1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (74 page)

2 tablespoons (33 g) chili garlic paste

3 tablespoons (45 ml) dry sherry

1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1½ tablespoons (23 ml) toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon (6 g) grated ginger

2 scallions, minced

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

Put the chicken in a large resealable plastic bag. Mix together everything else. Reserve some marinade for basting and pour the rest over the chicken. Press out the air, seal the bag, and toss it in the fridge. Let your chicken marinate for several hours.

When it’s time to cook, fire up the grill. You’ll want it at medium to medium-high. When the grill is ready for cooking, remove the chicken from the bag and pour off the marinade. Cook the chicken skin-side up for about 12 to 15 minutes, keeping the grill closed except when basting. Turn it skin-side down and let it grill for 7 to 9 minutes, again with the grill closed. Turn it skin-side up again and let it grill until the juices run clear when pierced to the bone and an instant-read thermometer registers 180°F (85°C). Baste several times with the reserved marinade while cooking, making sure to use a clean utensil each time you baste. Discard remaining marinade and serve chicken.

Yield:
4 servings

With all the marinade, each serving would have 4 grams of carbohydrate and 1 gram of fiber, but you won’t consume all the marinade; I’d count no more than 3 grams per serving; 30 grams of protein.

Once someone figured out that standing a chicken up on a beer can made for a perfectly roasted chicken, soda-can chicken was inevitable!

1 3½ to 4-pound (1.6 to 1.8 kg) whole roasting chicken

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

1 teaspoon Splenda

1 drop blackstrap molasses (It helps to keep your molasses in a squeeze bottle.)

1 teaspoon chili powder

3 tablespoons (60 g) low-sugar orange marmalade

1 12-ounce (360-ml) can tangerine Diet-Rite soda, divided (Make sure the can is clean!)

2 to 3 teaspoons oil

1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

Prepare your grill for indirect cooking—if you have a gas grill, light only one side; if you’re using charcoal, pile the briquettes on one side of the grill and light.

Remove the neck and giblets from the chicken. Rinse the chicken and pat it dry with paper towels.

In a small bowl combine the salt or Vege-Sal, Splenda, molasses, and chili powder. Spoon out half the mixture (1½ teaspoons) into a bowl and reserve; rub the rest inside the cavity of your chicken.

Stir the low-sugar orange marmalade into the reserved seasoning mixture. Open the can of tangerine soda and pour out 2/3 cup (160 ml). Put ¼ cup (60 ml) of the soda you poured off into the marmalade/seasoning mixture and stir it in—you can drink the remainder of the soda you poured off or throw it away. Now, using a church-key-type can opener, punch several more holes around the top of the can. Spray the can with nonstick cooking spray and set it in a shallow baking pan. Carefully place the chicken down over the can, fitting the can up into the cavity of the chicken. Rub the chicken with the oil.

Okay, you’re ready to cook! Make sure you have a drip pan in place. Set the chicken, standing upright on its soda can on the side of the grill not over the fire and spread the drumsticks out a bit, making a tripod effect. Close the grill and cook the chicken at 250°F (130°C) or so for 75 to 90 minutes or until the juices run clear when it’s pricked to the bone. You can also use a meat thermometer—it should register 180°F (85°C).

while the chicken is roasting, add the mustard to the marmalade/soda/seasoning mixture and stir the whole thing up. Use this mixture to baste the chicken during the last 20 minutes or so of roasting.

When the chicken is done, carefully remove it from the grill—barbecue gloves come in handy here or use heavy hot pads and tongs. Twist the can to remove it from the chicken and discard. Let the chicken stand for 5 minutes before carving. In the meantime, heat any leftover basting sauce to boiling—and serve as a sauce with the chicken.

Yield:
5 servings

Each serving will have 5 grams of carbohydrate and a trace of fiber. Assuming a 3½-pound (1.6-kg) chicken, each serving will have 40 grams of protein.

This is really unusual and wonderful!

1 broiler-fryer, cut up—about 2½ to 3 pounds (1.1 to 1.4 kg)

½ cup (120 ml) dry sherry

3 tablespoons (45 ml) sugar-free imitation honey 3 tablespoons (4.5 g) Splenda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ teaspoon salt

Just combine everything but the chicken, reserving some marinade for basting, and pour the rest over the chicken in a shallow, nonreactive pan or a resealable plastic bag. If you’re using a bag, press out the air and seal it. Put the chicken in the fridge and let it marinate for anywhere from a few hours to all day.

Then heat your grill—medium-high for a gas grill or well-ashed coals in a charcoal grill. Grill the chicken bone-side down for about 12 minutes and then turn it and grill it for 7 or 8 minutes skin-side down. Keep the hood closed except when turning the chicken or fighting off flare-ups with your squirt bottle. Turn it again and grill until juices run clear when the chicken is pierced to the bone. Baste the chicken frequently with the reserved marinade using a clean utensil each time you baste.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 4 grams of carbohydrate, not counting the polyols in the imitation honey; 1 gram fiber. These figures, however, assume you’ll consume all of the marinade, which you won’t—so I’d guess no more than 2 grams per serving; 36 grams of protein.

1 broiler-fryer chicken, about 3 pounds (1.4 kg), cut up, or whatever chicken parts you like

2 tablespoons (33 g) chili garlic paste

½ cup (120 ml) spicy brown mustard

¼ cup (60 ml) balsamic vinegar

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil

Put the chicken parts in a large, heavy resealable plastic bag. Combine everything else and whisk together well. Reserve some marinade for basting and then pour the rest into the bag with the chicken, press out the air, and seal the bag. Throw the bag in the fridge and let the chicken marinate for anywhere from a few hours to all day.

When it’s time to cook, light your charcoal or gas grill; you’ll want a medium to medium-high fire. When the grill is ready, pull the chicken out of the marinade using tongs and place it on a plate. Pour off the marinade.

Now put the chicken on the grill skin-side up and grill it for 12 to 15 minutes. Turn it and let it grill for 7 to 9 minutes skin-side down. Turn it again and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes or until the juices run clear when it’s pierced to the bone and an instant-read thermometer reads 180°F (85°C). Baste frequently with the reserved marinade using a clean utensil each time you baste. Keep the grill closed except when basting or turning the chicken.

Yield:
5 to 6 servings

Assuming 6 servings, if you consumed all the marinade, each would have 3 grams of carbohydrate and a trace of fiber, but actually you’ll get less than that. Assuming 6 servings, each will have 30 grams of protein.

Treating chicken to an acidic baste or marinade of some kind is a time-honored way of bringing out the flavor of our favorite fowl. This baste also adds some heat and complex spiciness—yum! What the heck is “spatchcocked” chicken? It’s a chicken that’s been cut along the backbone and opened up flat for easier grilling.

3½ pounds (1.6 kg) chicken—either whole or cut up

1 cup (240 ml) cider vinegar

3 teaspoons chili powder

2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda

1 teaspoon cayenne 1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon salt

Technically, you’re supposed to cut along both sides of the backbone and remove it entirely, but that’s too much work for me, so I just let my chicken look uneven. I know this sounds hard, but if you have good poultry or kitchen shears— my Martha Stewart shears from Kmart work just fine—it takes all of about a minute and a half. Make the cut along the bottom side of the chicken, grab either side of the cut, and pull the chicken open. Press down on the breastbone until you hear a slight crack. Now you have a flat chicken you can lay on a grill.

Or you can just not bother. I’m describing the process because it’s terribly, terribly trendy in grilling circles right now, and anyway, whole chickens are often quite cheap. However, I think it’s easier just to use a cut-up chicken, you know? The baste works just as well with the parts, and you don’t have to carve.

Either way, start by lighting your grill; you’ll want it at medium heat. While the grill is heating, combine everything but the chicken.

Grill the chicken starting skin-side up, and keeping the grill closed except when basting or dealing with flare-ups, grill for 15 minutes, basting frequently with the vinegar mixture using a clean utensil each time. Turn skin-side down and grill for 7 to 9 minutes, still basting; then turn skin-side up again and continue grilling until juices run clear when chicken is pierced to the bone or an instant-read thermometer registers 180°F (85°C). Serve.

Yield:
5 servings

Even with all of the basting liquid you’d get only 5 grams of carb, with 1 gram of fiber, or 4 grams of usable carb per serving—but you won’t consume all of the basting liquid. Count no more than 2 grams per serving; 40 grams of protein.

3½ to 4 pounds (1.6 to 1.8 kg) cut-up chicken

¼ cup (6 g) Splenda

3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil

3 tablespoons (45 ml) sherry

1 tablespoon (15 ml) mustard

1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce 1 tablespoon (6.3 g) black pepper

½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup (40 g) minced onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) water

Combine everything but the chicken, mixing well. Put the chicken either in a shallow, nonreactive pan or in a large resealable plastic bag. Reserve some marinade for basting and pour the rest of the marinade over the chicken. If it’s in a pan, turn it once or twice to coat. If it’s in a bag, press out the air, seal the bag, and turn it a few times to coat the chicken. Either way, stick the chicken in the fridge and let it marinate for at least 1 or 2 hours, and longer won’t hurt.

When the chicken is ready to grill, have the gas grill set to medium or the charcoal covered with white ash. Grill the chicken bone-side down for 10
to 12 minutes with the lid closed (but check now and then for flare-ups!), basting with the reserved marinade once or twice using a clean utensil each time you baste. Turn the chicken over with tongs and grill skin-side down for 6 to 7 minutes, again with the grill closed, but check now and then for flare-ups. Turn the chicken back to bone-side down, baste it one more time, and grill with the lid closed for another 5 to 10 minutes until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced to the bone or until an instant-read thermometer reads 180°F (85°C).

Yield:
5 to 6 servings

Assuming 6, and assuming you consumed all the marinade, each serving would have 4 grams of carb and 1 gram of fiber, for a usable carb count of 3 grams. Since you won’t consume all of the marinade, however, I’d count 2 grams per serving; 34 grams protein.

1 cut up broiler-fryer

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal Pepper