Cooking Through Cultures: Al Fresco Dinners With Indonesian Chicken Satay

Spring has officially arrived in our hometown of Nashville and we are taking full advantage by eating as many meals as possible outside or Al fresco! (Fun fact: “The phrase al fresco is borrowed from Italian for “in the cool [air]”, although it is not in current use in that language to refer to dining outside. Instead, Italians use the phrases fuori or all’aperto. In Italian, the expression al fresco usually refers to spending time in jail.” Ha, thanks Wikipedia)  

 

Recently, I found an old favorite recipe that I found in Cooking Light Magazine many years ago that is perfect for dinners in jail…err, outside – chicken satay with peanut sauce and spicy cucumber and red onion salad.  We love peanut butter around here, so naturally, we love this. My two younger girls devour the chicken (anything on a skewer is usually a winner for them) and they all eat plenty of cucumber slices – I keep a bowl of slices without the dressing on the table too. Here are the recipes for both the chicken satay and the salad:

Chicken satay ingredients:

• 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into 8 strips
• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
• 1 tsp grated lime rind
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 garlic clove minced

Heat grill.  Combine chicken and next 6 ingredients (through 2 garlic cloves) in a medium bowl.  Let stand 10 minutes.

To prepare sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a medium bowl stirring until sugar dissolves and peanut butter incorporates.

Thread chicken strips onto skewers.  Place chicken on grill coated with cooking spray grilling 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is done.  Serve with sauce.

 

Spicy cucumber salad ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp minced seeded jalapeno pepper
• 1 tsp. grated lime rind
• 3 cups thinly sliced English cucumber
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion

Prepare dressing (first 4 ingredients) in bowl.  Add cucumber and red onion. Toss to coat.