Balsamic Honey Glaze...

...wrote a song about it. Like to hear it? Here it goes.

Back in cooking mode, but single in NYC for the weekend. Takeout? A cheese pie from the corner pizza joint? Not on your life! I have to bring my A-game to the table from here on out. So it's practice, practice, practice. Down to the local butcher shop I go for some chicken breasts on the bone and a scavenger hunt through the cupboards.

Balsamic Honey Glazed Chicken - by Blog O. Food

3 chicken breasts, bone in 3 lemons, juiced 4 Tbsp olive oil Fresh herbs (tarragon and/or thyme) finely chopped ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar 2 Tbsp honey 1 Tbsp water 2 cloves garlic, chopped

I marinated my chicken breasts in the lemon juice, oil, herbs and some salt & pepper for a couple hours in the refrigerator.

Start your glaze. Combine the balsamic vinegar, honey, water and garlic in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil, then simmer to reduce by one half.

Meanwhile, grill your chicken 7-8 minutes per side. It's my untried theory suspicion that a boneless chicken breast is easy prey to drying out when grilling. I believe that keeping the bone in when cooking helps the meat retain a little more flavor and moisture. But what do I know? Anyway, my breasts got the indoor grilling treatment on my double-sided cast iron grill from Lodge*. If you live in an apartment, or don't have an outdoor grill, this one will be in heavy rotation in your kitchen. I leave mine out on the stovetop.  It's heavy duty, versatile and needs little care aside from a good scrubbing after each use. (No soap! That'll remove the coveted seasoning you're looking to achieve with cast iron. Just use a good nylon pad and some elbow grease.)

How about a side dish? I did a quasi-Mediterranean variation on my hurry-up-and-eat couscous.

1 medium yellow onion, chopped 2 Tbsp roasted red peppers, chopped 1½ tsp capers 6 oz black olives, sliced 2 scallions (green or spring onions), sliced 1 cup whole wheat couscous ½ cup whole wheat couscous ½ water or chicken stock Salt & black pepper

Couscous basics:

1-1 ratio of couscous to cooking liquid. 1 pat of butter (½ Tbsp) and a pinch of salt per ½ cup of couscous. Always bring liquid, butter and salt to a boil before adding couscous. Remove saucepan from heat once couscous is thoroughly stirred in. Allow to rest, covered, for 5 minutes, and always fluff with a fork before serving.

In a small sauté pan over medium heat, sweat the onions with some salt and freshly ground black pepper in hot olive oil until the onions become translucent. Add the red peppers and cook to heat through, about 2 minutes. Add the capers and heat through. Finally toss in the olives, cover, and keep warm over low heat until the couscous is done. Add the cooked medley and the sliced scallions to the couscous, toss ingredients to combine and serve immediately.

Not bad, BOF, not bad. The sweet and tangy glaze had a gentle garlic kick. It clung to my sliced chicken breast splendidly and brought the white meat to life. The breast itself was moist and tender. Maybe I do know what I'm talking about! I'll be using the Lone Ranger as my laboratory rat with this recipe. Try it out on a loved one of your own tonight!

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

*BOF receives no financial remuneration when endorsing products.

Full Disclosure

It's not only vacationing that's kept me from You Gonna Finish That? No, I've gone and met someone. Oh alright, let's come right out and say it. I have a boyfriend, and we'll be referring to him as Peyton on this here bloggy posty thing. And that's all you're gonna get out of me for now. I will add this, he's a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America. How's that for serendipity? So, to the detriment of the hard-earned loyalty of my reader(s), I've spent every weekend since returning to NYC down at his place in Philly, and not in front of my computer monitor, sweating over grammar and vocabulary.

Peyton makes me breakfast every Saturday morning.

Last weekend, after a day spent at Longwood Gardens, we did a grilled chicken Caesar salad for dinner. I paid, Peyton grilled (a real bargain for yours truly). I was in charge of the salad dressing.

Caesar Salad dressing - adapted from Antiquity

2 cloves garlic 6 anchovy fillets 2 egg yolks 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard 2 lemons, juiced 2 Tbsp water ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper

In a small food processor, pulse the garlic, anchovies, egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice and water until the mixture is smooth. With the machine running, slowing pour the olive oil in through the feed tube to make an emulsion. Stir in the Parmesan cheese with several grinds of black pepper. Taste for salt and set aside.

Peyton marinated chicken breasts in fresh herbs, some olive oil, a bit of white wine and a squeeze of anchovy paste for a couple of hours before grilling. Once the breasts were done (about 8 minutes per side on a hot grill), he put some nice sear marks on halved heads of romaine lettuce. You should see him with a carving knife. Like a surgeon!

I almost forgot, Peyton makes his own croutons. Don't you just love this guy!

Herbed croutons - a Peyton concoction

3 Tbsp olive oil 4 garlic cloves, minced 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary 3 cups country bread, crust removed and cut into ¾-inch cubes

In a heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and herbs, and sauté until fragrant, just a minute or two. Remove from heat, add the cubed bread and toss to coat. Spread bread out onto backing pans and season with salt and pepper. Toast in a pre-heated 325°F oven, tossing occasionally, until golden and the moisture is baked out, about 15 minutes or so. Bring to room temperature uncovered.

Arrange grilled romaine on a plate, add croutons and drizzle with Caesar salad dressing. Garnish with some extra Parmesan cheese. Fan out sliced chicken breasts beside the romaine. If you have a professional chef at your disposal, make quick work of a fresh melon for some added color and tuck in. I picked a dry Australian Pinot Grigio to whet our whistles.

So, I'm back in the saddle with my own personal sidekick. Or maybe, at least in the kitchen anyway, I play Tonto to his Lone Ranger. That would make a most excellent nickname, don't you think?

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food

The Contrarian, Or The Art of Tailgating

There is something you should know about my boy Whogus: the man is a sports freak. Oh, not your everyday garden variety sports fan. He is a savant. But you'll never seen him glued to the TV in his dingy apartment, or high-fiving total strangers in some cheesy sports bar. Nope, Whogus will be at the epicenter of every major sporting event in the greater Bay Area: The Tailgate Party. He may not know which team is playing, or even what sport he's attending, but he'll know to within a half degree the ambient heat of his four barbeque grills, the precise BTU output of his six-burner portable stove, and the exact temperature - in Celsius, no less - of his beer cooler.

Actually, none of that is true, and he would probably kill me if he ever bothered to read this blog (we're not all that close, really). He thinks people who watch sports instead of playing them are pathetic. He's quite opinionated on the subject. But the man can grill. Instead of rattles and teething rings, Whogus played with spatulas and tongs as a toddler. His destiny was sealed at an early age. When not hobnobbing with his high-society friends or throwing back G&Ts on the lawns of his parents' estate, Whogus will have his "Kiss the Cook" apron on, charcoal chimney at the ready.

During my holiday visit he picked up a tri-tip of beef, some green & red bell peppers and asparagus, and informed me that he would be manning the grill that evening. Not one to be excluded, I volunteered a marinade for the roast, and a warm potato salad to which my father had introduced me over Christmas. Whogus is a wine merchant, so I knew we were in for one of his singularly indulgent late nights.

With lots of advance notice, a good marinade can really flavor a cut of meat. Salt and a good olive oil will help it retain moisture once it hits the grill. Here's what I came up with:

½ each red and green bell peppers, de-seeded and membrane removed, finely minced ¼-cup extra virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely pressed dash Worcestershire and soy sauces fresh ground pepper Combine all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Whisk to incorporate the oil and the liquids. Pour over top of the tri-tip, flipping the roast to marinate both sides. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (I had six). Turn the beef occasional to keep the entire cut marinating. I omitted the salt in the marinade, as there is plenty in the added sauces.

When Whogus returned from work that evening he donned his BBQ holster and fired up his Weber 3000, and I prepped the vegetables. In a more perfect world, there would be two ways, and two ways only to eat vegetables: raw, or hot off the grill. Grilling caramelizes some of the sugars found in almost every vegetable, bringing out a sweetness one would never suspect of a pepper or root. The beautiful charring is always eye-catching, and just makes for an agreeable presentation.

One should make larger cuts when prepping vegetables for the grill. They're more manageable on the grates and resist their natural urge to fall into the fire. You can always cut them in smaller pieces once they've finished cooking.

Toss prepped vegetables in a light coating of olive oil, and add them to the grill about halfway through cooking time for the beef. Keep and eye on them. You want nice sear marks, not charred lumps of pure carbon.

I mentioned a warm potato salad my father made for me over Christmas. It was so simple and delicious, I knew it was gonna end up in my repertoire. Dad gave a red onion a medium chop, and 4 or 5 gherkin pickles a rough chop by way of prep work. Some quartered Yukon Gold potatoes were set to the boil. Once the potatoes were fork tender, Dad drained them, added mayonnaise and the chopped ingredients and mashed them! I should have known. Nothing with Pops O'Food is straightforward. I was ready to turn my nose up at them, but couldn't believe how much I enjoyed them. His secret ingredient was pickle juice from the jar. Here's my variation:

6 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed, quartered, skins left intact 2 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced 1 medium red onion, medium chopped 4 gherkin pickles, quartered and roughly chopped 1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill ½-cup yogurt ¼-cup mayonnaise Salt and freshly ground pepper

Set potatoes to boil in plenty of salted water in an un-covered stock pot. Once potatoes are fork tender, drain them and pour into a large serving bowl. Add the yogurt, mayonnaise, salt and pepper and mix gently to incorporate. Add the onion, pickle and dill and mix thoroughly, and again gently. The mixing will break down the quartered potatoes but still leave some lumps for texture. Layer slices of boiled egg over the top and serve.

Back to the Tri-tip:

Remove the bell peppers once they've developed nice sear marks and before they begin to wilt. Once your cut of beef reaches an internal temperature of 140° (medium-rare), remove from the grill, cover lightly with aluminum foil, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Slice the tri-tip against the grain at a bias into thin strips. Layer on a dinner plate, top with the bell peppers, the asparagus spears on the side. Spoon a generous mound of potato salad to one side and tuck in. A Storrs 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains Petite Syrah would in no way be objectionable with this meal. Nor would a second bottle for that matter, and then a glass of 20-year old tawny Port with a piece of dark chocolate for dessert. I warned you things would get decadent.

Thanks for taking the time - Blog O. Food