Summer finally arrived after some late-season June rainstorms. And I’ve been taking advantage of the warmer weather to do some outdoor cooking. Since the weather warmed up, I’ve done some go-to meals such as grilled hamburgers with barbecue sauce, Italian sausage and tri-tip.
But a few weeks ago, I found a recipe for grilled chicken or steak with a balsamic barbecue sauce. The sauce is made from scratch, and it was made with ingredients we always have on hand in my house. It’s cook up on the stove top, where some of it is reserved to use to baste the meat while the rest is left to simmer done into a sauce that can be drizzled over the top of the meat. We decided to try the meal on a Monday night, and it was simple enough to do with a few skinless, boneless chicken breasts and some small steaks.
As I side dish we used some of the bush beans from our garden to make a garden bean salad. We has to supplement it with some yellow wax beans from the grocery store since we didn’t have enough homegrown beans, but the salad came out perfect. The beans were crisp and absorbed the tangy flavor of the cider vinegar while it marinated in the refrigerator as we were cooking the meat. In the future, I would make the salad the day before to give the beans a little more time to soak up the vinaigrette. The meal was the perfect mix of summer flavors.
Chicken or steak with balsamic BBQ sauce
Recipe courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis
For the Balsamic BBQ sauce:
1 c. balsamic vinegar
3/4 c. ketchup
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
For the chicken or steak:
4 pieces chicken (any combination of breast or leg-and-thigh pieces) or 4 pieces of New York strip or Club strip steak
Salt and freshly ground pepper
For the BBQ sauce:
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Simmer over medium heat until reduced by 1/3, about 15 to 20 minutes.
For the chicken or steak:
Place a grill pan over medium heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with some of the BBQ sauce using a pastry brush. Place the meat on the grill. Place the remaining BBQ sauce, still in the small saucepan, over low heat or on the edge of a gas or charcoal grill and allow to gently simmer while the meat cooks.
Cook the chicken about 8 minutes per side. Cook the steaks starting at about 4 minutes per side until a meat thermometer reads the desired temperature, 120 degrees F for medium rare, 135 degrees F for medium (about 6 minutes per side), 155 degrees F for well done (about 9 minutes per side). Continually brush the meat with BBQ sauce every few minutes. Remove the meat from the grill and let rest for at least 5 minutes. Serve with the heated BBQ sauce alongside.
Alternately, the chicken can be baked in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the chicken skin side up in a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the baking dish from the oven and spoon the BBQ sauce all over the top of the chicken. Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.
Garden bean salad
1 small red onion, finely diced
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tsp. sugar
Kosher salt
1/4 c. extra-virgin olive oil
1 15-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
3/4 lb. green and/or wax beans, trimmed and halved
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
Freshly ground pepper
Soak the diced onion in cold water, 10 minutes.
Whisk the vinegar, sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, then whisk in the olive oil. Drain the onion and pat dry, then add to the dressing. Stir in the white beans.
Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the green and/or wax beans and cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain the beans, then plunge into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Drain again, pat dry and add to the salad. Marinate at room temperature, tossing occasionally, about 1 hour.
Before serving, stir the parsley and chives into the salad and season with salt and pepper.
