Grilled Chicken With Garlic Mayonnaise

Simple and addicting, I first had this dish at a little hole-in-the-wall Lebanese restaurant in Berkeley, California about 30 years ago. I returned almost nightly for weeks, it was that good. It's best over a grill, but when grilling isn't possible, roasting will do.

Ingredients:
3 to 3 1/2 pound chicken, split in half

marinade

Garlic Mayonnaise

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Ingredients for marinade:
3/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves, crumbled
4 1/2 teaspoons thyme leaves or 1/4 teaspoon dried
3 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, preferably freshly ground in a mortar or spice mill
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparing the marinade:
Mix together the marinade ingredients in a shallow bowl.

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Preparing the grilled chicken:
Gently pound the chicken to flatten it. Add the chicken to the marinade and turn to coat well. Marinate, skin side down, 2 hours, basting occasionally.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and place skin side down on a broiler tray. Broil about 7 minutes to each side to brown the chicken, basting occasionally with the marinade. Transfer to a 400 degree F oven and continue cooking and basting skin side up about 15 minutes more.

Serve with the Garlic Mayonnaise on the side.