Grilled Chicken with Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Chicken, Rice and Peas

I've fried lots of chicken in my lifetime. But these days I prefer to grill it. It saves on fat and starch from the breading. And it's generally healthier that way. Marinating chicken before you grill it really helps enhance the flavor. It also moistens the chicken so it doesn't get so dried out. I often do a southwestern style marinade seasoned with chile powder, oregano and garlic and perhaps other herbs and spices. But I found a great recipe on the New York Times that will give a different flavor and decided to try it.

Chicken Marinade

I won't give the complete recipe here, but it includes lemon, honey, Dijon mustard, soy sauce and garlic. And I needed to grill some chicken for my dinner on Sunday, so I went shopping. The recipe is sized for 2 pounds of chicken, but my package of boneless chicken breasts weighed in at about 3.3 pounds, so I doubled the recipe. 

I let the chicken marinate for about an hour. Then I set the rack on the second level from the top, set the broiler on high, sprayed cooking spray on my grill pan, placed the breast pieces on top, and placed them in the oven. I grilled them for five minutes on a side before turning them. I checked the temperature at about 20 minutes. The safe temperature is 165 F and they were about 145, so I gave them another 5 minutes and they checked OK. I set them aside for the meat to rest and then cut a few slices for my dinner.

While they were cooking, I made rice pilaf.

Mushroom Rice Pilaf

Ingredients

2-3 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

4 ounces coarsely chopped mushrooms

1 cup Basmati rice

2 cups water

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried oregano

Method

1. heat oil in a 1 quart pot over medium heat for a couple minutes. Add the onion and saute for about 4 minutes.

2. Add the rice and stir it with the onions for a few minutes until it starts to brown.

3. Sprinkle on the spices, add the water and heat to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes.

4. Add the mushrooms and stir them into the rice. Cover the rice and let it finish cooking for a total of about 30 minutes.

Serving Suggestion

Serve with grilled chicken and peas as a side dish.

This makes plenty of rice to serve with the chicken or some other dish like poached fish.