Jalapeno Peach Glazed Chicken

First, let me start with my sincerest apologies for my prolonged absence from writing. The past two months have been busy for Robert and I. In July, Robert diligently studied and then took the Texas Bar Exam. If any of you have taken the Bar, or lived with someone who has, then you know that experience can be life consuming. Although I wasn't the one taking the exam, I still had the long hours and sleepless nights that accompany preparing for such a big exam.

Robert and I at Rombauer Vineyards overlooking Napa Valley

 After the Bar was firmly behind us, Robert and I escaped for a week in Napa to drink some wine, take in beautiful weather and scenery, and just enjoy each other. It was wonderful! The timing of our trip could not have been better planned as the day I got back to work I was in the middle of crunch time for a project at work that continued through the month of August and into the first of September.

Pinot Noir Rose Wine with Pinot Noir grapes right off the vine

While I did not stop cooking during those two months, I did stop writing. Fortunately, during that time I stored up several delicious recipes that I hope to share with you soon! So, enough talk about what my life has been like of late, let's get to the food!

Last weekend, a good friend of ours was in town visiting his parents and invited us over for lunch where he served this jalapeno peach glazed chicken. After back to back meals of hamburgers at our tailgate for the A&M football game the day before, I was excited to have chicken and was delighted by the sweet and spicy flavors married in the glaze. I don't think we were home more than 10 minutes before I asked Robert to send an email asking for the recipe.

As I pulled up the recipe on food network yesterday, I was excited to have most of the ingredients for the glaze ready on hand. Unfortunately, I only had about half the amount of peach preserves the original recipe called for, but I did have some fresh peaches that were on the verge of going past their prime so I decided to go ahead with a little modification. Robert and I were pleased with the results and I really enjoyed the taste of the carmelized peaches on the chicken.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe the next time you grill out.

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Jalapeno Peach Glazed Chicken

Ingredients
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 cup peach preserves
1 fresh peach, peeled and finely chopped
1 small jalapeno, finely chopped
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper

Instructions
Bring a pot of water to boil. Take the fresh peach and cut an x in the bottom with a paring knife.

 Place the peaches in the boiling water for a minute or so until you see the skin start to pull away from the x.

 Place in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Once cooled, peel the peaches and finely chop.

 In a medium bowl, combine the peach, preserves, jalapeno, garlic, soy sauce, mustard, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

 Preheat the grill and season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and pepper. When the grill is ready, place the chicken on the grill and cook for 5 minutes.

 Flip, coat with a spoonful of the glaze each and cook for 5 more minutes.

 Flip one last time and cook for about 8 minutes more, or until cooked through.

Remove and enjoy!

Source: Adapted from Bobby Flay

Beer Brined Chicken

So first let me start with saying how excited I am to be back on the blog. After an almost 2 month hiatus I am back with recipes and ideas to share! It's been quite a busy 2 months in the Thetford household. Since my last post, Robert completed his last round of exams in law school, graduated from SMU Law, and we moved to a new home.

Our new residence is a duplex, we have the entire bottom floor and it's bigger than where we were before and we no longer share walls with SMU college kids. It's quiet, blissful, and feels more like living in a house than we've ever had before. One of the great benefits of our new place is a wonderful covered porch that let's us use our new Big Green Egg smoker/grill.

Our new duplex

Vegetable garden with squash, zucchini, bell peppers, watermelon, cabbage and mint

Pots that Robert's mom made in the sixties and seventies filled with herbs and peppers

Since we've moved in, we have been grilling up a storm and loving every minute of it. Our recent favorite is a beer brined chicken cooked in the green egg. The original recipe comes from The Big Green Egg Cookbook and we've made a few adjustments to suit our tastes. Mainly switching the light lager beer for chocolate porter beer (yum!) and New Mexico hot chili powder for cayenne pepper and dark brown sugar for light brown sugar in the spice rub.

So far my kitchen is the only room ready enough for pictures.

Our new home office is in the breakfast nook located just off the kitchen

We had a few friends over for dinner last night and made this chicken and there was nothing left at the end of the meal. The brine makes the chicken super moist, and the rub adds incredible flavor to this skin of the chicken that makes you have to eat it, even though you know you shouldn't. Even though we made this chicken in the Big Green Egg, you could easily replicate the process in an oven pre-heated to 400 degrees with a vertical roaster and drip pan.

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Beer Brined Chicken


Ingredients
8 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup kosher salt
14 ounces chocolate porter beer
1 3-5 pound chicken
1/8-1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 - 1/2 cup spice rub (ingredients below)

Spice Rub
3 tablespoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons celery seed
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons spicy red chili (new mexico chili if available)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoons fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

Instructions
In a large stock pot combine the water, sugar, kosher salt, and beer and stir until the salt and sugar have completely dissolved.

Add the chicken to the liquid. Depending on the weight of your fryer, the chicken may or may not be fully immersed in the liquid.

Cover and refrigerate overnight, turning part way through if the chicken isn't fully covered like mine was in the picture above.

When it's time to cook the chicken, preheat the green egg (or oven) to 400 degrees. Meanwhile combine the spices for the rub in a bowl and stir to fully combine.

Remove the chicken from the brining solution, rinse with water and pat dry with a paper towel. Discard the brining solution.
Brush the olive oil on the chicken.

Generously season the entire chicken with the spice rub and place on a vertical roaster and set in a drip pan.

If using the green egg, place the plate setter into the grill and place the chicken on the plate setter.

Robert the grill master

Cover and cook at 400 degrees for an hour and fifteen minutes, or until an instant read thermometer reads 165 degrees.
Remove and let sit for about 15 minutes before carving and serving.

Source: Adapted from The Big Green Egg Cookbook

Grilled Salmon with Apricot-Mustard Glaze

Wow. I now know that due to my childhood food aversions (that lasted far into my adult life), I have missed out on one of the yummiest foods. Salmon! I just had no clue that something so delicious and nutritious was just sitting there at the grocery store, waiting for me to take it home and turn it into a tasty dinner! Same thing at so many restaurants, I just sort of zone out when they mention the word salmon while I scan the menu for chicken or steak. Well...after broadening my food horizons (for a few different reasons...including this blog!) and making this recipe, I now plan to incorporate salmon into my life at least once a week! If you too are a late comer to salmon, or seafood in general, I hope that this recipe inspires you to dip your toe into the limitless possibilities provided by seafood in the kitchen.

Shafer almost jumped into the fountain on our walk! I almost did too...it was so hot! This was on the 68th (and last!!!) day of 100 plus degree temperatures this summer.

This recipe comes from Cooking Light. I cooked only two fillets, each about 5 ounces, (the recipe calls for 4 fillets, each 6 ounces) and this was more than enough for a dinner for two. I did make the same amount of glaze, and I would do this again, as the glaze was rather phenomenal. Bunker and I both impolitely dipped our bread in the extra glaze. I think if you are at home and you both do this, the impoliteness is canceled out and the action instead should be seen as a silent compliment to the chef :)

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Ingredients for the Salmon:
2 fillets of salmon (each 5 to 6 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Ingredients for the Glaze:
1/4 cup of apricot nectar (you should be able to find this in the juice section of your grocery store)
1/4 cup of apricot preserves
1 tablespoon of Honey-Dijon mustard (or just Dijon...we just had Honey-Dijon in the fridge)
1 1/2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons of honey
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper

Steps:
1. Gather all of your ingredients for the fish.

2. Sprinkle the fillets evenly with the salt, pepper and garlic.

3. Cover the fillets and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
4. While the fish is in the refrigerator, gather all of your ingredients for the glaze.

5. Combine all of the ingredients for the glaze in a small saucepan and heat over and bring to boil.

6. Once your glaze has come to a boil and things have melded together, reduce the heat to a simmer.

7. Let the glaze simmer for about 10 minutes, the glaze should reduce to about 1/4 a cup. Remove the glaze from the heat and set aside.
8. Take the fish out of the refrigerator and prepare the grill with cooking spray. Let the grill heat up before you add the fish, you want to grill to be very hot before you put anything on the grill.
9. Place the salmon skin side up on the grill and cook for about 2 minutes.

10. Turn over and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily.

11. Remove the fish from the grill and pour the glaze over the fish.

12. Enjoy on a hot summer evening! We enjoyed our salmon with a spinach salad, corn muffins, and whole wheat couscous with corn.

  

Blue Cheeseburgers

As I mentioned in my last post, to me Memorial Day and the beginning of summer should always be commemorated with the grilling of burgers. Robert and I did just that this past Monday as we celebrated with 2 other couples and enjoyed the back patio on one of our last days of housesitting.

While we could have easily made your normal burger patties and topped them with an array of cheeses and condiments, I decided to get a little fancy instead. One of my favorite burger joints in Dallas, Twisted Root Burger Co., has a burger on their menu that is topped with a big dollop of blue cheese. It always looks so delicious, but the thought of the mess that would inevitably ensue the moment that blue cheese was squeezed out by the bun always dissuaded me from ordering it.

To avoid the mess I decided to incorporate crumbled blue cheese into the patties themselves rather than topping them with a softer blue cheese variety. The melted cheese and the minced onions provided a nice juiciness that can sometimes be missing when using the leaner ground beef. I think these burgers would be excellent served on Suzie's homemade hamburger buns along with your favorite combination of condiments and veggies. Next time your planning a cookout with burgers, consider adding this recipe to your menu, you'll be glad you did!

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Blue Cheeseburgers
Ingredients
2 pounds ground sirloin
1/2 medium sweet yellow onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Instructions
Place the 2 pounds of ground sirloin in a large mixing bowl.

Add the minced onion,

Minced garlic,

Blue cheese,

And salt and pepper.

Mix with your hands until everything is evenly incorporated throughout.

Divide the mixture into 6 equally sized patties roughly the size of your palm and relatively thin, about 1/2-1/4 inch thick.

Heat the grill to medium high heat and place the patties on the grill. Cook for 5 minutes then flip.

Cook for an additional 5 minutes for medium, it will take longer for medium-well and well done.

Remove from the grill and enjoy!