Cookin' With Leo

By Leocthasme

Well, all the summer holidays are gone, but then it is only October, and a few nice weekends are still bound to show up before all you Northern Buddies of mine have to get inside for the winter. So get them grills fired up one last time and get out on that last weekend of Indian summer, whatever.

My Dear Sweet Italian Fairy Godmother dropped by one nice Saturday afternoon while I was enjoyin’ a cool one on just one such of those nice days and informed me that sittin’ around bein’ lazy was not the way to enjoy an ‘Italian’ Summer day - she don’t know about Indians - so she sez, 'get up and do something on such a nice day.' In fact she prodded me up with that Magic Wand thing she flies around with, and while doing so gave me a sorta’ cool weekend kind of recipe.

Well, thanks Dear Sweet Italian Godmother, even if I wasn’t ready to get off my tail and fire up the grill. Anyway, here is my Dear Sweet Italian Fairy Godmother’s ‘Italian’ Summer Day recipe for Chili Grilled Chicken. Musta’ got it from her pal Aztec Annie, since it’s more Aztec-Mex than Italian.

Here is what you will need:

• 4 nice sized, skin on, bone in, chicken breast halves
• ¼ cup finely chopped fresh Cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 seeded and finely chopped Jalapeno Pepper
• 1 tablespoon grated Lime peel
• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil, don’t matter if it claims to be Virgin or not
• 1 tablespoon Chili Powder, New Mexico hot is fine
• ½ teaspoon salt

Heat up the grill, and combine all the ingredients except the chicken breasts.

Mix well in small bowl and coat the pieces of chicken. Lift the skin gently and rub some of the mix under the skin and pat back in place.

Grill over medium heat, with cover down, about 18 minutes or when pieces are no longer pink, turning once.

There are 4 nice servings of Chili Grilled Chicken which can be served with an Avocado salad or dip. And even if you don’t eat the skin the pieces of chicken will be well seasoned.