Championship Chicken

Grilled Chicken Burgers with Green Onion Mayo direct from Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life page 114. This is a great twist on the traditional burger. It was light, but had great flavor. Lets face it chicken by itself is pretty boring - you gotta jazz it up some. The jazz in this case was a marinade of Dijon mustard, canola oil, chipotle, lime juice, honey, chopped green onions and cilantro. I cut some chicken breast thin and into sections that would fit on a bun. The chicken sat in the marinade for about an hour. I did not rinse off the marinade when it was time to go to the grill, but let it stay on thick. I used indirect heat, by placing the chicken on foil over the grill. The marinade cooked right in as the chicken grilled. It didn't take long since I had cut the chicken thin - about 5 minutes on each side. I got some green onions at the store - the kind that are white at the end and green through the stem. The recipe called for both white and green parts, so I chopped up several stems for both the marinade and the Mayo. I mixed the chopped green onion parts with regular mayo, but added garlic, lime juice, Kosher salt and ground pepper. You really can't see the green onions in the mayo in the photo above, but trust me this was mayo with a tangy kick. I assembled the Chicken Burgers on grill-toasted whole wheat buns, with two chicken pieces, a slice of swiss cheese, lettuce and the Green Onion Mayo. It was a quick grill-meal that turned out to be great game food.

National Championship. This was probably the best final game in years. I went in pulling for Duke - they were the only team that I picked for the Final Four that actually made it to the final game. But I must admit, if Gordon Heywood would have hit that last half-court shot to win the championship, it would have been terrific. It just bounce away. But the reason it was such a great game was that every player left everything they had on the floor and it was not decided by a silly mistake. Remember when Georgetown lost when Fred Brown accidently threw the ball to James Worthy (North Carolina) denying a winning shot opportunity. Michael Jordan hit the shot that put the Tarheels up by one before that last infamous play. And Remember when Chris Webber called a Michigan timeout in the last seconds of the championship game against (again) North Carolina. The problem was that Michigan had used up all their timeouts. The mistake was a technical foul that lead to Tarheel free throws and possesion of the ball - sealing the victory. So, its great that the game last night will be remembered for great team play and heart, not a silly mistake. I didn't try it but I bet that if you Google Fred Brown, that pass will come up. He made thousands of passes and great plays before, but he will always be remembered for that one silly mistake. The stakes are high when history is on the line. If you don't think one second in the title game can change a life, just Google Lorenzo Charles and see what comes up - "the dunk heard round the world." I still think Whittenburg was taking a shot - not making a pass. But whatever his true intent, it became the greatest pass and dunk play in history. NC State. Coach Jimmy V. Immortal. If Heywood's half-court shot had fallen threw the net last night - it would have topped them all. I am happy Coach K got #4 - but one shot for immortality? That would have meant more.

Go out and grill like a champion! Paul