You Gotta Be Flexible

So far very little has gone according to plan this week when it comes to cooking, and I love it. My idea to keep meals simple though, has really worked out. But you gotta be flexible. When things change you gotta go with the flow. I'm still on schedule for the ham this weekend, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. By the way I hope you got the Irish outdoor furniture out for St. Pat's Day; you know 'pat-tee-oh furniture.'

Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law, Gin, came over and we cooked the 2 chickens as planned. They were wonderful. First, my brother and I cut the back out of the chickens and then brinded them for about 1 & 1/2 hours (you need at least 30 minutes but more is better). Then we put olive oil and a little of Emeril's Essence, that Gin had made up, all over the chicken. We had preheated the gas grill to 450 and we were using it like an oven because we were roasting red potatoes with olive oil and cooking a squash casserole in the oven.

We put the 2 chickens into 2 iron skillets with some olive oil and put them in the grill, trying hard to keep the temperature at 450. I'd say we generally succeeded. Oh I forgot to tell you we had heated the iron skillets in the oven at 450 for about thirty minutes before we put the chickens in them. After we cooked the chickens in the grill about 35 minutes we tented the breasts and cooked then another 10 minutes. We were trying to get the internal temperature to around 180 degrees I believe Gin said. She had brought a special little thermometer and we were successful. The chickens were cooked to perfection and everything else was ready. We were able to feed 9 adults and still had 2 chicken breasts left.

This was absolutely a wonderful meal. The chicken was so good you'll have to make it to believe it. Then on top of all that Gin cooked a low fat, almost sugar free cheesecake that was wonderful.

But what about tonight? Here's where being flexible comes in. I'll report back to you tomorrow.