Grilled Lemon-Pepper Chicken

This recipe – like many of my creations – was a simple and off the cuff creation based on the contents of the fridge.

When I was a student teacher, and my wife was just out of graduate school, our relatively low income limited our food budget. Our repertoire of recipes included simple and cheap meals: ground beef tacos, pasta with red sauce, hot dogs and hamburgers, and chicken with bottled marinades. One of our favorites was a simple lemon-pepper marinade – like Lawry’s – which was a nice departure from the usual, BBQ or teriyaki sauce.

While our combined income and interest in good food have both increased since those days, our tastes have not shifted as dynamically. As such, lemon pepper chicken is still a fairly normal part of our weekly menu-plans, although the recipe has transformed – and freshened up – quite a bit.

This recipe is a personal favorite, as it has a special depth of flavor. The ginger lends a sweet backbone that complements the tart lemon and the spicy zip of the red pepper. The recipe is rounded out by the herbaceous pungency of the parsley and the garlic.

What’s really nice about this recipe is that it’s easy. Besides chopping the ingredients, it’s almost as simple as pouring marinade from a bottle. Plus it’s immeasurably more delicious.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
• ¼ cup lemon olive oil
• 1 ½ lemons (juice and zest of)
• 1 tsp pepper
• ½ tbsp crushed red pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ cup fresh parsley – chopped
• 1 inch of fresh ginger – minced
• 2 cloves garlic – minced

Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, pepper (both kinds), salt, parsley, ginger and garlic together in a bowl.

Add the strips of chicken, and glorp – don’t worry, it’s a fancy, onomatopoeic word for mixing raw chicken with liquids – the mixture around. Make sure that the chicken is coated thoroughly.

Place the chicken in the refrigerator, and allow it to marinate for up to an hour.

Preheat the grill over medium-high heat.

Grill the chicken for eight minutes over medium-high heat, turning once.

I served this simple grilled chicken with grilled veggies and a homemade pasta with tomatoes and wilted arugula