OK, who loves a simple grilled meal?! I do! It’s definitely grill season! And I think this recipe makes a perfect Spring meal! It sounds so fancy, but its really EASY! I swear!
The term Paillard is defined as “a piece of meat, pounded thin and grilled”. Here it’s just a fancy way of saying ‘grilled chicken”! Then you serve it with a simple salad, that doesn’t even require greens – and an amazing tzaziki sauce! This is a full meal that comes together in no time!
The chicken preparation is probably the best I’ve had in a long while. The chicken breast is topped with the simplest, freshest rub. It’s lemon zest, salt, oregano & pepper. That’s it! And it makes such an amazing grilled chicken! And the salad, is simply tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, black olives, and feta cheese – the perfect compliment to this chicken! You have to try it!
Note: we actually used our good ol’ George Forman electric grill – and we only had to grill it for 3-4 minutes! So quick and easy!
Chicken Paillard with Greek Farmer's Salad
Lemon rubbed grilled chicken with the simplest greek farmer's salad - perfect spring dinner!
Ingredients
- CHICKEN:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 2 lemons
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 TSP coarse sea salt
- 1/4 TSP water
- 2 TSP dried oregano
- 1/2 TSP ground pepper
- SALAD:
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes- halved(or 4 roma tomatoes-cut into wedges)
- 1/2 small red onion - sliced into semi-circle rings
- 1 seedless cucumber - cut into half-moon slices
- 20 cured pitted black olives (such as Kalamata) - sliced
- 1 TSP dried oregano
- 2 oz. crumbled feta cheese
- TZATZIKI:
- 1 cup sour cream (or greek yogurt)
- 1/2 seedless cucumber - diced small
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1/2 TSP fresh lemon juice
- salt/pepper
Directions
- Step 1 CHICKEN: Rinse & dry each chicken breast. Place in large ziploc bag or between 2 pieces of parchment, and flatten each breast with a meat pounder or rolling pin until a thickness of approximately 1/2 inch. Set aside on a plate and brush each breast with olive oil on both sides.
- Step 2 To make the rub, zest 2 lemons into a mortar and pestle, add coarse salt and tiny bit of water and grind to mix. Then add dried oregano and pepper, and grind again.
- Step 3 Divide rub into 4 portions to spread on each breast – both sides. ( I used my hands) It won’t look like much rub, but it’s very flavorful, and will too strong if left in clumps.)
- Step 4 On a preheated grill, place breasts over direct medium heat. Cover and turn after about 3 mins. Cook on 2nd side 3 mins or until grill marks appear. Remove from grill.
- Step 5 Immediately squirt lemon juice from 1/2 a zested lemon over chicken. Serve on top of salad.
- Step 6 SALAD: In a large bowl combine tomatoes, cucumber, onion & olives. Mix well and season with salt, pepper & oregano. Sprinkle with feta cheese crumbles, and serve with chicken!
- Step 7 TZATZIKI: Combine all ingredients in small bowl – refrigerate before serving over chicken
