Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce

I love summertime cooking.  I hardly even have to use my kitchen - we cook just about every meal we can on the grill and enjoy it outside in the fresh air and sunshine (easy to do here since it stays light until nearly 11).   I find it so much easier to think of something to eat in the summer when we haven't planned ahead - just grab a little something for the grill, throw together a salad and you have a wonderful meal.  I have so many things like this I make - they are unplanned and certainly not intended for my blog - but I end up liking them so much I snap a couple photos and figure I just have to share it with you anyway. 

Its easy to get stuck in a rut when you grill almost every day.   Its easy just to do the same thing over and over - so I always welcome new fresh ways to marinate or serve what would otherwise be a mundane chicken breast.  For my birthday my mom sent me Cooking Light's Fresh Food Fast cookbook.  It has great photos for every single recipe and almost every recipe has another with it for serving suggestions for a meal.  Its one of those books you could pull out right when you need to make dinner and probably find something that fits the bill.  The problem comes with some of the suggestions they give for saving time in the ingredients - like buying pre-cut vegetables (why? it doesn't take long to dice an onion!) and pre-made seasonings and salad dressings, or processed and pre-seasoned minute rice.  These suggestions often can make the recipe cost three or four times as much - not to mention be less healthy (and I really don't think they save that much time).  Since a lot of the ingredients it suggests are processed items from the US its a moot point for me anyway - they simply don't have them here.  

 
This simple little idea for grilled chicken has become one of our new favorites from the book however, and with just a little adaption has become one of our very favorite meals.  Since I have rosemary growing in my garden the recipe ends up being really cheap, and despite the small amount needed for the marinade it is full of flavor.  Grilled boneless and skinless chicken breasts can often be dry and rubbery - but this certainly does not need to be the case.  Start by placing the breast over the hottest coals, searing both sides for 2 or 3 minutes - then move them to the outer parts of the grill where its not as hot and cover and cook it the rest of the way nice and slow.  You should end up with a perfectly juicy, tender and smoky piece of chicken.  We have one of our many favorite quick salads on the side (look for some of those recipes soon) and it is the perfect little meal to enjoy on a summer evening. 

(PS - I use this mustard sauce all the time on all kinds of stuff.  Its sooo basic but adds so much flavor.)


Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce
adapted from Cooking Light's Fresh Food Fast

2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 Tbs plus 1 tsp whole-grain dijon mustard, divided (I always use the brand Maille, its fantastic and can be bought practically worldwide)
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs chopped fresh Rosemary
1/4 tsp salt
fresh ground black pepper
3 Tbs Mayonnaise
1 Tbs water

Trim, clean and pat dry your chicken breasts.   Whisk together  the 1 tsp mustard, Tbs Olive oil, chopped rosemary, and salt and pepper.  Pour over chicken breasts taking care to coat them completely.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24.   Remove chicken from the fridge an hour before you are ready to cook it and let it come to room temperature (it cooks much more evenly this way).

Prepare the grill.  Place chicken on center (hottest part) of grill and sear on both sides for 2 minutes or so - then place on outer (low heat) part of grill.  Cover and let cook and smoke slowly (turning occasionally) until its about 1 minute away from being done.   Remove from grill and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes (perfect amount of time to make the very simple sauce). 

Combine 1 Tbs mustard, the mayonnaise and the water in a small bowl.   Serve over chicken breasts (hint: when this sauce mixes with the juices from the chicken it becomes quite delicious).  

TIP: make sure your grill is very clean and very hot before placing the chicken on it and its much less likely to stick and then pull all the yummy outside bits off when you turn it.