Bobby Flay's Chipotle Honey-Glazed Chicken Wings

Ever since my friend Janet made chicken wings for us in the beginning of the summer I have been on a chicken wing kick.  She uses a fabulous barbecue spice and it literally  needs nothing else!  This time I wanted to try something new for a family BBQ. Since we always have some sort of red meat it seems liked the perfect time to try out the new chicken wing recipe.

This recipe came from Bobby Flay's Grill It Cookbook.  It has a little bit of spice but if you don't want too much heat cut down the amount of chipotle chiles.  The recipe states to put the glaze in two bowls and to pour part of it over the cooked chicken at the end.  I just used all of it to baste the chicken.  Whatever was left I tossed.  The original recipe is below and you can decide how you want to do it.  I also didn't cut the tips off the chicken just tucked them under. 



Ingredients:

1 cup honey
2 to 3 tablespoons pureed canned chipotle chiles in adobo
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 tablespoons ancho chile powder
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons canola oil
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons spanish paprika
3 pounds chicken wings
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
3 green onions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Heat the grill to medium-high.

2. Whisk together honey, chipotle puree, 1 tablespoon of the mustard, 1 tablespoon of the ancho powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons of the oil in a small bowl. Divide the glaze evenly between 2 bowls, one small, the other large.

3. Stir together the remaining 3 tablespoons of ancho powder with the coriander, cumin, and paprika in a small bowl.

4. Rinse the chicken wings under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the tips off the wings and discard (or freeze and use for making chicken stock). Cut each wing into 2 pieces through the joint.

5. Place the chicken wings in a large bowl, add the spice rub and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper and place the wings on the grill in an even layer.  Grill until golden brown and slightly charred, 4 to 5 minutes.  Reduce the heat of the grill to medium, turn the wings over, and close the lid of the grill.  Continue grilling until just cooked through, 15-20 minutes longer, brushing with the small bowl of glaze every few minutes and turning once during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

6. Transfer the wings to the large bowl, brush with the reserved glaze and toss to coat. Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and green onions.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

Thank you to Salvatore Corso for another beautiful photo! Please check out Salvatore's website to see more of his work. 

Asian Marinated Chicken

On Sunday night, I took out three boneless chicken breasts from the freezer to thaw overnight in the fridge.  Since grilling is our new preferred method of cooking, I knew that we would obviously grill the chicken breasts but I hadn't quite figured out what to marinate the chicken in.

When I came home from work on Monday, I opened my cabinet and pulled some of my favorite ingredients out - soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame seed oil, and honey.  With an Asian-inspired marinade in mind, I pulled fresh ginger root from the freezer.  I always keep fresh ginger in the freezer to grate into dishes.  This is a trick I learned from my mom.  From the fridge, I took out a bulb of garlic and a hot pepper from my mom's garden.

To make the marinade, I mixed all of these ingredients together:

• 1/4 cup soy sauce


• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar


• 1/4 cup sesame seed oil


• 2 tablespoons honey


• 1 tablespoon grated ginger


• 3 small cloves of garlic, minced


• 1 roughly chopped hot pepper with the seeds

I put the three chicken breasts in the bowl and let it soak the marinade in for an hour and a half.

Bret took care of the grilling while I boiled up some ears of corn.

This was another fabulous meal from the grill!  The marinade gave the chicken breast a lot of flavor.  Grilling the chicken helped give the chicken a nice crust while keeping the meat really moist.

Bret and I had one chicken breast each.  The extra chicken breast was made for lunch the next day.  I put together a salad with romaine, carrots, cucumber from my mom's garden and local radishes.  The chicken breast was cut into large chunks and this made a fantastic leftover lunch!

Tell me, how do you creatively use your leftovers for lunch?

Mongolian Ginger BBQ Chicken

It should come as no surprise that tonight's dinner also came from the grill.  After living in the city for so long, we are kind of obsessed with the option of grilling and I think we'll be grilling on the patio as much as possible!

I had a few chicken breasts thawing in the fridge during the day.  My plan was to prepare a simple marinade for the chicken and let Bret grill them for dinner.  I wanted to use one of my favorite dry rubs, a Mongolian Ginger BBQ meat rub, that I picked up in Portland.

After reading Kerstin's blog this morning, I knew that I wanted to use Greek yogurt in the marinade.  I marinated the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, Greek yogurt and the dry rub.

We let the chicken marinate for about an hour before Bret got to work on the grill.  The yogurt helped create a nice seared crust while keeping the chicken breasts moist inside.  We ate the chicken with a side of steamed sugar snap peas.  This dinner was simple and yet full of flavor!

Kerstin's blog provided instant inspiration for tonight's dinner.  Tell me, where have you been finding inspiration for your kitchen (or grill)! 

Welcome to Our New Home!

First of all, thanks to everyone for all of the kind comments and well wishes.  Our move went smoothly and we worked our butts off this weekend to get as much unpacking done as possible.  I'm proud to say that we are almost complete done unpacking!

It should come to no surprise that our new home has a lot more space than our previous apartment in Beacon Hill.  While it was spacious and modern for Beacon Hill standards, it really is nice to have modern appliances, central air, and brand new, well, everything!  I'm especially excited to utilize our brand new kitchen and I wanted to share some photos:

We ate a lot of take-out and meals out this past weekend, but we finally cooked our first meal together tonight.  Bret was really excited to use our new grill.  He grilled up some steaks and white asparagus while I boiled some corn and made sriracha butter.  If Bret wants to grill every night while I boil some water, I'm more than happy to oblige!

I see a lot of dinners coming from the grill so please share some of your favorite grilled recipes!

Italian Marinated Skirt Steak

It's almost grill season which really makes me happy!  It means dining al fresco and the change of pace to faster cooking.  I am by no means a grill expert but I can manage a few things.  This steak was made under the broiler but you can cook this meat however you see fit. It's this very simple marinade that is packed with flavor that I'm excited to share with you today. 






I served this with sauteed spinach and Israeli couscous.  I bought a great couscous mix from TJ's and added some sauteed peppers and onion to bump up the flavor. 

Italian Marinated Skirt Steak

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs. Skirt Steak
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 shallot
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley, chopped


Directions:

Mix garlic, vinegar, shallot, olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley in a bowl.  Pour over steak, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour.  Turning over once. (I like to use my Tupperware marinator and just flip the container over and you don't have to worry about spilling.)

Let excess marinade drip off of the meat and discard marindade. Place meat directly under the broiler and cook for approximately. 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare.  Or cook on and indoor grill pan or of course, grill it outside. Let meat rest and cut on a diagonal against the grain.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe. 

Grilled Panzanella Salad

Once again, this is one of those recipes where the photo does not do it justice.  This is a fantastic salad and it's surprisingly is loaded with flavor.  I borrowed some ideas from Ina Garten (using a fresh roasted pepper and using slices of bread rather than cubes) and added some things as well.  What makes this different is grilling the bread, peppers and onions which gives the salad a nice charred flavor. Give this a try at your next barbeque!

Grilled Panzanella Salad

Ingredients:

1 baguette cut into 1 inch slices

1/2 cup kalamata olives

1 english cucumber cut into chunks

1 red pepper
1 small red onion
1 pound fress mozzarella, cubed
1 large tomato, seeded and cubed

About 10 fresh basil leaves

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Dressing:

3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp. honey

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 clove of garlic minced or put through a press

salt and pepper

Directions:

1.  Drizzle bread slices and bell pepper with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Slice onion into rounds and season the round the same way.  Grill over medium heat until bread toasts and veggies get a nice char on both sides.  The pepper will get black and blistered  (which you want).  Put the pepper in a bowl covered with plastic wrap or in a brown lunch bag.  This will cause the pepper to steam and the skin will pull away from the flesh of the pepper.  When pepper is cool enough to handle, remove skin and seeds.  Slice into pieces.  Cut the onion rounds into pieces as well.  Place veggies in a large bowl.  Do not add the bread slices at this time, we will add them in at the end so they don't get soggy.

2. To the bowl with roasted pepper and red onion, add, cucumber, tomato, olives, mozzarella and basil. 

3.  In a small bowl add garlic, vinegar, and honey, beat with a whisk.  Slowly add olive oil while beating to create an emulsion.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Pour over veggies. 

4. When ready to serve add the bread to the veggies and toss. 

Enjoy!

Click here for a printable version of Grilled Panzanella Salad.

Grilled Watermelon Salad

Sounds strange doesn't it? Well, it is strange but cool and refreshing. This isn't something I'll have on a regular basis because it's well....odd...but it was interesting enough to make for company and it provoked discussion and interest. In the future I would let the watermelon cool a little bit before placing it over the arugula but that's my preference. One of my guests said she liked it warm because it melted the feta a bit. I lighly dressed this salad with extra virgin olive oil and a splah of balsamic vinegar. It doesn't need much. You make want to make the balasamic reduction, I made it but didn't like it, so I didn't serve it. Whatever you decide is fine with me just give it a try and you'll be sure to get some ooohs and aaahs.


Grilled Watermelon Salad
Courtesy of Claire Robinson

Ingredients:

1/2 (5-pound) seedless watermelon
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt (specialty salt is great here, if on hand)
2 cups fresh baby arugula, washed and dried
1 cup goat cheese, crumbled, preferably a French Chevre
Fresh finely cracked black pepper

Directions:

Stand the watermelon half cut side down on a cutting board and slice away the rind, leaving a solid block of melon. Turn the block on its side and cut it into 8 squares, roughly 3 by 3 inches and 1-inch thick.

Pour the vinegar into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook until reduced to a thick syrup consistency. Set aside.

Heat a nonstick grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle just enough olive oil over watermelon slices to thinly coat and place on hot grill pan. Grill each side about 2 minutes until grill marks appear; transfer to a plate and season with salt.

To assemble the salads, put about 1/4 cup of baby arugula on a serving plate, followed by a grilled slice of watermelon in the center, and top with a tablespoon of crumbled cheese and another 1/4 cup arugula. Add another watermelon slice and another tablespoon of cheese. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Finish each salad with a very light drizzle of olive oil and balsamic syrup. Dust with black pepper and serve immediately.

Grilled Ham with Pineapple Glaze

I know, a ham steak isn't the prettiest thing to take a picture of but you know how the saying goes! This was a very tasty and satisfying dinner. My fellow bakespacer Carolyn always talks about making these yummy ham steaks and I knew it was something Steve would like to try on the grill. There is no recipe. It's so simple. Make a mixture of brown sugar and pineapple and let the ham steaks marinate it. Throw them on the grill with some fresh slices of pineapple that have been brushed with the glaze. Allow them to get some nice grill marks on each side and your done. The ham steaks are already cooked so this just takes minutes to make! It actually took me longer to peel and slice the fresh pineapple than it did to cook the ham! I don't think canned pineapple would work because it may be too soft but if you give it a try, let me know! I'd like the glaze to be more noticeable. Anyone know how to do that? The flavor definitely penetrated the meat but didn't make it shiny like a glaze usually is. I will definitely experiment some more and let you know how it goes!



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Grilled Pizza, Wine Pairing and a Guest Post

My nagging has finally paid off! I finally have a post from a guest blogger! Check it out!



Hello everyone! I'm sure you're wondering who the other person is enjoying all these meals that you find here on Michele's blog. Well, that person is me...Steve. Michele asked me to write a guest post for her blog this week after a weekend of grilling. I guess you could say I am the resident wine connoisseur and grilling fanatic. It seems I am writing this to talk to you about both this week.



This is a recipe that we've come up with in the past and used a couple of times before. Since we first made pizza this way, it has been tough to top it! While it isn't an overly difficult way of making pizza, you do have to use the right ingredients and be vigilant while it's on the grill. Let's get down to it...

Ingredients:

Pizza sauce (recipe below)
Pizza dough - 1 lb for each pizza you want to make
4 oz. (approximately) or ½ of a regular sized bag of shredded mozzarella cheese – we prefer part-skim
Olive oil – for coating the dough
Fresh basil leaves
Toppings – this time around we used black olives and mushrooms, just use as much as you like

Before you start prepping the dough and making the pizza, you'll want to make the sauce. We basically make just a marinara sauce with some garlic and herbs in it. Michele will write about that.

You'll need a pound of dough for each pizza that you want to make. We've tried using two pounds before, but it just doesn't come out the same. You certainly can try making your own dough for this recipe, but we're lazy and we've found that it's very easy for us to get a hold of dough from Brooklyn. In my personal opinion, for the amount of time and money you have to put in to make your own pizza dough, it's just more economical and less time consuming to just get it from somewhere else. Just make sure it's quality dough!



Place each pound of dough in a bowl that will easily fit all of it in there, drizzling a bit of olive oil in the bottom of the bowl first, so that the dough doesn't stick. Place plastic wrap over the top of the bowl and then cover with a dish towel. Let the dough rise for a couple of hours, until it rises to the top of the bowl or even above it.



Once the dough has risen, pound it down and then take the dough out of the bowl, placing it onto a cooking sheet or something equivalent. Begin flattening out the dough on the sheet, making sure to keep both sides of the dough moist with olive oil so that it does not stick. Once the dough has been flattened and spread out, it's ready to be grilled.



Make sure you have your mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce and toppings ready to go. Turn your grill on to high and let it sit for about 8 to 10 minutes. For this recipe, we used a gas grill. Once the grill is nice and hot, you can bring your dough and other ingredients outside to your grilling area. Turn the burners down to about medium-low heat. Make sure you use some sort of grilling spray (we used Pam for grilling) to spray down the grilling surface so that the dough does not stick to it. Take the dough off of the pan with your hands and place onto the grill, trying to keep something of an oval or even rectangular shape. Since most pizza you find is round, I like being different and creating all sorts of uneven shapes to make it look unique. Once the pizza dough is on the grill, close the lid and let it sit for about 4 – 5 minutes. You'll want to stay by the grill to check it every so often. The bottom of the dough should get nice and crispy, with some prominent grilling marks. Keep in mind that most gas grills have one side that is hotter and cooks faster than the others.










Once you can lift up the dough with ease, use a spatula and flip the whole pizza over in one shot – just like you would a pancake. Once the pizza has been flipped, you can then spread on the pizza sauce, followed by basil leaves (preferably torn into smaller pieces) and then the shredded mozzarella. You can then add on any toppings you may have. After everything has been added onto your pizza, close the cover of the grill again and let it sit for about 3 – 4 minutes. You'll want to check the pizza every so often to make sure that the cheese has melted on the top and that the bottom is nice and crispy, with those same grill marks.

As soon as all that has happened, the pizza is now ready to be taken off of the grill. Use a spatula or two to take it off of the grill and put it back onto the cooking sheet. Cut up the pizza in whatever fashion you like and serve!





For this pizza, I have found that a light white wine goes best. You will want something with a fruity undertone that will bring out the acidity of the pizza sauce and the flavors of the toppings you chose. I like to enjoy a nice Riesling with this pizza. My label of choice is Urban. It is an inexpensive Riesling that is light and fruity, as well as very refreshing. Feel free to experiment with your own palate and find a wine that suits you. Stick to the lighter, fruitier wines, either in the white or red varietals, such as a Pinot Grigio or a Pinot Noir.





I hope you all enjoy making this as I know we certainly have and will continue to do so all summer long!



Michele's Pizza Sauce

Enough for approx 4 pounds of dough.

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
2 8 oz cans of tomato sauce
4 cloves minced garlic
3 tsp chopped basil
1-2 tsp dried Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp sugar
extra virgin olive oil

Feel free to use fresh or dried herbs. This time I used frozen dorat basil, fresh basil leaves and fresh oregano. It's up to you.

Directions:

Saute garlic in oil, add frozen or dried herbs being careful not to burn them. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and sugar. If using fresh herbs add now. Let it come to a boil and then lower heat. Cook on medium for 30-40 minutes. Taste it and adjust seasoning.

Bobby Flay's Grilled Potato Salad

I'm not a huge fan of potato salad or pasta salad with a lot of mayonaise. I usually make my potato salad with oil and vinegar which you can see here but this time I wanted to try something different. Everything seems to make it's way onto the grill these days and I wanted to see what the hype was about. I found this recipe in Bobby Flay's grilling cookbook but you can also find it here on the food network. I made some changes to suit our tastes and the end result was a huge hit. I hope you give this one a try and feel free to change things up if you like and don't be afraid if you don't have every ingredient a recipe calls for. Often enough there are great substitutions sitting in your pantry or fridge. Here's what I did or I should say what WE did. Steve did the grilling! Thanks honey!


French Style Grilled Potato Salad

Adapted from Bobby Flay

Ingredients

2 1/2 pounds small new potatoes (red and yellow), scrubbed
1/2 cup olive oil, divided
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Cover potatoes with water in a medium saucepan. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 8 minutes. Drain potatoes and let cool and slice into 1/4 inch slices.

Heat the grill to medium.

Brush the potatoes with 1/4 cup of the oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the potatoes on the grill, cut-side down and grill until lightly golden brown, about 4 minutes. Turn the potatoes over and continue grilling until just cooked through, about 4 minutes longer.

While the potatoes are grilling, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, and 1/4 cup oil in a large bowl, add the red onion and parsley and stir to combine.

Remove the potatoes from the grill and immediately add to the bowl with the other ingredients and gently stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Let sit at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving. If it seems a little dry add a little more oil.

Grilled Chicken with Mango Salsa

With the economy the way it is I am really starting to think about how much money I spend on food and how much of that food gets wasted. I'm trying as often as I can to reuse my leftovers to make a new dish. This is actually very simple. I didn't have to do anything with my leftovers but the fresh flavors of the mango salsa really brightened up the dish.

Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder (you can use fresh garlic instead if you want)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Table Blend
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning.

Directions:

Stir together all seasonings with lime juice and oil. Add chicken and coat on both sides.


Turn your grill pan (or outdoor grill) on medium high heat and get your pan very hot. You want to get a nice color on your chicken. Cook for 5 minutes on each side and lower the heat and make sure it's cooked through. Make a small slit in the middle. If the juices run clear the chicken is done.

Top chicken with mango salsa.


Is that easy enough? You can also do this with leftover bruschetta. It tastes great with the chicken!

Grilled Corn Salad

Here is another side dish from our Kentucky Derby Party. This is a great alternative to corn on the cob. It's easy to eat and has some new flavors added to it. This recipe can easily be doubled so give this a try at your next barbeque! Sorry about the picture. I had to crop it because I took the picture after half of it was gone and it just looked funny in the big bowl half empty!


Grilled Corn Salad

Serves 4-6 as a side dish

4 ears fresh corn, husks removed
1 red bell pepper, roasted (can use from jar)
½ red onion diced
1 lemon, juiced
1 lime, juiced
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped parsley (optional)

Brush corn with olive oil on all sides. Sprinkle w/ salt & pepper, reserve extra oil. While grilling corn (directly on grill), chop onion, parsley, and red pepper. Combine in a bowl. Add lemon & lime juice. When corn is cooked (should have char marks) remove kernels w/ a knife and add to bowl. Add the rest of oil and adjust seasonings. Add more oil if needed.