I love to barbecue .... but...

I love it when spring starts.

We fill the propane tank and start finding excuses to use the barbecue. Beyond the regular grilling of various meat products; we steam vegetables in foil-packets, and by summer I'm cooking with the cast-iron skillet on the barbecue just to be outside.

Last night, however - I wasn't so enthused with the barbecue.

I bought 24 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs from my butcher (La Preference) at a good price.

They marinated overnight in a delicious recipe of black bean paste, Thai chili paste, mirin, and olive oil.

And then I put them on the grill.
And.
After a few minutes.
They exploded into flame!

A brave volunteer got them off the grill as quickly as he could without burning himself. The flames were incredible. All the fat and skin was seared, but the meat within was still raw. Wait a minute. ... fat and skin .... and the recipe calls for trimming and I didn't do it.

So I put as many as I could in pans and cooked them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. The five that were still raw & un-singed (because I couldn't fit them on a grill) took 40 minutes to cook. I threw-out the worst 5 because they felt solid when I pressed on the upper part of the thigh (but still bled red).

My error (I realize now) was stretching the marinade with olive oil. I should have used stock or water instead. The poor bird parts were edible, but the flavour of the marinade was a soft under-note beneath all that smoky flavour.

The recipe is a good one, and one I intend to keep making - but maybe next time, I'll reduce the olive oil. Just a tad. And skin & trim the chicken.

I served it with a salad of mixed greens, a light cesar salad dressing, and baked new red potatoes. It was surprisingly well received and the butt of many jokes.

Barbeque chicken thighs in black bean sauce
Original recipe available on Kalyn's Kitchen blog.
Modified for the barbecue & to reduce salt and remove citrus from the recipe.

Serves:4 Doubles well, although you will run out of marinade.

Ingredients:
12 bone-in chicken thighs

Marinade:
2 tablespoons Black Bean Garlic Sauce
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon Thai Chili Garlic Paste
1 teaspoon mirin

Directions:

1. Use a sharp knife to remove skin and trim all visible fat from chicken thighs.
2. Cut small slits lengthwise so the marinade will penetrate the meat.
   
3. Mix marinade ingredients, then put chicken pieces in single layer inside large Ziploc bag, pour marinade in and let marinate for 6 hours or more in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to cook, remove chicken from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while the barbecue preheats.
   
5. Arrange chicken on the upper grill, keeping as much marinade clinging to the chicken as you can.
   
6. Roast about 40 minutes, turning several times and brushing with remaining marinade.
   
7. Chicken is done when an instant-read thermometer shows the meat is 160 F.
   

I'm Watching Dinner confidential

So Fayfood, my favourite food blog, has branched out into a you tube channel called Dinner Confidential. The episodes are a bit slow in coming out - but feature two women (Fae and Kelly) who are currently helping a very busy family of four figure out how to get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time and maybe even eat together once a week.

Their previous story involved helping Kelly's daughter start cooking. I wish I could say the idea of someone who would not buy vegetables or roast something was new; but not everyone loves to cook and this episode (in several parts) they come up with a few different things for the daughter to try and are carefully non-judgmental about her choices. They want her to enjoy cooking, and not do it because it's a chore.

The episodes are short (well under 10 minutes on average) and pretty chatty. Neither Fae nor Kelly are afraid of giving opinions, but they're honest about it.

What I really enjoy is that this is a cooking-advice show that focuses on what's real. They're is no professional kitchen with perfect results every time. There's no immaculate set nor are the hosts immaculate in the way they present themselves. Instead you have two real people who care about what they're trying to do. They don't want the food to be fussy, or bothersome; instead they want it to be healthy, quick, and easy.

It's great lunchtime watching.

A recipe that was sort-of mentioned brought to mind something Fae suggested on her blog a while ago. It's a great and highly-scalable recipe that comes together in about 40 minutes without much tending.

Martedi
Her version is here.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
12 sausages, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tin cannellini beans, well rinsed
1 tin tomatoes, pureed
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon fresh thyme or sage
2 teaspoons oregano
1 clove of garlic, smashed and diced
1 onion, finely diced

Directions:

1. Sear off the sausages in a hot pan. Drain any excess oil.
2. Add the garlic, onion, and sage. Stir to incorporate.
   
3. Add a can of pureed tomatoes and deglaze the pan.
   
4. When this has cooked for a good twenty minutes, add the beans, and other seasonings.
5. Allow to boil down for another 20 minutes. Serve hot over bread, rice, or polenta.
   

Black beans and rice - to nice to be mild

Some nights, I just want something hot and filling for dinner; and I don't really seem to care what that contains. There's a specific texture I'm looking for--silken without sauce--that always comes to mind when I think of rice and beans. I think it's a perfect dinner for any night. My SO thinks its bland. We live in two different worlds of taste. He's a fire-eater and I, alas, am not.

So this is my non-fire-eating version, which he thinks is just OK. More for me!

I like making beans from scratch, but in the spring--when the beans take 2+ hours to cook, being that they are so very old, I use canned. I drained 1 can of black beans and 1 can of navy beans and rinsed the beans well. This gets rid of a lot of salt, and I've always found the thick bean liquid in cans rather disgusting.

Once well-drained, I carefully diced up a yellow onion, red bell pepper, chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, two-ounces of medium chorizo, and 4 garlic cloves. I warmed olive oil in a pan, then added the onions and bell peppers, stirring occasionally until the onions wilted.

Then I added the rest of the vegetables. I cooked the rice separately (in water). When it was done, I added the beans and rice to the pan along with 2 cups of home-made chicken broth. This replaces the bean cooking liquid required by the original recipe and adds a lot of flavour.

Stir well to incorporate, add the spices, and allow to simmer. The cooked rice will absorb a lot of the liquid. If it comes to a boil, turn off the heat and uncover to allow the steam to escape. Serve it hot topped with cilantro and lime.

Ingredients
1 cup dried black beans (3 cups cooked)
1 two-ounce link chorizo, diced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarseley chopped
1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce, diced
4 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cumin
1 cup white rice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced

Directions
1. Bring 1 1/2 cups water and 1/2 teaspoon salt to a boil; add the rice, reduce heat to low, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes more. Fluff with a fork and then spoon some rice into each bowl.

2. Drain the beans. Dice the onion, pepper, and garlic. Heat the oil over medium-high in a large sauce pan, and add the minced vegetables, chorizo, and cumin. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables soften somewhat, about 5 minutes. Add the drained beans, cilantro, cooked rice, and 2 cups of broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook off any extra liquid.

3. Remove the beans from the heat and stir in the lime juice and top with cilantro. Serve hot.

Roasted chicken legs with black bean marinade

I actually remembered to marinade something last week (I feel so proud!). The marinade itself was a simple mix of black bean garlic sauce, olive oil, lime juice, and chili garlic paste. I was a bit worried that the lime juice might make the mix too acidic - the last think I wanted was to roast already-cooked chicken.

I've not been cooking of late. My choice in meals have had less to do with nutrition and more to do with quick, hot, and full of protein. I have been trying to reduce the amount I buy - and use up what I do. Black bean garlic sauce is a truly amazing flavour, but there are very few recipes that use it.

I skinned the chicken legs (ew!) and then coated them with the marinade. I wrapped them up and put them in the fridge overnight. I've made this recipe before, but never with so long a marinading time. The extra time in the freezer was worth the wait.

By the next morning my fridge smelled pretty garlic-y, and by evening it was time to get roasting.

I roasted the chicken at 375 F for 50 minutes, turning the chicken once. I served it with some pre-bought risotto balls, spaghetti sauce, and salad. It was delicious.

Roasted chicken with black bean marinade
It's a great and tasty meal for a weeknight. The preparation can be done the night before, so all you have to do is come home and cook.

Ingredients:

• 12 bone-in chicken thighs or 6 legs with thighs
  

Marinade:

• 2 tablespoons Black Bean Garlic Sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Thai Chili Garlic Paste, or to taste
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice

Directions

1. Remove the skin and trim all visible fat from the chicken.
2. Mix marinade ingredients, then put the chicken pieces in a single layer inside a dish. Cover with marinade (on both sides) and let marinate for 6 hours or more in the refrigerator.
3. When ready to cook, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature while the oven preheats to 325 F.
4. Arrange the chicken on a roasting pan, keeping as much marinade clinging to the chicken as you can.
   
5. Roast about 50 minutes, turning several times and baste often.
6. When the chicken registers an internal temperature of at least 165 F, it is done.