chicken on the barbie

Grilling makes char. Char is beautiful and tasty. Observe:

Tonight’s recipe of choice was another good one from Cooking Light. While I felt for the indignity of the beautiful chicken corpse, I’m not gonna lie: butterflying a chicken is fun. Here it is, splayed across the grill:

Aaaaaaand after (er, should’ve cooked it slightly longer, but we finished off our pieces in the micro. It happens)

Grilled lemon-herb chicken was… wait for it… herby and lemony! And tasted of the grill. Shocking, I know.

When I have a hot grill I try to use it for as many things as possible. So, I made some Asian yams (! an impulse purchase at H mart, and it’s the weirdest thing- looks like potato, tastes like sweet potato. So confusing) by searing some slices on the grill rack then finishing them off in a foil packet. I also tried to recreate those great caramelized onions I made with that burger a few months ago (my food memory is ridiculous) and just stuck onion slices in a foil packet for low, slow cooking. Both were good, if unphotogenic.

This salad, however, was purdy.

Lovely mixed greens, sliced fennel, oranges, and green onion, dressed in salt and pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil. PERFECT!

Here is my plate. I had a bit more of everything.

Finally, there is some DANGEROUSLY DELICIOUS stuff in my house right now.

To preface: Orthodox people have all these “fasting cookbooks”, because there is so much of the year when we eat no meat and (theoretically, though I cheat) eggs and dairy. This banana bread is from one of those cookbooks, and is spectacular.

Even when I am eating dairy and eggs to my heart’s content, I make this recipe because it is so friggin’ good. I’ve come to believe that eggs and brown sugar and chocolate and streusel and all the other acoutrements that end up in banana bread are just a distraction from (hello) bananas! This is all about the banana and is fluffy yet dense, and absolutely addictive.

The. best. banana bread. (which totally incidentally is vegan!)

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup light-colored oil (canola, vegetable, whatev)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 to 3 mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional but delicious- esp. pecans!)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix sifted flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Beat together oil, sugar, and water. Add flour mixture to oil mixture and add the mashed bananas. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased 9 by 5 inch loaf pan and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for 15 min.

Doubling this recipe is so easy it’s ridiculous not to. It’s actually the reason we still have a loaf- the reason my mom was baking was because we have a sick family member :( Her prognosis is pretty good, but it still sucks. So we made her banana bread. I’ve come to realize that basically my response to any bad news, in my life or others’, is to start brewing tea and/or sifting flour.