Smoked Chicken with Cranberry BBQ Sauce

The title of this post should have been " Lamb with Cranberry BBQ Sauce", and it’s all my fault. On Saturday I found out that my butcher didn’t had enough lamb left…should have ordered it in advance. So that’s the reason why it’s chicken now. Anyway....

Not that I don’t like chicken, but lamb…. You know…
But the good thing is, now I could use the wood chunks “ almond/whiskey” (from Baxter's Original, see this post …and that made me smile again as soon as I realized that!

So it became smoked chicken, corn on the cob and…..scalloped potatoes! As soon as the weather gets colder that’s one of my favorite side dishes. A few years ago I bought a combi microwave oven, and that “ combi” is the big trick. Scalloped potatoes are now ready within 25 minutes!

We’re gonna start with the marinade for the chicken: in a bowl pour 1 cup olive oil, add fresh thyme leaves, black pepper, 2 tablespoons Jack Daniels (or more…) and about a tablespoon of your favorite bbq rub. Add the chicken breasts and cover it with foil. Let it marinade in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

In the meantime I prepared the scalloped potatoes. Butter a large oven dish and slice potatoes. Make layers with thin red onion slices, potatoes and crumbled soft blue cheese (or another soft cheese). In a large measuring cup you pour 2 cups of cream, some crushed garlic, fresh thyme leaves, black pepper and 2 cups of milk. Pour this over the potatoes and add some aged cheese. In a combi oven this is ready within 25 minutes, in a regular oven it takes about an hour (400F). Of course I could have done this on the Weber too but I didn’t, I’m sorry….

The Weber was clean again after the Pork Shoulder Event (that’s gonna be the next post!!) and ready for a new session.

As soon as it had reached the right temperature (around 325F) it was time to put the corn on the grill because they needed more time than the chicken. Life can be so simple sometimes!
After 10-15 minutes I added (soaked in water) a few wood chunks and the chicken went on the grill, indirect, for about 10 minutes.
Move the chicken breast to the direct heat and brush them with the cranberry bbq sauce (yes the one and only from Big Butz). Repeat this every 2 minutes, keep turning and brushing the chicken.

The corn I brushed with butter and some herbs as soon as they got off the grill. And this is the result:

Really tasty and delicious!! The chicken was moist and had a really smoked taste and with the Cranberry Sauce it was super! (Excuses for the lousy picture...)

Serve with a cold Shiraz Rosé and I promise you’ll have a delicious dinner!

Enjoy!

Chicken with Lemon and Garlic

This recipe has only 6 ingredients, and I know you're thinking this can't be good. May I say that you're wrong, so wrong....? Ok, there, I said it!
Because this, my dear friends, is a great summer dish so you better hurry before the wind and rain comes around the corner. I'm sorry to post this just now as August is halfway gone, but I only discovered it myself yesterday!

Don't let the amount of garlic scare you, I'm not forcing you to eat them, but oh you're missing something if you don't.... Just pick a good day for this dish....the next day no vampire will come near so that's one benefit!

And a short remark about the lemons: buy organic ones! Since you're using the whole lemons: organic ones don't have a waxed coating.

The ingredients:
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (ask your butcher or do it yourself, depending on which mood you're in)
1 bulb of garlic, leave the cloves unpeeled
2 lemons, cut into 8 pieces each
a handful of fresh thyme
3 tablespoons olive oil
half a cup white wine
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Put the chicken pieces in a roasting pan or other shallow oven dish, add the garlic, lemon, thyme and olive oil. Use your hands to mix it all and coat the chicken with the oil. Make sure you place the chicken after this with their skins down. Sprinkle the wine over the chicken and add some freshly ground black pepper and cover it tight with aluminium foil.

This goes in the oven for about 90 minutes. I had a small chicken, for a big one you'll need 2 hours. After that amount of time it looks like this:

While you remove the foil, rise the temperature of the oven to 400F. Put the chicken back in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until the chicken has a nice color and the lemons are caramelized...oooh yummy...

I served this with a vegetable stew called "caponata" (recipe will follow soon) and bread. But baked potatoes with rosemary and sea salt and a green salad will also make you happy.

This is really so easy and amazingly delightful!!

Now, which wine should you serve with this? A Chardonnay from Chile I had. And don't let the amount of lemons makes you think this dish will taste sour, because it doesn't. It's very sweet because of the slow cooking! Therefore the Chardonnay!

Enjoy!!