there was no way i was turning on the oven.  really, even grilling was brave.  yesterday was 104 and as i type it’s 105.

105…

i had defrosted some locally processed beautiful chicken breasts and they needed to get cooked.  i prefer to do them in the oven as last time my results were so very fine. but again – not an option.

so i made a paste of olive oil, pressed garlic, tarragon leaves, salt, pepper and lemon zest.  i spread the mixture underneath the skin and then lightly oiled, salted and peppered the pieces to prepare them for the heat.  my grill is fierce.  so i set it on medium low and kept an eye on the situation until the skin got crisp.  then i turned them over, lowered the flame, closed the lid and prayed not to over cook them.  they were of fairly hefty size and as we know, with chicken there’s a fine line between under and over cooking.  or i should say, between getting salmonella poisoning or having it be too dry to taste any good.

after 15 more minutes or so on the grill i lifted the lid, poked them with a skewer, didn’t see any signs of chicken blood and off they came.  i finished them with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.  which is supposed to look very professional. but being the non-professional that i am – my drizzle marks were competing with my grillzzle marks.  (wow, i am like so totally cool!  snoop dogg would be so impressed with me!  except… i think that slang was all so like 5 years ago.)

tony bourdain, in his book ‘kitchen confidential‘ suggests this drizzle method for food beautification.  we’ve all seen it out and about.  so… squeeze bottles, people.  make it pretty with squeeeeeze bottles.  ok, so now you’re all officially reminded of that tasty little trick.  but - something else i’ve now discovered which is a mysterious source of confusion to me is that tony - and many chefs – if not ALL chefs, seriously frown upon pressed garlic.  we’re talking downright disgusted with the concept.  so, on this one, i am lost.  someone clue me in.  i would think that a poor defenseless garlic press must have some place in the world – such as for making a paste to put under the skin of chicken…  geeshk.

my salad was a simple romaine, cucumber and tomato combo with a simple honey lemon vinaigrette.  the store bought polenta reappears in its second incarnation.  it seemed to fit in quite nicely.

nothing flash – just dinner.