Grilled Chicken with Onion Marinade

This is an easy marinade for chicken that we've been using for backyard barbecues in Los Angeles. It came from a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey and is an Indian dish called Murgh Lajavaab. But we all just call it "delicious".

Marinade Ingredients:

1 medium onion, cut into large chunks

2 garlic cloves

1-inch cube fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1½ teaspoons coriander

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree. It will look something like this (but there will be a lot more of it):

 

Cut 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1" chunks and add them to the marinade. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Put the chicken on skewers, allowing plenty of marinade to stick to the chicken. Grill, about 5-6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.

Brownies

This is Joy taking a turn on the recipe blog today! Brownies were always one of our favorite quick and easy desserts growing up. Mom used to say that she couldn't understand why anyone ever bought brownie mixes - there are really only five main ingredients in brownies, plus a little salt and vanilla to enhance the flavor.

Officially the recipe (originally from the Joy of Cooking) contains 1 teaspoon of vanilla, but Mom always doubled it.

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350°.

Melt chocolate and butter together in a microwave or double boiler, then cool slightly. If you use a microwave, heat for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, to make sure you don't burn the chocolate.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs together in a bowl until well mixed, then add sugar, salt and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the melted chocolate, and then the flour.

Pour into an oblong top, smooth the top, and bake for 25 minutes. Brownies are done when a toothpick comes out with only crumbs.

It's not safe to eat the batter, since it contains a lot of raw egg. However, I don't think that has ever stopped us.

This one is for Paga

My grandfather, Harry, died in April, after a long illness. To my sisters and me, he was always just Paga. Paga was just about the most generous, big-hearted, loving man I ever met. If he didn't have a smile on his face, then he had a camera in front of it. I learned a lot from my grandfather - his love of music, enthusiasm for traveling, his fierce loyalty for his family. 


And as it turns out, Paga was also quite the adventurous cook. This is the one recipe that he contributed to our family cookbook many years. If you make it, please do let us know what you think.


Elephant Stew

1 elephant

Salt and Pepper

2 rabbits (optional)

Dice elephant into small pieces. This should take about two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover, and season. Cook over kerosene stove about four weeks at 465 degrees. This will serve 3800 people. If more are expected, 2 rabbits may be added, but only if necessary, because most people do not like to find hares in their stew.       

- Paga’s favorite recipe

Toad in the Hole

Tonight, we had Toad in the Hole. I know, weird name. Delicious dish. Toad in the Hole is basically Yorkshire puddings with sausages baked into them. Or, how I make it, one GIANT Yorkshire pudding with sausages baked into it.


What? You don't know what Yorkshire pudding is? My goodness, you have truly been missing out. Yorkshire pudding is sort of a savory popover, made of flour, eggs, milk, and water. The liquid in the water evaporates and causes the whole thing to puff up as it cooks, making it light and crispy. My dad is a Yorkshireman born and bred, and the traditional holiday meal in our house has always been Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding. As a kid I could eat my weight in those things, smothered in gravy. Deeee-licious.


Nowadays, I haven't got any Yorkshire pudding tins, so when I'm in the mood for a fix, we usually make Toad in the Hole, served up with roasted potatoes, steamed veg, and a bit of beef gravy to drizzle over the top.

Toad in the Hole

Serves four to six

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

4 eggs

½ cup water

16 good breakfast sausages (I like to use chicken-apple sausages)

Some vegetable oil

Mix the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Add milk and mix until combined. Add eggs and mix again. Add water and mix again. Then turn the mixer on full blast and let it run for 2 minutes (According to Dad, the batter should be given “100 strokes by the arm of a Yorkshirewoman” but it’s easier to just use a mixer.)

Put the batter in the fridge for at least a half an hour.

Heat the oven to 400. Brown the sausages in a large saucepan. Put the batter back in the mixer and give it another 2 minutes at full throttle.

Pour a thin later of oil into each compartment of four Yorkshire Pudding tins (16 puddings total). If you don't have Yorkshire Pudding tins, use two heavy metal baking pans.

Put the pans into the hot oven for 5 minutes. Carefully lift them out and pour a little batter into each, about 3 to 4 tablespoons (if using pans, pour half the batter into each pan). Drop a sausage into each (or just scatter them at random if using pans).

Bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, use that saucepan to make a beef gravy.

Check out that gravity-defying Yorkshire pud!