Best ever: London broil you will love

Nearly a year ago I posted a recipe for this delectable marinade – the ultimate go-to marinade recipe my family has used for more than 40 years. It is named for my brother’s godfather and a longtime friend of my parents. Don Farris came up with this marinade after years of dining out with my parents and having a similar beef dish in a Norfolk restaurant. He would order the dish then experiment at home.

I love to use this marinade on chicken, but it was designed for a London broil cut of beef. That is a tougher, muscular cut that benefits from a prolonged bath in the marinade; three days is ideal. My youngest son claimed he didn’t like beef or steak (what?) until he tried this version.

The original recipe is:

Don Farris marinade

1/3 cup corn oil
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Blend all ingredients and use it to marinate a London broil beef roast for about three days. Grill the meat over direct heat. Cook about 7 minutes per side, for medium rare. Slice thinly on the bias.

Start Your Ovens: Rosemary Chicken

I’m having fun as I cook and eat my way through “Start Your Ovens: Cooking the Way it Ought’a Be,” the official cookbook of the Bristol Motor Speedway. It was developed by the Junior League of Bristol to showcase fantastic recipes by Junior League members, NASCAR drivers, their wives and others who have made terrific meals at BMS. In celebration of their efforts, and the 50th anniversary of BMS, I am giving away a copy of this book in a contest that ended Aug. 31, 2011.

This Grilled Rosemary Chicken recipe is exceptionally flavorful. If you have a backyard grill and a rosemary plant growing outside, you could enjoy this delicious meal for dinner tomorrow. No fresh rosemary? Stop by any grocery store – fresh herbs are commonplace.

To make Grilled Rosemary Chicken, you will need:

8 to 12 boneless skinless chicken breasts
16 ounce bottle Italian salad dressing
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup (rounded) packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
! teaspoon pepper

Place the chicken in a deep plastic or glass bowl or in a large sealable plastic bag. (I use both -- put the bag in a larger container to avoid any spillage.)

Combine the salad dressing, wine, soy sauce, brown sugar, rosemary, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well. Pour over the chicken, turning to coat. Marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for 8 to 10 hours, turning occasionally.

Drain the chicken, reserving the marinade. Grill on hot coals until the chicken is cooked through, turning and basting with the reserved marinade occasionally. Yield: 8 to 12 servings.

Here’s the chicken, just getting started:

And after about 30 minutes, once it is cooked through:

I served the Grilled Rosemary Chicken with another terrific dish from “Start Your Ovens,” Broccoli Salad Supreme. It was fantastic! Happy Friday, all!

Start Your Ovens: High-Octane Tomatoes

This recipe seems perfect for the official ccokbook of the Bristol Motor Speedway! High-Octane Tomatoes are easy to prepare, fun to eat and have just a splash of alcohol. This recipe was one of the first ones that really drew me into “Start Your Ovens: Cooking the Way it Ought’a Be” by the Junior League of Bristol.

With fresh tomatoes available at area farmers markets, grocery stores and backyard gardens, consider making this recipe soon. The book says: “These tomatoes will be the hit of your next cocktail party.”

High-Octane Tomatoes

60 grape tomatoes
1 tablespoon kosher salt, or to taste
Vodka to cover

Remove the stems from the tomatoes. Place the tomatoes in a sealable plastic bag. Add the salt. Pour enough vodka over the tomatoes to cover. Seal tightly. Marinate for 8 to 10 hours, turning occasionally; drain. Serve in a glass or silver bowl with wooden picks.

Yield: 20 servings.

Grilled porkchops and au gratin potatoes

This is one of my favorite storebought marinades: KC Masterpiece Chipotle and Lime. After a couple of months of enjoying this marinade on beef, chicken and shrimp, I finished the bottle on Saturday. Its final gift was to season some boneless pork chops that then made their way onto the gas grill. My husband raved about the flavor; it was the best use yet for this versatile marinade.

I served the chops with some au gratin potatoes that I mixed up before heading outside to grill. This was an excellent pairing – cheesy, creamy potatoes with the spicy pork. And since the potatoes need about an hour to cook, I could focus on cooking outside for a bit.

Au gratin potatoes was one of my mother’s favorite and most common side dishes. They are easy, delicious and pair well with just about any meat or vegetable. As a kid, we jokingly called au gratin potatoes “old rotten potatoes.” OK, an old tired joke. But now, as back then, the recipe was devoured.

Au Gratin Potatoes

3-4 medium sized potatoes (I used three Russet and one Yukon gold), scrubbed and cut into thin slices
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the sliced potatoes in a 2 quart casserole dish that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the potatoes evenly – sometimes I even fan them out in circles. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and blend in the flour. Using a whisk, blend in the milk. I usually add about half the milk, blend completely and wait for the sauce to thicken slightly, before adding the remaining milk. Add half the cheese and stir until melted completely. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes, covering completely. Top with the remaining grated cheese. Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake in the 350 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour. Remove the foil for the last 10-15 minutes so the top will brown.

After I grilled the pork chops and brought them inside, the potatoes still needed to tighten up and brown. I bumped the oven temp up to 400 for about 10 minutes and they were perfect. My husband is a huge fan. Making this dish is super simple and guaranteed to win raves. Add ham or leftover vegetables for a one-pot supper.

Fresh asparagus makes me happy

As we approach Easter on Sunday, my thoughts have turned to favorite spring produce. Asparagus and green peas are two of my favorites. These tender vegetables do not hold up well to high heat needed for canning. Choose them fresh in season, or frozen year-round.

Asparagus is a terrific food – it provides a variety of nutrients and is a leading supplier of folic acid (which helps prevent neural tube birth defects, like spina bifida, and facial deformities like cleft palate). Many breads, cereals and other grain products are fortified with folic acid to reduce these birth defects – get the folic acid naturally by eating your asparagus!

The Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board, which works to promotes asparagus, notes that the vegetable is low in calories (4 calories per spear), contains no fat or cholesterol, is low in sodium and is a good source of B vitamins. And, in my humble opinion, it is a delicious vegetable that is ideal for grilling, sautéing or blanching.

But my favorite way to eat asparagus is simple: Wash asparagus and pat dry. Break off any woody stems. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanch the asparagus for about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drop the asparagus into a large pan of ice water (to stop the cooking). Drain and dry the asparagus, then put it in a large resealable bag (I use a gallon). Pour about a ½ cup of Italian dressing over the asparagus. Seal the bag and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

I love asparagus in soups, casseroles, grilled and steamed, but marinating it and eating it cold is my hands-down favorite. I hope you try it.

Best-ever grilled chicken

I know this is a cocky title for a chicken dish, but I promise it will meet expectations. This is a recipe used in my family for more than 40 years on chicken and beef, and frankly nothing surpasses it. This isn't a slow cooker recipe, but you gotta have patience (at least three day's worth) to do this one right. It uses what our family calls the Don Farris marinade, for my brother's godfather. He developed the marinade after years of dining out with my parents and having a similar dish in a Norfolk restaurant. By trial and error, he developed the Don Farris blend.

His recipe is as follows:

Don Farris marinade

1/3 cup corn oil
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Blend all ingredients and use it to marinate 10-12 chicken thighs or a london broil beef roast (his favorite) for about three days. Grill the meat over direct heat. For whole thighs, cook 45 minutes to an hour. For london broil, cook about 7 minutes per side, for medium rare. Slice thinly on the bias.

BUT.... Before you start mixing up the marinade to grill for the weekend, consider some modifications.

A third of a cup of oil is a lot of oil. This recipe originated in the 1960s, before people seemed to worry about eating so much oil. And my husband cannot eat garlic or onions. (I know, he is missing out on great pleasure in life.) And, here is the biggie: It took me more than 20 years of cooking on my own to break from cooking whole chicken thighs, like my parents. Buy the boneless, skinless thighs available in most grocery stores (or bone them yourself). Thighs are a juicy part that hold up well to grilling, but boneless thighs cook faster, reducing the chance for burning or drying out on the grill.

Here's my modified recipe:

Best-ever grilled chicken

10-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Blend the marinade ingredients to completely dissolve the sugar. Add the chicken pieces and cover. It's best to use a recloseable plastic container, or a large resealable plastic bag. Regrigerate for three days, turning the chicken each day. After three days it will look like this. (The smell is fantastic, even if the raw chicken isn't!)

Prepare a charcoal or propane grill for direct grilling.

Place the chicken thighs on the grill.

Don't crowd the grill. Leave a few inches of space between the pieces of meat. (Yes, I was grilling barefoot on Tuesday!)

Close the lid and let the heat do the work. After about 10 minutes, check the chicken and give it a baste.

Again, close the lid and let the heat do the work.

Here's what it should look like after about 15 minutes, or midway through cooking:

Pretty, huh? Just close the lid again and let it keep cooking. This will cut down on flareups (as will using skinless thighs and less oil in the marinade).

Getting close to being done here. Just baste again...

And make sure the pieces are cooked through. Total cooking time for boneless thighs should be about 30 minutes. If some pieces are cooking too quickly, move them to cooler parts of the grill. If some are too slow, move them to the hotter spots. After 30 minutes, remove to a platter and voila:

Best-ever grilled chicken. This is so delicious, you won't be able to stop eating. I made this a couple of weeks ago and my children were tearing off bits of the chicken and eating it while standing around the grill. Last night, my husband and I made it again. Yes, this plate is a memory already; we enjoyed it for dinner, lunch and dinner again. Seriously, try this one; it is a home run and it will become a favorite in your family.