Monday, October 22, 2007

Lemon & Rosemary Marinated Grilled Chicken

Bam! Sort of...

I'm not a huge fan of Emeril; I guess he's ok. I've only tried one of his recipes in the past which was the Chicken Marsala and that was pretty good. Since most of his recipes seem to involve pork fat and heavy spices, I tend to stay away. Not there's anything wrong with pork fat or spicy food, it's just that I can't eat it.
I was recently looking for a marinade for grilled chicken and I came across his Lemon and Rosemary Marinated Chicken with Couscous and Sauted Balsamic Cremini Mushrooms. I decided to give it a try, minus some of the spices and I opted to forgo the balsamic cremini mushrooms because I didn't have any on hand. I used tabouli instead of couscous. It was very tasty. Here's my version:


Lemon & Rosemary Marinated Grilled Chicken

1 package of Near East Tabouli, cooked
4 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon Essence, recipe follows
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place the chicken, lemon juice, olive oil, rosemary, and Essence in a re-sealable, 1-gallon plastic bag. Let marinate for 1 hour at room temperature. Preheat a grill pan to high heat. Remove the chicken from the plastic bag, and place on a platter. Season the chicken on both sides with the salt and pepper. Place the chicken, smooth side down, on the grill and cook for 4 minutes, rotate 45 degrees and cook an additional 4 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for another 4 minutes on the second side, or until cooked through. You can choose to baste the chicken with the marinade but you need to either: baste the chicken and continue cooking the chicken a little bit longer on each side or you need to bring the marinade up to a boil for at least 5 minutes and then you can baste the chicken.(I didn't bother)
Serve over cooked Tabouli.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper(I only used 1 teaspoon)
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper (I only used 1 teaspoon, if that)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly. Yield: 2/3 cup

Side note: I recently used this same marinade on chicken cutlets. I broiled them on a foil lined bake sheet for about 5 minutes per side. The trick to cooking it perfectly is to lightly pound the chicken to make sure it is of even thickness. This extra step is worth the time and trouble because there will not be some pieces over cooked and other pieces undercooked. (I've learned my lesson)

3 comments:

Emily said...

YUM! This looks like it came out of one of Emeril's restaurants.

I really want to try tabouli. I think the couscous would have been good with this, too.

As for Emeril, yeah, not really a huge fan. He annoys me. Good chef, though. He gets excessive in his ingredients.

Annie said...

Thanks!! I agree, he does get excessive with his ingredients- I say keep it simple stupid! ;)

Emily said...

I'd like to smack him on the head and say, "BAM!".