Grilled Chicken Caprese
My daughter tells me the I should share how I can pull together a meal from just about anything in the kitchen. There are a lot of staples we keep in the kitchen and there are times we have ingredients that need to be eaten. So I look around, and figure something out.
This post is about one of those nights, when we did not want to go out and did not want to go to the grocer. So this adventure was about what we could create from what we had. It was good, better yet, we made it up as we went along!
Basics in the Kitchen.
Bottled Italian dressing is a staple in the house. It’s a quick great marinade for chicken or fish. It also is a good addition for a pasta, chopped veggies and cubes of cheese for a summer pasta salad.
For this, just marinate for 1 hour in a glass dish.
Pesto from the garden, then frozen in small amounts, creates an easy sauce addition to chicken, pasta, salad or even rice. Our pesto recipe can be found: Here. We are fortunate to have tomatoes and basil in the garden now. In the winter months, we always have both on hand from the grocery store.
Fresh mozzarella cheese is a great to have on hand as it also has so many uses in a variety of dishes. Pasta and Italian are a go-to, but mozzarella is great in salads, melted over any kind of sandwich or served with fruit and prosciutto. Our very favorite dish with mozzarella is caprese salad, so tonight we decided to add a protein and make a meal of it.
After marinating the chicken for an hour, place on the grill. Have the rest prepped as it goes pretty quickly. Grill for about 20 minutes until done.
Remove from the direct heat and place the mozzarella on the chicken, while the tomatoes grill.
Cut thick slices of cheese.
This makes it ooey, gooey good, but watch out, the tomatoes will slide off of the cheese! At this point, pull it all off the grill to a serving plate.
Bring the pesto to room temperature, if frozen. No real need to heat. Top the chicken, mozzarella and tomato with the pesto and top with a bit of basil. That’s it! It’s ready to enjoy. Note, that this dish is for 4. We cut the very large chicken breasts lengthwise so we’d have a larger surface for two tomatoes.
A full meal.
We served with whole wheat pasta, tossed with a bit more pesto and blistered tomatoes and a salad on the side. Yum!
Grilled Chicken Caprese
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 cup bottled Italian salad dressing
- Olive oil for brushing
- 2 large tomatoes, ends cut off and cut into 1/2 thick slices
- 1 large fresh mozzarella ball
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup fresh pesto sauce (see pesto recipe here: Pesto)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a glass dish, marinate the chicken breasts in the Italian dressing for 1 hour.
- Preheat the gas grill or prepare charcoal.
- Grill the marinated chicken breasts, on medium high on the grill until fully cooked, turning often. About 15-20 minutes. Remove from the flame and keep warm.
- Turn the grill down slightly to medium.
- Brush the tomatoes with a small amount of olive oil on both sides. Salt and pepper to taste. Place the tomatoes on the grill. Turn after about 1 minute, until the tomato is slightly soft and lightly charred.
- Over warmed (but not hot grill), place mozzarella on the chicken breast. Allow to melt slightly, then place the tomato on top of the cheese. Remove all from the heat and place on a platter.
- Top with fresh pesto. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper, if desired and garnish with additional basil. Enjoy!
