Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Where were the men?

I grew up surrounded by strong, opinionated, activist aunts. There was a plethora of them. In most cases the men just did as they were told or else. My Aunt Teresa who lived with us, known inside the family as Senorita Teresa Bove' "the countess of Grove Street". Aunt Teresa was a spinster she never married. She dedicated her life to her family especially me!

As the story went she fell in love with a count in Italy while studying music there for many years. She was educated at the college of Saint Rose before it was fashionable for women to do so. If the countess was still with us she would be 108. That would put her at St Rose somewhere around 1922. She came home from Italy and taught music at the New York Conservatory of Music for a few years, never getting over the heartbreak she experienced in Italy and never dated again.

She was a relentless disciplinarian. Over the years she attained two additional masters degrees, spoke three languages and drove my brother and I about crazy, making us play classical music on the piano, never a Beatles tune oh no!. She was her brother Peter's right hand and became the state chairman of the Vt Fresh Air Fund something Uncle Peter started.

Mother was just about as opposite as you could design from Aunt Teresa. The Casa Bianca was where mother held court for many of  other aunts who would assemble and play scrabble all night long. It was a group of strong women, career and business women all of them. Aunt Elmer owned and managed the 7up bottling plant in Rutland. Aunt Vee along with her husband Jack owned and operated the Schlitz Beer distributorship, my mother a restaurant aunt Janet a charge nurse at the hospital and Ameilia an antique dealer.

Aunt Elmer's plant became the rite of passage for all the male cousins. It was the first job all my male cousins had summers once they were old enough to work. Elmer ran the plant with an iron fist. She had a vocabulary akin to the railroad employees. When she was upset you knew it. My brother Peter was no exception and he tells me this story.

Aunt Elmer left cousin Harmon and Peter at the plant one Saturday morning to receive a truck load of sugar. The bags of sugar were 100 pounds each and there were 100 bags to arrive. Peter and Harmon were to bring the bags to the second floor via a escalator. However while waiting for the truck my brother and Harmon decided to make the escalator into a skate board and ride it up and down the stairs. The escalator came to a stop.

Scared to death of of Aunt Elmer the boys carried the 100 bags of sugar up the stairs one at a time. They were afraid to tell her about the escalator and didn't want her to see the unfinished job as well. So the story was that the escalator stopped working with just a couple of bags to go. Elmer walked to the breaker box and flipped the switch and off it went! Fear is a funny thing.

Fathers day is here and we hope you bought dad a new Propane Gas Grill from the propane people at Proctor Gas. In case you didn't we are still here waiting for you! Happy Fathers Day to all the dads especially the grilling dads.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce & English Cucumber Salsa

Marinade

1/4 cup of peanut oil

grated zest and juice of one lime

1 teaspoon of fish sauce

1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic

1 teaspoon  hot sauce

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon cumin

You can use chicken breast 4 halves or boneless skinless thighs, the thighs are more difficult to skewer but have a wonderful moist finish.

Cucumber Salsa

 1 English cucumber/ they have no seeds

1/2 sweet red onion chopped small

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

juice of 1 lime

1/2 chopped jalapeño
 

Peanut butter Sauce

 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 fresh lime juiced

2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce

2 teaspoons fish sauce

Mix the marinade together

16 wooden skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Prepare the chicken, slice in 1/2 inch slices and place in marinate for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure they are covered with the marinade.

Cut the cucumber into pieces about the size of a dime place into a bowl and mix with all the ingredients, let it stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

On a very low heat put the ingredients for the peanut butter sauce in a sauce pan and warm stirring slowly with a whisk. Do not let it simmer. If it gets too thick add a bit of water. Take it from the heat.

Take the chicken from the marinade and place on the skewers. Fill the skewers best you can.

Heat the grill with one side on high heat and the other on medium. Place the chicken on the hot grill with the open part of the skewer hanging over the lower heat so it doesn't burn. Cook about 3 minutes on each side testing for the pink to be gone in the chicken. Cook with the top closed on your PROPANE GAS Grill. Serve with the warm sauce and salsa.