July: Barbecued Chicken

What’s this? TWO recipes in one month? I took advantage of the four-day weekend to get some cooking in. Since I’m leaving for two weeks, I figured I better get in as much cooking as I can or I’ll probably find myself 3 or even 4 recipes behind.

And my recipe for July could be considered an Ina Garten classic: Barbecued Chicken. I remember seeing the Barefoot Contessa episode where she made this, explaining that it was a combination of two recipes: one that was too tomato-ey and one that was too Chinese-y. The result is that it has a lot of ingredients (13!) ranging from Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Hoisin sauce and cumin. I was curious how that would all come together, as I love those flavors individually, and have been intrigued ever since. So when I saw the recipe in her Barefoot Contessa cookbook, I knew I had to make it.

The resulting marinade is wonderfully sweet, tangy, sour and spicy. I recommend tasting and making changes to the original recipe only after the 30-minute simmering time, since the sauce needs that time to meld all those flavors together. There are 13 ingredients after all.

It is perfect with chicken, although I think it would be great with ribs, too, and maybe porkchops. We had this for dinner, but it was absolutely made for an outdoor summer meal, like a backyard barbecue or a beach-side picnic at the Hamptons a la Ina (natch!).

I can’t wait to make this again, as I’m already dreaming of sides that would go well with this: potato salad, grilled corn, maybe some nachos with a spicy salsa… and a nice strip of beach would go nicely with it, too.