BBQ Weather!

It's perfect BBQ weather during the evenings now- in the 70's, it's light later, a slight breeze... perfect!

So, to start off BBQ Season, I made one of my favorite recipes- Rosemary Garlic Chicken.

Savory, garlicky, rich and crispy; these chicken thighs cook up so perfectly crispy and delicious that they would go well with a nice fresh salad, maybe a French style potato salad, and glass of wine.

Get your BBQ out of the shed, light your coal, let's get our grill on because I'm hungry!


What you will need:

6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

½ cup olive oil

3-4 garlic cloves, peeled

2 large sprigs of rosemary, washed

½- 1 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty you like your food)

Remove the rosemary from the sprigs. Place this plus garlic, olive oil and salt in a blender or small food processor, whiz until chopped but not to the point of totally blending it together.

Place chicken in a large bowl or 8” x 8” ceramic or glass pan. Pour olive oil mixture over the chicken, turn it and mix it around until all the chicken is well coated.  You can either leave this overnight (covered) in the fridge to marinate or let it sit out on the counter while you get your coals going. If you let it marinate overnight, it can get really garlicky tasting, so that’s your call on how pungent you want to be that night. Once you place the chicken on the grill, you can throw out the marinade.

For the Grill: I like to pile my coals on one side of the BBQ, and light them there. Everyone has their own technique, but this is my version. This leaves me room to move things around if they start to get too toasty or aren’t cooking enough.

Let the coals get all completely white and still flaming. I like to pile my chicken in a U shape around the outside perimeter of the fire, not too close as it’s bloody hot. Be careful when putting the chicken near the flames- if the chicken is dripping olive oil, you might get a flare up. Don't burn yourself... like I do... on a regular basis... long story. Anyhow, I usually flip my chicken every 5 minutes or so until the juices run clear and the skin is golden and crispy.

Let rest for ten minutes while you get your sides served up, and enjoy.

This is the first of many BBQ posts for the season. There will be many styles and iterations of cooking utilizing the grill in the warming months to come- from good ol' Southern BBQ to Japanese yakitori.

Vive la BBQ!