Ending the Curse of the Turanos: Tuscan Grilled Chicken

Posted on November 1, 2013 by AnniesDishList

Better to offer a chicken to Italians…Never send a fish

My people are Italian….like Sicilian Italian Our people take vendetta seriously – did you see The Godfather? Family feuds are way more intense than Hatfield-McCoy.

Because we are innately aware of our peoples’ tendency toward revenge, my brothers and I grew up in fear of the Turano family. See, in the 1930s our great uncles – Gasper aka ‘Cap’ and Vincent married sisters – not just any sisters, Turano sisters. Uncle Cap, the eldest, led the way – the oldest must marry first in traditional Italian families. Vincent, the second son, followed shortly thereafter with his own Turano bride.

Sal and Grandma – not a Turano. and my brother, no Turano blood.

It would have naturally followed that my grandfather, Salvatore – the youngest – would then choose one of the two remaining Turano sisters as his wife…and both families urged him to do so. Sal, as he was known, would, however, buck this trend and spurn the Turano girls. He instead married his high school girlfriend, my grandmother.

Ever since Sal made the choice to disregard tradition, the Turanos looked at us funny. Funny, like with evil, spell-casting glares, slanty eyes and stuff. We felt their hatred and sensed that they were cursing us behind closed doors. We blamed mysterious happenings throughout our lives on the Turanos…a bike went missing, a pet passed away, the car ran out of gas…must be the effing Turanos.

But, now, 80 years since Sal’s jilting of the Turano sisters…It’s time to bury the hatchet and end our fear of the effing Turanos. So, I offer the descendants of Cap and Vincent, (some of whom are kind enough to read this blog) an olive branch….a feast from a neutral region of Italy…Tuscan Grilled Chicken.

Tuscan Grilled Chicken (serves 8)

Tiny apartment tips:

You could do this in your apt…just use a much smaller (3lb ish) chicken
Open windows and doors to vent during grilling as the chicken should and will smoke up
Yes, the butcher at Food Emporium, Whole Foods etc WILL de-backbone the chicken for you. Just ask.
Plan ahead…chicken needs to marinate for at least 4 hours, though I’d recommend marinating overnight

Ingredients

Always mise en place. Always.

2 4-5lb whole chickens
2/3 Cups Olive Oil – you can order DiGiovanna Olive Oil online – that’d really get the Turanos mad….
Lemon Zest from 4 lemons
2/3 Cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 TBSP minced garlic = about 5ish cloves
2 TBSP minced rosemary leaves
Kosher Salt
Pepper

1. Ask the butcher to remove the backbone from the chickens and flatten them. We actually bought Perdue wrapped chickens and took them to the butcher who gladly helped us out. Put the flattened birds into baking dishes.

2. Sprinkle the chickens with salt on both sides – don’t be shy here, the salt will help crisp up the skin

3. In a medium bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and 3 tsp of pepper

Green-y, Lemon-y, Garlic-y marinade

4. Pour the marinade over both sides of the chickens

Marinating

5. Cover the chickens with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Guest-Chefing and a Wolf Oven – bonus

7. Heat a gas grill to low heat

8. Remove the marinated chickens from the fridge and temperate for at least :15 mins

9. Spray the grill with non-stick spray

10. Place the chickens on the grill breast-side up

Breast side up…lefty is a little slanty

11. Weight down the chickens with a heavy pan or baking dish to ensure that the entire surface of the bird is in contact with grill

weighted down flattened chicken on grill

We weighted lefty with a baking dish. Righty was weighted down with a cast iron skillet

12. Cook for :20minutes – leave the lid of the grill open as it’s a smoky deal

13. Flip the bird (not at the Turanos) – literally and re-weight down so that the entire breast-side is in contact with the grill surface

Our two little guys flipped

the flipping is hard

14. Cook for another :20 minutes

15. Transfer the browned birds to a baking dish and bake in the oven for :15 more minutes to ensure bird is wholly cooked.

16. Remove the birds from the oven, transfer to a cutting board, cover in tin foil and let rest for :15 mins before slicing

17. Slice and serve

Sliced and ready

I hope that enough time has passed to heal the relationship between us and the effing Turanos. And I hope they see this chicken as the olive branch they may have been waiting for.

That said….when eerie things happen, I still have a thought in the back of my head, that it just could be the curse of the effing Turanos.

Great Guestification: Smoked Brisket with Dad Salt(tm)

Posted on September 27, 2013 by AnniesDishList

But Dad, It’s Smoky!

There’s a way old Steve Martin bit about teaching kids to talk wrong. The skit takes place in a classroom filled with young children. One child raises his hand and when called on asks; ‘May I please go to the bathroom?’. The teacher, a bewildered look on his face, says ‘I’m sorry?’ The student replies: ‘Sorry, can I moo-moo dog face to the banana patch?’ And, he is sent on his way to the bathroom.

As kids, we used ‘moo moo dog face to the banana patch’ all the time when we wanted to be excused from the dinner table or elsewhere. We all thought making up words or speaking wrong was a great idea. My brother took his own spin on Steve Martin’s craft and teaches his own kids wrong words…To be fair, he just elongates words, sometimes creating verbs out of nouns or adverbs out of …doesn’t matter. Just know that this happens and now his people (son and daughter) are also doing it.

Dad Salt

My brother is also an inventor of sorts….and created a magical new mix of spices called ‘Dad Salt’. Don’t ask me what’s in it, cuz it’s like a secret… just know that you should put the stuff on everything. Still working on marketing and margins, but soon to be available everywhere.

I was recently with them all – GUESTIFICATING at their home in Cincinnati. And, we made a giant Smoked Beef Brisket as people in Cincinnati are wont to do. As the brisket was my brother’s creation, I have tried to channel his spirit in CRAFTIFYING this post.

Tiny apartment tips:

Be a good GUESTIFIER – to ensure future invites
Find GUESTIFICATION locations with outdoor grills
Don’t try this in your tiny apartment
LMK if you are interested in purchasing ‘Dad Salt’

Giant Smoked Brisket (serves an army….of 8)

NOTE: This is a two day process. A commitment to meat. COMMITIFY yourself.

Ingredients:

Meats En Place

1 Giant 12lb Beef Brisket – we got ours at Costco, the land of giant meats
2 Cups Apple Juice
1 14oz Can of Beef Broth
2 TBSP of minced garlic – I never use the jar stuff, but a guest really shouldn’t say such things
1 TBSP EVOO
Loads of DAD SALT(tm)
NOTE: If you haven’t yet ordered or received your Dad Salt, you can create your own poor imitation by mixing together – sea salt, bacon salt, garlic powder, paprika, ground pepper, onion powder
A meat injector
2 cans of Darkish beer or ale – we used 1 can of Boddington’s and 1 can of Guinness
Applewood chips for the grill
Buns
Store bought sweet bbq sauce

1. HEATIFICATION of the Injecting Agent: Heat 1 Cup of the Apple Juice and 1/2 of the can of beef broth with the garlic and olive oil over low heat in a sauce pan

Injecting agent heating on STOVIFIER

2. Once the flavors have come together and the mix is FRAGRANTIFIED – about :05 mins…let the mixture cool slightly

3. TRIMMITIZING: Pat dry the giant brisket and trim off most of but not all of the excess fat. The fat lends flavor and moisture to the meat…so leave about 25% of it on the giant beef

beef brisket trimmed dinner grill smoking

Giant knives scare me. Note some fat remains.

4. RUBIFICATION: Rub Dad Salt(tm) generously all over the giant meat

Rubbified with Generous Amount of Dad Salt

5. INJECTIFICATION: Fill the meat injector with the garlic, broth, apple juice mixture and inject liberally all over the meat

meat injector dinner smoked brisket grill

Injectifying Juice – messy job, so yes, do this in a large roasting pan lined with foil – those are my brother’s man hands, btw.

6. Cover the INJECTIFIED, RUBIFIED meat and refrigerate overnight

THE NEXT DAY……

7. RE-RUBIFYING: Remove the meat from the fridge and rub AGAIN liberally with Dad Salt

8. SMOKIFIER; Early, like way early in the morning, prepare the grill with very low indirect heat.

9. Prepare a large drip pan with 2 cans of beer (a darker beer is better here) and a 1/2 cup of Apple Juice AND the fat trimmings from the brisket and place it on the low rack of the grill

BEERIFYING – step 1 to SMOKIFIER prep

beef brisket recipe grilling smoking meats

Setting up the Smokifier – note coals are contained by large pieces of hickory that have been soaked for over an hour

10. SMOKIFICATION: Replace the second rack and put the Brisket over the side with the beer/juice/fat pan. On the other side, place several applewood chips that have been soaked for at least an hour in water in a smoker box

Let the Smoking Begin

11. Cover the grill and let meat smoke forever….Like 8 hours

12. FOILIZING: After 8 hours, remove the brisket from the smoker, put in a large roasting dish lined with foil….And, then seal the meat in foil.

FOILIZED – Ready to be ovenized

13. OVENIZATION: put the giant meat into a 250 degree oven for an additional 2 hours

14. REJUICIFICATION: Remove the meat and let it rest for :20 – :30 minutes

15. SLICERIZING: Serve warm by the slice

Slicerizing the meats. Note fab smoke ring

We served the tender, smoky slices atop potato buns with some cole slaw and sweet bbq sauce.

I’m not sure it’s a great idea to TEACHIFY kids to speak wrong….But, I will say that now that the kids are older and able to make up their own words…it’s fun to watch. Plus, I’m sure it helps keep their creative juices flowing.

Listen, when in Rome, right? Being with my Cincy peeps is always a great GUESTIFICATION.

PS – LMK if you want to know more about Dad’s Salt(TM)

The Time is Right: Mexican Marinated Lime-ly Grilled Skirt Steak

Posted on May 3, 2013 by AnniesDishList

Perfectly Grilled Skirt Steak

The life of the food blogger is very complicated. There’s like math when the recipe feeds 8 but I only want to feed 4 and there’s like conversions from liters to ounces and stuff.

But, maybe the most challenging thing is getting the timing right. See, we hope to guide our reader(s) through the perfect preparation of all holiday meals – so we have to actually prepare and write about the holiday meal before the actual holiday. Like celebrating Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of November, Christmas on the 15th of December or July 4th on the 1st. You understand.

May 5 – not Independence Day

This week it means that instead of celebrating Cinco de Mayo (not Mexican Independence BTW) on Sunday with the rest of the margarita revelers, I celebrated Dos de Mayo last night.

The only tricky part is explaining to dinner guests that we are in full on Mexican mode 3 days shy of the actual Fiesta.

Dos De Mayo Lime-ly Grilled Skirt Steak (Serves 4)

Total Time: 24 Hour Marinade…Then about 7-8 Mins of Grilling…:10 minutes resting…:05 minutes slicing

Tiny Apartment Tips:

Your kitchen is small…And this is a big feast, so prepare in stages. I grilled the meat in the afternoon and reheated for dinner
Skirt Steak is a long, big steak…And you only have one grill pan (my new All-Clad one is awesome) So – you will need to slice the steak in half and cook in two batches
As always – grilling causes a lot of smoke and the vent above your stove top doesn’t really do anything…Open the windows and front door to your apartment to ventilate. Plus the wafting of steaky aroma into the hallway may attract that certain someone in the apartment next door
And remember to close the doors to your bathroom and bedroom whilst grilling – otherwise your bed linens and bath towels will soak in the steaky smell

Ingredients:

I fear the Jalapeno – so ribs removed

1 2lb Skirt Steak – I got mine at the Whole Foods meat counter… and, while pricier than I might have thought it would be, it was beautiful
The juice from 8 Limes
5 (yes five) giant cloves of Garlic diced
1/4 C of Soy Sauce
1 Big Bunch of Cilantro – chopped
1 TSP Cumin Powder
1 Jalapeno Pepper – diced – you can remove the ribs and seeds if you’re averse to too much heat…I did
1 Squirt – Call it a TBSP of Ketchup
The Zest of 1 Lime
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
The Spice of Life

Dash upon Dash of Gindo’s Spice of Life hot sauce – as my guests said ‘fresh and delicious’

1. Squeeze the juice of 8 limes into a bowl

2. Add the zest of 1 lime

Limey!

3. Stir in the Garlic, Soy Sauce, Cumin Powder, Jalapeno, Ketchup, Dashes of Gindo’s Spice of Life, Olive Oil and Cilantro

This is not muy difficult

4. Slice that giant Skirt Steak into two equal halves and place each in a ZipLoc bag

dinner marinated skirt steak mexican cinco de mayo

The Skirt Steak – long and lean

Skirt Steak Halvsies

5. Cover each half of Skirt Steak with equal parts of the marinade

grilled marinated mexican skirt steak with lime

It’s in the Bag-gie

6. Seal the bags and put them in the Fridge over night

…..The Next Day

7. When you wake up.. Flip the bags over to ensure equal marinating on both sides of the meat. And leave them in the Fridge for the day.

lime marinated mexican skirt steak recipe

Don’t forget to Flip It, Flip it Good

8. Remove the marinated meat from the Fridge :35 – :40 minutes before grilling to temperate

9. Heat a grill pan over medium/high and spray with Pam Olive Oil Cooking Spray

10. Add the first 1/2 Skirt Steak and cook on one side for 3 – 4 minutes

dinner mexican All-Clad grill pan skirt steak

All Clad Grill pan – perfect apartment accoutrement

11. Flip and cook the second side for :03 mins

Side 2: Pretty Grill marks don’t matter, cuz you’re slicing it

12. Remove from the pan and let rest while you repeat with the second 1/2 of Skirt Steak

13. Let second half rest for at least :10 mins

14. Slice AGAINST the grain – this means the lines on the steak run one way and you shall cut the other way

dinner marinated mexican style skirt steak grilled

This is EXACTLY how I like my meats

15. Serve…I served as part of a Mexican Tacos Fiesta with a great Tomatillo Salsa – recipe on that tomorrow!

As they say, timing is everything. Not sure what I’ll do on the real Cinco de Mayo…But, if anyone wants to come over for a Memorial Day Feast this Monday, let me know.

Consider What’s at Steak.

Posted on September 13, 2012 by AnniesDishList

Anderson Live!

“I have respect for all people and all peoples’ stories” – Anderson Cooper.

Today I joined the audience at Anderson Live. Because my (ahem) schedule is somewhat flexible and I’m on the Anderson Live email list, I was able to attend at the last minute when the show’s audience coordinator sent an email begging for seat fillers. I like Anderson. He seems like a good guy. I’ve been to his show before and he’s approachable, interested and interesting and holds true to his statement of respecting people and their stories…no matter how bizarre those stories may be.

Today’s show was no exception. And the bizarre started from the get go. Anderson’s co-host was Howie Mandel – very funny guy, right? Right, but widely known for his intense germaphobia. So intense that when the production team set the desk with notes and drinks for Anderson and Howie, Howie’s water was unassembled. An Anderson logo Tervis tumbler was shrouded in a sterile plastic bag and next to it sat an unopened bottle of water. The Tervis tumbler and bottled water stayed undisturbed until Anderson hazed Howie about the hermetically sealed bag. Howie did at that point remove the plastic bag but never touched or opened the water. He even joked that he couldn’t be sure who had handled the sterile plastic bag…too risky. Too much at stake.

In addition to attending the show, filling a seat, I volunteered to sit in the ‘Tweet Seats’ and tweet about the show while it was happening. There were about 10 of us there – designated ‘TweetSeat Tweeters’ and our tweets were scrolled on a screen during the show. The question wasn’t: how many tweets would a seat tweeter tweet if a seat tweeter could tweet tweets – But more of how do you tweet respecting all people and their stories when the stories were what they were today???

I tweeted a lot. Probably too many tweets for my follower. Yes, that’s right, I have a follower not a following. I’m working on the latter.

Anyway, Anderson’s first guest was the ‘Worst Mom in America‘ – a New York City mom who believes in free-range parenting – the opposite of today’s helicopter parenting. If the helicopter moms in the audience had decided to leap up in outrage, there would have been a lot I could have said. I could have mentioned that I find this helicopter-momming a bit too much. I would have mentioned that from the time my siblings and I were very young (maybe 8 or 10) my mother opened the front door at 8 in the morning and said; ‘Don’t come home until dinner’. This was par for our neighborhood…it was also, in the wake of the Etan Patz disappearance.

But the moms in the audience were surprisingly open to a happy medium between the helicopter hover and completely free-range parenting.

Ultimately, the free-range mom wasn’t half as difficult to tweet about as the second guest: a man who believes that a hair loss prevention drug caused him to be transgender.

Uhmmmm, OK. A veritable conundrum for the generally opinionated food/story/blogger/tweeter who doesn’t want to alienate her follower or the lovely team at Anderson Live.

As the interview started, ‘Mandy’ as she is known now, explained that she had even developed transgender and ‘physical feminization’ from hair loss prevention drugs. She bought these drugs online…from India…on the Internet.

There were so many groups to offend and I didn’t want to offend anyone – not transgender people, balding people, people from India, pharmacists.

I took a page out of Anderson’s book and tried to respect all people and all peoples’ stories. I tried to consider what was at stake: losing my follower? Alienating friends? Letting the Anderson Live team down? Regardless, I think I went pretty safe and hope I did ok.

With any decision, there’s always something at stake…And, at the risk of offending vegetarians, vegans and raw food eaters alike, I made this good, quick, easy and affordable skirt steak the other night.

Marinated Skirt Steak (serves 4)

Mise En Place1. In a small bowl, mix together:

1. In a small bowl, mix together:

1 TBSP of brown sugar
The leaves from 4 sprigs of lemon thyme
1 clove of garlic, smashed
1 TSP Jane’s Krazy Mixed Up Salt
1/2 TSP of pepper
2 TBSP Olive Oil

The mix should be a thick but not a totally pasty consistency.

2. Rub onto 1 1/2 – 2lbs of Skirt Steak. You can use flank steak, hanger steak or skirt steak.

3. Cover the meat and refrigerate any where from 2 hours to overnight

Skirt Steak post Rubbing

4. About :30 minutes before cooking, temporate the steak: to Temporate is to remove the steak from the fridge and bring it to room temperature.

5. Heat a non-stick grill pan on medium/high heat and spray lightly with Olive Oil spray.

6. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side. The meat will smoke up – so, apartment dwellers, open a window and door to keep your smoke alarms from going off!

Skirt Steak on the Grill Pan

Skirt Steak Grilled on one side

7. Remove from the grill pan, place on a cutting board and cover loosely with tin foil. Allow the meat to rest for :10minutes. This is a truly important step to ensure that the meat will be juicy. So plan for it.

8. Slice thinly against the grain and serve

I served this the other night with a side of Lemon Marscapone Gnocchi and Garlic Bread.

I enjoyed being one of the Tweeters in the Anderson Live Tweet Seats today – even when I had to hold my hands (that’s like biting your lip for a Tweeter/Blogger) a bit during hair loss transgender guest’s story.

Remembering what Anderson said about respecting all people and their stories helped me to select my words carefully and to consider what might truly be at stake.

It’s like Hunger Games for Lobster

Posted on September 1, 2012 by AnniesDishList

Grilled Lobster

I recently found out that just before you’re served a raw oyster, that oyster is killed – mercilously ‘shucked’ and then arranged artfully on an icy plate of its recently murdered peers and served alongside an abundance of dipping sauces and lemons. I don’t know why, but I’d never thought about this when debating between the Malpec and the Fanny Bays…Go figure.

Could my insensitivity to the murder of oysters be a a direct result of my participation in the Lobster Hunger Games?

One of my earliest memories from childhood is racing lobster. No, we didn’t live in Maine and this wasn’t part of a state fair event. We didn’t raise racing lobster or live on a lobster breeding farm. These lobsters were purchased at the local fish monger, alive, and then carted home in a plastic bag. Lobster night was a big deal – An event that maybe happened once a summer and we all looked forward to it.

Back then, we had a large circular cement patio in our back yard. When the lobsters arrived from the monger, someone, I’m guessing my mother, would chalk a number on each one’s little crustaceous back. 1 through 6, one for each family member. Then, one of us would draw a large chalk circle on the cement patio. We’d each select one lobster from the pod. We would then name our prize lobster. Then: the naming ceremony, where we would proudly present out lobster to the group – usually Larry, Lenny, Lola or some other “L” name – our attachment to the crustacean deepened.

Katniss Crouch

Next, crouched like Katniss I would place my lobster, Lilly-Lobster, in the center. My brothers, sister and parents would all do the same.

One! Two! Three! Release your lobster!

And – RACE ON: we’d all begin shouting our lobster’s name – urging our prize lobster to get to the chalk line first. I’d shout: Go Lilly! Go! As loud as I could while my siblings and parents urged on their own lobsters.

Go Larry!

Run Lenny!

Get Get Get Lola!

Come on Louie!

You can do it Lisa!

We would continue shouting until one lucky lobster crossed the chalk line of the circle. Someone would claim victory and invariably chant a victorious chant or dance a victorious dance. Ultimate joy and bragging rights awarded to the winner!

But, this wasn’t the Hunger Games…It was a llittle darker. The rules in Lobster Hunger Games are different. And that joy was soon gone.

There’s no escaping death for the winner. All would go in, none would come out. The odds weren’t in any lobster’s favor.

Jubiliance was soon replaced by the inevitable end of any lobster tale. The water was already aboil by the time the Lobster Hunger Games were completed and a lobster had been named champion. You could see the steam from the water on the kitchen windows that faced the arena. And you just knew it was time. Nothing left to build on there.

The champion and the losers were carried by their ‘owners’ one by one toward the giant pot of boiling water. One by one we surrendered our prize racer to my father. One by one he lowered the Larry, Lisa, Lenny, Louie, Lola and lastly…Lilly into the boiling water.

We heard them cry.

And, then, silence.

The next swim Lilly would take would be into drawn butter at the dinner table.

It wasn’t until years later that I found out that Lilly the Lobster had no nervous system, could feel no pain and that the sound of her cries as she was put into a boiling cauldron were actually just the sound of air hissing out of the space between her shell and meat.

Last night my friends and I turned the torture up a notch and went with the double kill for our feast.

Grilled Lobster (Serves 4)

Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil and heat the outdoor grill to medium/high (two killing chambers prepped and ready)

1. In the bowl of a Cuisnart or any food processor, combine 2 sticks of butter at room temperature, 16-24 large leaves of basil chopped, 2 cloves of garlic and pulse until smooth

2. Slowly add the juice of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 cup of Olive Oil and pulse again until smooth. It will not be watery, but creamy. Set Aside.

Basil Butter with Garlic, Lemon and Olive Oil

3. Into the boiling water, add a palmful of Salt and four 1 – 1 1/2 lb lobsters ALIVE! Yes, this is the part where they die…One minute they’re racing to the edge of a chalk circle, the next they’re hissing in a cauldron of boiling water…

4. After 2 minutes remove the lobster and place on ice to stop the cooking process

Little Lilly in an Ice Bath

5. Savagely slice the lobsters down the back of the shell from tip to tail and remove any intestine-y stuff and any roe. Remove each claw and the spinnerettes.

Savagely Split Lobsters

6. Take 1/2 of the basil/butter mixture and melt in the microwave or over the stove in a sauce pan.

7. Spray the grill with non stick grill spray

Brush each open half of lobster with the basil butter and place the 1/2 lobster SHELL SIDE DOWN on the heated grill. Place the claws and spinnerettes on the grill as well

Disected Lobster on the Grill

8. Grill with the grill lid down for 5 minutes then flip each lobster and each claw and grill for another 5 minutes

9. Remove from the grill and serve with more melted basil butter

I’m not sure what it says about us that we named our lobsters and raced them in the back yard before sending them to their fiery death. I’m always amazed at what people are capable of. But, like Katniss – trained to kill in order to survive – the lure of lucious lobster boiled, grilled and then bathed in a lemony, garlicky basil butter could drive anyone to kill -kill lobster that is.

If it’s any consolation, we named our Thankgiving turkeys too…

AnniesDishList

A passion for cooking supersedes the size of the kitchen.

Tag Archives: Grilling

Ending the Curse of the Turanos: Tuscan Grilled Chicken

Great Guestification: Smoked Brisket with Dad Salt(tm)

The Time is Right: Mexican Marinated Lime-ly Grilled Skirt Steak

Consider What’s at Steak.

It’s like Hunger Games for Lobster

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: