The other day my wife asked me if I was okay with nachos for dinner…
I just picked up a 6 pack of New Belgium’s new seasonal Mighty Arrow and I’m already working on my second. I’m surprisingly impressed. I’ve sort of become underwhelmed with New Belgium over the last few years and so wasn’t expecting much but this is a really good beer. I think Fat Tire was one of the first micro brew beers I ever tried, plus there was the mystique of it not being available in Oklahoma where I was living, but after moving to Missouri where it can be had any time I just got pretty bored with it. It really doesn’t strike me as that much better than something like a Shiner Bock - not that that’s a bad thing, just not that exciting.
Anyway, the point is that Mighty Arrow is really pretty good. Lot’s of aromatic hops, I assume from a generous dry hopping (Cascade and Amarillo). The bottle also describes it as having a honey malt base which I would have just taken to be flowery advertising lingo but it actually describes the smooth, hoppy but soft flavor pretty well. Finally, it has a nice crisp finish that’s very enjoyable and leaves you wanting more. So get yourself a 6 pack.
Parmesan Basil Stuffed Chicken
I found/created a great recipe for grilled chicken today.
This is the recipe as I made it.
I would actually double these amounts for the stuffing if I were making it again (for 4 chicken breasts).
First, mix up 1 tblsp of melted butter, 2 teaspoons of ground basil, 3 cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese.
Next, butterfly the chicken breasts, stuff the mixture above into them and close them back up. If you have toothpicks to hold them close that would probably be ideal.
Then mix up 1 tblsp of melted butter, 2 tblsps of lemon juice, and about 1/2 a teaspoon of ground lemon peel (I used grapefruit and it was fine).
Baste this onto the breasts and put them on the grill, being careful not to let them flop open in the process, under med-low heat with indirect heat from the side burners for about 20 minutes. When you flip them (i.e. after 10 minutes) baste them with the lemon butter sauce again.
They were delicious.
I finally tried out the bread machine…
…Alicia and I got as a wedding gift. It’s great. I found a good recipe for wheat bread that made my first attempt a success. It’s not too dense or dry.
Ingredients:
Preparation: Place ingredients in bread pan in order listed or according to manufacturer’s directions. When adding the yeast last, make a small well with your finger to place the yeast. This will insure the proper timing of the yeast reaction. Use Whole Wheat or Timed Cycle, or according to manufacturer’s directions.
(I skipped the nonfat dry milk and it was fine, although it might add a bit of flavor if you’ve got it. You can also substitute a bit of regular milk for some of the water to make up some of that flavor.)
I came up with a baste for grilled chicken breasts the other day that Alicia and I really like. I basically just modified and simplified something I found in the Joy of Cooking. All you do is:
…then heat that in a saucepan on the stove being careful not to scorch the garlic. All you’re really trying to do is get the oil and lemon juice to mix and draw the flavors out of the garlic and herbs, so just keep stirring it until it starts to steam a bit and gets to a consistent tannish green color.
You can then baste this generously right onto your chicken breasts before putting them on the grill. I usually add a little more about 1/2 way through the grilling process just to keep them moist. One of the nice things about this stuff is that the lemon keeps it from being very flammable so you don’t get flare-ups.
(I’ve also used this with the George Foreman with good results for those of you wondering why I’m posting a grill recipe in January.)
