Home Cooks Online

This recipe from Dave Utrata takes a marinated chicken breast
and serves it on a bed of rice containing some Moroccan-inspired dried
fruit.

It was my hope that this dish should conjure up Mediterranean
flavors and Northern African themes.  Or
just make the mundane shine with more pizazz.  It also utilizes a rice cooker
to simplify matters.  I must be a late bloomer because I just recently discovered these things, although I know they've been around for so long.  Adding low maintenance additions to the easy cooking rice are an easy way to enhance the range of tastes presented as side dishes.

Pesto-marinated
Chicken Breast on Moroccan Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast


• 
  ½ cup prepared pesto sauce (apologies to the
  pros who know I should make my own)


• 
  1 cup rice


• 1 cup plus a bit more water


• 
  ½ cup black olives, pitted & sliced


• 1 bunch green onions, trimmed and cut into small
  slices


• 
  6 dried figs, chopped with stems removed


• 
  4 dried dates, chopped with stems removed

Directions:

1.      Begin
by tenderizing a large chicken breast using something like a Jacquard
tenderizer.  Since chicken breasts these
days seem to have both thin and thick regions, particularly if they’re large, this
will have the added effect of making the meat more uniform in thickness,
thereby helping promote more uniform grilling.

2.      Spoon
the prepared pesto sauce over the chicken breast in small container, coating it
entirely and then refrigerate for 4 hours or so.

3.      Using
a rice cooker, prepare the rice according to directions.  Using a scant 1:1 ratio of water to the rice
seemed to work well here when I used Jasmine rice.

4.      Add
the olives, onions, figs and dates on top of the rice in the cooker. These will
just be steamed, effectively, and add to the mix of flavors by stirring just
before serving.

5.      Grill
the chicken breast, giving
it a rapid cooking on each side for one minute.  I found that the pesto marinade didn’t really
result in flare-ups from dripping oil, which I had feared, and this method
appeared to sear the marinade on place.   
Flip the breast a few times during grilling to more evenly heat during
cooking.

6.      Remove
the breast from the grill and let rest a few minutes.  Meanwhile, stir the rice mixture and spoon
about half of the mix onto each of two pasta plates or soup bowls.

7.      Slice
the chicken breast into strips and serve half over each serving of the rice
mixture.

I was really pleased with the mix of flavors, the ease of
prep and cooking, and even found the portion size sane but satisfying.