Kabob Diversion

I am fully aware of the daunting task ahead of me.  I'm just refusing to do anything about it...yet.

In my other life, I am a theatre teacher.  For the past three years, I have been charged with creating a theatre program at a pretty groovy little school outside of Memphis, and, over those three years, my students have worked their booties off to create something wonderful.  We have tackled classic American plays, Shakespeare, narrative theatre, musicals, and have even generated a couple of original scripts developed through ethnographic studies and interviews.  Not too shabby for a program with roughly twelve extremely active participants and no formal performance space.

Perhaps our crowning achievement was when we received an invitation to take a show to the American High School Theatre Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Yea, us!

Now, I have to pick a show suitable for young actors with little or no set that can travel across the pond to the world's largest theatre festival and raise an obscene amount of money to do so.  This summer should be dedicated to pouring over scripts, devising fund-raising possibilities, and working with designers to have everything ready to go.

Instead, I went to the grocery store.

If you have any ideas about which play I should take, I would love to hear them!

Yogurt Marinated Chicken Kabobs

This marinade made me soooo happy!  The chicken is beyond juicy and flavorful.  This made eight skewers, plus two that were just with the veggies.

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain yogurt
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup fresh mint
2 Tbl fresh rosemary
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Veggies, sliced into sturdy wedges

zucchini
yellow and orange peppers
fennel
red onion

Combine yogurt, garlic, herbs, lemon, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and set aside.  Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2" cubes and place in marinade.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Soak skewers in water to prevent burning.  While skewers get waterlogged, slice veggies into wedges and create an assembly line.  Once you start skewerin' the chicken it gets a little messy.  Assemble skewers alternating chicken and veggies (about three pieces of each per skewer).

Preheat grill pan over medium heat and turn on the fan.  It's gonna get smoky in here!  Place skewers on grill and char those suckers.  About 5 minutes on each side.  Transfer to a baking sheet and finish cooking in a 350 oven for about ten minutes.  Serve over Minted Eggplant Couscous.

If you have extra veggies, make a couple of skewers with them.  Just drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Delish!


Minted Eggplant Couscous

This is a great dish to bring as a side for summer get-togethers, and it gets better the longer it sits.  More than likely you will use less vinegar.  I don't really measure out each ingredient, so start with a couple of shakes and add until it tastes good to your pie hole.


2 cups chicken stock
2 cups couscous
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 small eggplant, grilled and marinated with mint
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup currants
1/4 cup pistachios
1 red pepper, chopped
3 carrots, diced
7 green onions, diced
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
a ton of fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbl fresh mint, chopped
Salt/pepper to taste

Grill and marinate the eggplant as we talked about in an earlier post, except this time use mint as your herb and forget about the capers.  Let sit for a couple of hours so flavors can combine.

In a medium sauce pan, bring stock and garlic to a boil.  Stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat.  This will be done in five minutes!

While the couscous is couscousing, chop your veggies and apricots into bite sized pieces and drain the garbanzos. 

Using a fork, fluff the couscous and transfer to a large bowl. Add in veggies, pistachios, apricots, currants, and herbs.  Dress with lemon, vinegar and olive oil. Toss to combine.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Dinner: Improvised - Help the Cootie Laden

Ever have a friend who is havin' a bad week, and you're not quite sure what to do to cheer them up?

A good friend of mine has Cooties.  It's actually kind of serious, terribly annoying, and, sorry Tugar, not very pretty to look at.  Couple this affliction with the swamp-like summer heat of Memphis, and you have one unhappy camper on your hands.

Mission:  provide comfort (or at least distraction) through food using what I have in my kitchen and bring a smile to a friend's face.

What's in the fridge:  a whole chicken, spinach, red cabbage, some tired turnips, carrots.

Cootie Boo's fave is Thanksgiving food, and I just saw the movie Salt.  Why not brine the chicken?!

Spice Brined Chicken

I usually brine a turkey for Thanksgiving, but I have used this method with chicken or pork throughout the year.  It's time consuming, but so worth the effort.  It gives the meat an incredible spicy flavor, and keeps it moist and juicy.  I tend to raid my spices and throw in what sounds good at the moment;  just stick to your earthier spices.

1 4 lb. chicken

For the brine

1 medium yellow onion, unpeeled and quartered
1 head of garlic, slice in half
2 turnips, cut into thirds
2 carrots, cut into thirds
1 2" piece of ginger, sliced
1 1/2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbl whole black peppercorns
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups water

In a large stock pot, combine ingredients and bring to a boil.  (I like to give the mixture a good stir to dissolve the salt and sugar a bit before turning on the heat, otherwise you will have some crustiness on the bottom of your pot that is a bee-otch to get off.)  Let the brine cool completely.

Once the brine is at room temperature, place your chicken breast side down in the brine and add enough water to cover.  Cover and put it in the fridge for six hours.

Preheat oven to 400.  Remove bird from brine and rinse thoroughly under cold water.  Pat dry and place in a cast iron skillet.  Here is where you can play around.  I make a butter mixture to rub over the little chicky with a half a stick of butter, cumin, cayenne, orange zest, and pepper.  Again, play with whatever you think sounds tasty.  Slather the bird with the butter, under and over the skin.  Shove an onion in the cavity with maybe some citrus and fresh herbs.  Cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes.  Remove foil and roast for an additional 20-25 minutes uncovered to brown that sucker. 

Let that baby rest for 10 minutes and carve.

Sauteed Red Cabbage and Spinach

The balsamic make this side tangy and slightly sweet, and it looks kind of like Christmas with the bright red and green.

1/4 head of red cabbage, shredded
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 oz baby spinach
2 Tbl balsamic vinegar
2 Tbl olive oil
salt/pepper to taste

In a saute pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add sliced onions and cook for 5 minutes.  Add cabbage and saute until it begins to wilt, about 7 minutes.  Add garlic and vinegar, and cook until vinegar reduces by half.  At the last minute, add in spinach and stir it around until just wilted.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.


I am not a dessert man, but what sort of Thanksgiving-ish dinner is complete without a sweet bite?!  I made a Rhubarb Tart with Orange Glaze (thank you, defunct Gourmet magazine...we miss you!) and I added some fresh figs I had picked up at the Memphis Farmer's Market.  A fantastic dessert that was super easy to make!