Cooking made easy! That’s Jeff Mauro’s goal when it comes to hosting family and friends during the holidays.
This season, the Food Network cohost, 41, is partnering with George Foreman to make grilling year-round possible — even if you’re dealing with cold weather outside. The Chicago native caught up with Us Weekly to share tips on why smokeless grilling is the best way to survive the holiday season.
“Don’t rush anything,” he tells Us. “Not that it’s a long process. You just want to make sure your grill is preheating, you want to make sure your meat is seasoned and then you put it on the grill.”
When it comes to using the George Foreman Smokeless Grill, you’re not limited to only cooking meat. Fruit, veggies and even pizza are even more delicious once smoked.
“I have halved avocados without the pit in there,” Mauro adds. “It’s delicious on a hot grill, quick two minutes until you get some nice char marks and some smoky flavor. People don’t realize that you can grill an avocado.”
The Kitchen cohost continues, “Pizza dough, it’s awesome on a grill … We grill one side and you flip it, yet you have your toppings and they start melting on that hot side — super easy. You don’t need a $10,000 pizza oven to do it.”
Check out Mauro’s easy recipe below!
Chargrilled Sweet & Sour Chicken Skewers
Serves 10
Ingredients
1 cup pineapple juice
½ cup rice wine vinegar
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup ketchup
3 tbsp soy sauce
1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into 1.5-inch pieces
1 ½ tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp. of water
2 cups fresh pineapple, cut into 1-inch squares
2 cups cherry tomatoes
1 large green bell pepper cut into 1-inch squares
Sesame seeds for garnish
Broccoli for serving
10 10-inch skewers
Directions
1. Mix together pineapple juice, rice wine vinegar, light brown sugar, ketchup and soy sauce. Take half of the sauce and place in zip-top bag with chicken. Marinate for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours. Refrigerate the other half of the sauce mixture until ready to start cooking.
2. Take other half of sauce and mix with cornstarch mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes until thick. Set aside half of that simmered sweet and sour sauce for dipping!
3. Preheat George Foreman Smokeless Grill to medium high.
4. Take chicken out of marinade and dry off with paper towel. Now comes the fun part. Using wood skewers, place the ingredients in this order: pineapple, tomato, chicken, pepper … repeat.
5. Place on George Foreman Smokeless Grill and listen for the sizzle. Take the simmered sweet and sour sauce and start glazing, cooking each side of the chicken for about 5 minutes or until chicken is charred and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and serve over steamed broccoli with extra sauce!
With reporting by Marc Lupo
