What would the Fourth of July be without a story about grilling? We already did our yearly “Ode to the Hot Dog” for PlaneBusiness Banter readers this week. Hey — it’s a tradition. What can I say?
Even though that “Shuttle Dog” creative project in eating from NASA was truly revolting to contemplate.
So today it’s time to alert you to a story in the weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal. (sub requred) Not only is it about grilling, but it features an airline CEO — Jeff Potter of Frontier Airlines.
Hmmmm.
This piece screams “PR Placement” to me. I noted last month that Frontier Airlines announced that it had hired a Denver-based PR firm, Linhart McClain Finlon to help “boost” awareness of the airline on a national level. I would bet money this is a result of the firm beating the media pavement.
Whether or note a low-cost airline should not just hire a cracker-jack internal PR person to do this type of thing is an argument I won’t get into today. After all, it is a holiday.
What I will comment on is Jeff’s recipe for Chimichurri Marinade. I’m a big fan of grilled steak with Chimichurri, and this recipe sounds like it would work pretty well.
Jeff Potter’s Chimichurri Marinade
Yield: 2 cups; enough for steaks for four
Active preparation time: 15 minutes
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon, preferably Maggi brand
8 peeled garlic cloves
3 cups tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 cup fresh cilantro
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice (from 2 or 3 limes)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Dissolve chicken bouillon in ½ cup boiling water and set aside to let cool.
• With the motor running, drop 1 garlic clove at a time into a food processor. Scrape sides of bowl. Add cooled bouillon, parsley, cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper. Blend.
• Pour 1/3 to ½ of marinade in bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly on surface, refrigerate until ready to serve as sauce. Use remaining chimichurri as a marinade for flank steak.
And oh, the best quote from Jeff “Mastergriller” Potter? That he first saw the 40,000 BTU grill he uses on the deck of his house in an in-flight magazine — of another airline.