Grilled Lemon Chicken

Grilled Lemon Chicken
Nutrition Facts

Ingredients:

3-4 pounds bone in skin on chicken breasts and/or thighs
Marinade

Marinade Ingredients:

2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic
2 t dried thyme
1 t dried rosemary
2 T fresh parsley
½ t red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper

Click here for the complete directions!

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Marinade for Flank Steak and Mushroom Fajitas

This simple marinade for fajitas takes no time to put together and has been a hit with our family and friends for, oh, about 15 years or so. One of my favorite fajita memories was the time the neighbor we never ever see popped his head over the fence and said "What are you grilling?! That smells fantastic!!!!".

If you are a vegetarian, skip the steak and just use mushrooms. There is simply no better way to marinade a portobello for grilling.

Marinade for Flank Steak and Mushroom Fajitas
Nutrition Facts

What to get:

1 pound flank steak - do not bother getting the silly "tenderized" version as the texture is most unpleasant.
2 portobello mushrooms
2 heavy duty zip lock bags
1 two cup sized Pyrex container with pour spout
1 cup aged Balsamic Vinegar from Modena - yes the source is important. Read the labels.
1/4 cup good red wine with an assertive character
1/8 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 4 oz container chopped garlic in olive oil.
2 T cilantro, chopped (can use dried parsley if you were unmindful and failed to get or grow cilantro)
1/4 t or so of freshly ground black peppercorns

How to assemble the marinade:

Measure the vinegar and then the olive oil into the Pyrex measuring container. Dump in the entire jar of garlic. Don't worry about this. The jarred garlic is not anywhere near as potent as fresh garlic would be. If you are a purist and never buy prepared foods at all even simply prepared foods, chop garlic. Shoot for approximately 1/4 cup of the stuff. Twist a bunch of pepper into the container and stir well.

How to get it all together:

Put the steak in one of the zip lock bags. Do not seal the bag.

Rinse (yes, I do this right before using mushrooms) the mushrooms and break off the stem if it sticks out beyond the cap. Pat dry with paper towels. Put the rinsed and dried mushrooms into a second zip lock bag. Do not seal the bag.

Stir and pour half the marinade into each bag. Turn a few times to make sure that the marinade coats the steak and mushrooms well on both sides. Press out as much air as you can and seal.

Place in the refrigerator for anywhere from 1-5 hours. Remove from the fridge about half an hour before grilling. Both grill much better when brought to at least near room temperature.

Discard all extra marinade. No need to baste during cooking.

Note:

Do not use this marinade on shrimps. The balsamic vinegar is too intense.

Mindfully enjoy your tender steak and mushrooms nicely sliced and placed lovingly within a beautiful home made tortilla. You can add fresh jalapeno slices if you have a few fresh picked from your garden. Onion slices are fine too - either raw or caramelized with sweet red pepper. Salsa or homemade guacamole are wonderful as well. Put out a bunch of options on the table and let people address their own meal in the manner they find most delicious.

Fish Jerky

One thing you will rarely see on this blog is a reference to fish as I find it nauseating, quite literally so. However, I know a good mindful recipe when I see one even if I will never in this life taste it. Many of you would, for some strange reason, quite like it.

My friend Rabbit used to live in New Orleans. He evacuated to our home one weekend as was usual when a hurricane threatened. This time he lost almost everything he owned thanks to Katrina. One thing he lost was the fishing reel he used to catch many large fishes. He ate them in just about every way a fish lover could. Among his friends in New Orleans, he became famous for his Fish Jerky. Yes. Fish Jerky. If I could bring myself to do it, this is the one fish I might taste...but not really. Rabbit explains the process quite well, so I'm going to let him take it from here:

Fish Jerky

Rabbit's Penn 505

My favorite reel was the Penn 505 of which I had 2.  I lost them both in Katrina and they are no longer made…

Fish Jerky requires a lot of fish usually several pounds. When I made it I sent packages (vacuum packed) to friends all over the country.  The rest was usually consumed when my daughters and their friends swooped in and ate the rest (while also drinking the rest of my "good" beer…)

The marinade was really pretty simple with equal parts of Italian salad dressing, usually wishbone, but sometimes others, garlic flavored red wine vinegar and red wine.  The red wine is the kind you drink, to paraphrase Justin Wilson, if it isn't good enough to drink, it isn't good enough to eat either.  The other main ingredient is soy sauce, which is about half of the other three combined.  this is all done by eyeball, so it varies.  Use good quality Louisiana hot sauce to taste (Crystal is my favorite) and some liquid smoke.

Any kind of saltwater fish will work, but large oily fish do best.  I've used Blackfin Tuna, King Mackerel, and Bluefish most.  Shark is also good, it gets a really jerky texture.

I freeze the fish and then put it in the fridge till it's just starting to thaw then cut it into 1/8 inch thick slices.  It's much easier to cut when semi-frozen.  

I put it in the marinade at least over night in the refrigerator, Sometimes I leave it a couple of days, this doesn't hurt because the marinate sort of chemically cooks it.

I started out with a Mr. Coffee dehydrator, then I added a second dehydrator. Then the demand outpaced my capacity to dry and I wound up getting one of those big stainless steel multi rack jobs from a hunting supply store.  I still never got to eat much after everybody else was through.

As I put the slices on the rack I covered them liberally with a sort of medium ground fresh black pepper.  I would stay home all day and rotate it through till the fish was all dry.

Now what did I tell you? That was as mindful a recipe as could be. If you eat those things, enjoy it - quickly or all your friends will finish it first.

Playing With Weeds

Chocolate Mint

Lemon balm, chocolate mint, cilantro, parsley, lemon grass, Greek oregano, marjoram, rosemary, and basil of all kinds. These are a few of the many home garden cookery herbs that my good friend Rabbit calls "weeds".

Deliciously aromatic weeds can be combined by the handful in just about any combination to make the most wonderful "weedy" marinade. Yesterday, weeds were used in mass quantities to make a fantastic marinade for lamb chops.

Pick the weeds fresh from your garden or fresh from the weed section of your local grocery. What weeds are entirely up to you, but make sure that some sort of mint is in the mix!

Marinade of Weeds for Lamb Chops
nutrition facts

What you need to make four servings:

8 lamb chops
2-4 cups of  your choice of five fresh herbs (weeds) from the list below:
     Chocolate mint or mix of mint(s)
     cilantro
     parsley, flat curled or both
     lemon grass
     Greek oregano
     marjoram
     rosemary
     basil
1 head of garlic, chopped or pressed
1/2 cup each of the following:
     fresh squeezed lemon juice
     red wine
     olive oil
     either red wine or balsamic vinegar*

*You may use garlic infused vinegar, but still add the head of garlic. It is impossible to over garlic this dish.

What to do:

In the morning head out to the garden with your shears and a large bowl. Harvest large handfuls of weed leaves. Whatever type you have growing in your herb garden is fine... even if it is not on the list. If you think it would go well with lamb, use it.

The critical weed for cooking lamb is chocolate mint, although all sorts of mint work well here - preferably in addition to the chocolate mint. Harvest twice as much oregano and marjoram as you do mint. Mint can overpower and you just want it to just add depth. Toss great mountains of your favorite basil into the harvest bowl. Try lemon basil if you love lemon with lamb. I am not a fan of too much rosemary, but you may love it - harvest accordingly. I usually just collect one small stem, you may need three. Your choice of weeds will become very personal over time as you play with the flavors and make adjustments based upon what you have growing.

Carry the large bunches of greenery into the house, rinse and pat dry with either paper or tea towels..

Remove the leaves and tender parts from the woody stems and discard the woody bits. Wad up manageable clumps of the remaining leaves on a cutting board. Using a large very sharp knife begin chopping the heck out of the weeds until they are so finely chopped as to nearly be a paste...or just very small bits... it all depends on how carried away you get with a cleaver. Scrape the mass of herbs into a large bowl of sufficient size so that it will not overflow when you add liquids.

Chop or press an entire head of garlic cloves and add to the weeds.

Add all the liquids and stir - fresh squeezed lemon juice, red wine, olive oil, and your choice of red wine or balsamic vinegar - or garlic infused olive oil. At this point you could add some fresh cracked black pepper but it is not really necessary as that can be added at the table. Do NOT add salt. The marinade should be thick. If it is not, add some more weeds. Take a good whiff of the mix and adjust the seasonings and liquids until you think it just rocks.

Arrange the lamb chops in a large lidded container or thick zip lock baggie and drown with the marinade. Cover with a lid (or zip the baggie shut) and place in the refrigerator for about 5 hours or until time to grill.

Remove the lamb from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before grilling. Right before grilling, take the chops out of the marinade (discard as it has done its duty well). Grill the lamb over hot coals, turning as needed, for about five minutes on each side which is medium rare (my preference). Lamb chops should never be overcooked as they turn dry and tough, so watch them attentively. Check to make sure they are finished as you like them. My son is not a medium rare person, so we always cook his chops a few minutes longer on each side.

If you have not tried chocolate mint, go get some immediately and plant so it's there waiting for you the next time you crave lamb.

Most mindfully served with Shirazi Salad and Lemon Spinach Couscous - recipes posted at The CC Palate!