Happy Summer, and welcome back to the blog! 

This weekend I knocked out not one, but two new recipes.  Yay!  Here's one of them.



It's been said before on the blog, but we love to grill in summer, but grilled chicken doesn't always excite us, because if you make sure it's done, it's often overdone and a little dry.  This particular recipe utlizies a sort of combination of brining and marinating the chicken for flavor and moisture infusion, and boy is the end result tasty.  A full 24 hours of prep time is required, so planning ahead is essential.  Everything does, however, come together easily.  Depending on the appetites in your household, you can get 4-6 adult servings off one bird.  I made the recipe as is and will post it below.  You can also click the link below to see professional pics and the original webpage for the recipe.  Definitely put this in your summer grilling repertoire.

We served it with a salad and baked sweet potato, but any of the summer sides would work great.



Buttermilk Brined Grilled Chicken
from June 2012 Southern Living

1 whole chicken, cut into individual pieces (breast, leg, thigh, wing) or the equivalent of a whole chicken already in pieces
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups water
1/4  c. packed brown sugar
1/4 c. hot sauce
3 Tb. Kosher salt
1 Tb. pepper, freshly ground preferred
1 small sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, halved

In a bowl (or even the bag you'll marinate in), combine the buttermilk, water, sugar, hot sauce, salt and pepper and stir.  At this point make sure it's in a resealable bag or container for brining.  Add the lemon and onion and then the chicken.  Place in refrigerator and let sit 24 hours. 

When ready to grill, prepare your grill for indirect grilling and heat to medium high (300-350).  Remove chicken from brine and pat dry with paper towels.

Place chicken on unlit portion of grill and grill, skin side up, covered, for 40-50 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of meat regoisters 165.  Flip the chicken over and place over lit portion of grill and grill for 5 minutes more or until skin is crispy. 

Remove from grill and let the meat rest, loosely covered with aluminum foil, for approx. 5-10 minutes before serving.