Girl Meets Grill...

All things considered, I had an incredibly productive weekend. Not only did I see two movies, but I also ran a number of errands and scratched several items off my to-do list. Justin and I headed to Home Depot, found some planters that match our apartment, bought some soil, and Justin re-potted all of our plants. Aside from looking better and more cohesive with our decor, most of our botanical menagerie was long overdue for new housing anyway.

While we were at Home Depot, Justin also purchased our long-awaited grill, which we've been talking about buying practically since we moved in. I actually don't like grilled food that much, as I find its charred flavor unappealing, but I find myself frequenting employing my grill pan to make all sorts of dishes. Given our questionable ventilation system, I manage to fill the house with smoke practically every time I pull out the grill pan, so I've been eager to move the entire process outdoors.

Plus, for the time being, the condo adjacent to ours is vacant, as it moves through the foreclosure process. Because we share a deck with it and another unit, we've been eager to snag a prime location for our grill while the competition is minimal. As of today, the spot officially belongs to our new Weber.

That doesn't mean that we've had the time to assemble it, however, so for tonight's "grilled" chicken, I had to turn to my stove top one last time. Predictably, our living room filled up with smoke, and the sticky, sweet glazed burned onto the surface of the pan, making it a nightmare to clean afterward. Next time, we will definitely be making this dish outside.

Despite my bias against grilled food, I actually rather enjoyed this dinner. It's hard to go wrong with peaches/nectarines as far as I'm concerned, and cooking them quickly over high heat seemed to intensify their sweetness. I was relieved that the glaze tasted strongly of peaches, because when I stirred the ingredients together it smelled overwhelmingly of barbeque sauce. It may be downright un-American of me to say, but I absolutely hate barbeque sauce. I think it has a lot to do with my strong aversion to molasses, but other than that, I can't really put my finger on why I loathe it so.

Thankfully, the adobo sauce from the chipotles, which added the color and smokey notes of conventional barbeque sauce, was ultimately quite subtle in the dish. In fact, I think Justin was disappointed that the dish wasn't spicier, after I'd told him that it contained chipotles. In the future, I might experiment with adding a bit more adobo.

Once we get our new Weber up and running, I'm looking forward to giving this recipe another chance. Keep a lookout for more grill-friendly recipes as the summer progresses!

Grilled Chicken and Nectarines with Chipotle-Peach Dressing

adapted from Bon Appétit

1/3 c. peach preserves

1/3 c. peach nectar

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers

2 teaspoons olive oil plus additional for brushing

3 large nectarines, cut into 8 wedges

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1. Coat grill rack with nonstick spray. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Stir preserves, next 3 ingredients, and 2 teaspoons oil in medium bowl; season dressing with salt and pepper. Transfer 1/4 cup dressing to small bowl.

2. Brush peaches, then chicken with oil and dressing from small bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Grill chicken until cooked through, to 165 degrees. Grill peaches until slightly charred, about 2 minutes per side.

4. Place 1 chicken breast on each of 4 plates. Surround with peaches. Drizzle dressing from medium bowl over chicken and peaches.