Where there's smoke, there is bricked chicken

Happy 4th of July to all!

Today is one of the main "grilling" holidays. Families all over the United States are gathered for barbecue, fireworks, and swimming in the pool. Except here at our house. That's because two years ago I set our gas grill on fire. I have Bobby Flay and his show "Boy Meets Grill" to thank for this. This story goes down in my book as my funniest cooking fiasco.  Here's the story...

On Bobby's "Boy Meets Grill - Spaghetti Park" episode, he took a whole chicken cut in half, marinated it, and then cooked it on the grill under a tinfoil wrapped brick. It looked so good that I could almost smell it cooking. In my mind, if Bobby could do it, so could I. I prepared the marinade and put the chicken in it. When it came time to cook the chicken, I started the grill and put the chicken on the grill and topped it with the foil wrapped bricks. I went inside to get the clean plate for the finished chicken - because EVERYONE knows that you can't put the cooked chicken on the same plate that you had the RAW chicken. While waiting for the chicken to cook, I sat down on the couch to watch the Food Network.

Next thing I know I see billowing white and black smoke going past our back door. I say to Mike, "I wonder what's on fire?" More and more smoke goes by and I think that I just might want to check the chicken. Sure enough the grill is fully engulfed with flames shooting out the back and sides of the grill. I ran inside and grabbed our fire extinguisher and managed to get the fire out. As I stared at the grill with our chicken covered with the chemicals from the fire extinguisher, I pondered why, why did this happen to me but not Bobby Flay? I reviewed the recipe (included below) and realized that I skipped one critical part of the recipe. BLOT OFF THE EXCESS OIL! Yes, by skipping this step, I sent lots of olive oil down into the flames causing our grill to flare up. The main lesson I have learned is: READ THE ENTIRE RECIPE BEFORE YOU USE IT!

So, besides the fact that it was storming at grilling time, we couldn't grill outside because I ruined our gas grill. Our wonderful George Foreman grill came to the rescue.

I hope you all have had a wonderful 4th of July.

Rosemary Bricked Grilled Chicken

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Prep Time:10 min
Inactive Prep Time:10 min
Cook Time:20 min
Level:Easy
Serves:4 servings.

Ingredients
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 (3-pound) chickens, butterflied
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Lemon wedges, for garnish

Directions
Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic and rosemary in a large baking dish. Add the chickens and turn to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 4 hours.

Preheat the grill to medium. Wrap 4 bricks in aluminum foil and set aside. Remove the chickens from the marinade, blot off excess oil, and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Place the chickens on the grill, skin-side down, and place 2 bricks on top of each chicken. Grill the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes, then turn over, and return the bricks to the chickens. Close the cover and continue cooking for 8 to 10 minutes or until cooked through. Let rest for 10 minutes and cut into quarters. Serve with lemon wedges.