I don’t know about you, but this weekend I found myself in a serious food coma for about 72 hours. And now it has become a bit more difficult for me to think about food. And I love thinking about food.
Eventually however, I will get hungry again and so will you. But I would advise that you treat the next few weeks as a re-coup period because what just happened is going to happen all over again in 3 weeks. So lets make something healthy and refreshing to start the week and month.
A light dish after a weekend of ughhhh.
This chicken breast is lightly marinated in olive oil, lime juice, and spices and topped with a home-made pico de gallo. I served mine with a side of quinoa, but you could also do couscous or rice.
Lime Pepper Chicken
- 2-6 chicken breasts (how many people are you feeding? I make the same marinate for 2 or 6.)
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (2 limes)
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 Teaspoon lime peel
- 1 Teaspoon dried thyme or basil (If you use fresh then up it to 1 Tablespoon)
- 1/2 Teaspoon ground pepper
- Pinch of salt
- 2 cloves garlic minced
Pico de Gallo (I also make a lot of this because it keeps for a few days and it’s awesome)
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped.
- 1 red onion, chopped (I used a few shallots instead)
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 jalepenos or other mild chile
- 4 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro (adjust according to your love of cilantro. I love cilantro.)
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
This is going to work out just fine.
Making the marinade couldn’t be easier. Just mix up your ingredients until they are combined and throw your chicken breasts in a sealed bag with the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Obviously, you could do longer. I like to make it in the morning and then by the time I get home it is ready to rock.
Thirty minutes of this and anything will taste amazing.
There are a few different ways you could cook these guys. The best way might be to grill them actually, but I don’t have grill access in the winter. I started them off in my iron skillet for about 4 minutes a side on high heat and then transferred them to the oven to finish at 350 for 15 minutes. If you are skeptical about whether they are done, it never hurts to slice into one to check. The last thing you want is to bite into a peppery, raw piece of chicken.
Oh. Right. The pico. Well, that’s simple enough. Just chop up all of those nice veggies and mix it up! The secret to good pico is that the longer you let it sit the better it will be (within reason).
If you make the pico first thing for this meal and let it sit while the chicken marinates it will be perfect.
I felt incredible after this meal. The wine helped.
As you can see, I like piling my pico so high you can barely even see the chicken, but trust me it is there and it goes perfectly with the fresh veggies. There is something about a dish like this that makes you wake up the next day with tons of energy.
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I’m biting in now, and it’s pretty fantastic.
One question, though: Once you’ve made the pico…
how do you avoid eating ALL OF IT with tortilla chips?
I’ll be making this tonight, the first recipe of yours that I’m trying. I’m very excited.
Update: Made this last night. The tomatoes at the Teet looked horrible, so I went with canned diced. The pico de gallo was still fantastic–I’m with Bill, how DO you avoid eating all of it with chips? I was starting to get a little nervous that we’d eat it all before the chicken was even ready. The chicken had a nice flavor, very tender. Next time, I’d marinate for longer than the 40 minutes I did (didn’t plan ahead to marinate all day).