Tonight, I had my sweet friend Kerrie over for dinner. Kerrie loves anything with lots of color, so I wanted to prepare something vibrant and delicious. The great thing about this meal was even though I had to work today, most of my prep work was done in 15 minutes before work and dinner was ready in short order when I arrived home. I prepared my pico de gallo with the exception of the lime juice and the avocado, then I cleaned and trimmed the asparagus and pulled the chicken out of the freezer and was half way done with dinner by 8 am!
I served the Grilled Chicken with these adorable purple potatoes (that I found at Publix), with a shallot and parsley sauce. Ordinarily, we don’t budget for “fancy” purple potatoes but they were on sale, right next to the gourds I bought impulsively, so I felt justified in my decision to embrace all things Fall.
Do yourself a favor and try this recipe before avocados go out of season!
Grilled Lime Chicken with Avocado Pico de Gallo
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 scallions diced
2 tablespoons of cilantro minced
2 garlic cloves minced
2 limes – juiced
1 pepper of your choice-I used half of a cubanelle and half of a salsa pepper
1 avocado
1 1/2 teaspoons of sea salt (less if you are using table salt)
fresh cracked pepper
olive oil
Start by prepping the chicken, I like to thin mine out to about a 1/4 of inch thickness, using my handy dandy mallet and parchment paper. Especially for grilled chicken, keeping it thin cooks it really fast and keeps it juicy. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt over chicken breasts along with pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Turn over and season the other side as well ( with another 1/2 teaspoon of salt). Drizzle chicken with 1/2 of a limes juice. Allow to sit while you make the Pico de gallo.
In a bowl combine diced tomatoes, scallions, cilantro, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt (to taste), cracked pepper, the juice of 1 1/2 limes and minced peppers.Put chicken on the grill for about 6 minutes per side – don’t touch the chicken while it is grilling, it will stick. Meanwhile, dice up your avocado and mix with the rest of the Pico de gallo. Once chicken is done, top with the Pico de gallo and enjoy!
Potatoes with Shallots and Parsley
1 1/2 lbs of any small potato (I usually get the little creamer or red potatoes)
2 shallots, peeled and diced
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
3/4 tablespoon of salt
1-2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
Bring pot of water with 1/2 tablespoon of salt to a boil
Start by boiling the potatoes until you can insert a knife into the potato with no resistance (10-15 minutes). Drain and cover to keep warm. In the same pan, melt butter and add shallots. Saute 1-2 minutes until shallots begin to soften, then add olive oil. Add potatoes back to pan, toss with chopped parsley and remaining salt (add more to taste). Cover until ready to serve.
