Cooking outside

Simple food, nothing fancy, but the nice weather is good reason to fire up the grill.  Being outside and paying attention to life is a good alternative to the news.

First up,  steak on a budget.  The local grocery store had boneless chuck pot roast on "sale" for $2.99 per pound.  I picked one about 1.5 pounds.  Chuck has great flavor, but can be a little tough.

A good technique is to make a dry rub with plenty of kosher salt, pepper, paprika, garlic and a bit of sugar. Rub it in and let it sit for several hours. The salt dissolves and makes a brine which tenderizes the meat as well as adding flavor.  You may want to wipe the surface with a paper towel to remove excess salt before grilling.  (I skip this step) Thin slices across the grain adds to tenderness.

Next Tandoori chicken - Indian style chicken marinated in yogurt and seasoned with a spice mixture. I used one container of plain yogurt. I added spices: 2 teaspoons each of salt, cayenne pepper, ginger, and a packaged garam masala mix.
Mix all together and put the mix in a large plastic bag.  I added a dozen chicken legs.  The package marinated in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

The chicken is typically cooked in a tandoor. A tandoor is a clay oven - charcoal grill. I used a little Weber.

A little chopped salad and a scoop of rice and peas made it a meal.  Note the new blue plates.