Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [172]
Variations: You can use any combination of dried fruit you wish; just make sure you end up with about 1¼ cups finely chopped dried fruit. Try dried apples, dried strawberries, dried pitted dates, or pitted prunes. The best combinations are sweet and tart: prunes and cherries, for example.
For a deep glaze, drizzle 1 teaspoon aged balsamic vinegar or 1 teaspoon maple syrup over each breast during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Best-Ever Grilled Chicken
Sandwiches
Without access to a grill, make these sandwiches in a well-oiled grill pan set over medium-high heat. Makes 4 servings
2 small onions, sliced paper thin
4 bay leaves
Four 5-to 6-ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 cups water
¼ cup kosher salt
2 tablespoons honey
10 black peppercorns, crushed in a mortar with a pestle, a spice grinder, or a mini-food processor
Canola oil for the grill grate
1 beefsteak tomato, cut into 4 thick slices
1 small red onion, cut into 4 thick slices
8 large thick-cut slices white or country white bread
Mayonnaise, mustard, or Classic French Bistro Vinaigrette for garnish
Layer the onion rings and bay leaves in a 13 × 9-inch baking dish; place the breasts on top.
Whisk the water, salt, and honey in a medium bowl until the salt and honey dissolve; stir in the peppercorns. Pour over the chicken breasts, then add enough cool water so that the breasts are submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 12 hours, turning the breasts occasionally without disturbing the onions.
Oil the grill grate and heat a gas grill to high heat or build a high-heat, red-hot-ashed coal bed in a charcoal grill.
Remove the breasts from the marinade; discard the marinade. Pat the breasts dry with paper towels.
Place the breasts 4 to 6 inches over the heat source on the gas grill or over the coals in the charcoal grill. Grill, turning once, until browned, until a meat thermometer inserted into thickest part of a breast registers 165°F (our preference) or 170°F (the USDA recommendation), 10 to 13 minutes. Transfer the breasts to a carving board and let rest for 5 minutes. Maintain the grill’s temperature.
If possible, oil the grill grate again. Place the tomato and red onion slices over high heat; grill just until browned, maybe even a little charred, about 2 minutes, turning once. Transfer to the carving board and set aside.
Place the bread slices on the grill over high heat. Toast 1 minute, turning once, until brown. Build the sandwiches on the toasted bread with the chicken, tomato slices, grilled red onion, and the condiment of your choice for garnish.
Variations: Add any of the following to the sandwiches: 1 large ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced; 1 cup bean, garlic, or radish sprouts; 1 large cucumber, peeled and shaved into long strips with a vegetable peeler; grilled zucchini slices; grilled cored and seeded yellow bell pepper strips; or slices of fried bacon.
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Storing Chicken at Home
If you’re not going to use chicken within one or two days of purchase, unwrap it from the package, place it in a ziplock plastic bag, squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and toss it into the freezer. Storing chicken in its supermarket container can cause several problems: the Styrofoam bottom is porous, permitting potential cross-contamination in your freezer; the chicken can freeze to the “diaper” in the package, resulting in bits and pieces stuck to the skin; and the air pockets in the package promote freezer burn.
If you’re storing the pieces for more than a month, consider wrapping them individually in plastic wrap before placing them in the ziplock bag. This will (1) protect the meat from freezer burn and (2) allow you to pull out only as many pieces as you need at any one time since they won’t have frozen