Grilled Chicken Halves with New Potatoes and Green Beans

Sunday was our son Mike's day for a treat.  His favorite summertime chicken dish is for the chickens to be halved and grilled....So he was in luck!!

My process was to thaw and cut the backbones out of three  free range chickens.  Then I removed the wing tips and using a kitchen shears cut the chicken breasts in half.  I washed and generously seasoned the 6 pieces in a large covered bowl and refrigerated them for about 3 hours prior to grilling.  The seasoning I use is about 1 C. coarse kosher salt too about 1/4-1/3 C. each of garlic powder and black pepper and 2 T. lemon pepper.  Sometimes I take a big spoon of this basic seasoning and mix it with an equal part of paprika for fish or chicken.

My husband grilled them over charcoal until they were done and we covered them with foil and left them in a 200 degree F.  oven until everyone arrived. (About 20 minutes)

While the chickens were mulling in their seasonings in the refrigerator I took the backs and trimmings covered them with cold water and simmered them with salt, pepper, a bay leaf, a stalk of celery,  a carrot, and an onion.  After about an hour and a half I strained the broth and discarded everything else.  I fortified the broth with a couple of bouillon cubes and added freshly broken green beans and a chopped onion, a few chunks of carrots and a pinch of pepper and salt, and one smoked ham hock. I let these cook over medium heat for about thirty minutes.  When Brian put the chickens on the grill I added a dozen small scrubbed new potatoes to the green beans and broth and continued cooking about another 40 minutes.

Dinner was served and there was very little mess.  We served ice cold cantaloupe and double ginger cookies for desert.  Mike must have said thanks half a dozen times and there were very few leftovers!!