Grilled Brined Shrimp

Brining is a surefire way to get tasty shrimp. Under-salted shrimp always has an off flavor, and it can't be covered by salting after cooking. I find that shrimp either has to be brined or have significant salt while boiling or cooking. I made these babies tonight.

Brine:
3 C water
1 C white wine
1/3 C (yes, cup) kosher salt (use a little less if using table salt)
1 lemon, chopped
4 bay leaves
spices--I used a tsp of cajun spice. Old bay, garlic,

Add 1 lb of de-veined (peeled or unpeeled) shrimp to brine so that every shrimp is covered. Pop the bowl in the fridge for 30-40 minutes. Don't brine for too long, or they'll get too salty. Also note that brine is a very inexact science. Substitutions and experimentation are encouraged.

Skewer shrimp and grill on medium, medium low heat for about 4 minutes. Shells will be pink and meat will no longer be gelatinous.

Serve with lemon and garlic butter and LiT Chick's amazing clam chowder.

Grilled Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

This is one of the few recipes I can call my own. After much trial and much more error, I have reproduced one of my favorite things to order at Thai restaurants. This was a great relief for me last year as I was far too poor to actually go out to eat more than once in a blue moon, and it has served me well ever since.

4 boneless skinless small chicken breasts (or 2 of the huge ones from Costco)

Marinade:
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 in. piece of fresh ginger, grated
2 tsp fish sauce
2 TBS soy sauce
1 TBS honey
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce


Peanut sauce:
6 TBS crunchy peanut butter, preferably the kind you grind fresh at various hippie stores.
1 red chili, seeded and finely chopped or Thai red curry paste to taste (start small)
Juice of 1 lime
3 TBS coconut milk
1 TBS sweet red chili sauce

1. Rinse chicken breasts. Cut them into strips about 1" wide x 2" long x 1" thick (about the size of two bites).

2. Mix all marinade ingredients remembering to make the spiciness to your taste (but don't completely forgo it, trust me. I'm a wimp.)

3. Marinate chicken for a few hours or overnight, rotating breasts occasionally. While you marinate the chicken, soak your skewers in water by setting them in a cookie sheet or another lipped sheet full of water.

4. Heat grill to medium-high heat.

5. While grill is heating, thread the marinated chicken strips on your skewers, 2-3 strips per skewer, depending on the size of your skewers. If you didn't soak your skewers, you will want to cover as much of the skewer as possible to prevent it from burning on the grill.

6. Once grill is heated, grill skewers 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on each side until chicken is cooked through.

7. While chicken is cooking, prepare the peanut sauce by blending the sauce ingredients in the blender until grainy but not super chunky. You may need to add some salt if you have fresh-ground peanut butter. Adjust to your taste preferences, adding more hot/sweet/or salty as needed.

Serve with sticky rice, curry, or veggie kabobs.

Jerk Chicken

This chicken smacks of summertime. I think the recipe was found in a grocery store ad from Oregon and it caught my husband's eye. I thought it looked like a hassle and I (mistakenly) thought I didn't like jerked chicken and took no part in its historic inauguration. Alas, It was downright incredible and ever since then, this has sort-of been my husband's thing. It's ludicrously flavorful, sweet and tangy. I can never believe that it's good for me, but it really is!

Jerk Chicken
6 Green onions
1 onion chopped
A bit of jalapeno or habenaro, seeded (I'm a wimp so I barely use any)
3/4 C soy sauce
1/2 C white vinegar
2 TBS olive oil
3 TBS brown sugar
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/2 tsp each nutmeg, allspice, and cloves

1. Place all the above ingredients in the blender and puree.

2. Marinate 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts in the sauce overnight in the fridge.

3. Grill on breasts on med-high 6 minutes on each side until cooked through. We didn't have a grill when we first made it, so we threw everything in a large pan and cooked it in the marinade (sort-of curry style).

4. Garnish with fresh sliced limes and serve with sweet potatoes, rice, coconut shrimp or grilled veggie kababs.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

I stumbled upon this one on the Kraft website of all places. IT IS INCREDIBLE and absolutely perfect for this cool grilling weather we've been having in Utah. I of course made modifications to the original, ridding it of Kraft products and otherwise elevating this chicken to manna from heaven levels. I also increased the amount of bruschetta so you can have more for your crusty bread or just to eat with a spoon.

The technique on this chicken is a little weird, but not difficult. You grill the marinated chicken on one side, then place foil on the grill to cook the other side. The foil catches every last bit of lovely bruschetta and prevents your grill from getting nasty.

Note on grills: we have a tiny cheap $15 camping grill with small camping propane tanks plus charcoal. It was a small investment and pays off big time for our cooking-for-two needs. But if you don't have one, I'm sure this one would also work in the oven on a grill pan.

Chicken:
* 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 1/4 cup of your favorite italian dressing or marinade.
I didn't have any, so I used a couple TBS balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sun dried tomatoes, salt, and herbs.

Bruschetta:
* 2 large roma tomatoes, finely chopped
* 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (optional)
* 1 large clove of garlic, minced
* 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar (or to taste)
* 1 TBS olive oil
* Kosher salt to taste
* 1/2 cup  Shredded Italian cheeses. I mixed hard Romano and Parmesan with mozzarella and it worked fabulously
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves (but it's so much better with fresh!)


1. Marinate chicken for 10 minutes to 2 hours depending on your time constraints. Rotate chicken often.

2. Place large sheet of heavy-duty foil over half of grill grate; heat grill to medium heat.

3. While grill is heating, combine bruschetta ingredients and let sit.

3. Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill for 6 min.

4. Turn chicken over; place, cooked-side up, on foil on the grill. Top with bruschetta. Close lid. Grill 8 min. or until chicken is done (165ºF).

5. Serve with grilled asparagus tossed in olive oil and kosher salt.