As Americans enjoy the unofficial start to summer with Memorial Day festivities, chef Tyler Florence debuted his latest cookbook to help home cooks get excited to fire up the grill and create some smokin' hot recipes this season.
The restaurateur and Food Network host joined "Good Morning America" on Monday to share two new recipes from "American Grill: 125 Recipes for Mastering Live Fire."
Florence filled his latest title with foodies in mind, sharing techniques and recipes that will level up any skillset to learn things like how to make the perfect steak, grill vegetables, fruit, fish, and more.
In it, he reimagines some summer staple dishes, including his take on barbecue chicken lollipops and spicy Calabrian chile buffalo shrimp skewers.
Check out his full recipes and tips below for grilled chicken paillard with a fresh fennel, arugula and grapefruit salad as well as his mother-in-law's potato salad.
Serves 4 to 6
"If you dug around on the Internet -- or through my other cookbooks -- you’d find this exact recipe printed a time or two. There’s a very good reason for that. This is my mother-in-law Marge’s potato salad and, in my opinion, the ultimate version. Though I’m always playing with and adjusting old recipes, this one is just as it should be -- creamy, briny, crunchy, earthy. It’s everything you want for a summer side dish and it goes with just about every main course possible, from brisket to barbecue chicken. How could I leave it out?"
Ingredients
2 pounds (910 g) small Yukon Gold potatoes
2 large eggs
Kosher salt
1/2 bunch green onions, sliced
2 tablespoons drained capers
1 cup (240 ml) mayonnaise
1/4 cup (60 ml) Dijon mustard
1/4 cup (55 g) finely chopped dill pickle
1/4 cup (60 ml) pickle juice
1 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Set up a bowl of ice and water. Place the potatoes and eggs in a saucepan of cold salted water. Bring to a simmer. After 12 minutes, remove the eggs with a slotted spoon and plunge them into the ice water to cool.
Continue cooking the potatoes until tender, 3 to 4 minutes longer. Drain the potatoes in a colander and let them cool.
Set aside some green onions and capers for garnish. In a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, pickle juice, onion, remaining green onions and capers, the parsley, and lemon juice.
Peel the cooled eggs and grate them into the bowl. Peel the cooled potatoes with a paring knife. Cut the potatoes into chunks and toss with the dressing to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with the reserved green onions and capers. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Tyler's Tips
Always start your potatoes in cold water when cooking them. This will keep them from becoming “gummy” when cooked.
Cooking the eggs with the potatoes saves time and less dirty dishes.
Serves 3 to 4
"This is one of those insanely simple recipes that’s as good for Tuesday solo dining as it is for a dinner party—it takes longer to heat up the grill than it does to cook the chicken, and the salad can be prepped ahead of time as well (add the greens at the last minute). The salad on top can really be anything— arugula and parm, Italian Chopped Salad (page 65), or any seasonal combination of greens and vegetables. We debated the inclusion of both tomatoes and grapefruit here, as it straddles the seasons a bit. In the end, however, we loved the acidic pop of both unexpected flavors together with briny olives and feta."
Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
1 fennel bulb, shaved
1 grapefruit, segmented
1/2 cup (75 g) crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup (55 g) sliced green olives
1 cup (75 g) assorted leafy greens
1/2 cup (115 g) halved cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1/4 cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Instructions
Cut each chicken breast horizontally into 2 thin cutlets. With a meat pounder or small skillet, pound the cutlets to a 1⁄2-inch (1.3 cm) thickness.
Set up the grill: Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat with a target temperature of 400°F (205°C). Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.
Make the salad: In a bowl, toss together the fennel, grapefruit, feta, olives, leafy greens, and tomatoes. Mix the chives and olive oil together in a separate bowl but do not toss with the salad yet. Set both aside.
Grill the chicken: When the grill is hot, place the chicken directly onto the grates. Grill until cooked through with visible grill marks, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove the chicken and transfer to plates or a platter. Brush the top of the chicken with the chive oil. Toss the rest of the chive oil with the salad and season to taste with a little bit of salt (you won’t need much because of the olives and feta). Top the chicken with the salad and serve immediately.
Tyler's Tips
If you don’t want to pound the chicken, you can just cut the breasts in half horizontally and leave it like that, they will still be thin enough to cook evenly and quickly.
The salad on the top can literally be anything -- from items you found at the farmers market to any family favorite flavors.
The grapefruit paired with tomatoes gives an acidic pop of flavors.
Adding fennel adds a mild sweet taste to the salad.
Using a chive oil as dressing to finish it off gives a subtle onion hint that won't compete with all the other flavors.
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In this ultimate grilling guide, chef, bestselling author, restaurateur, and beloved star of Food Network’s Tyler’s Ultimate embraces his love of deluxe American comfort food to teach readers how to char, caramelize, and marinate to perfection.
