Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken

Summer may be over but that doesn’t mean it’s time to pack up the grill. The other night we had a particularly gorgeous evening–one of those nights where you have to be outside. We decided since it was starting to get a little chilly too we’d build a fire to go along with our outdoor evening. Of course it wasn’t long before everybody noticed I was neglecting my dinner-making responsibilities. “I don’t want to go inside!” I was ready to point everybody to the pantry to get snacks for dinner when it hit me, “the grill!

My grill was mere feet away from our make-shift bonfire so I had no problem whipping up a quick meal. Of course, I couldn’t just grill up chicken and call it a meal. There needed to be some sort of side, but I wasn’t going to cook inside. No sir, no way. Luckily my grill has a side burner so I threw on an oiled cast iron skillet and ran inside to see what I had. There they were, begging to be fried up, little new potatoes! Don’t have a burner on your grill? Throw the cast iron skillet straight on the grill!

This is one of those easy, quick meals that can be made all on the grill, and will let you walk away to tend to guests, or that beautiful evening. Besides, its grilled chicken! Yum! And the rosemary? Delicious!

Lemon Rosemary Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

1 chicken cut up, bone-in

1 sprig rosemary

1 lemon

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Instructions

1. Heat the grill grates over high heat. Leave half of the grill on high and the other half on low.

2. Generously drizzle olive oil over the chicken on both sides. Add a generous portion of salt and freshly ground pepper to both sides also.

3. Roughly chop the rosemary and add it to the chicken on both sides. Squeeze the juice from one lemon all over the chicken.

4. Brush the grates with oil. Add the chicken to the grill grates, over the high heat. Sear each side of the chicken a few minutes until the chicken just begins to turn white, and the grate marks are browned on the chicken.

5. Move the chicken to side of the grill over low heat. Grill the meat for about twenty-five minutes, turning occasionally until the skin is browned, and the meat is cooked through. Add olive oil and more lemon juice occasionally as the meat cooks.  You can check the doneness by cutting into the thickest piece of meat; the juices should run clear.

Fried New Potatoes

Ingredients

25 small new potatoes

1 onion cut into eighths

5 cloves garlic

1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Instructions

1. Heat a cast iron skillet over a burner or grill on high heat. Add olive oil and lower the heat to low.

2. Add the potatoes, onion, rosemary and garlic. Generously sprinkle everything with salt and freshly ground pepper.

3. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes, adding oil occasionally.

So get out there and heat up that grill before it gets way too cold–I have to admit if we got snow here in Texas, I would probably still grill in a blizzard. Summer may be over, but the time to grill never ends.

Enjoy!