Cumin Crust

This is Cumin-Crusted Chicken with Cotija that you can find on page 136 of Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook. Cotija is a cheese, but I couldn't find it. In the recipe Bobby says that it is "Parmesan-like" so that is what I went with. The cumin is supposed to add both flavor and texture - it did! First I sprinkled out cumin seed (not ground cumin, the actual seeds) on a cookie sheet at baked them for 5 minutes so that they were toasty. The smell was incredible. I put half the toasted seeds in a marinade with lemon juice, and olive oil and let then chicken sit in that for about an hour. With the grill fired up I put the chicken in a pan and seared the skin with some of the leftover marinade. Then I put the chicken right on the grill grates at medium heat to cook through the rest of the way. When it was done I sprinkled on the rest of the toasted cumin seeds and the Parmesan. We added grilled potato wedges and steamed green beans. The cumin did create a crust that was spicy, but the chicken on the inside was tender and juicy - perfect!

What was on? Last Sunday night, Nashville stole the Grammy Awards, so we listened to the new Album of the Year - Fearless by Taylor Swift. Then followed that up with the new Record of the Year Use Somebody by Nashville's own Kings of Leon. Taylor Swift's music is good to listen to, but it's hard for an old guy to identify with her school girl lyrics. The message in the song You Belong With Me is that the popular kids are on top, but their power over the regular kids only lasts as long as high school. I have a slightly different take. I have the benefit of time and a fifty-year old point of view. Here is the ironic thing - the popular kids were on top then, but now it seems they work for me. The tables have turned. The football star retiled my bathroom last month. Now don't get me wrong - being a plumber, landscaper, or painter are perfectly respectable jobs and any honest work is worth dignity - but it is a little ironic. Nobody figured that the starting gaurd who was dating the cheerleader (and would have nothing to do with me then) would someday call me boss. Actually at our house Dorothy is the foreman of all the plumbers, landscapers and painters - they never miss a deadline on a job she has commissioned - I think they are a little afraid of her. She didn't like the popular kids much either.

Weather Report. A high of 47 should cause a major thaw. The ice and snow around the grill has already been melted away - if not by the fire then by those toasted cumin seeds!

Paul