Barefoot Thursday

OK so I had to tweak it a bit. There is no question that the Barefoot Contessa's recipes are almost always something I enjoy, but this time around I decided to tweak it a bit. Blame it on my kids because they don't like dark meat chicken (unless it's well hidden in a casserole-and I can be oh so clever). So in the interest of making something everyone will eat and in the interest of not being wasteful with food, I tweaked.

For those just rolling their carts into my aisle, what I'm talking about is my recipe for Barefoot Thursday-a day that rolls around twice a month when some 100 Barefoot Bloggers prepare a delicious recipe created by none other than the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) herself. Today's recipe was selected by Stefany of Proceed with Caution. She selected The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Butterflied Chicken-her recipe as published by Food Network can be found here.

I used your ubiquitous boneless chicken breasts (sorry, boring, I know) instead of the whole deboned chicken called for in the recipe. I tossed the chicken, garlic, lemons etc. in a large zipper top plastic bag and let it marinate for a few hours before tossing it on the grill. To zip it up a bit, I made a Creamy Cracked Pepper Lemon Buccatini on the side. Yummy.

Rosemary-Lemon Grilled Chicken (adapted from Butterflied Chicken by Ina Garten)

6 boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2 inch thickness

1 lemon, very thinly sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a zipper top plastic bag and shake to completely coat the chicken; marinate for at least an hour.

Preheat a gas grill to medium high heat. Remove the chicken (leaving any lemon slices on the chicken) from the marinade. Discard marinade. Grill the chicken 8 minutes total, turning occasionally. Serve with the Buccatini-recipe follows.

Creamy Cracked Pepper Lemon Buccatini

1 pound Buccatini shaped pasta (you may use fettucini or linguini)

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups skim milk

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Regina cheese

1 lemon, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon capers, drained

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente.

While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a medium sized sauce pan over medium high heat. Whisk in the flour, pepper and salt; cook for 1 minute or until lightly browned and bubbly. Stir in the milk and cook, stirring, until boiling and slightly thickened-about 5 minutes. Stir in the Parmigiano cheese.

Drain the pasta and transfer to a large bowl; stir in the lemons, the Parmigiano sauce and the capers. Serve immediately.

Please remember to vote for my recipe in the Evening Category at Dole!!! See the above right hand sidebar for information! Thanks!