When handling raw meats, poultry and seafood, it’s important to keep food safety in mind. You want to avoid cross-contaminating plates, platters and utensils used for raw foods and those used for cooked foods.
When grilling, I always aim to have two sets (sometimes more) of grilling utensils, plates or platters on hand.
If you don’t have an extra set available, always wash well with hot soapy water any utensils, plates or platters used for raw foods that you will need to use with the cooked foods.
Another cross-contamination issue that comes up often is with marinades.
When making a marinade that you also want to use as a basting sauce or serve on the side, make 1 1/2 times or double the recipe. Set the desired extra amount aside in a separate bowl or container away from the other so you don’t get them mixed up.
Some recipes say that you can boil marinade that held raw foods for 5 minutes to kill any bacteria so you can serve it. I don’t follow this practice, and food safety experts with the USDA and and at universities, don’t recommend it.
For today’s recipe, doubling up sided baking sheets works great.
Place and prepare the chicken on the top baking sheet and use the bottom one for the cooked chicken and vegetables.
You can use either skinless or skin-on boneless chicken. Just make sure you have pieces of uniform thickness so they grill evenly.
If you are using skinless chicken breasts, instead of pounding them to an even thickness, cut them into two even pieces.
Place well-chilled breasts (freeze 20-30 minutes if necessary) on a clean work surface and hold them in place with your hand on top.
Starting at the thickest end, slice the breasts in half horizontally, working away from you and toward the thinner end. Slicing the breasts in two is better than pounding because you end up with nice, neat and even pieces.
If using skin-on chicken breasts, place the pieces between sheets of plastic wrap, skin side down, and gently pound with a meat mallet to an even thickness. This way there is less chance of tearing the skin.
Spicy Chicken Breasts
With this recipe you will have leftover oil-lemon mixture. You can drizzle more on the chicken and onions during grilling if desired. Or store it for another use, such as drizzling over salad greens. Adapted from “Weeknight Grilling with the BBQ Queens,” by Karen Adler and Judith Fertig (Harvard Common Press, $14.95). Serves 4.
Ingredients
SPICE MIXTURE
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground caraway seed
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
CHICKEN AND ONIONS
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded evenly to 1/2-inch thickness
2 large red onions, peeled and cut into 1-inch-thick slices
8 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
2 cups cooked couscous
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup currants or sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped green onions (white and green parts)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
Directions
Prepare the grill on high heat. Oil a perforated grill rack and set it aside, if using.
In a small bowl, combine all the spice mixture ingredients.
In another small bowl or glass measuring cup combine the olive oil and lemon juice, whisk to blend and set the mixture aside.
Place the chicken on a doubled, sided baking sheet (the bottom one will be for the cooked food) and drizzle each breast with about 1 tablespoon of the olive oil mixture. Then lightly sprinkle both sides of each chicken breast with about 1 tablespoon of the spice mixture.
Set the chicken aside.
Skewer each onion slice widthwise on a wooden skewer and place them on the perforated grill rack, if using, or on a separate platter.
Reserving 2 to 3 tablespoons of the olive oil mixture for the couscous, drizzle the onions with some of the olive oil mixture.
Mix the couscous with the apricots, cranberries, onions and parsley and drizzle the mixture with the remaining olive oil mixture.
Grill the chicken about 3 minutes per side or until cooked through, depending on the size and thickness of the breasts.
Grill the onions 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning once, or until you have good grill marks and the onions become tender.
Transfer the cooked food to the clean baking sheet. Serve with the couscous.
558 calories (30 percent from fat), 19 grams fat (3 grams sat.fat), 56 grams carbohydrates, 40 grams protein, 105mg sodium, 96mg cholesterol, 6 grams fiber .
