Grilled Lemon Chicken with Satay Dip

For my first recipe I chose the Grilled Lemon Chicken (p.48) along with the accompanying Satay Dip (p.49). I'll start off by saying that everyone at the dinner table gave the chicken a perfect score of 10! It was so juicy and flavorful that it didn't really need a dip. I only marinated the chicken for 5 hours. I had heard somewhere that any longer in an acid like lemon juice and the meat actually starts to breakdown too much. Not that I am questioning Ina's cooking skills, I just wasn't about to waste 5 chicken breasts to find out. 5 hours was perfect. I grilled them whole, then sliced as the book suggests in 1/2 in strips and skewered them on wooden sticks.

These would be such a great appetizer at a party, easy finger food that doesn't get your fingers messy. I did have to worry about my kids impaling their eyes with the sharp skewers, but man did they think it was so cool to eat chicken off a stick!

The peanut Satay Dip was quite good and received a score of 8 from my guests (my parents were in town). I think the thing that would have bumped it up to a 10 is if I had used the dry sherry like the recipe called for. I didn't have that, so I used apple juice. Similar ingredient right? Not really, but it sounded like a good idea at the time. That was what was in the fridge, so in a pinch I added it. It needed the little kick that the sherry would have brought I think. I did add a couple extra tablespoons of apple juice to thin out the dip, it was a bit thick. A little tip on fresh ginger...with your leftover ginger that you don't use, peel and put in a baggie then toss in the freezer. Next time you need some just grate it while frozen. My addiction to watching the Food Network taught me that tip!

Oh, and don't make a whole batch, I made 1/2 a batch and we still had a good amount leftover. I served this chicken and dip along with Ina's Broccoli and Garlic recipe, and my testers almost preferred the broccoli dipped in it over the chicken. Heck we dipped everything at the table in it to test it out. My dad actually spread it on the french bread we were eating, saying it was like a weird Asian peanut butter sandwich!

--Carissa