This summer I am growing my first container garden. I have three types of lettuces, Swiss chard, carrots, pickling cucumbers, and two types of tomatoes. I also have a nice variety of fresh herbs, with my absolute favorite being Italian parsley. I put parsley in anything I can, and I particularly like it in a fairly even ratio with salad greens. Tonight's salad was inspired by a few things: a new round of fresh greens ready for the picking, a sampling of homemade bacon that was given to me by one of my favorite "food collaborators," and a desire to incorporate my favorite BBQ sauce to date: Uncle D's. For Seattle area people, this is an all-natural BBQ sauce that is made in Kent. This sauce encompasses every quality that a good BBQ sauce should have. It's quite amazing, actually.
Salads should be loosely interpreted, but I will tell you what I put in mine and what my methods were, and then you can tweak the recipe according to what you have in your home.
I began by brining 1 lb of chicken thighs.
For the brine:
64 oz water
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 sprigs fresh oregano
3 cloves garlic, smashed
Heat the brine until salt and sugar dissolves. Pour over the chicken and refrigerate for 1.5-2 hours.
Remove the chicken from the brine, rinse, and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.
Slice a sweet potato into 1/2 in slices. Cook in a pan of water until just fork tender, but be careful to not overcook them or they will far apart on the grill.
Strain into a colander and transfer to a plate.
Prepare the grill and wash 2 cups of salad greens per person. Fry 1-2 slices bacon per person in a skillet, and reserve on paper towels. Chop pineapple into small chunks.
When the grill is ready place the chicken and the sweet potatoes on the grates. Brush the potatoes with olive oil and turn over, oiling the other side. Brush the chicken with BBQ, and when it is time to turn it, baste the other side.
When both are cooked, you can assemble the salads, slicing the chicken and sweet potato to your liking. I served mine with a touch of ranch and a few slices of baguette. I ate this salad alone tonight, but honestly I wish I had eaten it in the company of others; It was definitely deserving of conversation.
1 comments:
We're doing Carina Chicken Week at the King household. This BBQ recipe, kitchen diva, is the bomb. Uncle D's be the best and I only regret that I didn't reserve more of it to grace the left over yard bird. I brined it about two hours or so but it still came out soooooo VERY moist and good. Yum. All hands went back for seconds. Tonight we will do the Cobb, as you suggest, and let you know. What good summer recipes for company.
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