chicken, or chicken?

​My daughter and her family were here over the weekend. I wanted to prepare a new recipe so that I could share it with you, plus I wanted it to be something easy to do with a 22 month old on hand. I found on the New York Times cooking app, a recipe by Martha Rose Shulman for Lemon and Garlic Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes. This a 30 minute recipe that uses EVOO, fresh lemon juice, garlic, fresh rosemary, boneless chicken breasts, cherry tomatoes, fresh parsley and some Parmesan cheese.
 
I chose this recipe as Whole Foods has on Prime Member special until today, boneless chicken breasts. I also had the fresh herbs needed for this recipe in my garden. I did need to purchase from Delicious Orchards fresh lemons and cherry tomatoes. I didn’t want cherry tomatoes on a vine, so I selected mixed cherry tomatoes. As I use their personal shopping service, I wasn’t quite sure how these tomatoes looked, but I did know they were sold in a container. What I received was tomatoes from Village Farms, greenhouse grown Maverick mix tomatoes; were they delicious! On their own the tomatoes had a nice sweetness.

​The chicken is marinated in a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and salt and pepper.  Prior to marinating, I butterflied the breasts and lightly pounded them to an even thickness. I did this before marinating, though Ms. Schulman said to do afterwards.  To me it seemed like it would get a bit messy pounding wet chicken breasts. After marinating, the chicken breasts are seasoned with salt and pepper and lightly dredged in flour. The chicken is sautéed for approximately 1-1/2 minutes per side, and then kept warm in the oven. Though the recipe had you first adding wine to deglaze the pan, I would suggest sautéing the tomatoes first (to allow them to burst open) and then adding the wine and continuing with the recipe’s directions.
 
I must say this was a tasty dish for an early summer supper. My family enjoyed it, even my son-in-law who gets chicken more than beef.
 
My daughter asked me if had any more of the Dominick wild-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico that was on sale last week at ShopRite. Luckily for me I had almost 1-1/2 pounds left and was able to make Grilled New Orleans-Style Shrimp to go along with the chicken dish.
 
This recipe is from Gourmet Magazine July 2003. It takes 40 minutes to prepare. For the recipe you need 1-1/2 pounds of large shrimp (21-25 per pound), olive oil, garlic, salt, unsalted butter, chili powder, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and fresh lemon juice.
 
To prepare the shrimp, you use a scissor to make a slit down the back of the shrimp, devein the shrimp and toss the shrimp with the oil, garlic and some salt for about 15 minutes at room temperature. The sauce that dresses the cooked shrimp is made with butter, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce and a bit of salt. The shrimp is threaded on skewers and I then grilled for approximately for 3-4 minutes, or just till they turned pink. The shrimp are removed from the skewers and tossed with the butter mixture.
 
As the shrimp are served with the shell on, I recommend placing dishes on the table for the shells and lots of paper towels for the buttery fingers. The shrimp are spicy, with just a little bit of heat. Again, my family enjoyed the shrimp, as did my 22 month old granddaughter. You can also serve some crusted bread with the shrimp to soak up any leftover sauce in the dish. This is a great Fourth of July appetizer or main course. ShopRite continues to have this brand of shrimp on sale for $12.98 for a 2 pound bag.