#9 Don't judge a book by its...

Skin? …so I know I foreshadowed the Fajita recipe next, but I need to perfect it a little more and I’ll post. For now, I’d like to introduce you to Paprika chicken. At first look, it’s burnt and overcooked, but believe me – underneath that blackened skin is juicy chicken meat. If you’d rather not attempt the grill with this one, the oven is perfectly acceptable.

On a side-note, went to a Keith Urban concert this past weekend in Baton Rouge at the Bayou Country Superfest – it was absolutely awesome… The guy really knows how to put on a show. Wish I could show you pictures, but they had a ban on all fancy cameras (i.e. those that have removable lenses) The funniest part was there was clearly 2 kinds of people at the Superfest – the Keith Urban fans were late 20s and up, drinking beer and having a good time. …I happen to sit next to a 10 year old obviously there for Taylor Swift, who was going on right after him. Her boredom was very apparent after I noticed her Dippin’ Dots consumed more of her attention than Keith Urban.

In the end, the blood-curdling screams of adolescent girls was too much to handle after Taylor came on stage. What was worse was Taylor’s vacant stare into the audience and slow speech of how much she loves us all. Long story short, Keith was a concert to definitely visit again – but I’d pass on Ms. Swift next time…

Ok, so on to the reason of the post – the tangy smokiness of Paprika chicken. Step 1 is to Butterfly the chicken. It’s really easy and just involves some kitchen shears:



All you have to do is snip through the skin up each side of the backbone and discard it:



Then you need to crack the breast bone by flipping it over and applying pressure to the breast plate. The goal is to have the chicken lay flat so the meat cooks evenly on the grill:




Lastly, mix all the ingredients together in a bag with the chicken and let it marinate overnight.







In the end, I would cook the chicken for at least 20-30 minutes per side. Keep the grill on low and keep an eye on any flames. In the meantime, lets go prepare the most delicious spinach salad.



For the absolutely delicious tangy dressing, mix together all these ingredients in a Tupperware and share hard just before using:

1/4 cup white sugar (add more sugar if you like it sweeter)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil



Then when you’re ready to eat, just take a handful of spinach, sprinkle with dried cranberries, pine nuts (toast a little in a skillet beforehand), a little bit of poppy seeds (optional) and then some of your homemade salad dressing. Feel free to add as much or as little as you want.





Paprika Chicken
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbls chopped garlic
2 Tbls smoked paprika
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 whole chicken (3 -4 pounds)

Rinse the chicken first. Mix together the vinegar, oil, garlic, paprika, and salt in a re-sealable plastic bag. Using the techniques I describe above, remove the backbone from the chicken then place in the bag. Make sure the chicken is coated well. Place in the fridge overnight until ready to cook the next day – flip the bag over occasionally throughout.

Set your grill to Low. Remove chicken from the marinade and discard the bag. Place chicken, skin side down, on grill. Close cover, and grill 25 minutes. Flip the chicken carefully and close cover. Grill until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of the breast registers 165 degrees, about 20-25 minutes more.