Barbecued Chicken Salad…and cave-drawing instruments

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I have a book called "How To Repair Food" It's a well-written little book full of mostly useful and often humorous kitchen tips. 

Useful: to revitalize stale bread: plunge an entire loaf (or rolls) into cold water for just an instant; then bake on a cookie sheet at 350F for 10 minutes.

Humorous: for overdone steak: continue cooking until it is completely charred and use it to scratch pictures on the walls of your cave.

I think we know where mon mari was going with this effort….   Fortunately, he normally pays closer attention when it's steak.  (These are were sausages.)

We (that's the royal 'we' as I, personally, have never touched a grill… nor will I be allowed to.  Grilling is man's work! …. And I'm not stupid….).  As I was saying, we use one of 4 grills for almost all of our cooking during the warmer months.  Regardless of how short or long the cooking time, mon mari would rather fire up the grill than have 'whatever' cooked inside.  We use the gas grill for most things; one of the charcoal grills for steaks, seafood, or anything that is enhanced by the flavor  of the coals and/or wood chips; and the smoker for, well, smoking!   Mon mari wrote a bit about grills, techniques and general barbecue cooking if you want more information.

This month's theme at Heart of the Matter is 'the grill'.  Joanna of Joanna's Food will have the recap right after August 23.

Grilled Chicken and Pepper Salad  serves 2 for dinner

2 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
1 red pepper
1 red or sweet onion
1 tsp olive oil
1 avocado
1 carrot
Lettuce for 2 main meal salads
Marinade for chicken

1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs ketchup
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Mix all ingredients well and spoon over meat.

"French" Vinaigrette

2 tbs ketchup
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp paprika
3 tbs olive oil, the good stuff

Mix ketchup, vinegar and mustard. Slowly add olive oil, whisking constantly.

Make marinade, pour over chicken and set aside. Clean and slice the pepper into strips. Cut the onion in half and slice thickly.  Put onion and pepper into a bowl, add oil and toss well.  Cook pepper and onion in grill pan (or any old metal pie or cake tin) on barbecue grill for about 10 minutes until they are crisp-tender.  Stir once or twice.  When vegetables are done start to cook chicken, 12 – 15 minutes, turning once.
While chicken cooks: Make the Vinaigrette.  Prepare lettuce and put in large salad bowl.  Slice the avocado.  Slice the carrot into paper thin strips using the vegetable peeler.  Add a bit (2 tbs) of dressing to lettuce and toss well to coat.  Add carrot, peppers and onions, and a bit (1 tbs) more dressing and toss well.  Arrange avocado slices around edge of salad.  When chicken is done, thinly slice and arrange in center of salad.  Drizzle a bit of dressing on the avocado and chicken and serve, remaining dressing on the side or for another day.

Be sure to check Joanna's Food after August 23rd for the complete Grilling recap, or the  Heart of the Matter site for all of the heart-healthy events.

And get the grill out…. summer's almost over!

p.s.  mon mari nicely asked that I clarify the sausages: it was a new tank of a different kind of gas and, um, wasn't working properly…. (yeah, right…. I said I'd write it, I didn't say I bought it…)