Outdoor Cooking

If you're anything like me, when warm weather arrives, the last thing you want to do is stand over a stove. Solution? Fire up the grill!

While my husband is indeed The Grill Master (lest he read this and have to go outside and pound his chest because I'm challenging his manhood *grin*), I have a terrific chicken marinade recipe to share.

This makes about 4 cups of marinade:

1 1/2 cups vegetable or olive oil
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (cider vinegar works as a substitute)
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons finely minced fresh parsley

Mix all ingredients together, and let your meat soak. The longer the better but I've had as little as 30 minutes and still had terrific results.



Tips for grilling boneless chicken breasts:

Trim or pound chicken to equal thickness (if you trim it, you can save the pieces to make chicken stock)

Lightly score the chicken before marinading.

Heat your grill to medium-high. We have a gas grill so if you have charcoal, you're on your own. I'm clueless about charcoal.

Put your chicken on and sear it for 2 or 3 minutes per side. Lower heat or move chicken away from high heat and cook until done (Total cooking time depends on the thickness of the meat.)

Don't poke it while it cooks. That lets the juices out. I know it's done by how it feels when I touch it. It's springy but not soft. Firm but not hard. Or, use a meat thermometer to 165F.

Remove from grill and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting. This lets the juices redistribute.

That same marinade is awesome for steak, too.

Can you grill a complete meal? Why yes! Yes you can!

Vegetables:

To grill corn on the cob- Carefully pull back, but don't remove, the corn husks and pick off the silk. Roll the husks back up and secure with twine. Soak in water for an hour or two. Toss on the grill, turning every 5 minutes. (If desired, after soaking, peel back husks again and flavor the corn with butter and seasonings, replace husks, tie and grill.) Grilled corn on the cob always gets rave reviews.



I also like to make a vegetable packet out of aluminoil foil, toss in whatever veggies I have on hand (squash, zuchinni, peppers, asparagus work great), add a little olive oil, some seasoning and let the packet steam away while the meat cooks.

Dessert:

Grilled Pineapple Sundae-

1 pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1 inch slices
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
vanilla ice cream

Mix together brown sugar, butter, lemon juice and cinnamon. Brush over pineapple slices. Grill slices over high heat for one minute per side. Put on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and eat warm.



Noms.