Father’s Day Menu: Be Amazing

As I said I worked on my planned Father’s Day Menu today. Because I was developing the recipes I thought it would be good to do it when I had time to make adjustments. It turned out to be a good thing. Marc has to work Father’s Day so I just said, “Well, Happy Father’s Day, then!”

Pictured above are all of the items on the menu. I did it all in one day so I could better give you an idea of how to make things ahead, and what kind of time you are looking at. This post is the schedule and in the following few days I will get the recipes posted. It isn’t difficult at all, pinkie swear. If you plan well, and make some things ahead you should be able to knock this out really quickly. I shopped for, prepared, and served this all in one afternoon. I began the prep at 2:30 and served the meal at 6:30. Not all of that was work time.

The menu features organic chicken breast in a Southwestern inspired apricot and pepper glaze. Smoky, sweet, tangy, and spicy makes this chicken move way beyond anything boring or mundane. Prior to grilling the chicken is marinated in Tazo’s Vanilla Apricot White Tea and a little orange juice. This gives it another layer of apricot-orange  flavor that is very nice and keeps it moist on the grill.

When I was just married and just learning to cook I heard someone say, on a cooking show I think, that it is good to repeat a flavor in the menu to make it memorable. I chose to repeat the flavor of orange. I decided that dessert was going to be Red Velvet cupcakes and then had an electrode go off or something. Cheesecake! Better yet, ORANGE cheesecake marbled in the cupcakes. Did it work? Oh, my yes it did!

The meal is rounded out with homemade rustic rolls, sliced ripe tomatoes, and easy grilled corn with cumin butter. These are all quite easy. If you aren’t in the mood to make bread I would suggest a tangy artisan sourdough to balance the sweetness of the apricot glaze.

Father’s Day Menu

• Spicy Apricot Glazed Chicken
• Extra Glaze for Condiment
• Grilled Corn on the Cob with Cumin Butter
• Sliced, Fresh Tomatoes -drizzle with some good olive oil and sprinkle with smoked salt
• Homemade Rustic Rolls or Sourdough Bread
• Red Velvet-Orange Cheesecake Marbled Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

While you can do this whole thing in four hours or less I would really suggest making it over a period of time. Here is a sample schedule I came up with.

2 Days Ahead -

1. Make sure you have all the items for the recipes
2. Read through recipes and be sure you understand them
3. Make rolls but do not brown. Flash freeze them. You will finish baking them just before serving – 2 hours total time, not all work.
4. Make the glaze and refrigerate – 3o minutes

1 Day Ahead

1. Make cumin butter – 5 minutes
2. Cut each chicken breast in half to create two thin pieces, you will hold the knife parallel to the chicken while doing this. (I have pictures for the recipe)= varies with skill, about 15 minutes max
3. Brew tea and add orange juice. Place with chicken in a ziploc bag. -5 minutes
4. Cook Corn and refrigerate – 10 minutes

Day of Dinner

1. Make Cupcakes- 30 minutes
2. Make frosting- 10 minutes
3. Frost cupcakes 10 minutes
4. Heat the grill
5. Brush corn with cumin butter
6. Grill Chicken
7. Grill Corn
8. Slice tomatoes

That’s it. The cupcakes go together really fast. Nothing else is time consuming except the bread.

Even if the man in your life is a steak kinda guy this chicken may woo him to the dark side. Recipes are on their way! As I post recipes I will try to remember to come back here and link to them to make it easier for you.