When chef comes home to cook, he heads for the great outdoors.

Byline: THE $10 GOURMET By Jim Boyd The Register-Guard

Darryl Cole, executive chef for Bene Gourmet Pizza, offers a meal with a barbecue theme in today's edition of The $10 Gourmet.

The main course is a Grilled Half Chicken With Lime Chili Mustard Sauce accompanied by Tomato Cucumber Salad, Sauteed Green Beans With Bacon and Onion and a Sauteed Potato Medley With Rosemary Garlic Butter. Strawberry Shortcake With Walnuts and Whipped Cream completes the meal.

Cole chose the menu because it's appropriate for the summer season.

"During the summetime, I spend a lot of time out on the grill," Cole said. "Because I'm in a hot kitchen all day long, I don't particularly like to be in a hot kitchen (at home). So any opportunity that presents itself, I try to get outside and do grilling outside."

Cash register receipts show that Cole spent $10.56 on ingredients at WinCo Foods and Trader Joe's.

The $10 Gourmet is a feature that permits professional chefs to give menu ideas to home cooks. The chef cooks a meal for two on a $10 budget. However, small amounts of kitchen staples don't have to be included in the cost.

The following ingredients from the kitchen of Cole's home in Springfield aren't included in the $10.56 cost: oregano, rosemary, butter, garlic powder, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, red onion, baking powder, olive oil, walnuts, Asian sweet chili sauce, bacon, flour, sugar, powdered sugar, whipping cream, milk, vanilla and a lime.

Cole has been cooking professionally for more than 20 years. He graduated in 1987 from Western Culinary Institute (then the Horst Mager Culinary Institute) in Portland and worked for hotel and restaurant chains and at casinos before coming to Eugene three years ago.

He and principal owners Erika and Kevin Cohen founded the three Bene Gourmet Pizza restaurants in Eugene. He serves as executive chef for the restaurants and manages the one at 2566 Willamette St.

Grilled Half Chicken With Lime Chili Mustard Sauce

1 chicken

Salt and pepper 

For the sauce:

3 tablespoons butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons mustard (French's or Dijon, depending on your taste)

4 tablespoons Asian sweet chili sauce

Juice of 1/2 lime

Cut a fryer-broiler chicken into two halves by first removing the backbone (cut down both sides of backbone with knife or shears) and then splitting the chicken in half (place chicken breast-down on a cutting board and split the breast in half lengthwise by pressing down firmly with a chef's knife). Or buy a broiler that has already been split by your butcher.

Season the chicken with salt and black pepper. Mix together remaining ingredients to make the compound butter that is used as a barbecue sauce. Spread the butter mixture under the chicken's skin next to the meat and on the skin.

Place chicken halves, skin side down, on a hot grill long enough to create grill marks. Turn the halves over and continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink and the juice runs clear, approximately 30 minutes. Check frequently to be sure the chicken does not burn.

Note: To prevent flare-ups from dripping fat, Cole has removed the ceramic briquettes from the bottom of his gas grill and cooks directly over the flames.

Tomato Cucumber Salad

4 tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

For the dressing:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 to 2 tablespoons dry oregano

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Place tomatoes, cucumber and red onion in a bowl.

Whisk dressing ingredients together and add to the bowl. Mix gently and place, covered, in refrigerator to chill until served.

Sauteed Potato Medley With Rosemary Garlic Butter

1 tablespoon dried rosemary

2 small red potatoes

2 small gold potatoes

2 small purple potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon garlic powder

Salt and black pepper to taste

Soak dried rosemary in hot water to soften. Drain when ready to use.

Cut each potato into 8 wedges. Place in pot of water over medium heat and cook until the wedges are fork tender but not overcooked so that they crumble. Drain.

Place butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the drained potatoes and drained rosemary. Season with garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Cook until the potatoes begin to brown.

Sauteed Green Beans With

Bacon and Onion

1/2 pound green beans

4 slices bacon

1/2 red onion, sliced

Salt and black pepper

Snap off the ends of the green beans and then snap the beans in half. (If your saute pan is large enough, you can cook the beans whole.) Blanch green beans in boiling water, about 2 minutes. Place under cold water to stop the cooking process.

Slice the strips of bacon into a medium dice by cutting lengthwise and then crosswise.

In a saute pan over high heat, cook the bacon with the onions until the bacon starts to crisp, then add the beans. Saute until the green beans have browned a bit but are not overcooked (al dente). Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Strawberry Shortcake With

Walnuts and Whipped Cream

For the biscuits:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chilled butter

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon whole milk or cream, chilled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon melted butter

For the topping:

2 pints strawberries, sliced

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 pint whipping cream

5 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and set rack at middle level.

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Cut chilled butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, two knives or your fingers until the mixture is the consistency of coarse corn meal.

Combine the milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk all at once. Stir until the dough is fairly free from the sides of the bowl.

The time for stirring should be a scant 1/2 minute.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board. Knead gently and quickly for scant 1/2 minute, making about 8 to 10 folds.

Roll with a lightly floured rolling pin until the dough is 1-inch thick.

Cut 3-inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or form into patties with your hands.

Brush rounds with melted butter, then gently press walnuts onto the tops of the rounds.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a sheet pan covered with wax paper.

Bake until done - 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Slice the strawberries into a bowl and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Prepare the whipped cream by beating cream, powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract together until peaks form.

To serve, cut a biscuit in half as you might slice a layer of cake in half. Place the bottom half on a serving plate, ladle on strawberries, add the top layer of biscuit, more strawberries and whipped cream.

Note: This recipe is adapted from Cole's recipe, from a recipe in the "Joy of Cooking" and from other sources.

SETTLING THE BILL

Frying chicken: $3.12

Cucumber: 78 cents

Tomatoes: $1.27

French's mustard: 88

cents

Green beans: 83 cents

Potato medley: $1.69

Strawberries: $1.99

Total: $10.56

CAPTION(S):

Darryl Cole offers a menu of grilled chicken, tomato cucumber salad, green beans with bacon and sauteed potato. Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard Darryl Cole, executive chef for Bene Gourmet Pizza, grills chicken as part of a summer meal.