I love to grill!! I use my grill all year long. This chicken is sooo good on the grill. The marinade is so simple and easy and can be used on pretty much anything you like. It is also great on chicken cutlets, pork tenderloins, shrimp. Just let your meat sit in here for a few hours and throw it on the grill. It's a great light summer grilling recipe. Serve it with a salad on the side.......a great meal!!
I do like using the whole chicken. That way it pleases the whole family if some like the dark meat and some like the white. I like it all so I'm not too picky but its nice to be able to grab a whichever you prefer. You can also use pieces instead of the whole chicken....all up to you.
LEMON BASIL CHICKEN
1 WHOLE CHICKEN
1 WHOLE HEAD OF GARLIC
2 LEMONS JUICED AND THE ZEST OF ONE
HANDFUL OF FRESH BASIL
OLIVE OIL
SALT & PEPPER
****You can make it easy on yourself and ask you butcher to do all the work or you can bring the whole chicken home and do it yourself. It is really not that hard. Just use a good knife.
You will want to turn the chicken over..breast side down. Start on one side of the back bone and cut from top to bottom. Then do the same on the other side to completely remove the back bone so it will lay pretty flat when you are done. The hardest part about this is making sure you have a pan big enough for the chicken to lay flat in. The disposable pans are great for this. You can get them pretty large.
So when you have your chicken lying flat in the pan you just need to drizzle on the olive oil, coat well. Then add some of the thinly sliced garlic and a handful of roughly chopped basil. Season well with salt & pepper. Finally, add the juice of one lemon and sprinkle over some of the zest of lemon. Turn the chicken over and do the same with the other half of all the ingredients. That's it!! Let it sit for a few hours and turn over half way through putting some of the juices back on top and let it sit again. It is great to do this in the morning so it can have 4 to 6 hours to marinate. Today, I used 2 chickens because I had a lot of mouths to feed!!!
I do like using the whole chicken. That way it pleases the whole family if some like the dark meat and some like the white. I like it all so I'm not too picky but its nice to be able to grab a whichever you prefer. You can also use pieces instead of the whole chicken....all up to you.
LEMON BASIL CHICKEN
1 WHOLE CHICKEN
1 WHOLE HEAD OF GARLIC
2 LEMONS JUICED AND THE ZEST OF ONE
HANDFUL OF FRESH BASIL
OLIVE OIL
SALT & PEPPER
****You can make it easy on yourself and ask you butcher to do all the work or you can bring the whole chicken home and do it yourself. It is really not that hard. Just use a good knife.
You will want to turn the chicken over..breast side down. Start on one side of the back bone and cut from top to bottom. Then do the same on the other side to completely remove the back bone so it will lay pretty flat when you are done. The hardest part about this is making sure you have a pan big enough for the chicken to lay flat in. The disposable pans are great for this. You can get them pretty large.
So when you have your chicken lying flat in the pan you just need to drizzle on the olive oil, coat well. Then add some of the thinly sliced garlic and a handful of roughly chopped basil. Season well with salt & pepper. Finally, add the juice of one lemon and sprinkle over some of the zest of lemon. Turn the chicken over and do the same with the other half of all the ingredients. That's it!! Let it sit for a few hours and turn over half way through putting some of the juices back on top and let it sit again. It is great to do this in the morning so it can have 4 to 6 hours to marinate. Today, I used 2 chickens because I had a lot of mouths to feed!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Before you bring it to the grill...make sure you take it out of the refrigerator and let it rest on the counter to come to room temperature. You do want to do this with any meats you are going to grill.
Let it cook on the grill on a low and slow heat for a good 30 minutes on each side. Of course, cooking time will depend on the size of your chicken and you can most definitely us a thermometer to check the temperature to be sure it is done. The flavors in this chicken are delicious, it is so juicy and the skin will get nice and crispy because of the olive oil. Its definitely worth the try!! ENJOY!!!!!
|
|
