My Weber is my Tandoor

Wow, what a fortuitous accident! Lit the Weber today and wound up with some exquisite subtle almost-Tandoori chicken, with the help of some brand names and some extra ingredients.

It wasn't Martin Biron's
chicken, but very fresh and tasty all the same.
All-natural Perdue. Who knew?


I've never attempted Tandoori in my life, since I figured one had to have a special oven. So the results were surprising.

We all know a Weber can smoke and grill up the ying-yang with solid barbecue results — but tandoori? Another surprise.

Now a real tandoori involves ginger, garlic, coriander powder, fresh mint & cilantro and other spices. This, however, was an accidental "well-how-about-that?-almost-tandoori."

WALKING THE CO-CHEF
Today's lemma (not a di-lemma, just a plain old "lemma") was to figure out something different to do with the chicken. I didn't want to do any of the usual marinades or any of the regular tastes — but how?

This would take a good dogwalk to subliminally concoct a solution. Several flavor varieties, too. Something intense and aromatic for me; something traditionally barbecue and near smoked for Gordon; and something in between for the heck of it.
Co-chef prepares for walk.
For starters some well-known names can make the initial process a lot easier. A good shake of Famous Dave's chicken rub, a liberal dose of Mrs. Dash's regular herb and spice blend. [On it's own blah, maybe, but add some finely chopped garlic, some EV olive oil, some Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce, some Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce, ... and what else...?

I knew I wanted herbs — some thyme, some rosemary, but what else to really shift gears: some very fresh ground coriander.

Back in the day I could skip over to Little India from my office on East 28th street. I'd bring the fresh coriander home in a bag. It was so fresh and strong just bringing it into the house made your eyes water for days and the house, well highly pungent to say the least.

Uh oh. Lots of chicken here. More than I thought. Not enough marinade for all that. Maybe add some white zinfandel to increase the quantity of marinade, a few dashes of D.L. Jardine's Texas Champagne cayenne pepper sauce for a little heat and we're done.

As for Gordon -- just roll one of the breasts in Bulls Eye and grill/smoke.

Somehow some of the BBQ sauce mixed with the herb/spice/garlic/wine/savory marinade and the in-between flavor happened. Not bad either. Voila, three flavors of chicken — I hope this lasts more than 2 days, but I suspect there will be interlopers.

With breasts as thick as these I pulled out the sharp knife and scored them deeply to accept liberal infusions of garlic and marinade. There was no significant loss of juices, since the charcoal flame seared the flavor in.

Wasn't sure how it would work all out, but the Weber was in a happy place heat-wise. Not too hot, but strong enough to grill, with space further back for smoking.

Once cooked, setting it on the platter revealed a surprising waft of tandoori. Too cooked. No — the breasts were thick enough to retain just enough moisture. Lucky. Taste check -- subtle tandoori and tender.

Next time, I go for the full monty authentic Weber tandoori. Ww have some fresh mint growing in the garden ... that's a start. Maybe, with the local knowledge of Gregg, I will even be able to scout out some naan to roast at the same time.

Outside is...Barbecue!

Give me an excuse to barbecue something on the weekend. Any excuse, and if I'm feeling halfway alive, I'll grill.

This weekend's excuse came in the form of an innocent trip to buy milk...or was it chocolate...or something else...I don't remember.

Oh that was it—coffee. Well anyway, instead of driving "out of the way" to the giant grocery store, I stopped in at Meat Guys in Westbury on the way home. It's a small neighborhood grocery store/butcher shop. One with a difference—more than half the store is separated by a clear vinyl curtain and is dedicated to chill meat display space.

I'm going to say it was not particularly fragrant in there, and leave it at that, but at least the chill room was just about as cold as it needed to be. Almost, but not quite, the inside of a refrigerator. A bigger challenge would be getting the meat home before it became too hot in the car. Cranked the A/C to uncomfortably cold and wrapping the meat in an insulator ought to do it.

However, nothing much was grabbing my culinary attention, until I spotted two 10-inch pieces of skirt steak at about $5 a pop. They looked to be about enough for 2 boys, 1 old gastronome and ... a vegetarian who would not be partaking anyway. Turns out I had forgotten somebody, but more on that later.

Having already grilled and roasted red and orange peppers and eggplant (aubergine to those in Europe) every which way this barbecue season, it was time for a different accompaniment.

Meat guys had some pre cooked Bella Famiglia Basil and Garlic polenta. Psst., this is not "Master Chef" here and Joe Bastianich is not looking so I can get away with it, I reckon. Besides who has time to make polenta? Not that I'd know where to start. Corn meal? then what?.
Bastianich

ASPERGE IT
After some negotiation, M added "the piece de vegetation" — sauteed asparagus and sliced almonds.
With the Weber charcoal grill and marinates steak coming together, sauteed — or should I say fried? — onions were mandatory 'accessories.' The big one had made a bee line for the polenta and the steak and it suddenly did not look like enough. Hungry teens sometimes can be kept at bay with strategic deployment of a hot dog 'appetizer'.

I poured the remaining marinade into a foil pan and reduced it to a deeper flavor. Some chopped celery left over from lunch found its way in there. I tried to braise it, unsuccessfully, but it cooked in the juices long enough to look braised and definitely add some tooth-pleasing texture.

M. thought the 5 minutes per side would be too little for the skirt steak, but I'd smoked it a bit first. Five minutes wound up being more than enough time to achieve medium, if not medium-well (requested by my teenage boys).

I hooked one of the charred steaks onto a plate and lopped off a few thin slices and called taste tester K-puff (TT#2) to stand ready.

My first bites revealed a strong port flavor (Sandeman Port) accent; warm heat from the cayenne; with oodles of garlic and herb depth in the marinade. Next time,however, medium-rare and I think it'll be even better. The Meat Guys offering definitely passes the test.

As for TT#2, I put a few chopped up pieces of steak on a plate for him. For a moment there was hesitation — Uh Oh! did he not like the port flavor? He circled for a moment and then he attacked. Within a minute the plate was licked clean. OK, can't be that bad then.

TASTE TESTER #2

With some left over oil from the onions that I could not in good conscience let go to waste, (note next time-forget budget-spearing mix of Wesson with olive oil, it's just not as good as pure olive oil.)

I gave the polenta a frizzle in the onion-flavored oil in an aluminum foil pan over the charcoals. Later, once the I moved the steaks to the flame, I placed the polenta on the grill in slices to crisp them a little. They seem a little too sloppy otherwise. 300 mg sodium per 2 slices is not bad, but I may have to look at making my own—or another source.

Verdict from the gourmandos inside A+ on the skirt steak, A on the polenta. Me, I'm not there yet. I think I'd skip the port next time, and just let the skirt be itself. OK maybe a little bourbon in there...

MARINADE and Reduction sauce
Improvised from basics from the Reluctant Gourmet

The night before I did a quick Internet search for skirt steak marinade and came up with this. Warning: the Sandeman Port is a game-changer. It's not by any means necessary but if you are used to cooking with wine, and you have none at hand, it's a passable substitute in a marinade.

My other additions/changes to the marinade are: The two pepper sauce accents, extra cider vinegar; celery; dried parsley instead of fresh. Agave nectar and brown sugar instead of regular sugar.

¼ cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons Agave nectar
¼ teaspoon Holy Jolokia purchased in El Paso Airport
¼ cayenne sauce (Iguana)
1¼ shot of port (no wine on hand)
1-teaspoon coarse-grain salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs ( I used ½ tablespoon of dried rosemary and thyme each)
¼ cup red wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1-teaspoon sugar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil