Southwest Chicken with Risotto and Greek Salad

It's late August and everyone has more tomatoes and cucumbers than they can use, us included. Greek Salad is the best way I know to use up these seasonal delectables. Chicken again and I'm going to pound it as everyone seems to like flattened bird. Andree has never tried my risotto so that completes the plate.

I put 3/4 cup Arborio rice, 3/4 cup chicken stock and a pinch of salt in the microwave (Panasonic Genius has Rice preset) to cook. I could have done it on the stove but that requires more attention and I'm not convinced it makes better rice. That is half the amount of liquid but I will be finishing the rice in a frying pan on the stove.

Next I put a breast on a sheet of plastic wrap and folded it over.  I pounded each breast flat to less than half an inch thick. I seasoned both sides with my Southwest Rub and sprayed them with oil.


Southwest Spice Rub

2 tbsp  chili powder
2 tbsp paprika
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp  brown sugar
2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp cayenne (optional, but it really helps)

I cooked the chicken on the BBQ on medium low heat. 2 minutes, rotate, 2 minutes, turn over, 2 minutes rotate, 2 minutes and they're done. This time I left them in one position a bit longer and got good grill marks.

The Greek Salad consisted of cucumber, yellow and red cherry tomatoes, chives, black olives, feta cheese, oil (1/3 xv olive), salt, pepper and juice of half a lemon. Amounts will vary but if you have a pool of oil and lemon juice at the bottom of the bowl, you have too much dressing.

When the rice was done in the microwave I took it out and fluffed it with a fork. For the Risotto I grated about a loosely packed cup of parmesan. A tablespoon of oil in the frying pan and almost 1/4 cup of butter. When the butter was melted I put in the rice and enough chicken stock to thoroughly wet everything and stir the rice to thicken the sauce.  Next I added the parmesan cheese and stirred it in.  I added a little chicken stock till it had a smooth creamy consistency and plated it next to the chicken. I put the salad on the plate with the chicken and risotto but this was a mistake.  Even though the salad was not overdressed, the dressing still ran into the chicken and risotto. A small bowl on the plate or beside would have been much better.