Everyday Re-Creations: King, er, Queen of the Grill

Palms are starting to sweat, getting anxious, nervous…

You know that feeling I’m talking about. It’s how you feel when you get that first phone call that says, “Hey, you want to go to the (insert warm, watery destination) next month?” You being the cool cucumber you are reply, “Of course! This is going to be so much fun!” You kindly say thank you and hang up. That’s when it hits you….you have to put on a bathing suit soon.

I'm wishing bathing suits looked a little bit more like this these days...

Your fully clothed wardrobe has to go back into its bins and placed safely in the barn. Oh, your closet is big enough to hold all your clothes at once? Well, aren’t you lucky! Back to my story. Spring is in the air, and summer is around the corner. Summer in the south wouldn’t be summer if lake and beach trips and afternoons spent at the pool weren’t there; therefore, it’s something you have to deal with. Do you want to be the one sweating to death in your cover up, or the one proudly boasting your bathing suit bod?

Let’s not panic just yet, we have a few weeks before it really hits. This is the time that we stop eating all the comfort foods to warm us up from the inside. Now is the time to bring out the grills and the salads! It’s time to stop trying to heat the house with the oven and move the party outside. Are you with me? Less indoor cleaning…starting to sound a little better to you, huh?

You know what I’m thinking? Chicken!

The key to grilling the perfect chicken is all in the marinade. You can marinate chicken for hours, and the longer it sits the better. Two ingredients that I have in abundance right now are lemons and rosemary, so when I ran across Ina’s recipe for Tuscan Lemon Chicken I knew it’d be a hit. Plus, I love Ina. I’m excited and my mouth is watering, so let’s get started!

First thing's first, let’s discuss our ingredients. You’ll need chicken, lemons, rosemary, oil, S&P, garlic and large storage bags. I used pre-minced garlic in a jar, five lemons and about 4 Tbsp of rosemary.

Your first step is to zest your lemons. I don’t have a zester (or a grater), so I used a vegetable peeler. It gets the job done, so no worries. Then you need to squeeze your lemons. I hope you brought your guns because squeezing lemons is harder than I thought! I got ¾ cup out of five lemons. Now, chop up your rosemary.

(The rosemary wasn't added until after these pictures.)

I apologize that I don’t have exact measurements for what I used. I was making a marinade, so it doesn’t have to be exact. I was also using bone in chicken breasts instead of whole chickens like Ina. My pieces were too large to place in one bag, so I did three in one and three in the other. Then, I did equal parts vegetable oil in each bag, probably about a cup, then divided my lemon juice equally among the bags, added salt and pepper in each, added about ½ tsp of garlic in each, then about 6-8 pieces of lemon skin and about 2 Tbsp of rosemary in each. Get things moving around and refrigerate overnight (or longer).

When you’re ready to start cooking your chicken the first thing is to preheat your grill. Once it’s good and hot add your chicken. Large bone in chicken breasts cooked for 15 minutes on each side. They were juicy and delicious!