Well. Here we are, almost two seasons (autumn and winter!) under our belts, and I’ve posted only vegetarian recipes, with the exception of some salmon handrolls a while back. We eat meat, but not much. Perhaps once a week we eat a bit of free range chicken. Or wild roo. Sometimes seafood, mostly calamari. So I’m not quite sure how I’ve managed not to post about any of this. I guess I’ve just been inspired by vegie dishes. Vegies are sexy, in my books. Anyway, it hasn’t been a conscious decision to not post about meat. I’d like One Small Kitchen to reflect what I like to make and eat. After we got back last week from nearly three weeks of camping, I was looking forward to grilling something. So picked up some free range chicken. The following day we noticed a new Portuguese restaurant in our neighbourhood, and K mentioned how much he loved the food when he was travelling in Portugal. I did a bit of googling. And voila.
The following dish is all about the marinade, which is loosely based on Portuguese flavours – loads of sweet paprika, garlic, lemon and lime, olive oil and cayenne pepper. We had this with brown rice and simply sliced tomato which was a cool complement to the marinade’s kick. I will be definitely making this again – perhaps in summer, barbecued, slung on homemade flatbread with a simple tomato-yoghurt salad and beers on the deck. Yum. Or perhaps sliced and served over a quick lime crunch coleslaw for a light dinner. Dinner party? Perhaps a whole chook, oven-roasted (treble the marinade). Either way, I am looking forward to spring, some warmer weather, and the promise of sunshine and barbecues. (Oh and thinking about making a simple flowerpot barbecue which would make an unassuming companion to the pots on our deck 
.)
I used the juice and zest of one lemon and one lime as these were the only citrus I had in the house. You could easily use lemons or limes. I also like free range or organic chicken, and cooked this under the grill – but you could easily do this in the pan, or as mentioned above, on the barbecue or even in the oven. Oh, and a word on garlic. I buy up big on Australian garlic when I find it – it’s quite often available at farmers markets, but not so often in the supermarkets – and it lasts for months on the shelf at home. And of course tastes truckloads better than the imported stuff.
2 medium sized chicken breasts
1 tbspn sweet paprika
zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
2 large or 3 medium sized garlic cloves, finely chopped
few good dashes of cayenne pepper
2 tsp raw or brown sugar
1 big tbspn olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste
Combine marinade ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice chicken partway through the fillet horizontally, and cover in marinade, making sure to push it into the cuts you made so the flavours permeate the breast. Cover and place chicken in fridge for up to an hour.
Meanwhile, prepare whatever you’re making to go with the chicken – rice, salad, flatbread, potatoes, etc.
Remove chicken from fridge and place under the grill, turning halfway through cooking. I always check with a knife when I think it’s done, to make sure it’s cooked through. Rest for a few minutes on a plate under foil.
Serves 2.
Tried this last night — my boy absolutely loved it. The chicken was soooo juicy and the marinade perfect. Served it with brown rice and tomato/cucumber. Will be making it again for sure.
x
Hey Megan – glad this one found a fan! Sam x
Delish!! Loved that it was bursting with flavour yet still so healthy! Looking forward to tomorrows leftovers for lunch!
This was delicious… I left out the cayenne and paprika, and used a couple of teaspoons of a masterfoods portuguese seasonsing instead, but went with the rest – sugar etc.. . The chicken ended up being marinated for a couple of hours (cause our toddler wanted to stay up much later than we planned), but this was great, it almost parcooked the chicken in the citris… so a good thing. I served it with a whole pureed cauliflower (you remove the greens, chop it into 4-6 pieces, cook it on the stove over medium heat covered in in milk and garlic until the stalks are soft, then blend it until pureed, then put it in a colander lined with a clean fresh chux for 2 hours to drain the excess fluid – really its that simple – you just reheat it gently on the stove when you are ready to use it) and threw in some parcooked chopped carrots and fresh broccoli into the pan I used to grill the chicken, and the dinner was amazing and healthy and so flavoursome I know this will be a regular dinner in our house, but also, the chicken will be something I will take to BBQ’s all the time, to get lots of cudos and credit for being an excellent cook
Thanks – loved this one!
Beautiful stuff ! ! ! Liked it so much I actually pissed my pants ! ! ! . . . Honestly!!!