Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Brown Ale-Braised Chicken

I'm a fan of Guinness...some people aren't. I like the flavor it gives to food be it this Brown-Ale Braised Chicken or a Guinness cake. This surprises some people because I don't like beer. I just like Guinness. More specific, I like Black and Tans. Guinness and Bass Ale. With very salty potato chips. I have no clue why. So yeah, pretty much anything cooked with Guinness works for me.

Mr. L and I both really liked this recipe and the flavor the stout gave this dish. I realize they called for "brown-ale" and gave many local beer examples. That's fine for you. I'm using Guinness. The whole thing is pretty simple to put together but took me about 30 minutes or so to prep and then you just have to wait the 40 minute baking time. Which gives you time to sit back and have a Guinness (because you of course bought a full six pack because the grocery store no longer sells the single bottles and you'd hate for Guinness to sit around and go bad). With St. Patrick's Day coming up this weekend, this would be a great dish to serve for dinner.

The recipe for this Brown Ale-Braised Chicken came out of the October 2012 Better Homes and Gardens magazine. As usual the photo of my recipe doesn't look a whole lot like theirs, but at least it tastes really good.

BROWN ALE-BRAISED CHICKEN
(Better Homes and Garden October 2012)

1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
8 skin-on chicken thighs
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
8 small whole carrots with tops, peeled and tops trimmed to 1 inch
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 12-oz. bottle brown ale
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 cloves garlic, peeled
Coarsely chopped celery leaves
Fresh Thyme

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl combine brown sugar, chili powder, salt, ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper; rub into chicken thighs. Let stand 10 minutes.

In an extra-large ovenproof skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook until well browned on both sides and skin is crispy. Remove chicken from skillet. Drain fat, reserving 1 Tbsp.

In the same skillet cook and stir the onion, celery, and carrots in the reserved fat about 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour; cook and stir 1 minute. Stir in beer and broth. Bring to a simmer. Return chicken to skillet. Add garlic. Cover and bake 40 minutes. Sprinkle with celery leaves and thyme.

Makes 4 servings. (Each serving 552 cal, 23 g carbs, 4 g fiber)

Note: I couldn't find any small carrots but I did find some smallish organic carrots of different colors. I used them but cut them into half and thirds. Messes a bit with the presentation but still tasted good.

Note: I used Guinness Stout in bottles

Note: I of course had the thyme and stuff to garnish the dish and then completely forgot to put them on. Sometimes cooking when you're really hungry isn't the best for food blogging.

Note: We seemed to have way more "sauce" than pictured in the recipe article. It's pretty good sauce so I kept it and used it to pour over some brown rice and quinoa.

All in all a great dish that we would definitely make again and perfect to serve to company.

 

Gong Bao Chicken

Depending on what you read and where, Gong Bao Chicken is just another version of Kung Pao Chicken, the Chinese version of Kung Pao Chicken...or not related at all. As long as it's tasty, I'm not really sure that I care what you call it.

There are many recipes out there for Gong Bao Chicken...some with peanuts, some without. Some using chicken breasts, some using chicken thighs. Some with Sichuan peppercorns, some using more red chilies and no peppercorns. Again, as long as it's tasty I don't care what you put in it.

The recipe I used for Gong Bao Chicken came from Serious Eats. I love quick dishes like this. And though I tend to make quite a few chicken stir fry type dishes I love that they all seem to have a different flavor depending on the types of spices or even parts of the chicken you use.

It took me a bit to find Sichuan peppers in my grocery store. The store had a wide assortment of different brands of spices but I found Sichuan peppers in a display of little green boxes that sat at the end of an isle. I was concerned that the recipe called for these to be left whole and not put through a grinder. Since I didn't bite into any hard little balls of heat while eating, I guess this didn't matter.

Quick. Simple. Tasty. I put this over rice and grilled a few baby bok choy and we had a wonderful dinner that came together quickly. You can find the Serious Eats recipe here.

GONG BAO CHICKEN
(from Serious Eats)

1/3 cup unsalted peanuts
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons unroasted peanut oil or other neutral oil
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
2 dried red chilies, roughly chopped or crushed
2 garlic cloves, peeled and very thinly sliced
1-inch knob ginger root, peeled and very thinly sliced
4 scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
Cooked white rice, for serving

Combine the chicken, corn starch, and half the soy sauce in a small bowl. Toss the chicken until it's well-coated in the mixture and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a large, dry skillet or wok over medium heat. Add the peanuts and cook, gently tossing occasionally, until they're golden brown and fragrant, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Heat the oil in the skillet or wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the Sichuan peppercorns and dried chiles and cook, stirring continuously, until the chiles turn a light brown in color.

Turn the heat to high and add the marinated chicken. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until starting to turn golden, then add the garlic, ginger, scallions, and peanuts. Continue cooking until the chicken is cooked through, 1-2 minutes more.

Remove from the heat, pour the remaining soy sauce over the chicken and serve immediately with rice.

Serves 4

NOTE: I didn't cut up the chicken into small enough pieces for my liking.

NOTE: This dish wasn't spicy at all, even with the Sichuan peppercorns and chilies.

NOTE: Not a lot of sauce. But what was there went nicely over some rice (we used brown).

There wasn't a lot of spice or "heat" to this dish but it could have been peppercorns or chilies that were past their prime. I think this is one of those dishes where you can experiment and add more or less chilies and heat to your preference. I also think you can play with the other flavors (adding more garlic, less ginger) to make a dish that works for your taste buds. Use this recipe as a guide. Definitely a dish that will go into our "quick stir fry* dinner" rotation.

*I don't own a traditional wok by the way. I have an electronic wok that I usually only get out on special occasions and I have a Pampered Chef wok pan which is just more of a deep rounded frying pan. I do most of my stir frys in that Pampered Chef pan or a standard frying pan.

Crunchy Oven-Fried Drumsticks

In my quest to use up stuff in my pantry I was pleased to see that the guys at The Bitten Word had their own pantry challenge. Their Clean Out the Cupboard challenge though was a bit different than mine...For one week, all three meals they made each day, were only made from stuff they had in their freezer or pantry. They only spent $15 at the store for milk and produce for that week. They came up with some really great sounding meals only using stuff they had on hand. I'm soooo not that talented a cook yet. My talent is to pick one item, then spend hours looking through all my cookbooks to see what I can make with that one item. Then I go buy tons of ingredients to use up that one pantry item. Pathetic I know, but believe it or not, my freezer and pantry are slowly getting less crowded.

This dish was perfect for me to start off my Operation Pantry Project a few weeks ago as it used up three items I had on hand...some chicken drumsticks that were in the freezer; some of the Rice Krispies cereal I had in the cabinet; and an envelope of Ranch Dressing Mix that was in the pantry.

This recipe also brought back a bit of nostalgia, because I don't know about you, but chicken cooked like this was pretty big while I was growing up. If I'm not mistaken the recipe used to be on the back of the Rice Krispies box at one point and most folks might remember the version made with cornflakes. The recipe I chose made a wonderful coating and the ranch dressing added just the right amount of flavor. I'm thinking I might need to make this again the next time I'm having a picnic.

When I went looking for the back of the box recipe I found many versions using all kinds of coatings and flavorings. This recipe comes from the Woman's Day website. What is cool about their recipe is that it gives many variations on the coating (think potato chips or wheat germ or pretzels!), one of which was using Cheese-It type crackers which I must try!

CRUNCHY OVEN-FRIED DRUMSTICKS
(Womans Day)

8 (3 1/2 lb) drumsticks
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups crisp rice cereal,  crushed
1 envelope ranch dressing mix
Nonstick Spray

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a jelly-roll pan or shallow roasting pan with foil. Coat with nonstick cooking spray.

Skin chicken by grasping skin with paper towels and pulling off. Or if you're like me and want to live a little dangerously calorie and fat wise, leave the skin on for flavor.

Place crisp rice cereal in a plastic ziploc bag. Add the packet of ranch dressing, close the bag and crush the krispies with the heel of your hand (some folks say to use a rolling pin, but that's an extra step that I think is a bit overkill. Those Rice Krispies will succumb to the force of your strong hand quite easily!).

In a pie plate or shallow bowl, slightly beat egg. Coat a few drumsticks at a time in the egg mixture.

Put 1 or 2 drumsticks in the bag with the cereal coating and shake to coat chicken evenly.

Place coated drumsticks on prepared pan; lightly coat drumsticks with cooking spray. Bake 20 to 35 minutes until chicken is cooked through and coating is browned. Serves 4.

Note: I used Rice Krispies and Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix

Note: I didn't pulverize the Rice Krispies...instead I left bigger pieces. Some of the coating turned out great on the chicken while some pieces had a much finer coating. All tasted the same though the look was different.

Note: Yes, I did leave on the skin.

Alas, the recipe does not include any nutritional information. I estimated that the drumsticks were about 200 calories each and that the carb count would be about 12 per drumstick. But don't quote me on that.

Jerk Chicken

When life is crazy busy I tend to turn to my crockpot for meals. Doesn't matter if it's the dead of winter or the hottest days of summer, my crockpot is my friend.

So in the crazybizzies of life recently I decided to make a crockpot recipe from the Plugged In cookbook. Seems like a cop-out since there were so many other appliances I could have tried out, but I really wanted to make a dish I didn't have to think about.

I've come across many recipes for Jerk Chicken online, in my cookbooks, and magazines. For some reason I always thought of the recipes using a dry rub, the meat being barbecued and that the chicken would come out pretty much coated with the sauce. This recipe is much more of a marinating type, and with the way it's presented, you kind of pour what sauce there is on the chicken.

The finished Jerk Chicken had really nice heat to it. Mr. L said that it didn't burn your lips, mouth, and tongue all the way down...it just had a nice heat in the back of your throat. I added more of the chipotle chilies than they suggested.

The chicken did come out a bit dry. The recipe called for the dish to be on the low setting for six hours. I'm thinking that my newer crock pot was probably hotter than the one she used 16 years ago while writing this cookbook so next time I'd try this at five hours. Even though the chicken wasn't as moist as I would have liked, the meat did fall from the bone. When I went to serve it, I only had one breast that was left whole, the rest disintegrated into the sauce.

JERK CHICKEN

1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces

1 generous tablespoon candied ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons minced canned chipotle chilies, or more to your taste

1/2 teaspoon ground  allspice

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons garlic oil

One 3 1/2 pound chicken, skin removed and cut into 8 pieces, or 3 1/2 pounds chicken tenders

To prepare the sauce, place the onions and ginger in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process to chop into very fine pieces. Add everything but the chicken and pulse to combine.

Place the chicken in a slow cooker and coat with the sauce. Cover, set on low, and cook for 6 to 8 hours or set on high and cook until the chicken is tender, 2 to 3 hours. Serves 4

Note: I ran out of candied ginger so I added some ground ginger. I put in two large of the adobo chilis (no extra adobo sauce). I didn't have any garlic oil so I just chopped up some garlic and added some olive oil. I used a regular chicken cut into pieces.

Note: I'd really watch the time on this. If I had let it cook on low for 8 hours the chicken would have been rubber. Of course if you have an older crock pot that might not be as hot as mine even on low, you might want to go longer.

Since the chicken sort of disintegrated in the sauce, this would have gone great over rice, potatoes, cauliflower, noodles, quinoa or any other grain. Even if the chicken had stayed in whole pieces, there was enough sauce to wish I'd made one of the above starches to serve it on.

Simple to throw together which is nice. But I'm thinking I may want to try other jerk chicken recipes for variations. I'd make this again though.

Spicy Chicken & Mushrooms

This is another recipe that was clipped from a magazine. Under quick chicken recipes in the November 1, 2008 issue of Family Circle magazine, this recipe for Spicy Chicken & Mushrooms seemed like the perfect dish to try on a wet spring evening. Of course that was last week...this week we are having 80 degree weather...this dish would work for that too.

This recipe was quick, it was easy, it was a bit spicy due to me adding a bit more of the crushed red pepper than called for (though spicy for Mr. L, not me). It did have a bit of heat or "kick" at the end that was nice but all in all it was a bit bland for me. Still made a nice dish to throw together on a busy weeknight.

They say to serve this with rice, but there wasn't much liquid or sauce in the final plating so I thought that would make the dish too dry.

Though this says it serves four, without the rice, this recipe fed just the two of us  with just a tiny bit left over for lunch the next day.

SPICY CHICKEN & MUSHROOMS
(Family Circle 11/08)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 scallions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
12 cup chopped cilantro
3 cups cooked rice (optional)

Heat oil in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger to pan; cook 1 minute. Stir in mushrooms, scallions, red pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon each of the salt and pepper; cook 3 minutes, stirring often.

Reduce heat to medium. Add chicken to pan and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until cooked through.

Stir in soy sauce, vinegar and cilantro; cook 2 minutes.

Serve with rice if desired. Makes 4 servings. 176 calories per serving.

Note: Added a bit more of the red pepper flakes than called for. I used full salt soy sauce.

Note: Did not serve over rice since I didn't feel there was enough liquid in the finished dish.

Note: This would have come together even faster if I had used pre-sliced mushrooms, which I did not.

 

 

Cashew Chicken

I originally went to the store to buy some sole to make a fish dish. But they were out of sole. Luckily I had the October 2009 issue of Food Everyday in the car. I remembered wanting to try several recipes and figured this would be a quick dish to make that evening.

This was fairly easy to put together and it tasted pretty good too. There are a few ingredients but they're quick and easy to put together (about an hour to do everything including marinating). I wanted a bit more "umph" so I added some Sriracha Sauce to mine (cuz come on, what doesn't taste better with a bit of Sriracha Sauce!). I thought it was the prefect touch. Mr. L though, thought the Sriracha Sauce overpowered the taste (boo Mr. L). He suggested maybe a bit more garlic or ginger or onions or soy sauce. I think either one of our versions would work.

I didn't seem to have as much sauce as the photo in the magazine and it didn't seem to be as thick as pictured. But I'm learning that maybe it's not always me when the food doesn't look like the photos (I don't retouch or do anything fancy when I take a photo with my little PowerShot.

CASHEW CHICKEN
(Food Everyday October 2009)

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons dry sherry
2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
3 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
coarse salt
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2/3 cup unsalted cashews, toasted
2 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
cooked white rice, for serving

In a medium bowl, toss chicken with sherry, ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch; season with salt. Refrigerate 30 minutes. In another bowl, combine broth soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch; set sauce aside.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add half the chicken and cook until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Add 1 teaspoon oil to skillet and cook remaining chicken (reduce heat if chicken is over-browning). Transfer to plate.

To same skillet, add 1 teaspoon oil, garlic, cashews, and scallion whites. Cook, stirring constantly, until garlic begins to soften, 30 seconds. Whisk sauce and add to skillet along with chicken. Cook until sauce thickens, about 30 seconds. Top with scallion greens and serve with rice.

Serves 4 at 424 calories each.

Note: I used unsalted roasted cashews, I did not toast them beforehand

Note: I did not use unsalted chicken broth and still felt it needed a bit more salt (though I didn't put any in as Mr. L would have given me a dirty look since he thinks I eat too much salt).

Note: There seemed to be a lot of calories in each serving and I think that was before adding rice.

Good flavor. I'd like to find a similar dish that has less calories.

Tex-Mex Ground Turkey Potato Boats

Though some folks might think that using ground turkey for a meatless monday meal isn't quite correct, Mr. L and I think that not having red meat is about as good as our meatless mondays will get. I rarely eat ground turkey these days so when I saw this recipe in the Potatoes. Onions. Garlic Collection cookbook (in the Potatoes section) I figured I'd give it a try. That I was also craving potatoes might have had something to do with the recipe choice. Add to that the fact that one serving (half a potato) was only 209 calories?  Bingo.

I did find this dish a bit dry. Was it the potato? Or the fact that the directions say to cook the turkey mixture until most of the liquid had evaporated? Mr. L and I ended up adding one tablespoon of butter (which racked up the calories a bit) but I think next time I'd just not cook off as much liquid. The taste wasn't bad and the turkey potato boat heated up nicely the next day in the microwave. Next time I would add some more tomato sauce or not cook the sauce down so much (as it is, in less than 10 minutes the juice that was there was gone. Maybe even turn the temp down and simmer on very low to meld the mixture). We also thought just a touch of sliced green onions and maybe a dash of hot sauce would have added something to the dish.

TEX-MEX GROUND TURKEY POTATO BOATS

2 medium potatoes
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can (8 ounces) stewed tomatoes
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Pierce potatoes several times with fork. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until soft. Cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F.

Slice potatoes in half, lengthwise. Scoop out pulp with spoon, leaving 1/4 inch shell. (Reserve potato pulp for other use.) Place potato shells on jelly-roll pan or baking sheet.

Place turkey, onion and garlic in medium skillet. Cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink; drain. Add tomatoes, chili powder, salt, oregano, cumin and red pepper flakes to turkey in skillet. Cook 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Spoon turkey mixture evenly into potato shells; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until cheese melts.

Makes 4 servings. 209 Calories.

Note: An 8 ounce can of stewed tomatoes? Do they make such a thing? I had the standard 14 ounce can and just weighed out 8 ounces of juice and tomatoes. I'd probably include some extra juice from the can next time to moisten things up a bit.

Note: I probably upped the calories a bit as I had more than 1/4 an inch of potato shell. I wouldn't have wanted less potato in the dish.

Note: The dish with cheese was only in the oven for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese, not even close to the 15 minutes the list. I also used some "tex-mex" lowfat shredded cheese instead of just cheddar.

Note: I'm thinking you could double the turkey mixture and use the half leftover to pour over the leftover potato pulp. I actually used some leftover taco meat that I had. Can't ever waste any part of the potato!!

Sometimes I just really crave potatoes and I like the idea of using them as "boats" for stuffing that isn't so high in calories. I'm also thinking that many different types of spices can be used with the ground turkey to bring about different flavors.

Vodka Lemon Chicken

I'm posting this recipe in honor of National Vodka Day. If you don't drink Vodka today, you can at least cook with it! Half in the Bag Chicken Wings is also a great dish using vodka.

When I gathered all the ingredients for this dish I didn't really pay much attention to the directions. It wasn't until I actually started making this dish that I found something that made me go "huh"?  That was the direction to dredge the chicken in flour, THEN in the egg wash, then saute in the pan. Isn't it supposed to be egg wash, THEN flour?

So I went online and checked every Lemon Vodka Chicken recipe listed. They all referenced the exact same recipe (most a direct copy from The Vodka Cookbook where this recipe came from). If everyone says to do the flour, then dip in egg so be it.

The end result of this dish is that it tasted pretty dang good. Not enough sauce though...the sauce had a lot of flavor and I definitely wanted more of it. I used really fat organic chicken pieces so if I had used the standard skinny chicken breasts at most stores there might have been more sauce left.

As far as dipping in the dry ingredients before the wet? The minute I put the egg washed chickens into the frying pan the coating just kind of slid off. Nothing tasted like scrambled egg in the final dish, and there was still a lot of flavor, but the end result looked NOTHING like the finished dish in the book. I may try doing egg wash then flour next time I try this recipe.

VODKA LEMON CHICKEN

1 lemon, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup flour
4 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry
4 tablespoons vodka
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley
1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil
4 tablespoons capers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Quickly char the lemon slices on both sides in a medium saute pan over a high heat and set aside. Return the pan to a moderate heat and add the oil.

Whisk the eggs and milk in a small shallow bowl. Tip the flour into another shallow bowl. Dredge a chicken breast in the flour, and then in the egg mixture. Place immediately in the pan. Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts and saute the chicken until golden and cooked through - approximately 5-7 minutes on each side (depending on their size). Set aside in a covered dish.

Deglaze the pan with the vodka and loosen the flavor bits at the bottom of the pan by scraping with a wooden spoon. Then add the butter, lemon juice, parsley, basil, capers, salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the mixture reduces by about a quarter. Return the chicken and grilled lemon slices to the pan and toss.

Serve the chicken breasts topped with the sauce. Boiled linguine mixed with a little of the lemon sauce makes a fine side dish. Serves 2-4

Note: I used Svedka Vodka

Note: I didn't serve this over rice or pasta since I didn't have enough sauce left over, but either would work.

I still think it was weird to do the flour mixture then the egg wash but maybe I'm wrong? Maybe that's quite common? In any event, the dish tasted good enough for me to try again using either method. The dish may be a bit tart for some (with the capers and the lemon) but I had no trouble.

 

Chipotle Glazed Baby Back Ribs

These were good. Seriously good. Awesome in fact. Yes, I realize to call a recipe 'really good' or 'awesome' is bad blogging. But...these Chipotle Glazed Baby Back Ribs were really that awesomely good.

The recipe for this came from the Rick Bayless Fiesta at Rick's cookbook. I found the dish pretty simple to make though you do have to plan ahead as there is some time spent overnight in the fridge. The rub takes just a few minutes to put together. The sauce takes just a few minutes to put together.  Put the rub on the meat, some time in the fridge, some time in the oven and then just a quick grill with the sauce. These would be great to pre-do for a BBQ. I can see baking these and then taking them to a party to finish on the grill.

There is also some heat in these ribs. I didn't find it very hot at all though Mr. L had a bit of trouble at first (he said his mouth was on fire when he started but the heat mellowed). I saw one review online that stated these had way too much heat for their palate, so I'd be careful if you have trouble with heat from chipotle peppers.

As the recipe states, you'll probably end up with some leftover rub and sauce. No worries. Grab some chicken and grill those. I bought some chicken legs, put some of the leftover rub on them, put them in the fridge for  a couple of hours and then grilled them with the leftover sauce. The chicken was as yummy as the ribs!

CHIPOTLE GLAZED BABY BACK RIBS

FOR THE DRY RUB

4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
1/3 cup ground ancho chile
4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground black pepper
5 teaspoons salt

FOR THE RIBS AND GLAZE

4 large slabs (about 6 1/2 pounds) baby back ribs
1 7.5 ounce can chipotles en adobo
3/4 cup honey

1. Season the ribs. Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a food processor and run until thoroughly blended. Sprinkle the mixture on both sides of each slab of ribs, rub it in to ensure even coverage, then cover and refrigerate overnight. You'll probably have a little dry rub left; in a tightly closed jar in the refrigerator it will last several months.

2. First rib cooking. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Lay the ribs in a single layer on two rimmed baking sheets and bake for about 1 1/4 hours, until the meat is tender when tested with a fork. (This cooking may be done early in the day you're serving. Cover and refrigerate the cooked ribs until an hour before serving).

3. Second rib cooking. Turn on a gas grill to medium or light a charcoal grill and let the coals burn until medium-hot and covered with a white ash. In a food processor, blend the can of chipotles with the honey. Scrape into a small bowl and carry to the grill, along with a basting brush.

Lay the ribs on the grill, convex-side down. When hot and well browned, about 3 minutes, flip them over and brush liberally with the chipotle glaze. Cover the grill and cook about 7 minutes for the glaze to set and begin to brown a little. There will likely be leftover glaze, which can be covered and refrigerated for a week or two.

Cut the ribs apart (that's my preference) and serve right away. Serves 8

Note: Chefs note says "the ribs are best when baked the same day you eat them and grilled within a few minutes of serving. They will hold well in a very low oven for a half hour or so before serving". We had these for several days afterwords and they were fine.

Note: We used ribs from Zanottos that came out very tender. We used Mexican oregano (came in the little green square box spices at our grocery store).

Note: We had the butcher cut our two slabs of ribs in half so that they fit better in the oven and on the BBQ. We used a gas grill.

Did I mention how seriously good these were? I thought that maybe we liked them so much because the actual 'ribs' were what was tasty, but after using the rub and sauce on the chicken, we realize it really is this recipe. This is now our 'go to' rub and sauce for chicken and ribs on the grill. The success of the Chipotle-Glazed Baby Back Ribs makes me excited to try more recipes from the Fiesta At Ricks cookbook!

Deviled Chicken Drumsticks

It was easy to pick this months entry for gourmet, unbound. For some reason this recipe jumped out at me the minute I saw it in the August 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine.

When I went to buy drumsticks from Lunardis, they didn't have any available. They were going to cut up the legs to get drumsticks, but I noticed the legs were on sale so I figured I'd just use those in this recipe. They worked fine. I think this recipe would work with just thighs too.

These were relatively quick to put together and were pretty tasty. We liked the crunch of the coating. Recipe says to cook at 450 degrees for 30 minutes which would have dried them out as far as I'm concerned. We cooked ours about 30 minutes at 350 degrees and I think they were a bit overdone.

The recipe states that these can be served warm or at room temperature which makes them good picnic food.

The only thing I will say about these is that the skin doesn't get really crispy...it's the topping that gets cooked and crispy. Didn't matter to us but I know folks who wouldn't eat the chicken skin like that.

DEVILED CHICKEN DRUMSTICKS

12 chicken drumsticks (2 1/2 to 3 lb total)
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
3/4 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/2 oz)
3/4 tsp cayenne
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (again I set mine for 350) with rack in upper third.

Pat chicken dry, then toss with mustard until evenly coated.

Stir together panko, cheese, cayenne, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. Drizzle with butter and toss.

Dredge each drumstick in crumb mixture, then arrange, without crowding, in a buttered large 4-sided sheet pan. Roast until chicken is browned and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves 6 as a main course

Note: I used 6 legs (drumsticks and thighs attached). You will also note that the recipe doesn't list the salt and pepper, it's listed in the directions. I hate when they do that.

Note: I used Grey Poupon (of course :)

Note: I set my oven for 350 degrees. I'd watch these so they don't overcook if you set the temp at the 450 degrees.

Definitely a recipe Mr. L and I would try again. 

Some other interesting recipes from this issue of Gourmet: Potato Croquettes, Yellow Gazpacho, Frozen Watermelon-Lime Bars, Miso Sesame Grilled Blade Steaks, Pressed Chicken with Yellow Squash and Tomatoes, Chilled Golden Tomato Bisque, Orecchiette with Salsa Cruda and Ricotta, Butter Pecan Peach Parfaits. Tiramisu Affogato.