Cilantro Lime Chicken

As you can tell by my lack of posts this past month, September was a busy time for us. The girls and I were all getting used to their new school schedule, especially getting up at six in the morning! Needless to say, by the time each evening rolled around, I was too tired to work on the blog. However, now that October is here, I think I'm starting to get into the swing of things. And I really want to share some of the recipes I've been trying out over the past month.

I was inspired to come up with this recipe because I had some extra cilantro lying around that I didn't want to go to waste. Back before we had kids, I used to make a recipe for grilled cilantro lime chicken. However, most of the flavor for that dish came from the cilantro lime butter that was spread all over it. Since we're trying to avoid consuming as much dairy now, I wanted to increase the flavor of the chicken itself so that I wouldn't need to spread butter all over it to make it taste good. On a hunch, I started with my recipe for rosemary lemon chicken and modified it to use cilantro and lime instead. Voila! The chicken tastes great all by itself, without the help of any butter. But for those of you who love butter and can still eat it happily, I've included the recipe for the cilantro lime butter at the bottom.

Cilantro Lime Chicken
serves 3 to 4 adults

Ingredients:

• 1 to 1 1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts that are either kosher or organic
• juice of 1 lime (2 to 2 1/2 Tbsp.)
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
  
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

Rinse the chicken breasts thoroughly under cold water and place in a quart-size Zip-lock bag. Mince the cilantro and transfer to a small bowl. Add the lime juice, minced garlic, sea salt, and black pepper. Whisk in the olive oil. Pour the marinade into the bag with the chicken breasts. Seal the bag and massage the marinade onto the chicken. Place the bag with the chicken in the refrigerator for at least one hour, but preferably two.

Remove the chicken from the bag and grill until the chicken is done.


Cilantro Lime Butter

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp. lime zest
• 1 1/2 tsp. fresh lime juice
• 1 shallot, minced
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, minced
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Let the butter soften on the counter top. In a small bowl combine the rest of the ingredients. Then stir in the butter until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated into the butter. Form the butter into a log or spoon it into an attractive bowl. Place the butter in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let it firm up before serving.