Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken or Zucchini

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Marinade Ingredients:

1/2 cup Dijon mustard (or mustard of your choice)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp. garlic powder or minced fresh garlic (fresh is best)

2 T crumbled dried rosemary (see below) or 3 - 4 T minced fresh rosemary

1 tsp. coarse ground black pepper

1 T Spike Seasoning (optional, but recommended, or use any good all-purpose seasoning if you don't have spike)

1 tsp. celery seed (optional)

(To crumble rosemary, put the desired amount into a small ziploc bag and crush with your meat mallet or anything heavy until it is broken up and partially powdered.)

Trim all fat undesirable parts from chicken breasts, then make small slits going crosswise down the length of each piece of chicken. This is to help the marinade penetrate the meat and make it so the chicken cooks more evenly. Be careful not to cut too far into the chicken. Put chicken and marinade into large ziploc bag and let marinate in the refrigerator at least 6 hours or all day.

When you're ready to cook, take chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Make sure your grill is clean and spray or brush with oil or grilling spray, then preheat grill to medium-high heat. (Sometimes I use a paper towel dipped in olive oil to rub oil on the grill again immediately before I put the chicken on. Try that if you have a problem with meat sticking on the grill.)

Lay chicken on the preheated grill at an angle to grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes (or until you see grill marks when you lift up the edge of the chicken.) Rotate chicken going the opposite angle to the grill grates and cook 3-4 minutes more (or until you see criss-cross marks when you lift up the edge of the chicken.) Turn chicken over and cook until chicken is firm (but not hard) to the touch. Actual cooking time will depend on how thick the chicken breasts are and how hot your grill is. For the most accurate way to tell when chicken reaches the safe temperature of 165F, use an instant read meat thermometer to test chicken.

You might get flare-ups if the marinade drips down when you put the chicken on the grill. I spray water on them, even though some experts say not to do that. Don't baste chicken with the reserved marinade because it contains bacteria from the raw chicken.

For Zucchini:

To use this marinade for zucchini you can shorten the marinating time, although I have marinated it all day when I was going to be out and it turned out great. Cut zucchini pieces into lengthwise slices about 3/8 inch thick. This is a great use for larger zucchini that has escaped you, as long as they are not too huge. Another great variation of this recipe is to make kabobs with chunks of chicken and zucchini alternating on skewers after they have been marinated separately.

This chicken could also be cooked in a stove-top grill pan with ridges or a George Foreman Grill with good results.

#rosemary #musard #chicken #zucchini