Cooking with the Dutchess:
By Hanneke Eerden
Because of the wonderful fact that we had three (yes 3) beautiful sunny days (Summer has forgotten my country, Netherlands, this year I’m afraid…) it was time to make a grilled dinner again! Oh and to enjoy this dinner outside, what’s better than that! Of course, you can (almost) always grill, rain or shine, but it’s just a bit more fun when the sun is shining! For this happy occasion I made the choice to grill chicken breasts on a wooden plank.
Have you ever tried that? If not, you really should because it ads so much flavor the chicken/fish/vegetables and lots more. It gives your grilled meat (or vegetables) a delicious smoky taste, and it’s a very nice way to present your dinner like this, your guests will be impressed!
Sometimes it occurs that the plank will catch fire, but as long as you keep the lid closed nothing bad will happen.
In this recipe you’ll see that I used a cedar wood plank, but there are so much other choices, even wine infused planks (now that’s something I really need to try soon!). The cedar smell reminds me of my dear Grandfather, who used to smoke cigars. And those cigars he kept in a beautiful box made of cedar wood and I remember I always loved that smell (you see, back then when I was a kid I was already fond of it!!). Every time I visited him, he would give me the small bands that were put around the cigars, because I collected those and he knew it. I really didn’t know what to do with these bands, but I liked the colors and pictures on them and kept them for years in a big box. My Mom never understood why I would keep them, and one day I agreed with her and gave that huge box to a collector who used to make beautiful artworks from it. I received one from him, and it’s a great remembrance of my Grandfather and brings back lovely memories!
Now it’s time to go back to the recipe, what do you need:
2 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon chicken seasoning
½ teaspoon dried herbs like oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary
3 tablespoons olive oil
grated aged cheese (I used Gouda cheese, but you can use any cheese you like) (about ¼ cup)
Make a marinade of the olive oil, seasoning and dried herbs of your choice. Marinate the chicken for some hours. About 2 hours before you are planning to start grilling, start soaking the planks in water or beer or wine.
As soon as your grill (I used my kettle barbeque) is hot enough, put the plank above the coals for a few minutes. Then turn the plank around and put it back above the coals and arrange the chicken breasts on the plank. Close the lid and don’t peak, just enjoy the smell!
These chicken breasts took about 20 minutes, and then I added carefully some grated cheese on the chicken (yes I know, half of it will fall off…happened to me too!), close the lid again and after a few minutes the cheese will have melted and it’s dinner time!
I served it with grilled potatoes and a butter beans salad (a new recipe, that you will soon find on the BarBQBo-ozers Website), easy simple and delicious!
As always – Bon Appetit!