Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic and Parsley

Chicken pancetta.

That phrase came to me tonight while I was grilling this recipe that I adapted from Wolfgang Puck's Live, Love, Eat.

Sure you can find boneless, skinless chicken breasts anywhere and they are more healthy and blah, blah, blah, blah.

I see your boneless, skinless chicken breasts and raise you chicken pancetta.

Chicken pancetta is what happens when you grill a chicken breast with skin on, skin side down. The natural fats in and under the skin renders down and crisps the skin....like cooked pancetta. You have a problem with that? Run an extra mile or two.

And yeah, you'll notice I'm not using the Big Green Egg to cook these. We are finishing staining our deck so I had to roll the old Brinkmann Charcoal Grill out into the driveway.


Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic and Parsley
adapted from Live, Love, Eat by Wolfgang Puck

12 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
salt
pepper
4 chicken breasts, boneless SKIN ON
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp white wine
1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped

Blanch the garlic cloves in boiling water for 1 minute. Dice the garlic and mix with the 1/4 c parsley, salt and pepper. The book didn't give an amount for the salt and pepper. I used about 1/2 tsp of each and that worked. Divide the mix in half. You'll use one half for a rub and one half for the finishing sauce.

Work about 2 tsp of the mix under the skin of each chicken breast. If you haven't done this before, just work a finger under one edge of the skin and make an opening. Then you can stuff the mix in and push it around under the skin. This is one of the best techniques you can learn for grilling chicken because as the fat renders down, it "self bastes" the meat with the seasonings and skin.

Fire up your grill to medium high heat. I used 1 chimney full of Kingsford briquettes and 2 splits of cherry wood.

While the cooking times are too short and the temps too high for smoking, the wood does still add some color and flavor in my opinion.

Grill skin side down for 6-7 minutes.

Flip and grill skin side up for about 8 minutes....see that chicken pancetta forming?

Or until the internal temp reaches 160 f. For us tonight, that was right at 8 minutes but use your meat thermometer.

Loosely tent the chicken with foil to keep warm and then melt 3 Tbsp of butter in a sauce pan. Add the other half of the garlic, parsley mix and saute over low heat until the garlic just starts to brown. Add the wine and simmer another 2-3 minutes until reduced. Add the lemon juice and simmer for about 1 minute.

Slice the breasts into medallions. Place on a bed of pasta and spoon some of the sauce over it all.

This was a good one. The only two things I would change the next time are

1. Double the amount of sauce (pasta needs love too).
2. Season the backsides of the breasts.

UPDATE:
A few people mentioned not being able to find skin on, boneless breasts. I just get split bone in, skin on breast and de-bone them myself. Here's a video from Rouxbe that shows how:

Rouxbe Online Cooking School & Video Recipes

Guest Post Heads Up
Alexis and I are heading to the Eggtoberfest in just a few days, where a couple of thousand of Big Green Egg owners get together to exchange ideas, lies, and recipes. You can count on a full report. Until then....

• If you are a burglar getting ideas, we have a security system and my two boys will be here. The 21 y/o is a crack shot with his .30-06 and shotgun. Come on over, he needs target practice.
  
• But more importantly, I have a great guest post coming on Fire Day Friday from Jenn at Jenn's Food Journey. If you haven't seen her grilling blog, you are missing out. I'm honored to have her fill in for me.
  

Guest Post at Grill Grrrl

Several of you asked about the fire roasted salsa verde that I used for the enchiladas last week.

Well hop on over to Grill Grrrl where I did a guest post for Robyn this week and that was the recipe that I adapted from Planet Barbecue!

Robyn's blog is a fun and informed grilling and bbq blog. I like how she breaks things down to make grilling easy and less stressful by doing things ahead. She also is on a mission to get women involved in grilling, doing local clinics in Florida and a lot of media spots. Give her blog a read, you'll be glad you did!

Fire Day Friday: Grilled Sloppy Joes

I made sloppy joes on the grill for my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen this week. Hop over there for the recipe and a dorky video. You know you are just dying to know how I kept the sloppy joe mix from falling through the grill grates.
It's not just a sloppy joe, it has chorizo, fire roasted peppers, and homemade chili pepper.

Update: Here's the recipe for future reference.

Sloppy Chorizo Joes

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

1 lb Mexican Chorizo sausage

2 Anaheim peppers

1 sweet red bell pepper

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

6 oz can tomato paste

2 cups water

1/2 Tbsp cayenne pepper, ground (I used my home made chili pepper blend)

1/2 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp turbinado sugar

salt and pepper to taste

8 hamburger buns

Instructions

Char the peppers over a hot grill, burner, or broiler a few minutes a side. Remove when charred and blistered, resting in a zip lock bag for 5 minutes.

Peel the charred skin, slice open and de-seed the peppers (see video). Dice.

Preheat a dutch oven over medium heat on the grill. Brown the ground beef and chorizo, then remove and drain.

Add the onions to the dutch oven with 1 Tbsp of the reserved meat drippings and saute for 5-7 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes longer.

Return the meat mixture to the dutch oven. Add the roasted chili peppers. Mix the water, tomato paste, pepper, cumin, and sugar together and then add to the dutch oven. Once this comes to a simmer, cover and kill the grill heat (shut the vents or gas).

After 5 minutes, stir, season with salt and pepper to taste and remove to rest (covered) for another 5 minutes.

Serve with plain white hamburger buns.

Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps & Fire Day Fridays

This has nothing to do with the P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps, other than the fact it has lettuce.....and you wrap it.

It uses a simple 3 in 1 marinade/glaze/dipping sauce for grilling chicken kebabs. Wanna know more?Well check out my Fire Day Friday post over at Our Krazy Kitchen.
I am going to be doing a recurring "column" there. I hope to inspire people to fire up their grills (without having to feel intimidated because they don't have a fancy grill or smoker).

I have a copy of Steve Raichlen's new book Planet Barbecue! and I am tremendously impressed by it. I can't wait to try a few of the recipes and post about them this weekend.

Not Really Food Related - Meme Catch Up

I've been remiss about answering a few memes with which I have been tagged. But if you are looking for something food related...


...I finally posted the Valentine's Dinner over at Our Krazy Kitchen (a follow up to the Brunch post from Saturday). Click on the link for your foodie fix.

Creative Writer
Back to the memes. Tamy (3 Sides of Crazy) tagged me with the Creative Liar...err..Writer meme that a lot of you have been doing.

Rules
1.Thank the person who gave this to you. (Thanks Tamy!)
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. (Done)
3. Link to the person who nominated you. (see above)
4. Tell us up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5. Allow your readers to guess which one or more are true.
5. Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Okay, here are my entries. Some are outright lies, some are partially true, and only one is entirely true.

1. I've never been out of the United States but I keep my passport handy because you never know when "legal entanglements" may arise.
2. I have a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
3. I fractured my skull while surfing on my mother's 50th birthday & it was also Mother's day that year.
4. I love fish. I love it grilled, fried, smoked, and baked, I just can't stand sushi.
5. I surfed in Hurricane Hugo for some of the biggest surf of my life.
6. You can see me in the background in one of the bowling alley scenes in The Big Lebowski.
   
7. I was once arrested wearing nothing but a towel.

So you figure it out, which one is true?

Over The Top!
I also was tagged with the Over The Top! meme over at Mommy Gourmet's My Original Recipes. I have to answer the following with one word answers. I might cheat and use a lot of hyphens to sneak in more than one word.

Your Cell Phone? Annoying
Your Hair? Thinning
Your Mother? Nursing
Your Father? Recuperating
Your Favorite Food? BBQ
Your Dream Last Night? none
Your Favorite Drink? Water
Your Dream/Goal? Quixote
What Room Are You In? Study
Your Hobby? Food!
Your Fear? Heights
Where Do You See Yourself In Six Years? Content
Where Were You Last Night? Home
Something That You Aren't? Short
Muffins? Pancakes!
Wish List Item? stand mixer
Where Did You Grow Up? Florida
Last Thing You Did? (last night was valentines....pleading the fifth)
What Are You Wearing? Bathrobe
Your TV? off
Your Pets? chinchillas
Friends? far away
Your Life? satisfactory
Your Mood? peaceful
Missing Someone? sure
Vehicle? basic sedan
Something You Aren't Wearing? a leather teddy with thigh highs and heels
Your Favorite Store? Fresh Market
Your Favorite Color? Blue...wait, no yellow (aaaaeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiii!) Monty Python fans get it.
When Was The Last Time You Laughed? last night
Last Time You Cried? can't recall
Your Best Friend? asleep
One Place You Go To Over And Over Again? work
Facebook? a bit
Favorite Place To Eat? Puleo's Grille

I'm supposed to tag others with these Meme's but you know how that goes. They always say they'll get right on it, then they forget or take forever (like me). So if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged.

Guest Posts and Poach Pods

I'm guest posting today (Saturday) and Valentines' Day over at OuR KrAzy kItChEn . Please hop over and check it out. There's always something going in OuR KrAzy kItChEn.

Today's post over there is a Valentines' Day Brunch and I had to poach some eggs for Eggs Benedict. I took this opportunity to try out some of those silicon poach pods and compare them to normal poaching.

I poached two eggs the normal way - carefully sliding an egg into 200f water for about 8 minutes (for a firm yolk) and then fishing them out with a slotted spoon.

Then I poached two eggs using the poach pods - floating them in 200f water for 4-6 minutes.

Then I had to throw that batch out because I didn't read the part that the pot is supposed to be COVERED so I had a partially poached pair of eggs.

I did another two eggs, covered this time and I cooked them for 8 minutes since they didn't look quite set at 6 minutes.

Side by side comparison:


My overall impressions are:

• The poach pods are more efficient in that you retain 100% of the egg while in free hand poaching, you loose some of the whites.
• The poach pods were not any easier, in my opinion, than normal poaching. In fact it adds a few steps to the process (lubing the pods, having to work the cooked egg's edges off of the pod with a spoon, etc).
• I preferred the normal poached eggs over the poach pod eggs in appearance and texture. The poach pod eggs looked too much like a McDonald's egg mcmuffin processed egg and the edges were a bit rubbery (overcooked) yet the center still wasn't firm as I wanted.
  

I know that some people have tried these and said that they really like them, but they just aren't for me. I'll stick with the normal way of poaching eggs.

Don't forget to see my guest post at Our Krazy Kitchen.

Standard review disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated, I have no affiliation with and received no compensation from restaurants or product manufacturers reviewed and paid full retail price for the item reviewed.

Upcoming Guest Post & Food For Thought

Krazy Kitchen Guest Post
On Valentine's Weekend, I am hosting a brunch and a dinner for the lovers' weekend over at Welcome To Our Krazy Kitchen. The theme is (surprise surprise) "romance".

It's going to be fun for us. That week is also our 15th anniversary, so the brunch is going to be a small, intimate menu of some of Alexis' favorites or things that are special to us over the years.

The dinner is going to be entertaining because I am going to have help. My friend and martial arts instructor, Robert, and I are going to cook dinner for Alexis and his fiance. I've been teaching him how to cook a good bit for the past year, but that's mostly been butts, ribs, steaks, and things on the grill. This will be the first full dinner menu we've done together that wasn't BBQ.

Food For Thought
We had a decent amount of snow last night and the boys were over at the horse farm next door, sledding and snowboarding at midnight. I went to sleep but Alexis stayed up. In part to wait for the boys but we had watched Paranormal Activity and I think it had her a bit spooked;)

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I found this note in the kitchen. I couldn't resist writing a reply at the bottom.

She had also made me two batches of home made cinnamon rolls, wrapped and ready for baking.

I popped them in the oven and quietly set about cleaning the kitchen as quietly as possible. I wanted her to get her rest and if she heard me banging around, she'd feel like she had to get up.

She said she would do it, but she didn't mess it up herself. My walking back and forth to the grill through this mess all night and tracking it inside didn't help any.

Alexis woke up just as I had finished cleaning the kitchen and the rolls were ready.

As we enjoyed our rolls in a quiet morning lull, I smiled at her and thought about "romance". It's not just in flowers and cards, although those are nice romantic gestures. But real, bona fide romance? It's found in sticky notes and cinnamon rolls.

Those two seemingly small things Alexis did put a skip in my step this morning and made my day. Thanks Hon!