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"Pink Phobias"

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       It has been a while since I have used my grille and I had some chicken thighs that I needed to use up. Now if I could overcome the nervousness of two things. One it has been raining a lot the last couple of days and I wasn't sure if I had time between gully washers and two, my worst food critic was expected for dinner. If my daughter sees so much as a speck of pink on her chicken she will claim it isn't done and refuse to eat it. Of course, I always use a meat thermometer when cooking chicken and I am confident it is done before serving. So I weighed my options, grille until it is as dry as leather or risk the family refusing to eat it. I took the risk.
        First I found a recipe that might help me cook the thighs on the grille. It was from "Food Wishes" on Youtube. Chef John is one of my favorite chefs to watch and learn from. He had a recipe for Grilled Greek Chicken that I thought might be the answer for the "pink" phobias. A technique really. He would slice the thighs to the bone in two spots to promote even cooking and also to let the marinade get inside the chicken. I made the marinade, sliced the thighs, mixed and refrigerated for 6 hours. Now if the rain would hold off.


The rain did hold off long enough to grille and the results were excellent. The thighs were actually quite moist but no pink fluids. It thrilled me when my daughter asked for seconds on the chicken. I love my daughter and being able to find a solution to the issue is great. The technique of scoring the thighs really evened the cooking time and the marinade was like a nice mix between Italian and Greek dressing. I may make some to put on my salads. I served the chicken with the bounty from my generous neighbors' garden. Cucumber salad, beets and potato salad.

     Check out Chef John's technique of scoring the chicken thighs. It is definitely the way to go to reduce the "pink phobia". Now I do have a few other phobias I need to address. I hope they are as easy.




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