Chili-Plum Chicken

This is Grilled Chicken with Fresno Chili-Plum Sauce (page 138 of Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook). Plums on Chicken? Yes, it was a great taste with the grilled chicken although I don't think I ever had that combination before. I ran into a problem at the supermarket however. They didn't have Fresno Chilies. I used a substitute, but it was not a very good substitute becauce Fresnos are red and I used Pablonos which are green. In addition to the color being off, the taste was probably a little off as well. Pablonos are also a little less spicy that Fresnos. But the plums seem to make up all the differences. I first chopped up the plums and tossed them in a pan with white wine vinegar, chicken broth, olive oil, and some brown sugar. I put that pan on the grill first and let it heat up to a simmer. The plums got tender and the whole thing boiled down to a chunky sweet syrup. I grilled the chicken as usual with olive oil, kosher salt and ground black pepper and when they were done (just prior to 160 degrees) I poured on the Chili-Plum Sauce.  

The plums were at the supermarket. They came from Chili where it is summer now. The fact that we can have summer produce in the winter all comes down to 23 degrees. That is the amount of tilt the Earth has as it turns on its axis. If it were not for that seemingly insignificant 23 degree tilt we would have no seasons at all. It would be perpetually summer at the Equator and perpetually winter at the Poles. It would be perpetually a Spring-Fall combination in Tennessee. There would be no planting, growing or harvesting season - because the climate would never change. That 23 degree tilt makes everything work down here on Earth.

In February the Earth looks like the planet on the left. The Sun's rays hit the Southern Hemisphere straight on so the heat is concentrated and creates Summer. At the same time, the Sun's rays hit the Northern Hemisphere with a glancing blow, just skimming past and spreading out its heat creating Winter. We, in the USA, are actually closer, in miles to the Sun in Winter, but how close we are is not as important as how direct the Sun's rays hit us. Next July the Earth will be like the planet on the right. The Northern Hemisphere will get a straight shot of sunlight while the Southern Hemisphere will get just grazed by the rays and turn cold. The 23 degree tilt makes all that possible. It makes life on Earth what it is. "To everything there is a Season and a time for every purpose under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1. There is a time for winter and summer. There is football season that is different than baseball season. There is a time when the Sun says plant and a time when the Sun says harvest. There is a time to harvest plums south of the Equator and to grill those plums north of the Equator in the snow.  

Weather Report.

My Dad gave me this "Grill Sergeant" hat long before I started grilling and bloging Bobby Flay. I took it off and laid it on the pre-table and forgot about it when I went in to get the chicken. This is what I saw when I got back.

What was on? We are still in the glow of the Saints Super Bowl win so Dorothy downloaded Harry Connick Jr.'s Oh My, NOLA (NOLA=New Orleans, Louisiana). It is music straight from Burbon Street where there will be two Marti Gras this year!


YouTube. Watch "Grilling in the Snow"at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4DNoHGEafw
and "Super Bowl Grilling" at http://www.youtube.com/user/dvcraig1101

As the Sun's rays go down, the grill fires will come up - in every season.
Paul