 2 sides of each packet, leaving 1 side open; pour 1/4 cup broth into each packet. Crimp third side of packets to seal; place on grill; close lid; cook until packets are fully puffed, 10 minutes. Carefully cut foil to open; serve.

VERDICT

My husband complained about the amount of time it took to put these together.  And it was a little labor intensive- but it wasn't that bad!  And the results are definitely worth it.  They look so fancy!  The taste was great- although next time I think I'll add a little more filler to them aside from the carrots & scallions.  Maybe long sticks of zucchini?

NUTRITION

381 calories per serving, 7 g fat (2 g saturated), 44 g carbs, 4 g fiber, 34 g protein

Indonesian Pork Tenderloin

I'm on a Thai kick.  We grilled up this pork tenderloin with Thai Sesame Noodles and fresh steamed veggies for a healthy mid-week dinner.  We had over the kid's cousins for dinner and wished we had made two pork tenderloins for a quickly as it disappeared off their plates.

INGREDIENTS


1 pork tenderloin
1/4 cup appricot preserves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
2 TBS creamy peanut butter
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 TBS fresh cilantro
  DIRECTIONS

Mix all but the orange juice in a gallon zip lock bag.  Smoosh together to combine ingredients.  Remove about 1/4 of marinade to use as a basting oil later.

Add the pork and marinate at least 1 hour- but 1/2 a day is better.

Add the orange juice to the reserved marinade.  Use this to baste the pork with while it is grilling.  Grill until cooked through, but slightly pink in the center.

VERDICT

When my husband brought the plate of cooked meat in off the grill I cut it up and slid it to the other side of the counter to form the buffet line.  His 12-year-old niece sat down in front of the platter with a knife and fork and dived in.  It was THAT good.

After we wrestled the plate away from her so we could all have some too we were in love.  But next time I'll cook two- with just a piece or two each we were definitely still craving more.

Texas Grilled Flounder

Another "pinned" recipe that I've been waiting to try.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. Flounder filet
• !Spice Rub
• 1/4 teaspoon minced onions
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all the spice rub ingredients together and remove the flounder from the refrigerator 30 minutes before you plan to put them on the grill.
2. Cover all surfaces of the steaks with a light to medium covering of the spice rub and gently rub into the flounder. Let this rest in a container outside of the refrigerator to allow it to reach room temperature before putting it on the grill.
3. Get your grill going and achieve a medium hot grill. Place the flounder filets in a grill basket or on a grill screen with smaller holes to keep the filet from falling apart and crumbling through the grill as it gets closer to done. Cook for approximately 5 to 6 minutes per side. You only need to flip it once on the grill.
4. Fish is done when flaky when prodded with a fork.

VERDICT

I'm a pretty limited fish person- it's always tilapia.  It was a stretch to try flounder, but it was great!  A little more fishy-tasting than tilapia, but still flaky and so healthy!

The spice rub itself was fine- nothing special- but a new way to prepare fish and we're always open to that.  As a side note- we grilled it on a cedar plank.  The plank keeps it all in one piece and prevents all the inevitable falling to pieces that results from other methods of grilling fish.  Plus, it gives the fish a great flavor.

Recipe Credit:  Smokedngrilled.com

Tilapia & Shrimp Hoisin Packets

My husband was working late one night so I decided to make a meal he doesn't really care for.  And in spite of it being Friday night I was actually in the mood to eat healthy.  I based this loosely on Hosin Shrimp Packets but decided it was too cold outside to light up the grill.  If it can be done on the grill it can be done in the oven, right?  Read on...

INGREDIENTS

Random vegetables from the refrigerator (I used zucchini, asparagus & carrots) cut into bite-sized pieces.
1/2 cup instant brown or white rice
1/2 cup white wine (um... a good white wine.  See verdict)
1/4 cup Hosin Sauce
1 tilapia fillet
1/4 - 1/2 lb. uncooked shrimp

DIRECTIONS

Pour the rice onto a piece of tinfoil.  Next add the seafood, then the vegetables.  Pour hoisin sauce on top. 

Make a packet with the tinfoil, pinching in the sides to prevent leaking.  Carefully add the wine before sealing up.  Poke the top a few times with a fork to vent.

Grill for 20 minutes, or bake for 45, or until fish is flaky and shrimp are pink. 


VERDICT

I'm assuming this would have been better with a good white wine.  Or at least a white wine that didn't taste like cat piss.  But I used this bottle.

And then it took forever in the oven.  Forever!  White I waited for dinner I moved on to this bottle of wine.  Much better.  After three glasses of red wine dinner was finally cooked through.  And it tasted like it had been cooked in cheap wine.

Sigh.  I tried.  I really tried to eat healthy.  And the recipe was healthy.  Three glasses of red wine, alas, is not.

Asian-Style Grilled Tilapia

It's almost summer!  Ok, well it's only the first week of spring, but that's an improvement over the long, Upstate NY winter, right?

Break out the grill! 

INGREDIENTS

1/4	cup soy sauce
2	tablespoons sugar
3	large garlic cloves, minced (about a Tbs.)
1	lime, juice of (2 Tbs or so)
1	teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4	teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1	lb tilapia fillets (or other thin mild fish)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the soy sauce, sugar, garlic, lime juice, ginger and red pepper flakes in a wide, shallow baking pan that will hold all of the fish in a single layer.
2. Stir briefly to dissolve the sugar.
3. Add the tilapia, then turn it over so that it's coated all over with the marinade.
4. Set aside for 20 min or so.
5. Heat the broiler to high, and move the oven rack to position closest to heat.
6. Slide the pan into the oven, and broil the fish for 5 minute Keep the oven door ajar so the broiler element stays lit.
7. Turn the pan around (back to front), and broil for 5 more minute.
8. If the juices in the pan appear to burn, add a little water to the dry spot to prevent burning.
9. The fish should be opaque and flaky.
10. Spoon the sauce over the fish when serving.

VERDICT

I'm never very confident making fish on the grill.  It's not like a piece of meat you can flip over a few times and be done with.  Fish gets flakey and falls apart, and even when you make it on tinfoil it gets all sticky... it's just not as easy as chicken.

But this recipe is definitely worth trying.  The flavors were great.

Try pairing it with the easy Roasted Cauliflower Recipe!