Potluck Bloggers

So it’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything and I thought tonight would be a good time to post an update on some of the things I have been cooking lately.

After doing some grocery shopping in Whole Foods I got inspired by a nice selection of locally grown vegetables.  I snapped up some local tomatoes, onions, basil, corn, potatoes, and parsley with the idea in mind to make some sort of dinner with it.   I had a rough idea that I wanted to use chicken and these vegetables, so I decided to go for a Bruschetta Chicken.  I posted the recipe I did by the seat of my pants here, so I won’t repeat it.  But, I started the cooking off my firing up the charcoal grill and preparing the corn and potatoes.  In my experience the corn and potatoes typically cook for about an hour when I do them on the grill or smoker.

So for the potatoes I poke a ton of holes in each potato, then I put it in a foil tent.  Inside this foil tent I put butter, salt, pepper, oregano, and a handful or two of water.  After I have put that and the potato in the tinfoil I create the aforementioned tent by keeping a size able air space between the potato and the top of the enclosed tinfoil.  This allows the water and butter we put inside to effectively steam the potato.

Next I follow similar steps for the corn, except I typically butter the entire corn and use some more herbs and spices.  I like to mix it up each time depending on what I’m serving the corn with, but for this dinner I used butter, oregano, rosemary, salt, pepper, basil, and a tiny bit of paprika.  I also put a couple handfuls of water inside the foil and again create my tent.

Once the potatoes and corn are both on the grill I then moved on to the chicken.

I marinated each piece of chicken with a simple mix of olive oil, salt and pepper.  I didn’t want to over marinate it, as the bruschetta was going to be the main flavor of the dish.

While the chicken was marinating, I decided to make a quick appetizer of chicken wings.  I made two types, a hot sauce one, and a BBQ one.  They really cook up fast (about 5-7 minutes), and tasted great.

While we were eating the wings, I had the chicken going on the grill and I was starting to assemble the Bruschetta.

After the chicken, corn, and potatoes were done it was time to assemble everything and eat!

I also, made my second attempt at Paella this week.  Which again turned out phenomenal.  This time I remembered to take some photos, which you can see below.  For more photos, go check out the Paella recipe page which I’ve now updated with photos!

So that’s what I have been cooking lately.  What have you been cooking?