Grilled Pork Cutlets

This is completely unrelated to anything having to do with food, but have you discovered Spotify yet? Oh man...I'm so in love with it. It's similar to Pandora except if you search on a song or artist or album, you get to choose what you want to listen to instead of getting a mix based on that. Oh man...it's freakin' fantastic! Right now I'm listening to one of the Glee soundtracks. The only problem is that I get overwhelmed with music choices thinking of everything I could possibly listen to. The other day I listened to the entire Annie soundtrack. Oh how I love Annie, you have no idea. Then Boy #1 came downstairs when his afternoon quiet time was done and said, "Mom, what are you listening to? Turn it off, this isn't good." He's five. Sheesh.

Anyway, I've tried to stick with most of our dinners coming from the grill or crockpot. I remembered a Cook's Illustrated magazine I bought a couple summers ago that is aptly named Summer Grilling. They're clever folks there at Cook's Illustrated when it comes to naming things. I couldn't remember ever having grilled pork before, so I wanted to give this a try. Plus I had just about everything on hand for it which is always a plus.

Grilled Pork Cutlets
Source: Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling 2009 magazine

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
12 thin-cut boneless pork chops (about 2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat and pounded into 1/4-inch thick cutlets

Combine vinegar, oil, garlic, thyme, sugar, salt, and pepper in large zipper lock plastic bag. Transfer chops to bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to two hours.

Turn all burners on gas grill to high and heat grill with lid down until very hot, about 15 minutes. Scrape grate clean with grill brush. Dip wad of paper towels in oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate.

Remove cutlets from bag and discard marinade. Grill cutlets with lid down until bottoms begin to turn opaque around edges, about 2 minutes. Flip cutlets and grill until just cooked through, about 30 seconds. Transfer to platter, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve with Spicy Fruit Salsa.

Spicy Fruit Salsa
Spicy Fruit Salsa:
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced (don't seed if you want it spicy)
1 shallot, minced
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe peaches, pitted and chopped fine
2 ripe plums, pitted and chopped fine
1 Tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
Table salt

Whisk jalapeno, shallot, vinegar, honey, and oil in small bowl. Let sit until flavors combine, about 15 minutes.

Combine peaches and plums in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of fruit to bowl with jalapeno mixture and mash with potato masher until smooth. Add mashed fruit mixture and basil to bowl with cut fruit and stir until combined. Season with salt and let sit until flavors combine, about 15 minutes.

*****

Let me tell you...I mashed and mashed my fruit and never got it smooth, so I finally gave up and kept it chunky. I know a lot of people don't dig on meat with a sweet accompaniment, but some combinations don't bother me. Like this one. The fruit salsa was so tasty with the jalapeno and the bite it gave the salsa, mixed with sweet peaches and plums. Yum! I don't think I read the recipe for the salsa all the way through before starting dinner, so I didn't let it sit as long as was recommended, but it was still tasty. Boy #1 didn't want any of the "sauce" on his meat, but Boy #2 had it and loved it. The husband and I loved it, so I call it a success! If you plan ahead enough for the fruit salsa, this really comes together fast. We had it with some steamed broccoli and super tasty Rick Bayless Barbecue Baked Beans. This was a great tasty summer dinner! There were actually two variations included in the magazine, too. One used rosemary and red wine vinegar for the marinade, and the other called for cumin, cilantro, and lime juice. I may have to try one of those at some point too!

(Sadly my camera was upstairs, and instead of making my family wait to eat while I went to grab it, I took a picture with my phone.)

Garlic and Fresh Oregano Grilled Chicken

The husband, boys, and I were all out front recently while the husband and I worked on cleaning up the garage and the boys rode bikes. My friend and neighbor Claudine happened to stop by on her way to work to give me some fresh oregano she had just picked from her garden. Don't you just love neighbors like that?! I heart fresh oregano and was overwhelmed with choices of what I could do with it. Something Greek? Italian? I didn't know. I thought some kind of really fresh, light marinade for chicken would be good, so I did some Googling. I found a couple recipes that sounded tasty and ended up making a modified version of one from about.com.

Garlic and Fresh Oregano Grilled Chicken
Source: Adapted from About.com

1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves coarsely chopped garlic
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoon ancho powder

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix until thoroughly combined. Marinate chicken for 6 hours or more. Prepare indirect grill and cook until done. Makes enough marinade for 2 chickens quartered.

*****

The original recipe called for half a cup of garlic. That seemed like waaaaaay too much to me. Plus I didn't have that much garlic. I love me some garlic, but half a cup? Really?! I basically used what I had and called it good. I also went light on the ancho chile powder since Boy #1 isn't a fan of spicy. I used chicken legs as my chicken part of choice and grilled them for close to 30 minutes. I had quite a bit of marinade left over, so I thawed a chicken breast and left it marinating overnight and then grilled it in the morning for the husband to take in his lunch. I warned him he shouldn't get used to freshly grilled meat every morning.

This marinade was good, but it wasn't amazing I didn't think. For chicken breasts I think I like my Saito Chicken better, and we really loved the Marinated Grilled Chicken Legs that we had recently. If you have the ingredients on hand, this is worth making, but I think if Claudine ever graces me with more fresh oregano I'll find something different to make with it.

Beef Bulgogi

Did I mention that we just moved Boy #2 from his crib into a big boy bed? I'm freakin' exhausted. He apparently thinks it means he can get up as many times as he wants at night and come wake me up and get up at the ass crack of dawn in the morning. *yawn* I'm a tired mama. Last night I got 6.5 hours of sleep, one of which was spent laying on the floor of his bedroom. Ugh. I know Boy #1 took awhile to adjust to not being confined when he slept, but I don't remember how long it took. I don't really feel capable of getting anything accomplished around my house today (I changed into jammies after my post-gym shower), so I'm going to update my blog.

By the way, I created a Facebook Page for my little blog here. There's a link over on the right sidebar where you can like it from here or come visit me on there. I don't really know what I'm going to do with it, I'd just been thinking about doing it for awhile and today seemed like a good day.

I've been in a bit of a funk lately, which I'm sure directly correlates to my lack of sleep, and meal planning just wasn't exciting for this week. I pulled a cookbook off my shelf that my mother-in-law had gotten me for Christmas a couple years ago and flipped through it hoping for ideas. She was a teacher at a Christian high school in San Antonio (she just retired!), and it was a fundraising project from the senior class I think. I love cookbooks where people submit their own recipes because who's going to submit something that sucks? This recipe called for flank steak, but London broil was on sale, so I thought it would be good. Bulgogi, according to the recipe intro, is a Korean treatment for steak that has very wide appeal to western palates and is remarkably easy to make. Also sometimes written as Pulgogi, Bulgogi literally means "fire meat" although this refers more to the cooking method than the spiciness of the dish. So there you go. I have no idea how to pronounce it. Bul-go-gee? Bul-gah-gee? Something else entirely?

Beef Bulgogi

2 lb flank steak or sirloin
1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar
3/4 c. soy sauce (preferably low salt)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
Dash of red pepper flakes or ground cayenne
5 or 6 green onions, sliced
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

For cooking:
3 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp peanut or vegetable oil

For thickening marinade/sauce:
1 Tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbsp water

Trim any visible fat and sinuous tissue from the uncooked steak and wrap the meat in plastic wrap or a Ziploc bag and place in the freezer for half an hour to partially freeze meat. Remove meat from the freezer and slice as thinly as possible across the grain. Lay out meat slices in a single layer in a low, glass or ceramic casserole dish. As you cover the bottom once, crumble some of the brown sugar over the uncooked meat and continue layering meat and brown sugar until all the steak is sliced and the sugar used.

Marinade: In a bowl, mix soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, red pepper, onions, rice vinegar, and garlic. Pour marinade over sugared meat and cover to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Can be marinated all day or even overnight if using low sat soy sauce.

Heat a large skillet on medium high heat and mix the remaining sesame oil with the peanut or vegetable oil. Working in small batches to preserve the heat of the pan, use a little of the mixed oils and quickly fry the steak until just cooked medium rare. Remove cooked slices to a warm serving platter and repeat the process until the whole batch of meat is cooked. use more oil if necessary. After meat is cooked, reduce heat to medium and add leftover marinade to skillet. Bring to gentle simmer and stir in cornstarch/water mixture. Stir while thickening and pour over cooked meat.

*****

The marinade smelled fantastic. I love the smell of sesame oil. As I was cooking the meat Boy #1 kept saying, "Mommy dinner smells so yummy!" It ended up being super tasty. I think our meat ended up being more on the medium or medium well side because I wasn't really sure how long to let it cook before flipping it, but it was still good. The sauce on top was really good, too. Since it had raw meat marinating in it, I heated it to boiling just to be safe. We all really liked this. Boy #1 complained at one point that he was getting full and asked if he could just eat half of what was left on his plate. I said sure, but then a couple minutes later he and I realized he'd eaten all of it! We just had the meat with some frozen Asian blend vegetables, but I think the meat would be really good in lettuce wrap form, too. I'll definitely make this again!

Sadly, none of the pictures I took of the cooked meat turned out. :(

Jamaican Jerk Kabobs

I figured since Jamaican jerk usually equates to spicy, this would be a good dinner for the husband and I to have on our Friday night mini date, where we eat dinner after the kids go to bed. The boy doesn't like spicy, so I generally save spicy dinners for just the husband and I...it's easier than fighting at the dinner table. I love kebabs, so I was really excited to try this recipe, plus it sounded super easy.

Jamaican Jerk Kabobs
From Food.com

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, and cut into 24 chunks
2 green onions
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon gingerroot, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 red bell peppers, cut in 1 inch pieces

In a blender at high speed, blend onions, chile, ginger, vinegar, allspice, thyme, salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil until combined. Place Chicken chunks in a zip-tight plastic bag with marinade, turning to coat. Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, toss red pepper pieces with remaining olive oil in small bowl.

Preheat the broiler or grill with rack close to heat source.

On 4 metal skewers, alternately thread chicken and red pepper. Brush Kabobs with any remaining marinade. Cook a total of ten minutes, turning once, or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

*****

I have to say, this marinade smelled really weird. I was not excited about this dinner at all. The vinegar seemed really overpowering. So I figured I'd tinker with it. I increased the amount of olive oil--probably another two tablespoons--and added in some crushed red pepper. I still wasn't 100% sure about it, but I didn't really know what else to do with it to jazz it up. I figured if it was bad, we'd have turkey roll-ups for dinner instead.

We ended up really liking it! I was honestly surprised. When I went out to the grill to flip the skewers I was surprised that they actually smelled good. I was still skeptical. Even when I dished up our plates I still wasn't sure what to think. I even started eating red peppers first instead of the chicken pieces. I let the husband try the chicken first, and he said it was good, so then I went for it. He was right, it was pretty tasty. I don't know if it's something I'd necessarily make in high rotation, but I'd probably make it again.

Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks

first let me say that one of the shift keys on my computer isn't working, so I'm having a hard time capitalizing some letters. i was recently looking through my freezer and saw some chicken drumsticks that I had forgotten were out there. I got really excited when I remembered this recipe. We had only had it once before, but I liked it. Plus this time I can correct the mistakes I made last time!

(By the way, this will be my last post for awhile. The husband's birthday is Friday, so tomorrow night we're getting pizza for dinner, and then he and I are heading out for a weekend SANS KIDS!!!!!! You have no idea how excited I am!! Or if you have kids, maybe you do have an idea...)

Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks

I wanted to have some kind of couscous side with it, but wasn't sure what to do. I didn't see anything on RecipeZaar.com that looked especially good, so I checked allrecipes.com and found something that sounded good. I'll just link to it:

Company Couscous

I don't have red peppers but I do have green, so I figure I'll just substitute that.

Saito Chicken

I had originally planned something different for Sunday's dinner, a crockpot chicken marsala recipe. But, I was out running errands yesterday afternoon and thought that didn't really sound good at all. I wanted to grill. Memorial Day weekend and 4th of July weekend I just feel the need to grill. So I scrapped the plan for the crockpot dinner and decided to make this chicken again. I wasn't sure what sides to have with it, but I found a grilled potato recipe on RecipeZaar.com that sounded good, and I figured some peas and a salad would round out everything. I'll do the potatoes in a separate post.

Saito Chicken

Balsamic Chicken Drumsticks

So, one of the things I find most annoying about having a newborn is putting them down to sleep, thinking they're goign to sleep so you go to bed, only to have them not actually go to sleep and you have to get right back up once you're comfortable. I hate that. It was worse when the boy was a baby because I'd go back to my room to go to sleep and find the dog sleeping in my spot. At least she kept it warm for me. Anyway, I figured I'd sit up a bit and make sure the baby is actually going to sleep to avoid that whole mess, so I figured while I was up I might as well update the blog with what I'm making for dinner tomorrow night (Sunday). Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about hunkering down with the last Twilight book and reading some more of it before I konk out for the night. Or for a few hours until the baby needs to eat again.

This is from Giada's latest cookbook. I've only casually flipped through it so far, but this was one of the first recipes I saw. I have everything on hand for it and thought it sounded good. I heart Giada. This is only the second cookbook of hers that I have, and I can't wait to try more stuff from it. Now if I could just get to be as skinny as she is, I'd be a happy lady. I found the recipe on the Food Network website which is nice because I hate typing recipes and try to avoid it if I can.

Balsamic Chicken
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
5 sprigs of rosemary
5 garlic cloves, halved
10 to 12 chicken drumsticks
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Combine the balsamic, honey, brown sugar, soy sauce, rosemary sprigs, and garlic cloves, in a large, re-sealable plastic bag. Shake and squeeze the contents of the bag to dissolve the honey and the brown sugar. Add the chicken drumsticks to the bag and seal with as little air as possible in the bag. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the chicken drumsticks on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake until the skin is caramelized and very dark in spots, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the marinade in a small saucepan. Bring the marinade to a boil (in order to kill bacteria). Reduce the heat to simmer and cook over low heat until thick, about 15 minutes. Reserve.

Use a pastry brush to brush some of the cooked marinade on the cooked chicken. Place the chicken on a serving platter. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and the chopped parsley.

*****

I don't have fresh rosemary, but I do need to go grocery shopping tomorrow, so either I'll pick some up then or just used dried and call it good. Of course, this recipe assumes that my chicken defrosts in time. I put it in the fridge this morning, so my fingers are crossed.

I got my menu all figured out for the coming week and am excited to start cooking again, although I have to admit I was at a bit of a loss for what to make since it's been so long.

*****

Finally, a review! We ended up having this just last night. First the chicken wasn't defrosted in time for Sunday night's dinner, then Monday when I went to make it, I didn't have enough honey, so I had to go to the store yesterday and get the honey. It was worth the wait though. I really liked it! The husband thought it could have used more sauce, but that was really my fault for two reasons. One, we weren't home for me to flip the bag I was using to marinate the chicken because we went to the park with Jen B. and her son after naps, and two, I didn't read the directions all the way through to know the sauce had to simmer for 15 minutes to thicken. We were hungry, so I brushed it on before it was really thick. I think had I done both of those things correctly, there would have been more sauce stuck to the chicken. It was super easy to prepare, and putting the foil down on the cookie sheet made it super easy to clean up because you just threw away the foil. I love it!! I will definitely make this again. I'm always looking for chicken drumstick recipes because they're so cheap when they go on sale.

Saito Chicken

Saito Chicken
1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. lemon juice,
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
salt and pepper.

Mix and pour over chicken. Let marinate at least an hour, flipping chicken after 30 minutes. Grill 5-7 minutes each side on medium heat or until no longer pink in middle.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers

Well, we made it home from our week at the beach. We had a really good time with the husband's family. The boy absolutely loves being at the ocean, so he had a blast. Although it breaks my heart because he keeps asking for "more ocean house." :( And of course now we're back in the blazing summer heat of Phoenix. Ugh. If anyone has an extra $30K lying around they don't know what to do with, I'd gladly take it off your hands so I could get a pool in my backyard. Someday...

Anyway, back to our regular routine. I was excited to see that portobellos were on sale this week because it seems like a long time since we've had them. Plus after vacation binge eating, we wanted some healthy stuff this week. Or rather the husband did...I've been thinking about making a tres leches cake all afternoon. ;) I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the mushrooms, other than grill them and throw them on a bun, so I did a Google search. This was the first recipe that came up, and it sounds really good. Who knew there were recipes on the Mayo Clinic website. I'm bookmarking it to check out some more later because I'm currently busy uploading pictures from our trip and looking at nursery bedding. Such a multi-tasker.

Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burgers
4 large portobello mushroom caps, 5 inches in diameter
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 whole-wheat buns, toasted
4 slices tomato
4 slices red onion
2 bibb lettuce leaves, halved

Clean mushrooms with a damp cloth and remove their stems. Place in a glass dish, stem (gill) side up.

To prepare the marinade, in a small bowl whisk together the vinegar, water, sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Drizzle the marinade over the mushrooms. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, turning mushrooms once.

Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill or broiler. Away from the heat source, lightly coat the grill rack or broiler pan with cooking spray. Position the cooking rack 4 to 6 inches from the heat source.

Grill or broil the mushrooms on medium heat, turning often, until tender, about 5 minutes on each side. Baste with marinade to keep from drying out. Using tongs, transfer the mushrooms to a plate.

Place each mushroom on a bun and top with 1 tomato slice, 1 onion slice and 1/2 lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.

*****

I don't have lettuce or tomato, and I don't really want just onion slices, so I'm going to top them with Muenster cheese. I also need to make a pasta salad. Maybe I'll throw some water on to boil for that when I go downstairs to get some limeade. I treated myself today to Simply Orange brand Limeade. I think it has crack in it...that stuff is awesome. It's kind of pricey, but 1) it was on sale, and 2)I can't have beer or margaritas to cool off in this darned heat, so I figured I was justified.

Saito Chicken

My friend Jen and her son Trevor are coming over for dinner tonight, so I'm making one of her favorite things. Or at least she says it's one of her favorites. I think I've made it before, so it's probably in the archives somewhere. Super easy marinated grilled chicken is what it should be called.

Saito Chicken
1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. lemon juice,
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
salt and pepper.

Mix and pour over chicken. Let marinate at least an hour, flipping chicken after 30 minutes. Grill 5-7 minutes each side on medium heat or until no longer pink in middle.

*****

Jen is bringing her super yummy pasta salad, and we're also going to have Glazed Carrots with it. Should be yummy!!

Saito Chicken

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend! We had a really good one--lots of family time and my husband and I got to see a movie! Oh, and we got a Nintendo Wii, so things were good at the Knightly house this weekend. :)

Sorry for the late post, I was distracted by the Wii most of the day. This way I can do the recipe and review all in one! This chicken marinade is one I use all the time. Last summer I made it whenever we'd have someone over for dinner. It's super easy, and the ingredients are ones I always have on hand. The name comes from the originator of the recipe, my high school best friend's art teacher, Mr. Saito. Feel free to call it whatever you want.

Saito Chicken
1/2 c. oil
1/3 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. soy sauce
1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
salt and pepper

Mix and pour over chicken. Let marinate an hour, flipping chicken after 30 minutes. Grill over medium heat, about 7 minutes per side.

*****

I've used that amount of marinade for as many as eight chicken breasts, so it makes a good amount of marinade. I also usually let it marinate longer than an hour. Our side dishes tonight weren't anything fancy...grilled corn on the cob and a Suddenly Salad pasta salad. My friend Laura sent me a recipe for an orzo pasta salad that sounds fantastic, but I ran out of time to make it. Darn Wii!! ;)

The chicken was good, as always. I could eat this several nights a week, it's one of my favorites.