I spent a lot of time in the past couple of weeks driving. I wasn’t going long distances; rather I had errands so I did a couple, got home for lunch, and finished the rest a hour or two later.
While my husband and I frequently went out for breakfast (always on weekends), now that I am husband-less (and have been for more than a decade), I do most of my reading, writing and thinking in the morning. Sometimes I look at the mantel clock and notice it is 11 a.m. Well, I wonder, is it going to be late breakfast or an early lunch?
It is usually an early lunch. I often have enough leftovers from dinner the night before.
Today I have some leftover chicken salad (made from a roast chicken a couple of days ago), so I plate the chicken salad with some lettuce, sliced grape tomatoes and, to drink, an enormous glass of V-8.
And I muse about dinner.
It will be chicken again, mostly because I love chicken and I’d thawed some skinless, boneless breasts this morning. (I really do not like boneless, skinless chicken, but this is what I found first in the freezer.)
Over the weekend, I took the cover of my Weber, cleaned the grills, found the tongs I left last fall and looked to make sure there were no squirrel nests in the lava rocks. I have plenty of propane.
I love this recipe.
Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce
Adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow’s “My Father’s Daughter” (Hachette Book Group, New York, 2011)
Yield: serves 4
1 cup chopped peeled fresh peaches (I used canned, without added sugars), chopped
½ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 ½ teaspoons adobo sauce from canned chipotle chiles in adobo or 1 teaspoon soy sauce*
Kosher (or sea salt) and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Vegetable oil
Combine first 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Season lightly with salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, simmer until peaches are very soft and flavors meld, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat; let cool.
Pour peach mixture into a blender and puree until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Place half the sauce in a medium bowl; add chicken and turn to coat.
Let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes, or cover and chill for up to 8 hours, turning occasionally. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce.
Prepare a grill to medium-high heat. Brush grill rack with oil. Grill chicken until browned and almost cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Slice crosswise.
Serve with remaining sauce alongside.
* I have at least four cans of chipotle in adobe in my pantry. I sometimes make omelet or scrambled eggs with cheese cream and a mashed chipotle. It is a bit on the spicy side, but it’s delicious.
About the author: Lee White has been writing about restaurants and cooking since 1976 and has been extensively published in the Worcester (Mass.) Magazine, The Day, Norwich Bulletin, and Hartford Courant. She currently writes Nibbles and a cooking column called A La Carte for LymeLine.com and the Shore Publishing and the Times newspapers, both of which are owned by The Day. She was a resident of Old Lyme for many years but now lives in Groton, Conn. Contact Lee at [email protected].