Hurricane Grilled Chicken

According to the news reports that I’ve been glued to over the last few hours, Hurricane Irene is upon us and is expected to be a very big deal. It’s difficult to comprehend, considering the sun that is shining outside my window, and the calm almost eerily still air; the calm before the storm. By all accounts, we will be experiencing some very severe weather, and everywhere you look, milk and bread are flying off the shelves and the battens are being hatched down.

We have to prepare to be without cell phone service and electricity if the worst happens. To me, or course, this means having dinner food on hand that wont need to be heated. I decided to use this sunny day to get things ready. It turns out is selling whole seasoned chickens for under $3 a pound. A friend of mine just cooked one of these rotisserie-style on her grill, and I was amazed at how juicy and delicious it turned out. The contraption she used was purchased at Lowes for $4.99, and in my humble opinion, was worth every dime.  

I will head over there to get my own in due time, but under the circumstances I decided to borrow hers and get dinner started. In just under an hour, the chicken was cooked perfectly, and all I had to do was set the grill to medium across all burners, and come out to baste it a few times. I added fresh chunks of garlic and onion to the rotisserie-dish, just like in the picture on the box, so the basting juice would be full of flavor.  

If you don't have a rotiserrie, chicken is still the way to go because it is so versatile. Seasoned with a little olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper, chicken can be grilled ahead of time and refrigerated.

I made a quick pasta salad, which should stay cool in the fridge if we lose power for under 24 hours, and bought chips, water and ice-in case we lose power for more than 24 hours. What a relief to know we won't have to worry about what’s for dinner during whatever craziness Irene is sure to bring. We can make sandwiches with the chicken, make chicken salad, or add it in chunks to the pasta salad, while we ride out the storm.

Balsamic Chicken Salad

3 lbs of chunked chicken

2 T. balsamic vinegar

3/4 cup of mayonaisse

1 T. chili powder

1 T. paprika

1 tsp. cumin to 

2 celery stalks, diced

1/2 red onion diced

2 T. sundried tomato, diced

*combine all ingredients, add to fresh rolls-Enjoy!