Fresh Herb and Garlic Marinated Chicken

I love this time of year because I have so many fresh herbs in my garden that I can cook with. If you don’t have an herb garden, the local farmers markets are selling fresh herbs. An herb garden is easy to grow and can be done in window boxes. Many of the herbs can be combined with annual flowers.

I always grow parsley in my window boxes with my flowers because parsley is so pretty, grows so fast and big and really fills up the space; I like my window boxes overflowing. You can also grow herbs in your flower beds; I have oregano, chives and thyme growing in my flower beds. Again, they grow big and fill up the space and look pretty. Fresh herbs can be a bit of a pain to cut and clean, but the flavor is worth it! Save your dried herbs for winter when you can’t get the herbs fresh.

In keeping with the “Cooking Around the Car Pool” theme, a dish that can be prepared with interruptions and served whenever your family finally gets home, this dish can be served at room temperature and also right from the refrigerator. So if your family isn’t home for dinner because they are enjoying the long days of summer, they can eat this as leftovers when they do show up. So grill it when it is convenient for you and then fill the refrigerator. I personally think there is nothing better than warm chicken on fresh bread with mayonnaise – yum! So microwave enough chicken to make a sandwich for 30 seconds at a time until it is as warm as you want it. Also yummy if you add some of the seasons sliced tomatoes to your sandwich.

Ingredients

3-4 large skinless, boneless chicken breast – about 1 ¾ lb to 2 lb

½ a bulb of garlic – about 10-12 cloves – minced

1/3 cup lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup white cooking wine

A big handful of each of the following herbs (be generous),
chopped – oregano, basil, chives and parsley. This will be a good recipe with dried herbs as well, use about 1 tbsp each.

Combine all ingredients in big zip lock bag and marinate at least overnight – the longer the better. Prepare your charcoal grill or warm up your gas grill.  Grill chicken about 8-9 minutes per side.

Serve with: Grilled Potatoes

Slice Yukon gold potatoes and toss with a some olive oil, just enough to barely coat and sprinkle and toss with McCormick Montreal Seasonings and fresh or dried rosemary (not sure why I am not growing rosemary this year….definitely an oversight) – again just enough to barely coat.  Grill each side until you have some dark grill marks on the slices and the potatoes are soft enough for a fork to easily go through.