Grilled Chicken with Marinated Tomato Salad
As we move close to summer and tomatoes are showing up at the Farmer’s Market, I like to serve tomato salads with a grilled protein for an easy dinner. This tomato salad, is more like a relish and is so good that if it were up to me, I’d have a cherry tomato attached to each piece of grilled chicken I put in my mouth. It’s that good! The chicken can be swapped out for fish or even a steak. Play around with whatever herbs you have on hand too. If the tomatoes don’t look good yet, you can use a can of San Marzano tomatoes, peeled and whole. Just dice them and continue with the recipe.
Tips:
Going through the effort of peeling the tomatoes will give them a nice, smooth texture and help the tomato break down a bit in the salad. It is however, not necessary. You can just cut the tomatoes in half and make the salad or use a can of whole tomatoes, as I mentioned above.
You can prepare the tomato salad in the morning and place it in the refrigerator. Just bring the salad to room temperature and adjust the seasoning before serving.
It’s important to dry the chicken before you grill so you get a nice char on the outside. The olive oil marinade will flare up if you don’t.
Make it Caprese with some cubes of fresh mozzarella in the tomato salad.
I had some leftover sourdough bread, so I made croutons out of it and turned the salad into a panzanella-ish salad. Wasn’t disappointed!
Grilled Chicken with Marinated Tomato Salad
Serves 4
PREP 20 minutes
COOK 10 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Marinated Cherry Tomatoes:
3 cups cherry tomatoes
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoon parsley, minced
1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced
1.5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chicken:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 clove garlic, sliced
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
For the marinated cherry tomatoes: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Make a small "x" incision at the bottom of each tomato. Blanch the cherry tomatoes for 1 minute and immediately transfer them to a large bowl filled with ice water (an ice bath). Allow the tomatoes to cool, and then peel the tomatoes and discard the skins.
In a medium bowl, mix together the peeled tomatoes, onions, olive oil, parsley, basil, mint, vinegar, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and allow the tomato mixture to sit at room temperature for 4 hours.
For the chicken: Combine the olive oil and garlic in a large bowl. Add the chicken breasts, making sure to coat all sides with the marinade. Cover and let marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Preheat the grill to medium heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and pat dry with a towel. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Add chicken breasts and grill for around 5 minutes on each side, depending on how hot your grill is and how thick the chicken breasts are. Allow the chicken to rest, tented with foil, for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve the chicken with some of the marinated tomatoes on top.