Grilled Lemon Chicken with Savory Polenta and Roasted Asparagus

This dish is an inspiration of a great school day...all the dishes we created in the Nutrition class came out smelling and tasting so good.  I decided to recreate and mix some of the recipes.

Roasted asparagus taste soooo good, my take on a savory polenta with fresh tomatoes and onions salsa, and a lemon-y grilled chicken breast....can you say  UMMM GOOD!

For my recipes today, I used sofrito.  Sofrito is the base for most Puerto Rican dishes.  It involves blending garlic, cilantro, recao, green peppers, spanish peppers, sweet peppers, onions, sometimes tomatoes into a puree.  Other ingredients might be used depending on the person making it. 

For these recipes my sofrito includes cilantro, onions and green peppers.



Polenta ingredients:



Savory Polenta (6-8 servings)

3 cups water, separated

1 c yellow corn meal

1/4 t salt

1 T butter

2 t chopped cilantro, green peppers, onion (sofrito)

1/2 c cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Combine 1 c of water with salt in a small pot, mix well.

2.  Place pot on stove-top, medium heat.  Add 2 c boiling water.  Stirring frequently.

3.  When cornmeal starts to thicken, add sofrito.

4.  Continue stirring for 10-15 minutes until desired consistency is achieved.  The last minutes of cooking, add butter and cheese.

When you are ready to serve, top with tomato salsa.  Recipe follows:



Cooked polenta





Salsa ingredients:



Tomato Salsa (Yield:  about 1 cup)

3 oz tomatoes, chopped (I used cherry tomatoes, cut in half.)

1 oz red onion, diced

1 T white or red wine vinegar

1/2 t salt

1/2 - 1 chopped jalapeno (depending on level of heat you like)

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 t sofrito

This is simple, combine all ingredients.



Marinade mix and chicken breast



Chicken Marinade

the juice of 1 lemon

2 t sofrito

1 garlic, minced

2 t onion, minced

1 t sazon

1/2 t black pepper

1 whole chicken breast, (cut into 3 pieces)

1.  Combine all ingredients, add chicken breast and marinade for at least 30 minutes.

2.  You can either bake the chicken or use a grill to cook it.  About 15 minutes per side on the grill.



Cover and refrigerate until ready to use



Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus

olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for 15 minutes on a 375 degree oven.

Now put it all together and enjoy! All the flavors compliment each other, think of Mexican-Italian flavors with a Puerto Rican twist...LOVE it...Fusion in the kitchen...

Buen provecho,

MJ