A friend recently announced she’d got some chicken pieces in her fridge but didn’t know what to do with them so she ate out instead.

On that note, it’s only fair that I share this recipe; I’ve been cooking boned chicken portions this way for years; it’s foolproof and you’ll have a supremely moist and fragrant chicken dinner in less than 30 mins (excluding marinade time).

You can whip up the marinade in a couple of minutes after your morning espresso and you’ll enjoy really delicious chicken 4 – 24hrs later with little or no further effort from you, other than turning over the chicken to brown on both sides.

In the summer I’ll do this outside on a BBQ grill, otherwise I cook it on the stove top in a heavy ridged-bottomed grill pan.

Serve with whatever you like veggie-wise or slice thinly and throw onto a Caesar or your favorite salad; use as a pizza topping, etc.

If you have a pestle and mortar it helps to create a creamier marinade; you’ll see why…

Notes at the end.

CHICKEN GRILLED with ROSEMARY, GARLIC & LEMON

(Serves 2-4, depending on the size of each piece)

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts, preferably organic

2 peeled garlic cloves, roughly chopped

1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt

The finely grated zest and juice of 1 small lemon

4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh rosemary

Half a bay leaf

A good grind of black pepper

Action:

Start by uniformly flattening the chicken portions to approx half an inch thick; place each piece between two layers of cling film and pound the fatter parts gently with a rolling pin or empty wine bottle until suitably flattened. Place them in either a shallow baking dish or a large, sealable plastic bag.

For the marinade; using a pestle and mortar if you have one (see notes); pulverize the garlic and sea salt together until you have a creamy emulsion. Whisk together with the remaining ingredients and pour this over the chicken, making sure everything is well coated.

Marinade in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours and up to a day. Remove the bay leaf.

Heat up your grill/grill pan until smoking hot (no need to oil) and without overcrowding, sear the chicken until you have nice grill marks on both sides. Lower the heat and continue to turn every few minutes to get both sides nicely browned and until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle.

Delicious and juicy whether eaten hot or cold.

Notes:

If you don’t have a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic through a press and use a fine grain sea salt. Whisk all the marinade ingredients together well.

Costco is great value for organic chicken and their boneless, skinless thighs come in handy sealed packets, each with enough for 2 people.

Crowding everything into the pan at once will result in steaming the chicken rather than browning it. This goes for all pan-grilled meats, fowl, fish, etc., so always do a couple of pieces at a time for best results.