Fabulicious!: On the Grill (15 page)
Read Fabulicious!: On the Grill Online
Authors: Teresa Giudice
Makes 6 servings
This is family cooking at its bestâthe ultimate one-pot, no-fuss dinner, cooked on the grill. Just toss the meat and vegetables together and let it cook so all of the flavors combine. This uses inexpensive shoulder chops that take a while to cook to tenderness, but it's well worth the wait!
¼ cup red wine vinegar
6 lamb shoulder chops (each about 8 ounces)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons salt, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
4 large red-skinned potatoes, each cut into quarters
3 large carrots, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 large celery ribs, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 medium onions, each cut into quarters
12 garlic cloves, smashed under the flat side of a knife and peeled
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for serving
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup dry white wine
1.
Preheat the grill for indirect cooking with medium heat (400°F).
2.
Whisk the vinegar with 2 cups water in a large bowl. Add the lamb chops, turn to coat with the vinegar mixture, and let stand for 1 minute. Drain, but do not rinse. Pat the lamb chops dry with paper towels. Brush both sides of the chops with 2 tablespoons of the oil and season with 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet and set aside.
3.
Mix the potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, parsley, and red pepper flakes together in a large (turkey-size) disposable, aluminum foil roasting pan. Toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons oil and 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Arrange the lamb chops on the vegetable mixture and pour the white wine over all.
4.
Place the roasting pan with the lamb on the cooking grate over the unlighted burner(s) and close the lid. Cook for 1½ hours. Remove the lamb chops (you can put them on the grill for a moment), stir the vegetable mixture, and return the lamb to the pan. Continue cooking until the lamb is very tender, about 30 minutes more.
5.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the lamb chops and vegetables to a serving bowl. Skim and discard the fat from the cooking juices in the pan, then pour the juices over the lamb and vegetables. Sprinkle with additional parsley and serve hot.
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Kitchen ER
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rue story about why outdoor cooking is great: I had a friend of mine make Leg of Lamb Mediterranean Salad for one of his famous dinner parties so I could get some feedback from his guests. In the middle of his party, the kitchen sink sprang a major leak, and plumbers arrived to make an emergency repair. The dinner went on, without a hitch, because the casserole ingredients were ready and waiting in the fridge, and the lamb was cooked and carved outside. And the plumbers loved the leftovers.
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Vinegar Wash
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n Italy, they always give lamb a “vinegar wash” before cooking with it to help remove the gamey flavor of farm-raised sheep and to kill any surface bacteria. It's not necessary for those reasons in America today, but we still do it in my house for the flavor.
(Chicken)
When Italians want to say they know what's going on or what's really up (especially when it comes to their children), they say,
conosco i miei polli
; literally, “I know my chickens.”
W
hile it's great to grill big, juicy steaks on the grill, one reason why the Mediterranean diet is healthy is because we don't eat a lot of red meat in Italy. Chicken is our main source of protein, because it's inexpensive and plentiful. In fact, the ancient Romans were believed to be the first Europeans to breed poultry. Today there are more than twenty different breeds raised around Italy.
Chicken does get a bad rap for tending to dry out on the grill, but there are a few things you can do to keep this from happening. You can choose juicier cuts of the chicken, like the thighs; you can cook with the bones in (this is true for all types of meat); or you can just not cook the hell out of it!
People get spooked about chicken being raw on the inside, but heating it to a safe temperature doesn't mean you have to cook it until it's bone-dry. Even the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) website recommends using a meat thermometer not only to make sure you've cooked everything to the safe internal temperature, but also “to avoid overcooking” and ruining the flavor of your meal.
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USDA Recommended Safe Minimum
Internal Temperatures:
Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal steaks, chops and roasts = 145°F
All other cuts of Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal = 160°F
All Chicken = 165°F
The USDA's temperatures may be slightly higher than what you prefer. On most meat thermometers, 145° to 160°F is indicated as within the mediumwell to well-done range. A lot of chefs instead follow the “traditional” temperatures for doneness. Here they are, as well:
Traditional (Chef) Internal Red Meat Temperatures:
120°F to 130°F = rare
130°F to 135°F = medium-rare
135°F to 145°F = medium
145°F to 150°F = medium-well
150°F to 160°F = well-done
While chicken has a higher internal temperature requirement than other meats, that doesn't mean you have to cook it forever. In some chicken, like that from older birds, the juices won't run clear until after it's been overcooked, so the only real way to tell you have cooked your chicken correctly is to use a meat thermometer. And then you have to trust it! We've all heard the scary stories about food poisoning, but at 165°F, you're safe. The former Under Secretary for Food Safety, Dr. Richard Raymond, states that at 165°F “consumers can be confident that pathogens and viruses will be destroyed.” Getting chicken to that temperature generally takes less than ten minutes on each side with direct cooking. You can also cook chicken over indirect heat just fineâif you want it to look a little browner, you can always move it over a lit burner at the very end.
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OUND
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WAY
One of the secrets to juicy boneless chicken breasts is to pound the fillets to an even thickness before cooking them. Put each piece of chicken, one at a time, between two sheets of plastic wrap and lightly pound them using a flat mallet, meat pounder, or a rolling pin until they are about half an inch thick. Notice that I said
lightly
pound. This is not the time to take out your aggression, as chicken is actually more easily torn than steak. And only use a flat pounderânot one of those mean, pointy metal hammersâor else you'll wreck your meal before it's started.
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Wise Chickens
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hicken is a popular subject in Italian cuisine and in our proverbs. There are tons of sayings that have to do with poultry. When you have little kids prowling around your kitchen looking for food, you might say:
I putei se sempre col beco a moia come le galine
or “babies always have their mouths open like chickens!” Health advice?
Per non stare male, va letto con le galline e alzati con il gallo.
“If you don't want to feel bad, go to bed with the chickens and get up with the rooster.” The exclamation
Quanne piscia 'a gallina!
is used to mean something will never happen, or that you'll never do somethingâsort of like “over my dead body” in English. What it literally means in Italian? “When the chicken pees.” (Because chickens actually don't pee!)
But my favorite saying of all is
la gallina vecchia fa buon brodo
, which translates to “the old hen makes a good broth,” meaning older women are valuable andâI'm not even kiddingâgood in bed!
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Makes 4 to 6 servings
My family loves when I roast a whole chicken on the grill, and I love that it doesn't heat up the house. The crisp brown skin is amazing and so is the tender meat underneath. You can serve the pan sauce on the side, but in Italy, we pour it over the carved bird to make the juiciest chicken you've ever had. If you have a bottle of white wine open, use it to make the sauce, but, really, the drippings are so delicious that you can simply use water. Serve with a big green salad full of lots of vegetables and crusty bread.
Herb Rub:
2 garlic cloves, crushed under the flat side of a knife and peeled
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dry white wine
1½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh thyme
1½ teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage or rosemary, or a combination
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Roast Chicken:
1 (6-pound) roasting chicken, giblets reserved, liver discarded or saved for another use
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 small onion, quartered
½ cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio, or water
Fresh sprigs of thyme, rosemary, or sage, for garnish
1.
To make the rub:
Coarsely chop the garlic on a chopping board. Sprinkle with the salt and continue chopping until finely minced. Smear the garlic on the board to make a paste. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in the oil, wine, thyme, sage, and red pepper flakes.
2.
To make the chicken:
Remove and reserve the pads of yellow fat at the tail. Starting at the tip of the breast, loosen the skin and insert your hand under the skin, loosing the skin all over the chicken as best as you can. Using a small rubber spatula or a dessert spoon, spread the herb rub under the skin and all over the flesh. Rub the chicken all over with the 2 tablespoons oil and season inside and out with salt and pepper. Stuff the onion into the body cavity. Let the chicken stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes.