Kitchen Hack

Grilled Snapper with Caramelized Pineapple-Serrano Butter and Pineapple Carrot Slaw

Summer. Kinda Hot, kinda humid. I wanted something refreshing and light but filling. I wanted something tried and true and something new. I wanted something with a little complexity and a higher than average degree of difficulty. I wanted to work for it, dammit. 

First stop, let's see what we got laying around. 

Hmm...okay. Some super fresh, super sweet carrots (bonus points for a multitude of colors), a leek. And a pineapple. 

It wasn't until a few years ago that I found I liked pineapple. More specifically, I like grilled pineapple. Raw pineapple is just to acidic and pineapple-y for me. Grilled, and some smart person out there can tell me why, either ups the sweetness and lowers the acidity or because the sweetness goes up, it masks the acidity. Either way, I like it. 

So, let's make pineapple the star of this show and work around it. 

Lime-Oregano-Serrano Marinated Grilled Chicken Thighs

This nearly qualifies as a "Cooking for Dudes" entry but breaks the cardinal rule...NO GRILL. So it's a regular entry. That's just the way it's gonna have to be. 

This is, easily, the best thing I've ever created on the grill. By a lot. And it's super simple. 

Behold the ingredient list...

Ingredients
6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
salt and ground black pepper
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp dried mexican oregano
1 serrano chile, minced
1 lime, zested and juiced
¼ cup olive oil
¼ bunch cilantro, chopped
⅛ cup cotija cheese, grated
½ lime to drizzle juice over the top before serving

That's it. And listing stuff like salt and pepper and oil shouldn't even count. 

I'm using chicken thighs in this. The thighs have more fat than the breasts and, as a result, more flavor. By virtue of having more fat they also are more forgiving. While it's possible to cook the beejeesus out of the thigh so that it dries out, it's difficult to do. If you're a hardcore conscientious chicken thigh objector, that's cool. Use breasts. You'll have to increase the cooking time and you'll want to move them over indirect heat about halfway in so it doesn't dry out. 

Hoisin Glazed Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Lemon-Miso Grilled Asparagus

Hardcore grillers will tell you any kind of weather is grillin' weather. I've seen my neighbor out firing up some flame in near zero temps. I'm not that brave. Leaving alone for a moment what it may imply about climate change, its April 1st. It's 62 outside. We will be grilling. This is not normal for April 1st. 

Here's the punchline...