Marinated Chicken Thighs on a George Foreman Grill

Lemon does wonders for chicken!  This extremely simple marinade improves chicken, no matter what you plan to do with it. Try it next time you barbecue!

Chicken thighs in a lemon marinade

2.25 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

1 cup water

1 tsp. salt
Juice of 1 lemon


Marinate for a day, chilled.

There were 10 thighs.  As our George Foreman Grill is a small one, we grilled twice, 3 pieces at a time. (The final four along with all the drippings and marinade and some tomatoes became spaghetti sauce, not shown here.)

Spray the grill with non-stick spray and plug it in.

Slice up an onion.  Arrange a layer of onion on the grill.  Arrange a layer of chicken over the onion, then another layer of onion over the chicken.  Lower the grill cover.

Give it a quick check after 2 minutes. If the top layer of onions are starting to scorch, turn them over.

Chicken thighs on a George Foreman Grill

After another 2 minutes, open the grill again and rearrange the pieces. (The small grill has hot spots and cooler spots; move the less done parts of the chicken into the hotter corners.)  Rearrange onions also as needed, then close the grill again. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then open the grill and turn all the contents over, replacing everything again so that the less done parts are on the hotter parts of the grill.

Open once more; this time remove and set aside the onions,  turn over the chicken again, and grill for 2 more minutes.

The chicken is ready to be served!  It took about 10 minutes, with all the adjusting, but less than that actual cooking time.  If you are grilling chicken breasts the time will be less.  Thigh meat is both thicker and denser than breast meat, but it has more flavor, and is less expensive as well.

If you want to take this recipe in an ethnic direction, you can add spices, herbs, or sauce in the last minutes of cooking or in some cases to the marinade.  Beware of sweet sauces, like barbecue sauce, on the grill because the sugar will scorch in a hurry.  A sauce like that should be a last-minute addition.

Grilled chicken thighs

To clean the grill:  My secret weapon for this chore is a stack of saturated paper towels in the hot grill.  Most of the stuck parts and grease will steam off immediately and run out into the drip tray.

To see a full set of photographs showing how this dish was made, go to this set on flickr.   (It will open in a new tab or window; to return to this page, just close it.) The small pictures are thumbnails; click on each one to see it full-size, and to read the comments under it.  If you prefer to use the slideshow feature, you won't see the captions unless you click on "show info" (top right).

This recipe is #78 in the Baker's Dozen Challenge Countdown.

Stir-Fry Beef

Marinade

2 lb lean beef, sliced thin
1/4 c. oil
Juice of 1 lemon
3 or 4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped

Mix, pack into a ziplock bag or other sealed container, and refrigerate for a few days. Turn or shake every day to stir the juices around.


Stir Fry

Gather vegetables for stir fry. Almost any vegetable is good, just use what you have.  Some examples could be:

ginger, red and green peppers, onion, yellow squash

onion
bell pepper
carrot
mushrooms
sweet potato
broccoli
squash
cabbage
water chestnuts
celery
fresh ginger
small hot peppers
(don't eat these last two! They're there to flavor the juices.)

A variety of colors is more pleasing.

Prepare vegetables for stir-frying and set aside in separate bowls.  Slice or, where that isn't suitable, as for example broccoli florets, break into bite-size pieces.

Heat a large pan.

Add 2 Tb. oil.  Peanut oil is best for stir-fry.

Stir-fry the meat in small batches, 1 or 2 minutes on each side.   Replenish oil as needed.  Don't crowd the pan; meat should fry, not boil in marinating juices!  As the pieces get done move them from the pan to a large bowl.  Drizzle in soy sauce, if you are using it, after the food is taken from the pan because the sauce will scorch and burn.

beef stir-fried in peanut oil

Next stir-fry the vegetables one by one, hot and fast and not too long, as you want them to be still colorful and not too soft. Layer the vegetables over the meat in a bowl.   Allow pan to heat back up between batches, adding more oil as needed.

Sauce

No sauce is needed for stir-fry but if you want it, mix a spoonful of cornstarch or white rice flour into a cupful of cold water until it is well blended, no lumps, then pour it into the emptied pan.  Scrub the bottom of the pan vigorously with a spatula  while the water is heating to get up all the stuck good bits.  (If anything has scorched, obviously you won't be able to do this.  Clean the pan first!)  Have more liquid handy because your sauce will thicken rapidly once it's hot.

In stir-fry, some sort of sweet and sour blend works best.  Believe it or not, that familiar red sauce is made from water, vinegar, sugar and ketchup.  I like lemon or lime, orange or pineapple juice, just enough sugar to overcome the tartness, and soy sauce.

Toss stir fry layers together (with sauce if you have any) and serve over rice.

Stir fried beef with vegetables over rice

 To see a full set of photographs showing how this dish was made, go to this set on flickr.  (It will open in a new tab or window; to return to this page, just close it.)  The small pictures are thumbnails; click on each one to see it full-size, and to read the comments under it.  If you prefer to use the slideshow feature, you won't see the captions unless you click on "show info" (top right).

This is #98 in the Baker's Dozen Challenge Coundown.

Grilled Marinated Chuck-eye Steak Dinner

Grilled steak on a George Foreman Grill

Prepare ahead:

1 or 2 pounds of chuck-eye steak (or more or less, it doesn't matter!) cut into chunks
Oil to coat
1 - 2 tablespoons of "Mrs. Dash" salt-free seasoning
Sprinkle of smoked paprika

Mix well, then seal into a quart-size ziplock bag and refrigerate for a day or more.  Any small container with a tight seal could be used.

A few cold steamed potatoes will be useful but not necessary. You can cook the potato from raw on the grill but it takes awhile.

To cook:

Heat the George Foreman Grill after oiling with non-stick spray.

Trim a few green onions, and cut in half so they'll fit on the grill.

When the grill is hot,  lay on the onions, then distribute chunks of meat over the onions.  Lower the lid.

Slice potato while you wait.

When juices stop dripping into the drip tray, check the meat, which is probably done.  This type of grill holds in heat and cooks very quickly!

Slide the meat and onions onto a plate.  Pick up the drip tray and drizzle the marinade and meat juices over the potato, then arrange potato slices on the grill.  Grill until done, or if pre-cooked, grill until browned.

Serve with tomato slices or some other simple salad.

This is hands-down the best dish made from chuck-eye that I have ever enjoyed!

Grilling machines tend to dry out meat, so the oily marinade is a big improvement.  If calories are important, then a better place to cut would be to replace the potato with a less starchy vegetable.

This is number 100 in the Baker's Dozen Challenge Countdown.

To see a full set of photographs showing how this dish was made, go to this set on flickr.   (It will open in a new tab or window; to return to this page, just close it.) The small pictures are thumbnails; click on each one to see it full-size, and to read the comments under it.  If you prefer to use the slideshow feature, you won't see the captions unless you click on "show info" (top right).