So it was a pretty crazy week. Spring is finally here and I have been pretty busy getting the herbs outside and planted. There is also the fact that kids have been having half days at school this week. Basically things have been non-stop.

This of course does not relinquish me from my cooking duties (unless I am feeling reckless and let my wife cook 🙂 ). I had some chicken that really needed to get cooked and originally my plan was to fire up the grill and barbecue it with my normal recipe. There just wasn’t enough time to cook all of that and have it on the table at dinner time.

So I decided to whip up this barbecue sauce from scratch and just tasted it as I went along. It came out wonderful and I cannot wait to try it on the grill, but this recipe and technique is for the busy person who really only has time to cook it in the oven (and stove).

Sauce:

• 1 cup of ketchup
• 1/4 cup of Grey Poupon or other such Dijon mustard.
• 1 heaping tablespoon brown sugar.
• 1 small red onion (or shallot), chopped fine.
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced.
• 2 tablespoons of Canola oil.
• Pinch salt & pepper.

Put the oil in a large skillet and heat to medium. Cooke the garlic and onion until the onion is clear. Cool on a plate (discarding oil) for about 10 minutes.

Add the ketchup and the mustard to a small mixing bowl and whisk together well. I did this by eye & taste but basically what I was looking for here was for the balance of flavor to be 60% ketchup and 40% mustard. Balance it to your tastes.

Whisk in the onion and garlic and check the taste. Alter as desired.

Now most oven barbecued chicken (with barbecue sauce not a rub) always tastes funky to me. It is usually soggy and saggy. Here is what I did to combat that:

• 6-7 pieces of chicken (thigh, drum, breast, etc (with skin)) .
• Salt and pepper.
• Canola Oil.

Heat the over to 350.

In a large skillet with the bottom coated lightly with some Canola oil, heat to medium high. Spice your chicken with salt and pepper and place skin side down and sear for about 5 minutes, rendering out the fat until golden brown and the skin gets crispy. Turn and cook for another five minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan and drain the fat. Add the chicken back to the skillet (skin side up) and using a tablespoon (a real tablespoon, not a measuring tablespoon) place a real tablespoon of the sauce over each piece. You should have a little left over. Place the left over in the fridge.

Smear the sauce (that is on the chicken) all around each piece and place the skillet in the oven for twenty minutes.

Remove from the skillet and place the pieces in a glass casserole large enough to fit all the pieces and leaving about an inch between them. Cover with foil and put in your fridge for at least an hour. You can save it like this for up to two days. The longer it stays in the fridge (it is fully cooked) the more flavorful it will become.

When your ready to make dinner, remove the chicken from the fridge FIRST, then preheat the oven to 400. The glass casserole dish needs to warm to room temperature before you just pop it in the oven (it could crack). Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 20 – 30 minutes or until hot.

You will notice there is no more grease in the dish. This method gets all of the fat out of the chicken and allows it to firm up when you cook it the final time.