Chicken Under A Brick

Chicken under a brick is a method of baking or bbq’ing a chicken under the weight of a foil lined brick.  I had a whole fryer in my freezer from when QFC had them at a stock up price (.68 cents a pound, if I remember right).  What you do is, you take kitchen shears (which I don’t have and is now on my Christmas list) or a sharp knife and carefully cut out the backbone.  Turn the chicken breast side up and press the chicken down firmly to get the chicken to be as flat as possible.  Now season the heck out of it on both sides.  I used garlic powder, Monterey steak seasoning, coriander, celery salt and pepper, but you can use anything you have on hand.  Rub some spices as far under the skin as you can, and season the outside of the skin, too.

Put the chicken on a grill, breast side down, over medium heat. Instead of wrapping a brick in foil and setting it on top of the chicken to weigh it down, I just laid a piece of foil over the chicken, and set my big heavy cast iron skillet on it.  Then a light bulb went off and I thought “What if I cook my green beans in the skillet at the same time the chicken is cooking?”.  Brilliant!  So, I loaded up the skillet with green beans, Walla Walla sweet onions, a little olive oil and some salt and pepper and set it right on top of the foil I had laid over the chicken.

(That picture reminds me of when Dorothy’s house fell on the Wicked Witch of the East, see those legs sticking out?).  Now close the grill and cook the chicken for about 20 minutes.  Remove the brick (or skillet and the foil) and turn the chicken over.  I set the skillet right on the bbq grill next to the chicken and let it continue to cook. You will no longer need the brick at this point.

Continue to cook the chicken for another 15-20 minutes, or until the juices run clear.

Crispy skin, juicy, tender meat.  Yummy green beans.  This was a really frugal meal since I had stocked up on the chicken when it was cheap, the green beans came from my Bountiful Baskets produce co-op, and we had a salad made from lettuce and cucumbers from my garden.

Posted by Shelley .

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