Italian Summer Chicken.

Recently it’s been raining pretty hard here in California, but winter here is nothing compared to the winters we have back in Russia. So, when the rain stopped today, I had a serious craving to grill some of this Italian Lemon Summer Chicken. The flavor reminds me so much of summer, and grilling in the middle of winter – I had to take advantage of the California weather while I’m here.

We had chicken like this when I was growing up; the recipe evolving from a restaurant my mother worked at in her youth, started by airline worker friends who saved up thousands of little airline bottles of liquor from cleaning the planes after the flights and quit their jobs to create a new restaurant. There’s no alcohol in this recipe, but if you get the impulse to have cocktails out of miniature glasses, that may be why. This is another one of my favorite healthy grilled chicken recipes that adds variety to the chicken options. So, without further delay, return your trays and chairs to their upright position, stow any personal items in the overhead compartments or under the chair in front of you and prepare for landing at our next destination – American Flavor!

The ingredients are very simple and inexpensive for this meal. Here’s what you will need: 

Italian Summer Chicken
1 whole chicken
1/4 cup (4Tbsp) butter.
1 lemon
2 Tbsp dried Italian seasoning (Marjoram, Thyme, Rosemary, Savory, Sage, Oregano, and Basil)

Start by cutting the chicken into 8 pieces (plus 2 tenders). I explained this butchering method in one of my previous posts. How to Butcher a Whole Chicken. Starting with a chicken cut into these pieces allows us to monitor the cooking temperature of each piece individually and have flavor sounding each one.

Once we start the fire in the grill, or start heating up the grill pan, start preparing the sauce by cutting 1 lemon in half and squeezing all the juice into a bowl.

 

Add the lemon juice with 4 Tbsp of butter and 2 Tbs of Italian Herb Seasoning to a small saucepan and place on low heat. We only want to melt the butter to combine all the ingredients together into a sauce. We don’t need to ‘cook’ it.

Keep stirring constantly as the butter melts so it doesn’t burn.

When the grill is heated. Place the chicken pieces evenly on the grill, with the thighs and legs near the center of the heat surrounded by the breasts, wings, and tenders on the outside. The smaller pieces and the white-meat breasts will take less time to cook than the thighs and legs, so they will need slightly less heat.

Lower the grill so the chicken is getting direct heat, but does not cause the flames to flare up. I always start with the skin-side up so while the chicken begins to heat up, the fat in the skin will help the meat to baste in it’s own juices. If we start with the skin side down, the fat from the skin will drip into the fire and cause hot spots and flare-ups.

During the cooking of this chicken, we will turn it 3 times, coating the chicken with our sauce each time. Our goal with the heat is to cause the outer layers of the chicken and skin to dry out while it’s cooking. When we coat the chicken with our sauce, we want the skin to be thirsty so the liquid in our sauce will not only be on top of the chicken, it will be taken inside the skin, infusing the flavor more completely.

After 5 minutes on the grill, flip the chicken and apply the sauce using a basting brush. It is important not to touch the chicken during the first 5 minutes it is on the grill. Trying to move it early will cause the chicken to stick to the grill and possibly tear pieces off as you move it. Be patient and the skin will release itself from the grill when it is ready. Turn the chicken 2 more times, basting each time, for a total cooking time of 20 minutes.

Growing up, this meal was always an opportunity to make curried rice and garlic bread. For me, the combination of this chicken with curried rice and garlic bread just screams Summer. The curried rice can be quickly prepared while the chicken is on the grill.

We usually use quick cooking rice for this side-dish, but it’s not necessary. Quick cooking rice is actually rice that is damaged, so that water can penetrate inside quicker. I have not seen quick cooking rice in Russia, but I have seen some other Uncle Ben’s products on some shelves so maybe I would find the quick rice if I looked closer. In any case, if you are using standard rice, you will need to increase the water used, and cooking time.

 

Garlic bread can be easily made by simply cutting great French or sour dough bread length-wise and coating with butter, then sprinkling garlic salt on top.
Place the bread on the grill with the chicken, butter side up first so the butter has a chance to melt into the bread instead of just melting off into the fire.

After the butter has melted, place the bread  with the butter side down until it browns. Watch it closely so it does not burn. Slice into pieces and serve with the meal.