Chickety China the Hong Kong Chicken

Nice weather means one thing in our house: grilling. We love to grill and since we live in New England, we try to take advantage of the few summer months that we have to cook outside. Jon has been working hard to perfect his grilling techniques over the years, and has mastered our charcoal grill.
 

Memorial Day weekend was a bit of a wash out this year. Saturday rained all day and Jon was pretty upset while watching a marathon of Steven Raichlen's Primal Grill thinking he wouldn't have a chance to do any grilling himself. But the weather finally did clear up Sunday afternoon and he got his chance. Getting bored of the usual burger and hot dog routine, we decided to try Hong Kong BBQ Chicken Wings and a BLT Salad. Both recipes we found in our favorite grilling book. 

Hong Kong Chicken Wings

Via : Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire

4   chicken thighs (with bone and skin)

4   chicken drumsticks

1   teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

2 tablespoons hoisin sauce

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons soy sauce 

2 teaspoon peanut oil 

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Season the chicken evenly on both sides with the salt and pepper. cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours. Let the chicken sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes before grilling.
 

2. In a small bowl whisk the sauce ingredients until smooth.

 

3. Prepare a two zone fire for medium heat

 

4. Brush the cooking grate clean grill the chicken skin side down first over direct medium heat with the lid closed until golden brown. about 10 minutes, turning occasionally.

 

5. Move the chicken over indirect medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes with the lid closed. Then brush both sides with sauce. Continue cooking over indirect medium heat with the lid closed as much as possible another 10 to 20 minutes more turning and brushing the sauce occasionally.  

We added additional sauce to the wings once they were done cooking, and that really made them perfect. They were nice and smokey with just enough tang. We thought the leftover wings might dry out a bit in the fridge, but they stayed moist and might of been even better the next day.

BLT Salad

Via : Weber's Charcoal Grilling: The Art of Cooking with Live Fire

1/2 pound thick slice bacon cut into bite sized pieces

2   tablespoons mince d shallot

1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme 

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes

1 large crusty sandwich roll cut in half length wise

1-2 medium heads butter lettuce

2-3 scallions, white and light green parts thinly sliced

 

1. In a large skillet  over medium heat cook the bacon until crisp. With a slotted spoon transfer the bacon to paper towels reserving the bacon fat.

 

2 . In a small bowl mix the shallot, vinegar, thyme, salt, and pepper. Whisk in the bacon fat to make dressing.

 

3. Lightly coat the tomatoes with some of the dressing and grill in vegetable basket over direct medium heat with lid closed.

 

4. Brush the cut side of the roll with some of the dressing and grill over direct medium heat then cut into large croutons.

 

5. Toss lettuce, tomatoes, and croutons in dressing. Top with bacon and scallions.

Both of these recipes were great, but I LOVED the BLT salad. I may/may not have eaten pretty much the whole thing. The roasted tomatoes were so sweet and the dressing was absolutely delicious. This will easily become a common salad around here.

Hopefully this summer will grant us many nice weekends so we can keep trying and sharing new recipes. Happy grilling!