It’s Grillin’ Season!

Tonight seemed like a good night for dinner on the deck. Decided on Indian Tandoori Chicken and Roasted Vegetables. You really need to marinate the chicken for quite a while so this is a dish you have to think about ahead of time!

*Indian Tandoori Chicken

2 lbs. chicken, cut into pieces
1 tsp salt
1 lemon juiced
1 ¼ cups yogurt
½ onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
2 tsp garam masala (which I didn’t have so I improvised by adding a tsp each of cumin and turmeric and a dash of dried chili pepper)
1 tsp cayenne pepper

A couple T of chopped cilantro and one lemon cut into wedges for garnishing the dish

1. Remove skin from chicken pieces and cut some slits into them lengthwise. Place in shallow dish and sprinkle with salt and lemon juice-set aside for 20 minutes

2. In medium bowl, combine yogurt, onion, garlic, and spices. Mix until smooth. Spread yogurt over chicken. I like to put this whole mess into Ziploc bags so I can easily turn over a few times in fridge while it marinates. Marinate for 6 to 24 hours (the longer the better. I made this early in the day and grilled around 7 PM.

3. Preheat outdoor grill for medium heat. Grease grill really well or this chicken will stick like crazy!

4. Cook chicken until no longer pink—this really depends a lot on your grill and how you normally cook chicken. Garnish with cilantro and lemon wedges. Be sure to squeeze lemon over your chicken before eating. My future daughter-in-law taught me this important step when eating Tandoori chicken!

*Recipe adapted from one found at allrecipes.com


*Roasted Summer Vegetables

Prep: 20 minutes Roast: 30 minutes Oven: 425

3 peppers-red, yellow and green seeded and cut in ½ strips
2 medium red onions, each cut into 8 wedges
2 small yellow squash, cut into ½ inch
2 small zucchini squash, cut into ½ inch
4 T balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
½ tsp salt
Black pepper
2 tsp dried oregano
A little goat cheese to sprinkle on top at the end

1. Preheat oven to 425. In two ungreased 9 X 13 pans combine all the veggies

2. In small bowl whisk together the dressing-pour over veggies, toss to coat

3. Roast, uncovered about 30 minutes total stirring twice at ten-minute intervals.

* This recipe was adapted from one of my MANY cookbooks: 9 X 13 The Pan That Can