May can sometimes be a crapshoot for weather in New England, but we've been lucky here in Holyoke to have some nice grilling nights this month and I wanted to take full advantage of them. I realize that when you read this that we will be fully immersed in June. My apologies. Work has been hectic this week, and even though I have completed several recipes from the book, I have been procrastinating on writing and posting them.
Of the recipes that I have made from the book so far, this one is the most summer-like. I know it's not 'officially' summer, but it sure looks and feels like it is. You would probably feel the same way after eating this dish. There's something about grilling chicken, or any meat really, over a hot flame and pairing it with a light salad that just screams summer to me.
There's a few 'scary' looking Italian words in the title of this recipe that may turn people away, but I assure you that this was easier to make than it was to pronounce.
'Al mattone' means under the brick in Italian. The chicken was literally cooked this way, having a heavy brick weighing it down on a very hot grill. This helps to ensure even cooking in all of the crevices of the chicken. So that was my first step, to find a few clean bricks and wrap them in foil. Luckily there were lots of leftover bricks on the side of the garage from when we bought this house that were the perfect size. Score!
Next was to remove the backbone from the chickens without touching the front breast plate. This will make the chicken easy to butterfly and flatten out on the grill for even cooking.
The chickens then get seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil.
I then put them on the grill and weigh them down with the bricks. Considering the weight of the bricks and high heat, you'll want to turn them every few minutes until cooked thru and the skin is crispy. The recipe said this process will take approximately 15 minutes, but not all chicken is created equal. Yours might take a little longer, depending on the size, like mine did.
Next was to make the Panzanella salad. It has it's origin from Tuscany and is a great way to use leftover bread. In a bowl I mixed sliced red onion, diced tomato, diced cucumber, and cubed day old bread. I tossed it with red wine vinegar and olive oil. It won't need much of the oil/vinegar mix, but just enough to moisten the old bread. I threw in some fresh basil and oregano as well.
Once the chicken is cooked its time to plate. Just spoon the salad on the plate with the chicken. I put a slice of lemon on there as well because a squeeze before eating helped bring some more acidity to the rich chicken.
In the recipe notes, Mario said that this is something that you would never see at an Italian restaurant, but that you're likely to find it at a small Tuscan countryside celebration. Regardless where you find it, it tasted amazing. This was probably my favorite so far. I know I will probably wear that phrase out but what can I say? It's so simple to make and tasty enough that even the most finicky of eaters will love this. My wife has requested that I make this again and I can see that happening very soon.
Be on the lookout for more posts. With some days off in my future I should be able to catch up on this blog. Until next time...
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