Marinaded Chicken w/ Rice (7/26/2007)

What: Marinaded chicken w/ rice.

Why: I had frozen (boneless) chicken breasts that i needed to do something with since i normally think chicken is bland and boring.

Total time: Excluding chicken prep and marinade time, this can be done in appx 30-45 min.

How: -McCormick's Chipotle marinade packet after thawing (mostly) the chicken breasts. Stab the chicken with a fork a bunch of times so the marinade can soak in better and so that it'll me a bit more tender. Make sure to cut off excess fat since most chicken breasts are sold untrimmed and thus have gobs of fat which are gross. Remember that the fat on chicken isn't very deep or thick so you're just going for the garbage on the edges. Don't go to crazy because this fat also keeps it moist. You just want to nip off the overly excessive junk (commonly found on frozen chicken breasts in a bag). I should also note that the marinade packet is for 2# of meat and i was using appx 1.2#. Thus i had leftover marinade goo but that's not a bad thing!

-Marinade supposedly takes 30 min but obviously longer is better. I was short on time (and hungry) so i only waited 15.
-Start cooking the rice since it's not the minute rice crap and takes a bit longer.
-Cookie sheet with tin foil on it and the edges curled up which means less mess to clean.
-All 3 chicken breasts placed on the foil and baked at 350 for 15-20 minutes.
-Pull out chicken breasts and pour some extra marinade onto them. Just enough to cover them a bit one more time.
-Place back into oven for another 15-20 min.
-Somewhere in here you should be keeping an eye on the rice.
-Appx 30-40 minutes later, both rice and chicken are done and ready to be served.

Thoughts: I should note that the extra marinade at the 1/2 mark helps add flavor AND keep the chicken moist. The marinade is kind of a paste which works nicely. Once the chicken was done, you could take the excess marinade off with your fork and add it to your plain rice making the rice less boring.

Overall, a semi healthy recipe considering. The marinade packet had it's share of salt n nasty stuff but that's the only down side. Everything else was completely bland and simple. Only thing lacking was a veggie to which i am open to suggestions. Perhaps taking one of my bazillion fresh tomatoes and dicing it up to top the chicken breast at the half way point? I'm thinking some corn would have been good with this. Maybe some green beans. Suggestions?

Verdict: "This shite is f'ing good man. Know what i'm saying?" (kjolly)
"Damn dude, i think he'll be done with my leftover chicken before i finish my rice." (kratt)
"How are you going to tease me with good shite like this and only give me one piece?" (kjolly)
"*Burp!* Who's doing dishes?" (me)