Older Bolder Life

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chicken

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 7 September: Grilled Cumin Garlic Tahini Chicken

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Here’s a bit of a different spin on typical grilled chicken we had with friends a few months back – a Grilled Cumin Garlic Tahini Chicken.

Our daughter recently traveled to Jordan for her work as a photojournalist, and came back armed with several artisanal olive oils and spice mixtures, prompting an exploration of Jordanian and other Middle Eastern foods we’ve enjoyed tremendously of late.

We’ve always enjoyed tahini around our camp (even if used primarily in whipping up the occasional batch of hummus when entertaining company), and the nutty goodness of the ground sesame really comes through in this dish.

The fresh garlic, good cumin (get some fresh) and paprika, along with the fresh lemon juice combine very, very well the tahini, and caramelizing (gently) on grill makes the whole package even better.

If you’re a tahini fan, give this one a spin, it’ll likely end up in your rotation (it has in ours of late).

3-4 pound chicken, cut up
Good salt

7-8 garlic cloves, peeled, minced, mashed
1 tbsp fresh ground cumin
1 tbsp good paprika
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (maybe just a bit more)
2-3 tbsp avocado or olive oil
Pinch of good salt, more to taste

Cut up your chicken, dust with good salt, and throw in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Mince the garlic, then grind into a paste with the side of your trusty chef’s knife, along with a pinch of good salt; transfer to a small bowl.

Now add the cumin, paprika, tahini, fresh lemon juice, and 2 tbsp of the oil you’ve chosen. Combine well, you’re looking for a thick paste something akin to a thinner peanut butter consistency. Add a tsp of fresh lemon juice or oil if you need to loosen it up; adjust the salt to taste.

Now slather the paste mixture over each chicken piece; it’s much more interesting to use your hands, rubbing it in and coating all surfaces well. Let the chicken sit at room temp for up to an hour.

Fire the grill.

Cook using your favorite routine for chicken; we start this one skin side down, and turn fairly frequently, moving the chicken to a cooler zone of the grill as the tahini-spice paste begins to caramelize. Rest the chicken when done for a few minutes, then serve either hot or cooled to room temp.

Enjoy.

Older Bolder Foundations: Making the Best Poultry Protein Choices

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Last week we talked a bit about making the best possible choices for the red meat proteins (wild game, beef, bison, pork, lamb, and goat) you choose to enjoy in your meal rotation.

Today lets cover quickly some key concepts regarding poultry, which for most of us purchasing poultry are talking about chicken and turkey (as opposed to harvesting wild birds – think wild turkeys, ducks, pheasants, geese, quail, and doves for example).

The objective here is to look for and consume pastured poultry (as opposed to CAFO poultry), though it’ll likely take a bit more effort to find than comparable options in the red meat arena.

Pasture-raised birds are so much more tasty and nutritious than their confined (CAFO) kin; folks tend to forget than most fowl are omnivorous, and CAFO operations in essence force feed birds a vegetarian (grain based) diet along with the flood of other unhealthy and in some instances downright offensive supplemental feed products, antibiotics, pesticides, and more.

We’d join the chorus of folks who suggest the very best option is finding a local producer with whom you can verify that birds are truly pasture-raised; they may be feed supplemental grains as well.

Chickens certified as organic by a mass producer are likely indeed fed organic grains but are most often not pastured; their vegetarian diet produces an inferior product compared to pasture-raised birds.

Buy whole chickens (if you never learned to cut one up, check out the video below) and use everything, including the organs, bones (chicken stock is a great thing to keep in the freezer), and render that delicious chicken fat.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 29 June: South Sound Curry Coconut Chicken Satay

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Several years ago my lovely wife and I had the opportunity to spend a couple of years out along the southern shoreline of Puget Sound; it’s beautiful country, and despite it’s well-deserved reputation for rain, we grilled every month of the year, rain or shine.

We truly enjoyed the bountiful seafood available on the coast, but also the very, very good Thai and Korean cuisine we found in abundance. One recipe we fairly quickly folded into our regular rotation was this Curry Coconut Chicken Satay; we fiddled with several recipes until we came up with a version that suited our palates and (importantly) was quick and simple to prepare, easy enough to set up for a weeknight cook.

You’ve probably read before that Thai dishes seek to stimulate every single one of the taste senses in each and every bite; this recipe accomplishes the task and is Primal/Paleo compliant to boot (note a touch of brown sugar is optional, and does add a tiny hint of flavor to the final product).

If you’re a satay fan, bet this one ends up in your summer rotation…

1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
1/4 to 1/3 cup fish sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp good curry powder (to taste, Madras if you’ve got it)
1 and 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 and 1/2 tbsp cilantro, minced
2-3, scallions ,white and green parts, minced
3 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, sliced into 1 by 3 inch pieces
Optional: 1 tbsp brown sugar, packed

Bamboo skewers, soaked for 30 minutes

Stir the first seven ingredients (everything but the chicken) together, mixing well, then add the chicken pieces, using your hands to combine well and making sure every chicken piece is coated. Throw in the fridge (a large resealable bag works wonders here) for at least an hour, but far better in the 6-8 hour range or overnight.

When ready to cook, fire the grill, drain the chicken and thread it onto the soaked skewers.

Now sear the chicken quickly over a hot fire, turning once, about 90-120 seconds per side. Move to a medium-hot / indirect heat area of the grill and cook for another 2-5 minutes (depends on thickness of the slices and how hot your fire) until cooked through.

Pull and serve hot with your favorite peanut sauce and perhaps a Thai cucumber salad.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast 8 June: Green River Orange Chicken

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I first posted a version of this Green River Orange Chicken over on Chi Wulff, a fly fishing blog I’m involved with, back in the fall of 2014, after an interesting outing on the Green River in Wyoming with friends and a former chef from Hawaii.

Here’s part of that story –

…Back a few years ago, on one of those three day runs to the Green River I was known to take occasionally with some friends in Salt Lake City, we had a buddy bring along a friend of his wife’s visiting from Hawaii…

…For the life I can’t remember this guy’s name; long story short he had never fly fished but made a game effort and caught some fish (it was Cicada season and for the most part fishing was like shooting fish in a barrel, particularly on the afternoon floats).

The second day I had him in my boat for both the morning and afternoon floats and he began to wear on us a bit given his endless descriptions of ‘how much bigger and faster and beautiful’ the fish were in Hawaii. It wasn’t as bad as a couple of my compadres would have you believe, though by that evening several guys were ready to tie him up, attach all the drift boat anchors in camp and assign him to the not-so-briny deep of Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

His saving grace came in the fact that he had (in another life) worked as a chef and that evening whipped out of couple of big containers what we’ve come to call Green River Orange Chicken that had been marinating in a cooler.

He grilled it over a hardwood charcoal fire as the sun set that evening in camp, with eleven famished guys watching his every move. He grilled it to perfection, taking care to get the skin crispy and golden brown with just a spot of tasty char here and there. While the chicken was grilling he cut up, with a bit of flair as I recall, several pineapples and avocados to serve alongside, grilled of course…

Some might whine about the honey in the marinade; I happen to agree with Mark Sisson that a little bit of honey (or maple syrup) to flavor a marinade isn’t absorbed by the chicken to any significant degree. On the other hand, as our palate has become Primal-aligned, we leave it out and don’t notice a whisper of difference. You make the call.

1/2 cup Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/3 cup soy sauce / tamari
1/3 cup finely minced ginger
1/3 cup chopped cilantro (basil plays really well here too)
1/4 cup honey
2-3 tbsp Asian garlic chile sauce
1 and 1/2 tbsp. minced fresh orange zest
1 tsp. salt
4 green onions, white and green parts, minced

2 chickens, cut up, rinsed, and patted dry

Combine all ingredients save for the chickens, mix well, and set roughly 1/3 of the marinade in the fridge in a covered container.

Pour the remainder of the marinade over the chickens in either a gallon resealable bag or your favorite flat marinading container; take care to make sure all the chicken is coated, cover, and throw in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours (eight is better).

When you fire the grill, pull the chicken out and let come to room temperature.

Set up to grill over indirect heat (due to the little bit of honey in the marinade) and grill the chicken for about 10-12 minutes per side (varies based on your fire and grill setup), basting if you want to with a bit of the reserved marinade. Pull it when the chicken is done and let rest a couple of minutes.

If you’re not in nutritional ketosis, this is a great place to indulge in a high-quality corn tortilla along with the chicken, a sliced avocado or two, and one of your favorite primal/paleo salsas.

Enjoy.