Grilled Chicken with FETA + BASIL SAUCE

FETA + BASIL SAUCE

♥  2 C. FETA CHEESE, crumbled
♥  2 T. FRESH BASIL, chopped
♥  1 HEAPING T. GARLIC, fresh and minced
♥  ½ C. MILK
♥  ½ TSP. CHILI POWDER
♥  ½ TSP. SUGAR
♥  ½ TSP. PEPPER

Boil a couple inches of water in a double boiler, reduce to med-high.

(or set up a small pot with water and bring it to a boil and have all your ingredients in a heatproof glass bowl larger than the pot.  Place the bowl over the pot.  Make sure it doesn’t touch the water, needs to be above the water)

Combine all the ingredients to the upper pot of your double boiler or into your glass bowl.  Mixing and stirring until creamy and fairly smooth.

You may need more milk if it’s too thick.  This is a thicker type of sauce so it’s not going to be thin and runny…  You want to dollop it on top of your grilled chicken.

Who doesn’t love a dollop of anything?  LOL

I have a large square cast iron dutch oven and the lid for it has grills on the underside so lately I’ve been using this heavy duty thing for everything.  I flipped the lid over and heated up the grills and grilled the chicken.

My go to staple is frozen boneless skinless chicken breast.  I buy them in 4 kg boxes or bags whenever they go on sale and usually have 4-5 packs in my deep freeze at any one time.  Chicken breast is high in protein and low in fat.

Season them with a little olive oil and some salt and pepper and grill to perfection.

When cooking chicken without skin, I always baste with a brushing of olive oil.  This will help seal in the natural juices of the meat and keep your dinner from going dry.  Have the grills or your pan preheated to med-high before adding the chicken.  Avoiding moving the chicken once you place it on the grills.  It will stick at first and you know you’ll be tempted to try and move it and “un-stuck it” but don’t!  It will pull away from the heat source on it’s own when it’s ready.  Well for the most part… just be patient alright.  This way you’ll get the perfect sear and grill marks.  Also, avoid turning and turning pieces of meat.  The raw juices cook on one side and then when you flip the piece of meat you allow the cook juices to run down through the rest of the meat helping cook that side through.  Flipping prematurely and back and forth might withhold some of those raw chicken juices and leave the center raw.  RAW!!!!  Don’t want that.

I heard this along time ago.  I only assume it’s true but it makes sense.  So I try to be as patient as I can and cook evenly and properly per side.

The image above includes salt. However my recipe does not.  When I made this, I added salt and found it to be incredibly too salty.  The feta gives this creamy topping enough salt…
Yum!  Look at it in all it’s feta and basil goodness.  I find I don’t cook with a lot of cheese, but feta can be used in so many ways!  I’m loving it.
Now #getinmybelly!

Give this one a whirl guys, it’s super easy and delicious too!

 

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Bruschetta Chicken on Spinach and Avocado Salad

Look at it all steaming and juicy up there. My photos are aways rushed and half assed because I’m anxious to eat it! Haha. #bloggerproblems

I made my Bruschetta Chicken again. I baked it in the oven this time, because the air is thick and the fog is heavy and I really don’t want to be out by the BBQ right now.

I make this often it seems but I added a little twist by putting it on a salad this time. It’s that good. Plus, I need to eat more green veggies.

Fresh Spinach is a favorite in our house.
Since I decided to do a salad with the chicken this time, I got to work on the tomatoes and dressing the day before so it had lots of time to marinade together.

Start by chopping up and deseeding 4 Roma tomatoes, into small even pieces so they stay on the chicken nicely.

Add in 2 Premade Homemade Garlic Balls or 4 or 5 minced garlic cloves.

I used 1 full packet of fresh basil and about half of another one {rolled and sliced, chiffonade style}.

But the good thing about cooking and the reason I find it so hard to post specific recipes is that… it’s always up to you, as to how much of what, you add. Your palate is different than mine and the joy of cooking is making it your own Fo Sho! Whoa, ramble, where was I? Oh ya the tomato mixture…

K, add in some coarse sea salt and about a cup and a bit more of the balsamic vinegar. Give it a good mix and then refrigerate it over night.
Day of dinner!

Butterfly 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts {see how in my previous Bruschetta Chicken post done a few months ago}

I then scored them and drizzled on some balsamic and popped those bad boys in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. After this time I cranked the heat up to 425 and left them for another 5 minutes.
15 minutes after you’ve put the chicken in you’ll want to prepare the basic salad. This is made up of fresh baby spinach leaves, cubed avocado {this is why we wait 15 minutes. Don’t want your avocados to brown on you.} and some more chopped up Roma tomatoes.

Next pull out your marinaded tomatoes. With a spoon take some of the liquid, the oh-so-yummy, garlicky, vinegary, tomatoey goodness, and drizzle it over your salad. Some might want to add some olive oil but I don’t see the point. It’s not needed!!

My phone starts wailing “I’m Different by 2 Chains signifying that the chicken is ready for toppings. I let it play for a few beats and jam out obviously, before taking it out of the oven.
Reduce the heat back down to 400 degrees.

Sprinkle some mozzarella cheese and heap on the marinated tomatoes. I think I get them close to an inch high. Completely cover the chicken with the tomatoes, in my opinion this is the best!

Bake in the oven again for about 10 minutes keep your eye on em.
Tomatoes stay fairly fresh and juicy.
When they’re done they look like this. I know, I can’t believe the cooking sheet actually comes clean after this, but it does, to some degree… LOL

Now, I like to find my biggest knife and chop up the chicken into lengthwise strips on a cutting board. Lift the cutting board and swipe that juicy, hot, steaming chicken onto your oh-so-fresh salad.

Need I say more? No, I thought not.
Now grab a fork and dig in.
You have waited long enough.

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Grilled Bruschetta Chicken & Pasta

I was very excited to try tonight’s menu out.

(Tomorrow I promise I will post something other than food. My blog was not meant to just be about food but these days it seems to be. Sorry about that.)

Ok, so tonight I tried something new. Now I’ve never even had bruschetta let alone make it so this was interesting for me. First of all I wasn’t even sure I was going to like it. I am not opposed to balsamic vinegar, I just have never tried it. Remember it was only a couple of years ago that I started liking flavors of foods. Also, I have never cooked with basil or rather fresh basil. And do I like tomatoes. Cooked yes, but fresh…. I’m still not sure yet.

Basically… this ought to be interesting hey? But I wanted to try something new and more importantly, something fresh!!!

Here we go!!

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken & Pasta


Ingredients:

Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied, see pictures below
salt & pepper
1/4 C. extra virgin olive oil or as Rachael Ray calls it, EVOO. *gaaa*
1/4 C. balsamic vinegar
mozzarella cheese in slices
fresh grated parmesan cheese

Topping

2 roma tomatoes, finely diced
handful of grape or cherry tomatoes, finely diced
4 or 5 cloves of minced garlic
1 T. balsamic vinegar
10 fresh basil leaves, rolled and sliced thin
fresh grated parmesan cheese



Instructions:

Chicken

Season chicken with S & P
Mix vinegar and oil and brush on both sides of chicken breast
BBQ the seasoned chicken breasts

Once cooked, cover with mozza slices and a sprinkle of parm

Topping

Mix tomatoes, garlic & vinegar in a bowl
Top the cheesy chicken with the tomato mixture
Then sprinkle with fresh basil & parm
Place topped chicken back on the BBQ or in a hot oven for a few minutes

I served this with pasta.

I used Farfalle pasta, better known as bowtie pasta

I made a mozza parm cheese sauce with chicken stock, tomatoes, basil & garlic for the pasta

Thanks for visiting! I hope someone tries out this recipe and let’s me know what you think.
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Thanks again guys!