A few notes and tips:

• Make sure you soak the grape leaves in water for at least 15 minutes otherwise they may be very salty. I kept them in water while i was rolling them. This also makes sure they stay moist.
• Try not to let the grape leaves get to dry before grilling them so they don’t burn and crumble.
• Don’t over cook the rice. I like to cook mine with a little bit of butter as this helps keep the grains separate. Fluff the rice a few times so it cools off nicely. You don’t want a big clump of glutinous rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Dried Cherries (unsweetened), chopped
• 1 small red Onion , minced
• 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, Finley chopped
• 1 cup diced [tag]Tomatoes[tag]
• 1-2 cloves of Garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
• 1 teaspoon Kosher [tag]Salt[tag]
• 1 pound of Ground Pork.
• 3 cups cooked Jasmine Rice, room temp
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Lemon Zest, from one lemon.
• 30 Brined Grape leaves, rinsed

Mix everything but the pork , grape leaves and half of the salt in a large mixing bowl. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning. If you want to go meatless you can skip the next step with the pork. Some kalamata olives would be great instead.

Combine the other half of the salt with the pork separately and mix the pork and the rice stuffing together. This just ensures that everything gets evenly seasoned.

Lay a grape leave flat and place a log of the stuffing on it. To roll it up, fold the back over first and then fold each side over.

Now just roll it up tight.

Place the stuffed grape leaves on the top rack of your grill with the seam side down. Cook them this way at ~400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. There is raw pork in there so make sure it is completely cooked.

Flip them half way through the total cooking time.

You can serve them with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and touch of lemon juice over the top. I have also added some finely diced red pepper and fresh parsley.

Ingredients

• One whole Chicken

Rub

• 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• Hint of Cinnamon

Marinade

• Approx 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 big bunch Basil
• 5-6 cloves Garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon Rub (recipe above)
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 2 tablespoons Honey

Basting mixture

• 1 stick Butter
• 1-2 cloves Garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon Rub (recipe above)
• Zest of 2 Lemons

As you can see this is a lot of basil.

Mix all of the seasonings together to make the rub.  This will go into the marinade and the basting mixture as well.  Blend all of the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor. Put all of the ingredients for the basting mixture in a small sauce pan and set it aside.

One of the easiest ways to grill a whole chicken is to butterfly it.  To butterfly the chicken, you just need to cut the back bone out with a knife or a pair of poultry shears and press it down flat.  By doing this, we maximize the grilling surface of the chicken and cut down on cooking time since it is flat.  Season the bird with the remainder of the Rub.

Coat both sides of the chicken with the marinade and get it under the skin.  Refrigerate for 4 – 6 hours or overnight.

Grill the butterflied chicken indirectly at about 400 – 450 degrees for about 30 – 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.

For the last 10-15 minutes grill over direct heat and baste with the butter mixture.

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless, skinless Chicken Thighs

For the marinade:

• Juice of half a Lemon
• Zest of a whole Lemon
• ¾ cup of Coconut Milk
• 1 Serrano pepper
• Approximately 2 inches/nubbins of Ginger, peeled (size like your thumb, a nubbin!)
• 4 cloves of Garlic, peeled
• 1 Shallot, peeled
• ¼ large Red Onion, peeled
• Approximately 1 cup fresh Cilantro
• 1 tablespoon Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 tablespoons Fish Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

Place all of the ingredients for the marinade into a food processor.

Blend until everything has been minced up well. Reserve about 1/2 cup of the marinade to use as a sauce later (do not place reserved sauce with raw chicken).

Marinate for about 4 hours if you’re using the thighs.

Tip: Don’t do like I did and just dump the bag of chicken out on the grill, you’ll have a mess.

Strain out all of the solids from the reserved sauce so that it is smooth and lump-free.

Ingredients

• Chicken (I’m using boneless, skinless chicken thighs today)
• Juice of two whole Lemons
• 4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 3 cloves Garlic, roughly chopped
• Handful of fresh Parsley, roughly chopped

Mix all of the ingredients, excluding the chicken, in a bowl. Place the chicken in a plastic bag and pour contents of the marinade into the bag. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Place chicken on the grill.

Ready to come off of the grill!

Dig in!

Ingredients

• Thick cut Pork Chops. (I’m using 2 today)

For the marinade:

• Juice of two whole Lemons
• 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tablespoon of kosher Salt
• 4 cloves of Garlic, roughly chopped
• Handful of fresh Parsley, roughly chopped

Mix all of the ingredients for the marinade. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of the marinade for “Basting” while grilling.

Marinate the pork chops for 2 to 6 hours. While the chops marinate, the lemon in the marinade will start to “cook” the pork and turn it white, don’t worry about that, it’s normal.

Place the chops on a hot grill. Spoon some of the marinade on top while they cook.

After you flip the pork chops only baste with the reserved marinade. Grill until done.

Ingredients:
Flank Steak

For marinade:
Juice of Lemon
Zest of Lemon
Juice of Lime
Zest of Lime
1 Serrano Pepper
¼ cup Soy Sauce
¼ cup Fish Sauce
2 cloves Garlic
1 Green Onion
2 teaspoons ground Coriander
Handful of Cilantro
3 tablespoons dark Brown Sugar

Place all of the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Slice flank steak across the grain into thin strips.

Place the slices of flank steak in a bag along with the marinade. Marinate for a few hours.

Weave the strips of beef onto some skewers.

They should cook up very fast.