Sunday, June 6, 2010

Griddled Balsamic Chicken

A few years ago at Taste of Dublin, I was lucky enough to get a place on the Ballymaloe Cookery School class, led by the lovely Darina Allen and her inimitable assistant Pam.  There, I learned to make mayonnaise from scratch and how to butterfly a chicken breast to perfection.  This is a great method to cook a piece of chicken very quickly especially if you have a griddle pan (like my new one from Ikea!)

This time around, I decided to make a Balsamic & Garlic marinade for the chicken pre-griddle and it was a huge success.

Griddled Balsamic Chicken

2 Chicken Breasts
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 cloves of Garlic, crushed
1 tbsp Lemon Juice (fresh or out of a bottle if you're really stuck...)
Salt & Pepper

Trim your chicken very well, removing any sinew, fat or tendons in the fillet and mini-fillet. 
Place your chicken on a chopping board, and using a very sharp knife, slice the chicken breast along the length, cutting the fillet in two, but leaving a join.  Open it out, using the knife gently, until it is evenly split & there's no large lump of chicken at the back (when you do this, you'll realise exactly what I mean!).

Mix the rest of your ingredients, pour over the chicken and leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes.


Heat your griddle pan until smoking hot, then add your butterflied chicken breasts.  Cook on each side for approx. 3-4 minutes





Serve it with a big salad and, if you used real lemon, some lemon wedges to squeeze over the chicken.  This also works really well on a barbecue and makes a chicken breast look very impressive indeed!

2 comments:

  1. pam is fantastic alright, I worked on that stand last year with the classes that were coming in - complete insanity as we made pan fried chicken, mayonaise and roast potatoes in about 15 minutes flat!

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  2. I'd love to do the class again - but only if they were doing different dishes

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