I haven’t been cooking much lately because I’m trying to lose weight. I haven’t been eating out much as well. I lost most of my cravings and while I bought a pack of Reese’s peanutbutter chips for future use, I try to avoid sweets most of the time.
Today, I feel treating myself to a good lunch. Early this morning, sis was in the mood to toss a salad. {I didn’t know there was a certain mood for when to toss a salad, hee}. I saw her make some garlic croutons at 9am and even if she forgot that she didn’t have anchovies, she decided on Caesar Salad for lunch.
I knew I had some frozen chicken breasts in the fridge. So I gathered up my favorite friends a.k.a. dried thyme, balsamic vinegar and mango nectar and marinated the chicken so it’ll be ready at lunch time. I figured it’ll be perfect with the salad.
When I was grilling the chicken, I realized why I never liked buying chicken in the frozen section at the grocery. Why, oh why do I punish myself with these frozen poultry. They get so watery when they’re being grilled or roasted…… and somehow, they lose their chicken-ness {lol! is thre such a word?}, you know, the taste that makes chicken…a chicken?
I am so a palengke {wet market} girl. No matter how muddy, smelly and wet our wet markets are…. I still love buying my meat and fish over there. The meats taste fresh and everything tastes as it should be.
Lunch was great. It was healthy and it’s delicious but I wasn’t satisfied with my meat.I guess it’s back to the drawing board.
I will be re-creating this recipe using quarter legs of chicken, not frozen of course!… and probably a balsamic-mango glaze.
But feel free to try the recipe. Just make sure you don’t use frozen chicken breasts, it gets watery and loses all the flavor.
- 4 boneless chicken breasts (pounded lightly to thin out if they are too thick) 1½ to 2 pounds
- 1 cup mango nectar. {I used Philippine Brand}
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp dried thyme
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large RIPE mango, peeled and chopped
- Combine chicken in a large zip bag with mango nectar, vinegar, olive oil and thyme- along with a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Zip the bag closed and move the chicken around in the bag to coat with the marinade.
- Lie the bag flat in the refrigerator for at least one hour and up to 2 hours, turning the bag every so often to redistribute the marinade.
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Spray the grill with grilling spray (or rub the grates with oil). Drain the marinade from the chicken and grill about 4 minutes per side,basting with marinade every minute or until the chicken is cooked through.
- Serve grilled chicken topped with chopped mango.
