Grilled Greek chicken breast with roasted vegetables

Time to turn on the BBQ my friends. We are right in mid-summer and if we don’t capture this moment it will slip right by! Lately, for the past number of months, I really haven’t bought meat in my grocery runs. I did this week though, for Mr Oreo’s birthday dinner (because Mr Oreo is not vegan, duh). Since we have a few chicken breasts on hand, why not make this easy and one of my favorite recipes on the grill? Today we are having Greek Grilled chicken breast with roasted veggies.

Like most people, my relationship with chicken breast is sort of love-hate. It’s low in fat and high in protein – making it one of the most lean meat products around. But it can be dry, tasteless, boring! If I had to pick, I’d rather have dark meat instead any day. But don’t fret, it doesn’t have to be awful. I found this easy peasy recipe a couple of years ago and everytime when faced with Chicken breast, this becomes my go-to.

What you need:

- 1/3 cup of lemon juice

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 2-3 tbsp of steak shake (or a combination of salt, pepper, red pepper flake, onion and garlic powder will do just fine)

- 4 chicken breasts (flattened or sliced in half)

- Cubed: 3 potatoes, 1 med red onion, 1 zucchini, 1 green bellpepper.

Recipe:

- Wash the chicken breast, and slice each into 2 thinner slices. Careful not to cut yourself! Alternatively you can pound the thing so it’s thinner. We are trying to make the meat even thickness throughout so it cooks evenly. I like the slicing method so less grilling time, and more marinate flavors!

- Put the breasts in a container or ziplock, pour lemon juice, olive oil, and seasoning in it. Mix around and let it sit for 30 min or so. This gets the chicken breast nice and marinated, and the acidity of the lemon juice really makes the meat much more tender.

- In the mean time, throw all the cubed vegetables in a pan, add some oil, salt, pepper, mix so it’s coated. Place on bbq, keep heat at med (around 400- 450F). This needs about 45 min anyhow, so just leave it while your chicken is marinating.

- Oil your grill, turn up the heat to med-high (450F ish), grill your chicken 3 min, turn the slices and grill for another 3 min. voila! Since we sliced the chicken pieces so thin it really doesn't take a whole lot of time to cook. But as usual, check by slicing a piece in half, make sure the juice runs clear and no pink bits!

Note:

Though there were no distinct “Greek” ingredients, but I assure you this tastes like how a nice Greek chicken souvlaki skewer! Also, I love the grill lines, isn't it just... gorgeous? 

We also had some home grown peppers, in olive oil, sizzling on the bbq with soysauce, brown sugar, coriander, sesame, and sesame oil. This added a bit of spice, and can be used for drizzle or dipping. I tried to be artistic when I drizzled some on my plate, feel free to adjust the spice level as you wish.

In total this took about 30 min active time, and 30 min inactive marinate/idle time. Not to bad for a weeknight meal I have to say. Happy grilling!