Nursing Home BBQ - June 15,07

Recently, with much anticipation, our little family took ourselves off to have BBQ at the nursing home where my ML lives. The cost was $20 per person and the invitation said the menu was: Roast beef, Roast chicken, baked potato with fixings, a salad and dessert. Not anything over the rainbow but since ML was there, we thought it would be fun for us to attend on a lovely summer's night in June.

We were greatly disappointed. The beef was OK, no gravy - the chicken was dry and overcooked and the salad consisted of a green aspic and an orange aspic (gross) because the plates were hot and the aspic just melted into puddles making a psychedelic gravy for the tater and meat to float in. I won't even tell you about the dessert.

Anyway, the next time the NH has this little shindig, we plan to whisk ML out to a nice place and spend the $$ there.

Where, you are asking is a recipe, and I will oblige by putting in this one.






Roasting Chicken on the gas grill

1 or 2 chickens for roasting
pre-marinade:
2tbls extra virgin olive oil
juice from1 lemon
herbs like - basil, tyme, oregano, marjoram and any others you like
2 tbls Dijon mustard
my secret ingredient is about ½ cup coffee leftover from the morning pot.


Now mix this all together and put it and the chicken in a zip-lock bag. Let sit in the fridge for at least an hour or even overnight.



Time to cook:
1st cooking in the microwave oven
Place the chicken and the marinade in a mocrowave safe container that fits the oven; cook on high on one side for about 9 minutes, then turn her over and do it again for another 9 minutes. Toss the marinade after.

2nd cooking on the grill
Place the chicken on a spit and put on the grill - for about another ½ hour with a drip pan under to catch the fat. Watch carefully so the drippings don't ignite. We use BBQ sauce the last 5 minutes or so to get it all glazed and bbqee. AS usual, the chicken is done when pierced with a fork, the juices run clear.

I useally cut it up using big kitchen shears. Easire than a knife and no chance of slicing off a finger.

The marinade isn't written in stone, just make up a slurry of savory things to let her sit in for a while. It is all about your tastes.

Gve it a try, sorry no photo but I will remember to take one the next time I grill a chicken which will probably be this coming Sunday.