Lemon Grilled Chicken with Mediterranean Toasted Quinoa

We are so excited about all the buzz around the last quinoa recipe we posted, Lime Chicken Drumsticks and Quinoa Salad. We’ve heard from many of you who have tried it and we are so happy that you loved it! Quinoa is new to us this year, and we’ve loved experimenting with it. We’re glad that so many of you are using it too! We tried out a new technique with quinoa and it absolutely blew us away! If you like quinoa, you need to try this. Heck, even if you don’t like quinoa, you should still try this out! It will make a believer out of you!

Along with Quinoa, we are also huge fans of grilled chicken breast. There is nothing fancy about them. They are just straight up, good for you deliciousness – when they are seasoned and cooked properly. Dry, flavorless chicken breast may be one of the biggest disappointments in life. But when chicken breast is juicy and flavorful, it is so stinking good! For this meal we went with the fresh flavor of lemon chicken and paired it with a toasty, crunchy mediterranean quinoa salad. Holy crap…this was amazing:

Lemon Grilled Chicken
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 lemon, zested
salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap and, using a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy saute pan, pound the chicken lightly to an even 1/2-inch thickness.

Brush each side of the breasts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Zest the lemon over both sides of the chicken.

Place the chicken on the grill and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the chicken over and continue grilling until the chicken is cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes.

Remove chicken from the grill. Tent the chicken with foil and let rest 3 to 4 minutes.

Mediterranean Toasted Quinoa
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients
3/4 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup kalamata olives, halved
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed
2 scallions, sliced, green and white parts separated
juice of half a lemon

Combine the quinoa and chicken stock in a saucepan, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 garlic cloves and cook for 1-2 minutes until you can smell the garlic. Remove the garlic cloves. (You just want to infuse the flavor of the garlic into the oil.)

Add the cooked quinoa and white parts of the scallions into the garlic infused oil. Stir constantly for the first few minutes until the quinoa absorbs almost all the oil.

Fry the quinoa for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally until it’s toasted and golden brown. (YUM!)

Toss the quinoa mixture, tomatoes, olives, capers and lemon juice in a serving bowl. Top with the rest of the sliced scallions.

Wow. These two together were incredible!!! One bite and we were in Mediterranean heaven! The quinoa was crunchy so when we took a bite of chicken coated in quinoa, it tasted like fried chicken. It’s like magic! We loved the saltiness of the olives and capers balanced with the freshness of the garden fresh tomatoes and lemon. Seriously, we’re having this meal once a week from here on out!!

Have you cooked quinoa yet? What new-to-you ingredient would you like to try?