Broiled Chicken with Scallion Pesto

Recipe 3/115 coming at ya!

I'm going to be brutally honest... this was somewhat of a disaster. Also, please excuse the terrible picture qualities. I was only able to snap a couple of crappy phone pictures!

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We picked this recipe because it sounded tres easy and simple for a fast dinner. And it would have been just that, if we hadn't had a couple of key things go wrong.

#1 - To make the pesto, I used a mini blender rather than my regular handy food processor. This turned out to be a baaadddd decision, people. This pesto consists of lots of CILANTRO and GREEN ONIONS. Turns out, my mini blender is much better at blending smoothies than greens. The mixture kept clogging the blender, and after about 20 minutes (I was very adamant), I gave up.. and we ended up with a not-so-blended pesto, full of chunky pieces of both cilantro and onion.. not a nice time.

#2 - This recipe clearly calls for BROILING the chicken, rather than baking it. The reasoning for this is so you can have a nice piece of juicy, crispy skinned chicken in half the time... Pretty sweet right!

Well.. it would have been, if we had the right kind of oven. Instead, we nearly burnt the chicken and I spent the entire "broiling time" standing under the fire alarm with a tea towel, waiving at it frantically to keep the fire alarm from constantly going off due to the INSANE amount of smoke coming from our "broiled chicken". I definitely got a great arm workout that night.

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Alas, besides these minor factors, we still had a great night together. We served it up with a side of roasted zucchini and carrots which were simply tossed in olive oil, S & P and a bit of herbes de provence, and some mini nann breads brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and broiled (again with the damn broiling) for a couple minutes.

I don't think I will make this recipe again, simply because we don't have an oven that has a controlled broil option.. it's high or no broil at all.

Maybe you'll have more luck!!

*Original recipe from Sarah Copeland's The Newlywed Cookbook.

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Ingredients

Scallion Pesto

- 6 scallions/green onions (both white and green parts), washed and coarsely chopped

- 1/2 bunch cilantro leaves and stems

- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

- 1 garlic clove

- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or grapeseed oil

Chicken

-4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves

- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

- 1/2 lemon, sliced

- sea salt

- freshly ground black pepper

- flatbread

Directions

Make the Pesto:

- Combine the scallions, cilantro, ginger and garlic in a mini food processor, or finely chop them all and stir together in a medium bowl

- Pulse or whisk together, adding oil gradually, until the ingredients come together in a smooth green paste. Set aside

Make the Chicken:

- Preheat the broiler/grill to medium high with the oven rack about 6in from the broiler flame. Line a broiler/grill pan with aluminum foil and preheat the oven

-Pat the chicken dry and toss them with the olive oil and sliced lemons in a large bowl

-Coat and season chicken generously with the sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

-Carefully remove the broiler pan from the oven and place the chicken skin side down on the pan

-Arrange lemon slices around the chicken

-Return to the oven and broil about 6 minutes. Flip the chicken to skin-side up and continue broiling until the skin is golden and crisp, the chicken is cooked through, and any juices run clear (about 6-8 minutes more)

-Remove the chicken from the oven and let is rest about 5 minutes before serving

-Serve the chicken with the pesto and flatbread (we broiled the bread to make it nice and crispy)

#chicken #pesto #cilantro