BBQ: Orange-Ginger Marinated Chicken and Honey-Soy Marinated Steak

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I am kind of obsessed with barbecuing. Nate and I don't have a grill, but the state parks here have small grills that anyone can use, provided you bring your own charcoal. We went to the Santa Monica Airport Park after a long day of lounging at the beach and to our surprise there were open grills - that were clean! Usually the grills are caked with charred food remains and various debris, so it felt like quite the treat to not have to spend the first 15 minutes scraping and brushing it clean.

Chopped: Chiles de Arbol, Kumquat, Nopales, Sage, Ice Cream Cone, and Marshmallow!

Chopped round 2 was so much better than Chopped round 1!

Nate chose 6 secret ingredients this time, although I think 4 is what they usually do on the show. I had to talk him out of including a jar of green been pickles I made months ago, and some plum-vanilla brandy that is still steeping in a jar in the cupboard.

The Chopped ingredients were:

 Stale gluten-free marshmallows and stale ice cream cones from the cupboard:

Kumquats:

Nopales, aka diced cactus paddle:

Dried Chiles de Arbol:

And a bunch of fresh sage.

I knew that the kumquat and chiles would go together well, but I was honestly just pissed off about the marshmallows. They were stale and gross and sickly sweet, and I didn't want their flavor to taint anything! But rules are rules.

I immediately knew that I would throw the ice cream cones into the blender and use them as a crunchy crust for some beef we had in the fridge. I toasted them up a bit (which consisted of me putting them in the toaster over, looking in with dismay to see that they had started melting, then letting them cool until they were extremely crispy) then blended them to a coarse meal, and set aside.

I wanted to make an Asian-flavored dipping sauce for the beef tenders, so I minced some garlic and ginger and threw it into a sauce pan with about 5 Chiles de Arbol and a dash of canola and sesame oil. I then added about 10 thinly sliced kumquats, 2 TBSP of peach-jalapeno jam, about 1/4 cup soy sauce, and a splash of white wine, and brought to a simmer. I cooked until the flavors had melded and the sauce was slightly thickened. It had a great salty, garlicky, sweet and spicy flavor. 

In the mean time, I needed to do something with the nopales! Nopales are sort of acidic in flavor. The thing that makes them really challenging to cook with is that they are mucilaginous, like okra or aloe. I blanched the nopales in boiling water, then rinsed with cold water. 

I decided to make a light, refreshing salad, since the tempura was all fried and heavy. I added a few tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar to a bowl, then added the nopales, a cucumber cut into chunks, some diced yellow bell pepper, some sliced kumquats, 2 sliced scallions, and about 1 T chopped fresh sage. I mixed it all together, then put it into the fridge so the flavors could meld while I worked on the other ingredients.

I had gotten some asparagus, purple "green beans", and yellow bell pepper at the farmers market. I decided to make some tempura to go along with the dipping sauce. 

Ready for the batter...

The tempura batter consisted of 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups sparkling water, and 1 TBSP cornstarch. Super simple, the batter makes for an ultra light, crispy crust. 

I sliced up some chicken, then in batches, dipped the veggies/chicken in tempura batter and fried in about 1-2" canola oil, turning once, until crispy and slightly golden. I drained them over some metal cooling racks that I usually use for cookies. 

Then I salted and peppered the sliced beef, dredged it in a beaten egg, and coated it in ground ice cream cone. I fried the beef in oil until crispy on both sides, then drained over a cooling rack.

With all of the secret ingredients used up except the marshmallow. I knew what I had to do...I threw the marshmallows in what was left of the tempura batter, then fried them on either side for about 30 seconds. 

Deep fried marshmallows..."YUM".... :(

The Results

With the exception of the sickly sweet, oily marshmallows (part of your balanced American diet), the rest of the meal was pretty good!

I would definitely make the dipping sauce again, and the tempura batter worked perfectly. The only problem was that a lot of it was cold by the time we ate, since I had to fry everything in very small batches thanks to my teeny tiny stove. Surprisingly though, the batter was still crispy once cold!

Dipping Sauce

Tempura! Chicken, purple green beans, yellow pepper, and asparagus.

I would make the refreshing side salad again too, only without the nopales. Their texture is just too funky for me... I would sub in some green bell pepper. Apparently nopales are used in a lot of soups/stews, where their mucilaginous qualities melt into the broth and help thicken it. In the salad, they were just kind of gooey and unappetizing, although their tangy citrus-like flavor worked well with the rest of the ingredients. The chopped sage actually complemented the other ingredients in the salad perfectly - it has a sort of bitter, piney flavor that helped tone down the acidity of the kumquat and nopales. 

For Nate, the real stand out was the ice cream cone crusted beef. The sweetness of the cone complemented the beef nicely, and it had a nice crispy crunch to it. 

Ice cream cone beef tenders...who knew!

When all is said and done, Chopped is super fun and I can't wait to do it again! There's something so satisfying about taking a random group of ingredients...

And turning them into a tasty meal!

(again, fried marshmallows not withstanding!) 

Chicken with Castelvetrano Olives, Lemon, and Tomato

This Chicken with olives, lemon, tomatoes, and onions was absolutely heavenly. The original recipe is called "Chicken That Fancies Itself Spanish With Lemons, Onions, and Olives" and I found it on a wonderful blog called Food 52. I figured if Nate can be in Spain enjoying the food, I could try to make some Spanish-style cuisine for myself! 

I made some alterations to the recipe to make it a little healthier, and as usual you can play around with the ingredients until you get something you like (for instance, the olives aren't entirely necessary if you don't like them).

This is a perfect fall and winter recipe, but the tart lemon makes it taste fresh enough that it's suitable for the warmer months too.

Chicken with Castelvetrano Olives, Lemon, and Tomato

 Prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time, because once you start cooking, you won't really be able to stop!

You'll need to pit the olives. Good luck!

Friendly tip: BUY PITTED OLIVES. I learned this the hard way.

 You'll need lemon zest for the stew, and grated cheese for the breading on the chicken. I used Manchego, though any hard cheese would really be fine.

You will need 6 peeled, roughly chopped cloves of garlic, 1 large yellow onion cut into hearty slices, about 3/4 c pitted olives, the zest of 1 lemon, the juice of two lemons, 1 cup of white wine, 1 can of diced tomatoes, and 1 bay leaf.

My mother gave me some saffron, which you can see soaking in the wine...

The original recipe called for a whole 4 pound chicken, cut into pieces, but I just used 2 lbs of chicken thighs.You could leave the skin on if you aren't watching your diet, and I am sure it would be DELICIOUS! However, I chose to remove the skin — it's really easy to do with chicken thighs.

Pat the thighs dry after you removed the skin. Add 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1 T paprika, and 1/4 c grated Manchego to a plastic bag. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then place in bag and shake until completely covered in a light coating of the flour mixture. You will need to do this in batches.

While you are doing this, heat about 3 T olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. After coating the chicken, add it to the pan in batches, making sure both sides get well browned. Again, do this in batches. If you overcrowd the pan the chicken will start to steam and won't get crispy. This is especially important if you are using skinless chicken.

Juicy, crispy chicken.

Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. Add the sliced onions, garlic, olives, lemon juice, and bay leaf to the pan, scraping up any brown bits with a wooden spoon.

Once the sun goes down, so does the quality of my photography. Need better lighting!!

Add about 1/2 T of smoked paprika and just a pinch of cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook until the vegetables are getting soft and the lemon juice has reduced by half. Then add the can of tomatoes and the cup of wine.

As I mentioned, my darling mother recently gifted me some saffron. I used but three threads of saffron for this dish, soaking them in the wine before adding to the dish. Apparently this helps release the flavor. The taste was subtle and the spice gave off a honey-like aroma, though it tasted quite bitter on its own before it was added to the dish. If you have some on hand I would definitely use it, as it added a nice layer of complexity to the broth.

Now bring this mixture to a boil, then add the chicken back in.

Cover it, and place in a 425 degree oven. Cook for about 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with plenty of the delicious broth, and garnish with cilantro.

Blurry but delicious. 

Full Recipe

Chicken with Castelvetrano Olives, Lemon, and Tomato

About 2 lbs bone-in chicken thighs, skinned

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/4 c grated Manchego cheese

1 T paprika

Salt and Pepper

1 large yellow onion, cut into hearty slices

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 lemons, juiced

zest of 1 lemon

3 threads of saffron, soaked in:

1 cup of dry white wine (such as sauvignon blanc)

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 T paprika

1 pinch cinnamon

1 bay leaf

Salt and Pepper

Cilantro, for garnish

Preheat oven to 425°

Pat the chicken dry and season with salt and pepper. Combine flour, paprika, and grated cheese. Dredge chicken in flour mixture until thoroughly coated, or add to bag and shake to coat. 

Heat about 3 T of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Brown chicken in batches, then set aside. 

Add onion, garlic, olives, lemon juice, bay leaf, and cinnamon to the pan. (Note: the dish is quite acidic. If you aren't overly fond of the tart lemon flavor, use the juice of only 1 lemon and an equal amount of chicken broth). Make sure to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook until onions are soft and liquid has reduced by half. Add wine and tomatoes, bring to a boil. Add chicken to pan, cover, and place in oven. Cook 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Garnish with cilantro.