Thursday, January 10, 2008

Dinner with family


Last night, Rob's cousin and Aunt came over for dinner. I decided to make one of my staple dinners-- lemon chicken skewers, and used a new dessert recipe as part of my New Year's Resolutions.

Lemon chicken skewers. This is a cinch!
Ingredients:
  • Boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 inch cubes (easiest to cut if a little frozen). One breast per person usually works well and will make about 2 skewers. Marinade below was used for four chicken breasts.
  • Juice from 2-3 lemons - at least 1/2 cup
  • Juice from 1 lime (optional)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup parsley, chopped
  • 2 tbsp. finely chopped garlic
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 1 tbsp. salt
  • 1 tbsp. ground pepper (white or black)
  • 2-3 medium onions, chopped into 1 inch pieces (big enough to skewer)
  • 1 pound white mushrooms, whole
  • About 15 wooden or metal skewers. If wooden, soak in water for 20 minutes before using to avoid scorching on grill or BBQ.
I made this indoors on a Lodge cast iron grill pan. Outdoors is even better... less cleanup!
Directions:
  • Throw lemon/lime juice, oil, parsley, salt, pepper, garlic and sugar into a big bowl. Whisk to combine.
  • Put all ingredients in the marinade and mix around to coat everything. Seal bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours, stirring at the one hour mark if possible.
  • When done marinating, put chicken on skewers alone. Veggies on their own skewers. Can add tomatoes, pineapple, bell pepper or anything else you like as long as they are lightly coated with oil.
  • Grill or BBQ until done. Can re-coat chicken and veggies while grilling with marinade but do not use it to pour over everything after done cooking as it held the raw chicken.
  • Serve with Jasmine rice, Pita and Naan bread, a giant salad and any side veggies you like. Cous cous is another great side with toasted pine nuts and golden raisins.