Monday, October 22, 2012

Mediterranean Grilled Chicken w/Couscous Salad


This recipe is another wonderful installment of the 5 ingredient recipes featuring chicken.  This creation  is also currently in a Bare Chicken recipe contest, and hopefully progresses to the top 20 for voting coming up on Facebook starting November 5.  Wish me Luck!!  Inspired by beautiful and rustic flavors of the 21 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea including Morocco, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan, Spain to name a few.  These amazing sea side countries enjoy a diet rich in fresh fruits, veggies, and a host of grains, seeds, nuts, pasta as well as yogurts and cheeses, with a focus on poultry and seafood, that is usually grilled.  Olive oil is the fat of choice and a plethora of fresh herbs and spices are used respectively.  I enjoyed creating this quick and easy recipe and the flavor profile is bursting with color and taste.  There are only 5 ingredients and not an inch of flavor is compromised in this super simple, simply delicious recipe.  My 5 year old Bronwyn loved it and said "It's delicious Mommy", as did my sister Hollie and my niece Laura.  Their ages are 5, 28 and 23, so I feel it is safe to safe it can appeal to  wide age groups with equal satisfaction.  Enjoy!

Recipe:
1 lb. Chicken tenderloins, Just Bare if available
1 box Parmesan couscous
1 jar whole Greek Kalamata olives
1 jar sun-dried julienne cut tomatoes with herbs
fresh mint

Place tenderloins in a resealable bag with 1 tbsp. sun-dried tomato oil and 2 tbsp. olive brine. Massage tenderloins with marinade until equally coated.   Press out excess air and seal.
Marinate 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package instructions, omitting the olive oil and salt. Heat grill pan to medium high.  De-seed 12 olives and roughly chop.  Roughly chop 2 tbsp. of sun-dried tomatoes.

After marination, discard marinade and grill chicken until no longer pink and the  juices run clear,  or the internal temperature reaches 165* F, about 2 minutes for double sided grill or 4 minutes per side on a stove top grill.
 Let rest for about 2 minutes.  
Toss prepared couscous with sun-dried tomatoes and olives until desired texture.  Toss with 1 tbsp. julienne of mint.
To serve, mound equal portions of couscous on serving plate and arrange an equal portion of grilled chicken as desired along side or atop couscous salad. Garnish with mint leaves.   Serves 4.

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