Recipes by Zola - Grilled Chicken breasts with Apricot-Vidallia Barbecue sauce

ArcaMax Publishing > Home & Garden > Recipes > Recipes by Zola

Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.

Food and Wine Pairing Guide:

Match the perfect wine with your recipes using our Wine Pairing guide

The Funnies:

Get free jokes, comics, and more! See them all on
our funnies page

Books:

Read the classics online or by email. More details on the books page

Grilled Chicken breasts with Apricot-Vidallia Barbecue sauce

Zola Gorgon

The Grillmeister...

People ask me how to stay organized when giving a summer party. The first thing I suggest when they are doing a barbecue is to "find The Grillmeister". That always raises some questioning eyebrows.

So who's the Grillmeister? The Grillmeister is in attendance at your party. It's usually a man. He's the kind of guy who can't wait to get a long tong in one hand, a favorite beverage in the other, and no matter how high the temperature outside, he can't wait to stand in front of a hot fire and hold court with a couple of buddies. Just ask The Grillmeister to raise his hand, and even if he's never heard the term he'll know exactly what you mean.

I tell people that at our parties, my husband is never The Grillmeister. If he were The Grillmeister he'd be tied up in front of the grill watching over whatever meat and grilled veggies we're having. I need him available. What if I need those extra chairs from the garage? What if I need him to get drinks or more ice out of the freezer? Or that thing-a-ma-bob out of that drawer? He'll know what I'm talking about and he'll know where it is. The grilling is the easy part.

If it's burgers, brats, or even steaks, most Grillmeisters can handle it. No problem. But even if it's something that falls into the gourmet or gentle grilling category you'd be surprised by how well a man will take direction from a hostess he's not married to. I can remember one time I was serving goat cheese-filled quesadillas and I wanted them grilled. At first The Grillmeister went into shock at the thought of grilling something like that. I gave him a couple of pointers on how to get the spatula underneath and how to flip them at just the right moment when the grill marks were perfect and I walked away. I came back a bit later to give him a refill on his beer and found him executing his new grilling talents like a pro, and describing the newly gained knowledge to a small male crowd that had gathered around him. Of course everyone loved the grilled quesadillas and I had one very proud guest who couldn't wait to help next time.

Enjoy this barbecue sauce on simple grilled chicken sometime this summer. Your Grillmeister will handle this one easily.

Grilled Chicken breasts with Apricot-Vidallia Barbecue sauce
Serves 6

2 Tbl of butter
2 large Vidallia onions, diced
4 cloves of garlic minced (jar garlic will do)
1- 12 oz jar of apricot jam (Smuckers is one brand)
1-12 oz jar of American chili sauce (red sauce)
3 Tbl of mustard
3 Tbl of brown sugar
½ tsp of cayenne (or more if you want it spicier)
4 Tbl of Worchestershire sauce
6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves.
Olive oil spray

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan and add the onions. Cook the onions on medium for 10 minutes or until they are softened. Stir frequently. Add the garlic, jam, chili sauce, mustard, brown sugar, cayenne and Worchestershire. Cook on medium until it starts to boil and then turn down to medium low and let the sauce thicken and reduce for approximately 25 minutes. Stir fairly often so it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Sauce can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator or you can use it right away.

Pound your checken breasts with a meat mallet until an even 1/2 inch thick. I do this by putting each chicken breast in a plastic storage bag and gently pounding. That way you don't get chicken mess on your counter. You can use the bag over and over again for each breast.

Spray your chicken with the olive oil spray and season with salt and pepper to your liking. Then grill on pre-heated grill at medium high turning only once per side so you get some nice grill marks. This should take about 10-12 minutes (depending on how hot your grill is).

Then serve your Apricot-Vidallia barbecue sauce on or around your chicken. You can have the sauce warm or if it's very hot outside, a cold sauce might taste good with the warm chicken. If it's a buffet, the chicken can be served room temperature with the sauce spooned over.

Note: No need to baste the chicken while it's grilling. If you do baste your chicken while grilling it, be sure to do it only at the end so you won't scorch the sweet sauce.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.

This news arrived on: 05/12/2008

Share this Story