Saturday, April 21, 2012

Grilled Smokehouse Maple Chicken, Oven Roasted Red Potatoes & Green Beans w/ Almonds

Well, it is Saturday night and we are grilling chicken.  It was supposed to rain today and it looked like it would almost all day long...but we didn't get a drop!  When it hadn't rained by 4:00, I went ahead and rubbed 3 boneless chicken breasts with my new McCormick Smokehouse Maple rub (after beating them with a meat mallet to make them even thickness).  I put them back in the fridge for a couple of hours and then sprayed them with some Pam cooking spray before hubby put them on the grill.  I don't know how they will taste but they smell wonderful.  I also made oven roasted red potatoes and green beans w/ almonds.  Youngest son came for dinner so I baked some brownies as well.  The roasted potatoes are simple, easy and delicious and don't take much time to make.  I like to squeeze fresh lemon juice on them half way through their cooking...it gives them a flavor similar to Greek potatoes.  You could also use thyme or oregano instead of rosemary if you prefer. I prefer them browned a little darker than below, but youngest son doesn't like his food too dark, so I pulled them out sooner than I normally would have (he also doesn't like too many grill lines on his chicken...go figure)!  I've included a few pics below as well as the recipe for my oven roasted potatoes.  Enjoy!

Oven roasted red potatoes w/ rosemary and lemon
Grilled Chicken w/ Smokehouse Maple Rub
Voila!
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

3 pounds red potatoes, unpeeled and well scrubbed, cut into chunks
4 tablespoons of olive oil (or enough to coat the potatoes)
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt, Kosher or sea salt (I used sea salt)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried rosemary (or 3 tablespoons of fresh rosemary)
1/2 of a lemon, optional (to squeeze over potatoes)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with heavy duty foil and spread the potato chunks in a single layer.  Drizzle with olive oil and spread the rosemary; toss well until potatoes are evenly coated.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bake at 425 degrees about 30-40 minutes (tossing around half way through cooking).  When you remove the potatoes to toss half way through, squeeze the juice of half a fresh lemon over the potatoes and toss well before returning to the oven for the remainder of cooking.  Depending on the size of your potatoes, you may need to increase or decrease the cooking time.  They should be lightly browned and tender inside.

***Note:  I prefer to use fresh rosemary, but the fresh rosemary didn't look good in the store today so I used dry.

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