Grilling up goodies

We had beautiful weather again today so I decided to fire up the grill for dinner. There were some ups and some downs but I ended up with a awesome meal.

Here is what I learned this evening.
1) The side burner on the grill is very hot even when turned all the way down and is not something that you should try to make orzo on. Everything went fine except when I took the pan off the heat and went to mix in the parm cheese and herbs. The bottom layer of orzo was a little on the brown side. Lesson learned (I have a gas range inside, I will use it next time).
2) Marinade splashed in the eye will burn, very bad.

The entire meal on the grill (marinated chicken, green beans and red potatoes in foil, and Parmesan orzo on the side burner). Yes, I know I have two starches but I only used 1 little red potato in with the beans. I could not decide which one I wanted so I had a little of both. :)


Chicken - I used a packet of McCormick Grill Mates - Chipolte Pepper Marinade. These things are so convenient and flavorful I use them often. I only used half the prepared packet since I wanted to use the rest for my veggies.

Green beans and red potatoes - I cleaned and trimmed the beans and washed the potatoes well and sliced them in 1/4" thick slices. I threw all of that into a plastic baggie and let it marinate in the fridge for 15-30 minutes. Then I dumped the bag onto half of a large sheet of alum. foil. I folded the foil in half and folded each seam 3 times. Then I grilled them for about 30 minutes. They were nice and spicy due to the marinade and the beans were perfectly done.

Parmesan Orzo

Ingredients

1 cup orzo, uncooked
1 tbls butter
1 - 14.5 oz can chicken broth
¼ c shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tbls dried parsley

Directions

* Melt butter in a pan over medium heat.
* Add orzo and stir for 2-3 minutes to lightly toasted.
* Add broth, bring to a boil for 1 min. Turn heat to low, cover, and cook 15 min til broth is almost absorbed and orzo is soft.
* Add cheese, parsley, and stir.