Greek-Style Chicken Breasts: five stars from Mark and me

Greek-Style Chicken Breasts: five stars from Mark and me

I'm looking for a nice, moist breast with enough flavor to hold over for a day or two in the fridge (because I like to keep the serious cooking down to three or so days a week). This one really works and gave me a chance to try a goat-sheep milk feta cheese (Earth Day was last weekend and I'm told even goats and sheep beat cows for Earth friendliness. Presumably they aren't ruminants and are less frequent belchers.)  In summer I like that it doesn't require an oven. I can finish up the thing in about 1/2 hour.

First, the brine:
4 cups warm water
1/4 cup kosher salt
2 tbsp whole peppercorns
4 cloves garlic, smashed

Put in a glass dish and put the chicken breasts in (|4 skinless, boneless breast halves, about 6 ounces each. Put it in the fridge for about 1/2 hour. This is a great time to make The Sauce.

l large sliced onion
1/1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 ounce chopped pitted kalamata olives, about 14
1 large tomato or a lot of cherry tomatoes (good way to use up the cherry ones)
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley or, when I have a lot of fresh thyme in the yard, I use that
2 teaspoons fresh oregano or about 1 tsp dry
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
feta cheese to sprinkle on the top (about 1/2 tablespoon per serving but it varies a lot)

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat* (not as hot as chicken pan), add oil, swirl it around and add onion. Saute four minutes.  Add olives and tomato, saute 3 minutes or until tomato begins to break down. Remove pan from heat and stir in parsley or fresh thyme, plus oregano, and lemon juice. The original recipe calls it done at this point. Since Mark does not like onion if he can see it, I put it in my food processor and grind it up until the chunks are fairly small . Put it back in the  pan, take a taste, and add more of whatever it seems to need (usually I add more tomato, sometimes a splash of broth or a little water). Set it on warm.

Now for the chicken:

Heat a heavy skillet to medium high and coat with cooking spray. Sprinkle breasts with salt and pepper. When the skillet is good and hot, put in the chicken and brown about six minutes per side. (Obviously, smaller breasts cook faster.)

While the chicken is cooking, make |Orzo according to package instructions. I often make it with chicken broth, using about two to one orzo and both. When it is done, just drain it and leave it with the lid on until the chicken is ready.

While all this is going on, make a vegetable or dessert and clean up the kitchen. This recipe seems to create a lot of mess!