Barbecued Chicken with Lemon and Herbs
American Potato Salad
Cucumber Salad
Cooking time: 45 minutes & 20 earlier Cooking schedule: see below for instructions
A classic summer dinner - with a twist, of course. The chicken should be prepped early in the day and allowed to marinate to let the lemon and herbs add their flavor. Start the cucumbers when you prep the chicken.
Barbecued Chicken With Lemon and Herbs
Total time: 60 minutes Prep early in the day or the night before
If you want cold chicken leftovers, do a whole chicken, otherwise just do your favorite pieces. The herb mixture is enough for a whole chicken. If you do the equivalent of half of a chicken (2 thighs and 2 legs would be my choice) cut the herb mix in half. If you don't have all of the herbs, just leave them out rather than use dried. If you have no fresh herbs, substitute 1/4 the amount, dried.
Ingredients:
- 1 chicken, cut-up, skin on or your favorite pieces
- 4 tbs snipped fresh chives
- 4 tbs finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbs finely chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tbs finely chopped fresh tarragon
- 2 tbs finely chopped fresh oregano
- 2 tbs finely chopped fresh basil
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions:
- Early in the day or the night before snip, chop and mince herbs, garlic - you're making a paste so they should be fairly fine.
- Put all into a small bowl and add the lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix well.
- Add enough olive oil to make a thin paste - it won't hold together but it shouldn't be like a vinaigrette.
- Loosen the skin on the chicken by slowly working your fingers between the flesh and the skin. Try not to puncture the skin.
- With your fingers take a bit of the herb mixture and put it under the skin, smoothing it over the flesh. Stretch the skin to cover and put in a glass baking dish of some sort, just large enough to hold all of the pieces. You will want to put about half of the mixture under the skin of the pieces.
- When finished, add a bit more oil to the remaining herb mixture and rub/pour over the the top of the pieces.
- Cover with film and refrigerate until ready to cook.
- Cook on barbecue grill for 30 - 45 minutes. Chicken is done at 170F (76C) or when juices run clear - poke with a skewer or knife. Thighs and legs take a bit longer than breasts. Try not to overcook. Start it over direct heat, but watch carefully - the oil will cause flair-ups. Once it gets some nice color/flavor move it to indirect heat, close cover and let finish cooking.
Traditional American Potato Salad
Total time: 30 minutes
I know one is not supposed to mess with a classic, but I lightened it up a bit substituting yogurt for some of the mayonnaise. I use Dijon mustard because regular yellow salad or ballpark mustard is not available here. If you use salad mustard, I would use 4 tbs, rather than 3. This is enough for 2 meals.
Ingredients:
- 4 medium potatoes, 16oz (480gr) total
- 2 hard boiled eggs
- 2 - 3 ribs celery
- 2 tbs snipped chives
- 1 tbs good olive oil
- 1/3 cup (3oz, 90gr) mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup (3oz, 90gr) Greek or plain yogurt
- 3 tbs Dijon-style mustard or 4 tbs yellow salad mustard
Instructions:
- Hard boil eggs.
- Slice the potatoes for salad and put in a steamer basket over an inch of water and steam over medium heat for 15 minutes or until done.
- When done, put the potatoes into a bowl and immediately drizzle with 1 tbs olive oil, stir to coat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Chop celery.
- Snip chives.
- Peel and chop eggs.
- To make dressing: Put mayonnaise, yogurt and mustard in small bowl and mix. Taste - add more mustard if you like (I like a lot) or mayo or yogurt to get the flavor you prefer.
- Add most of the dressing to the potatoes and mix lightly.
- Add celery, eggs and chives, stir to combine.
- Add the rest of the dressing if needed - to your taste. Serve.
Note: The yogurt adds a nice, tangy flavor and keeps the calories down a bit. If too thick you can thin with a bit of milk or cream or olive oil.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Total time: 16 minutes divided: 8 minutes,
wait 4-10 hours, 8 minutes
Another summer classic, this is loosely based on my mother's recipe - which was her mother's. She used cream, I use yogurt but the taste is surprisingly similar. I can't be real specific here - I never measure and it depends on how big the cukes are, etc. But this is an easy 'taste and adjust' salad. Just play with it until you like it - you really can't screw it up (unless you try to hurry)
Ingredients:
- 2 - 3 medium - large cucumbers
- kosher, rock or sea salt
- shallot or small onion
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 - 3 tbs lemon juice fresh if you have it
- 3 - 4 tbs salad olive oil
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or plain yogurt
- Pepper
- 2 - 3 tbs snipped fresh chives
Instructions:
- First:
- Peel cucumber and thinly slice on box slicer. (You know, the kind your mother had with three slits on one side for slicing and different size holes on the other 3 sides for grating and shredding.)
- Stick the whole cloves into the onion half.
- Put the studded onion in the bottom of a deep bowl large enough to easily hold the cukes.
- Put in a layer of cukes, sprinkle with salt, and repeat 3 times using about 1 tsp salt on each layer.
- Put a small plate or saucer on top of the cucumbers - it should be sitting on the cukes, not the sides of the bowl.
- Put a big can or jar of something heavy on the plate - to weigh it down. We want weight on the cukes - the plate is just to distribute it more evenly.
- Let it sit at room temperature for 4 - 10 hours.
- Second:
- Remove weight and plate. The cucumbers will be sitting in a lot of water.
- Put cucumbers in a strainer - discarding onion and cloves.
- Rinse cucumbers (remember all that salt?) You don't want to get all of the salt off - just about 80% Taste to test.
- When rinsed to your satisfaction take the cucumbers in your clean hands and gently squeeze most of the remaining liquid out.
- Put back into the bowl (that you have rinsed).
- To finish:
- Add 2 tbs lemon juice, 3 tbs oil and stir.
- Add 1/3 cup yogurt , stir and taste.
- Adjust to the quantity of cukes and your liking.
- Add fresh ground pepper, chives and serve.
This will keep a week, but it never lasts that long at our house.
Cooking Schedule: 30 minutes early, then 45 easy minutes cooking
Assemble all ingredients and utensils
Utensils: measuring cups, spoons, knives,
small bowl (used 2X), dish for marinating chicken,
film, medium bowl, small plate, weight, strainer,
small saucepan with lid, steamer in medium
saucepan, barbecue grill
Earlier in the day:
Chop herbs
Mix herbs with lemon, oil
Loosen skin on chicken, put herbs under skin
Put remaining herbs/oil on
chicken, cover, refrigerate
Peel onion, stud with cloves, put in bowl
Slice cucumbers
Layer cukes, salt, on top of onion
Add plate, weight, set aside (room temperature)
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Dinner time:
Turn on/light barbecue grill
Remove chicken from fridge
Start to cook chicken
Slice potatoes, steam
Cook eggs
Drain, rinse cuke's - discard onion
Squeeze cukes gently to remove liquid
Rinse, wipe bowl, return cucumbers to bowl
Make cucumber salad, taste, adjust
Turn the chicken
Remove potatoes. add oil
Mind the eggs
Make the dressing for potatoes
Finish potato salad
Move chicken off direct heat
When it's done... Serve all and eat! |