BB: Un-butterflied Chicken

Okay, okay, I'm a chicken (hehe). I just couldn't buy a whole chicken and debone and butterfly it. I just couldn't. I'm kind of new to this whole cooking thing, and I've been doing really well, and I wasn't in the mood for a disaster.

SOOO... I bought bone-in, skin-on breasts. And just rubbed the yummy "paste" under the skin. I grilled these babies, on medium heat on the grill for about 15 minutes on each side.

In the words of my husband: "This is the best chicken I've ever had". Seriously, it was good. So here it is, this weeks Barefoot Bloggers pick, Butterflied Chicken, chosen by Stefany of Proceed With Caution.

The recipe:

1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 2 sprigs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 roasting chickens (2 1/2 to 3 pounds each), deboned and butterflied
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

Mix the chopped rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in a small bowl to make a paste.
Place the chickens on a sheet pan, skin side up, and loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers. Place 1/2 of the paste under the skin of each chicken. Rub any remaining paste on the outside and underside of the chickens.

Turn the chicken skin side down and scatter the lemon slices and sprigs of rosemary over each chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Roll each chicken up, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a grill with coals (I used a gas grill- on Medium heat). Spread the coals out in 1 dense layer and brush the grill with oil. Unroll the chickens, place them on the grill and cook for 12 minutes on each side.

TWD: Granola Grabbers

For this weeks TWD, Michelle, from Bad Girl Baking chose a cookie!  The Granola Grabbers!  They looked great in the book, and I was excited to try them out.

 

They were in fact, very good.  They were sweet, and tasted, as one would expect, like a granola bar!!  The only modification I made, was that I left out the wheat germ, and added some of the crumbs from the bottom of the granola and some extra flour to make up for it.  For the recipe, go over and visit Michelle's blog.  

BB: Panzanella

For this installment of the Barefoot Bloggers, chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen, we made a Panzanella salad. I had never heard of this salad before this, but it was very good. I halved the recipe, and I would say, there was enough for 3 very good sized servings, to eat as a meal. We loved this salad, it was light, refreshing and perfect for a summer afternoon.


Source: foodnetwork.com
Recipe below halved from original

1 1/2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/2 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (3 cups)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
10 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons capers, drained

For the vinaigrette:
1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup good olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.

For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

For my first TWD recipe, the Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream was the recipe, chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. Well, I don't have an ice cream maker, and have never made ice cream any other way, and I didn't want my very first TWD to result in a sloppy disaster. So, I opted to do last weeks recipe, the Black and White banana loaf, chosen by Ashlee at A Year in the Kitchen, which is where you can find the recipe. When I first got Baking - From My Home to Yours, I was immediately drawn to this recipe. Bananas and chocolate is a heavenly combination in my opinion! When I saw that it was chosen a a TWD recipe, I decided to join. I have been hesitating for awhile, not sure if I can commit 100%, but I am going to try, and I figure you really one HAVE to bake twice a month, not every week, and that I can definitely handle!

So, back to the banana loaf.



I read through a few of last week posts about this recipe, and I have to say I baked this with some serious reservations. A lot of people seemed to dislike this recipe. I went in with the understanding that this was NOT a typical banana bread. Didn't taste like one, didn't have the texture of one. That, I was fine with. I love chocolate and bananas!! I did cook it for the full hour and a half, since many people thought it came out runny, and I had no problems. I also only used about 1 1/4 medium sized bananas to cut back on the liquid as well. It wasn't runny at all, and the texture seemed perfect to me. I honestly loved this banana loaf. It has a unique banana, rum, chocolate flavor, each very distinct. The nutmug also comes through. It really was unlike anything I expected when I first saw the recipe, but I loved it none the less! Coming next week: Granola Grabbers! Chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking (love that name!!).