Dear Neglected Food Blog…

It’s been three weeks since my last post, WOW and what a 3 weeks it has been! Week 1, I was cooking for one while the boy was out of town, honestly those meals involved canned soup, popcorn and eating out…not really anything interesting there. However, in case some of you happen to love popcorn like myself, let me know and I’ll share my parmesan rosemary popcorn recipe with you. Week 2 found me in the cheese state joining the boy and his family for the 4th of July holiday on the lake, I made absolutely nothing but seriously Shelly, I need the recipe for those chocolate cream cheese cupcakes! And finally week 3 was spent playing catch up and prepping for doggie court, a long story which sadly involves nothing food related so I won’t bore you with the details.

In the meantime there have been a couple home runs like these Herb and Garlic Grilled Chicken Thighs with butter and thyme potatoes and a couple of disasters like the tuna burgers that tasted nothing like tuna but totally like ginger, ginger and more ginger. Note to self, next time USE LESS GINGER!

Herb and Garlic Grilled Chicken Thighs
Serves 4 - 6

1 package of chicken thighs, bone in and skin on
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley, rough chop
1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

Rinse thighs, pat dry and remove any excess skin hanging over the chicken. Sprinkle each piece with kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Place chicken into a medium bowl and add in the garlic, rosemary, juice of half a lemon, olive oil and red pepper flakes. Using your hands combine all ingredients making sure each piece is well coated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 – 20 minutes.

Now it’s time to grill! Remove chicken from the fridge and let come to room temperature. It is always important to let the meat come to room temperature when grilling, cold meat contracts when it hits a hot surface causing the meat to become tough. So when preheating your grill let your chicken, steak, whatever come up to temperature. Preheat your grill and get that sucker hot, about 400º. When hot place the chicken skin side down and let cook covered for 10 minutes. Turn the thighs over and let cook an additional 7 - 10 minutes, they are done when a sharp knife pierces the skin and the juices run clear or a thermometer reads 180º.

Remove chicken from grill and sprinkle with juice from the remaining half of lemon. If you’re like me, add a little more crushed red pepper as well. I serve this along side buttery smashed red potatoes with thyme and a crisp salad. Enjoy!!

* Side bar about chicken thighs, THESE BABY’S ARE CHEAP! Seriously when on sale you can find these suckers around $2.00 a pound and each package contains 4 to 6 thighs. My advice, stock up when you can and freeze for a quick and cheap meal.