Rebound Recipe

So last night did not go so well.  It was time to move on, and I decided to pick what I thought would be a no-brainer.  I also needed something that would be good for lunch tomorrow.  I was also in a colorful mood, due to the sudden nice weather.  For the main dish, I picked out the Italian Chicken Kabobs on page 252.

The first part was easy: make the marinade.  No problem.

The next step is where I hit my problem.  The recipe called for boneless skinless chicken thighs.  Have you ever tried to find those?  Four stores and over an hour later, I gave up and bought regular chicken thighs.  What is nice about buying a less-than-desirable cut of meat is that it is cheap...I purchased five pounds of chicken thighs for less than five dollars.  In fact, I picked up what I needed for tonight AND tomorrow's dinner, all for less than what I spent on the scallops.  But don't worry, I'm not bitter.

Okay, so to debone a chicken thigh, I recalled watching my butcher at Findlay Market when he deboned a leg of lamb for me a couple of weeks ago.  The first step was to remove the skin.  Most of it tugged right off (which is a little disgusting when you think about, but I get around that by simply not thinking about what I am doing).  

From there I used my paring knife to make little sweeps of the blade as close to the bone as possible.  I then "rolled" the bone and made another shallow sweep.  I repeated this process until I had removed the bone and as little meat as possible.

The recipe called for two pounds of the chicken thighs, so I zeroed out my digital scale.

I cut the chicken thighs into one-inch pieces, as prescribed by the recipe.

Net result of one skinned, boned, and cubed chicken thigh = 3.65 ounces.  I needed 32.  Oh boy.

So wouldn't you know it?  Five pounds of chicken thighs yields almost exactly two pounds of meat.  This, I assume, will be good to know for future reference.  Now what are the odds that I actually WILL remember this?  I should probably put this as a note in my shopping list app on my phone....

So a quick tossing with the marinade later, and I was good to go (or so I thought...keep reading).

With the meat bathing in the marinade, I gathered what I needed for the side, which was also rather colorful: Red and Green Cabbage Slaw on page 367.

 Similar to the kabobs, I started with the dressing.  Slaws are not rocket science, which is why they are such a nice side.

Chop, chop, chop, and then into the bowl!

Mix, mix, mix, and then let it rest to "soak up" the dressing!

OH CRAP!  You know, as a teacher, I should really be better at following directions.  Apparently I was supposed to marinate the vegetables along with the chicken.  No worries, though, veggies soak up liquids rather quickly, so I just gave kabobs an extra half-hour.

Wow...this recipe make a LOT of kabobs.  Looks like lunch for The Bride and me!

The first batch came off the grill looking exactly like I wanted them to.

The second batch was also right around the "perfect" mark.  Well done, Corey!

Kabobs and slaw were plated, I poured myself some Blue Raspberry Lemonade Kool-Aid made with Splenda (stupid diet) and I sat down for a nice colorful dinner.

These recipes got Weber back in my good graces.  I had figured they would, as almost all of their recipes have been quite enjoyable, with only a small handful of duds.  The chicken thighs are a nice change of pace from the breasts, the tomatoes were nicely caramelized and sweet, the bell peppers added a nice snap, and the squash...well, squashed when you bit into them.  It was lovely.  The dill in the slaw provided a nice level of refreshment, and rounded off the meal well.  If I had one bone to pick, it was that I would use less oil in the marinade, or maybe wipe off the pieces of chicken as I skewered them.  Still, this was a nice way to rebound from yesterday!