The Best BBQ'ed Chicken. Ever.

Big statement, I know. But seriously this chicken recipe for the bbq is delicious. It's dead easy to make, hubby does the cooking and everyone raves about the end result. It's a win-win situation! I have made one change to the recipe. The original calls for wholegrain mustard but I used Dijon by mistake the first time I made this and haven't looked back. It gives the dish a lovely smooth finish and can't be beaten.

I know I've made a big deal on here about how much I hate chicken thighs but I've come to a new appreciation of them. I still don't like them when they're served up as an un-flavoured, plainly cooked piece of meat. But I have discovered the fuller flavour that can be fabulous in pasta dishes and totally love that the fattier cut means they are just about impossible to overcook. Despite my allergy issues I do put the lemon juice in - it kinda needs it - but I'm not an idiot and I don't chance this unless I'm in tip-top shape and haven't been near anything citrus-like for awhile.

We've had this dish three or four times since I discovered it - the kids scoff it down, Hubby and I love it and dinner guests have been mighty impressed. This one's up in the top 10!

Herb and Mustard Barbecued Chicken

from Good Taste magazine, December 2009

80g (1/3 cup) Maille Dijon Mustard

60ml (1/4) cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

8 chicken thigh fillets, halved

1. Combine the mustard and lemon juice in a large glass or ceramic dish. Add the oil and rosemary and stir to combine. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 4 hours to marinate.

2. Preheat a barbecue grill or chargrill on medium-high. Cook the chicken for 7 minutes each side or until cooked through.

3. Arrange on a serving platter and serve with mixed salad.

More Banana Bread

In much the same way as my collection of choc-chip cookie recipes got totally out of hand for a while, so too has my banana bread collection. But... I couldn't resist just one more which is why I gave this one a try. And boy, am I glad I did. This little treasure gives my regular favourite a run for it's money! It's really good served at room temp but serve it warm from the oven with yummy melty butter on it and it is divinely awesome!

I didn't have any mixed spice so turned to my favourite research tool - Google - to find out what was in it and bodged together something similar. I used a mix of ground cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg and it worked fine. Oh, and the honeycomb palaver? I gave that a miss.

Banana & Honey Loaf

from recipes+ magazine, September 2009

1/3 cup clear honey

100g butter, chopped

1 cup mashed bananas (2 large bananas will do it)

1/3 cup caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour

3/4 cup white self-raising flour

1 teaspoon ground mixed spice

butter and honeycomb to serve

1. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease and line a 19x9cm (base measurement) loaf pan with baking paper, extending paper at long sides for handles.

2. Combine honey and butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until melted.

3. Combine banana and sugar in a large bowl; stir in egg, milk and honey mixture. Stir in sifted flours and spice.

4. Spoon mixture into prepared pan; smooth surface. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted at centre comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes; turn out onto a wire rack. Slice loaf; serve warm, topped with butter and honeycomb.

Books and Movies and Stuff

I'll get to the book bit in a minute but before that... I saw the new George Clooney movie last night. Let me be completely and utterly up-front about my deep and abiding love for George before we go any further! George, if you ever stumble across my blog please know that I adore you. Hubby is aware of this and appears to be fine with it. In fact he says if you land your helicopter in the back yard and beg me to run away with you he'll completely understand and let me go if it makes me happy. He's good like that.

So anyway. The movie was Up In The Air and I loved it. I thought the casting was great - George is, of course, wonderful as Ryan Bingham - self absorbed, cynical and emotionally detached from everyone. Vera Farmiga is wonderful as the love interest who shares Ryan's business traveller lifestyle and Anna Kendrick just about steals the show as Natalie, the young efficiency expert who is threatening Ryan's way of life. The scene with Natalie and Farmiga's Alex discussing what they look for in a man is perfect, and achingly truthful for two business women of different ages. Also some of Natalie's lines in it are priceless - you'll know them when you hear them. While there are laughs along the way this is quite a dark film dealing with large-scale company layoffs and a man who finds himself reassessing his way of life. The twist, when it comes, wasn't entirely unexpected but still twisty enough to be satisfying. I loved the ending but won't give it away here. Others might not find it entirely satisfying but, for me, it was perfect.

And onto the book part of the post. I've read a couple this week but the one I liked was a cookbook. I missed Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Ministry of Food when it was first released but found it at the library last week. What a fantastic book! I've read it though cover-to-cover and have found a bundle of things to try. Sometime this week I'll be attempting the Chicken Korma Curry - I'm not a big curry person but this sounds like something I can both manage to cook and might enjoy eating.

A book I read a while ago and have recommended to a bunch of people is Lisa Genova's Still Alice. It's about a 50 year old academic who, after realising she is suffering from memory problems, is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers. It's written in third person narrative but from Alice's perspective so as the disease progresses the language used changes to reflect this. I did find it a little slow at the beginning but once I was in I was hooked. It's beautifully written and really touching. I cried my way through the last couple of chapters but them again, I'm a wuss.

So how's your reading list going? Are you keeping track? It doesn't matter how much you're reading, whether they're high-faluting, arty-farty or airport trash, if you finish them in a day or take a month to read them, just keep reading. What have you liked lately? Any authors you've discovered and enjoyed? Share please. I'm in need of more reading material.

A Boy...

and some-one else's dog!

A girlfriend called through over the weekend and she had her two little Jack Russells with her - Zorro and Indi. They were lovely little dogs, especially considering they were Jackies who aren't generally known for their um.... obedience and quiet natures LOL. These two were gorgeous, beautifully obedient and gentle with the kids. Both kids fell totally in love with them but Offspring #1 was especially enamoured. He loved when one dog climbed up for a cuddle, was thrilled when she lay down and napped on his lap and stoked beyond belief when the other dog climbed up for cuddles too.

Baking With The Kids

I spent hours scrubbing my house on Thursday. Hours! Then Friday morning the kids asked if we could do some baking and I was so pleased with my nice clean house that, dolt that I am, I said yes. A short time later we had flour and sugar everywhere. And that was well before we got to the icing. I'm still scraping that up off the bench.

But they had fun which was, after all, the whole point of the exercise. These little cut-out cookies were simple and easy. I was worried they wouldn't roll out very well because despite the amount of time the dough was in the fridge it stayed fairly soft but, so long as it wasn't rolled out too thinly it was fine. If you do make them be sure to keep an eye on them - they go from not-quite-cooked to blackened-and-smoking in the blink of an eye.

We used a variety of sprinkles to top the icing. I pretty much gave the kids free slather over whatever I had open.

Sprinkle Biscuits

from Australian Table, April 2008

125g margarine, softened

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 1/12 cups plain flour, sifted

3/4 cup pure icing sugar, sifted

1/4 cup hot water

food colouring

assorted sprinkles, to decorate

1. Using an electric mixer, beat margarine and caster sugar until pale and creamy. Add egg and beat well. Add flour and, using hands, press mixture together to form a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 minutes, until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

3. Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper to a 5 mm thickness. Cut into shapes using a biscuit cutter. Place biscuits on prepared tray. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

4. Mix together icing sugar and hot water until smooth. Add a few drops of food colouring and stir until well combined. Dip one side of each biscuit into icing, holding over bowl to allow excess icing to drip off. Decorate with sprinkles.