Greek-Style Chicken Breasts

This recipe originally came from Cooking Light 2014. I have another that uses the oven but this is good for the times when I don't want to heat up the kitchen. I always forget that it generates a slew of pots and prep dishes. I could cut that down by using a brine bag rather than covered dish. (I think the brine is important, though--skinned, boned chicken breast gets dry and stringy if you walk post it with a normal frying pan. It would also help to have the orzo made in advance, and to chop the onion with the same knife and cutting board as the other ingredients.

If I'm going to do this I like to  make a lot, since I treat raw chicken like a poisonous substance requiring everything that touches it to go in the dishwasher and the sink gets washed with disinfectant. With that in mind, anybody following these directions, cut up the vegetables first, then you can use the same sharp knife and cutting board for the meat.

My brine process is 4 cups warm water, 1/4 cup sea salt, 4 cubes TJs frozen garlic, and a few peppercorns if you have them. I| leave it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, usually a couple of hours. I put the glass dish in the sink, lift the chicken out with some tongs (or plastic bags on my hands), put them on the cutting  board, slice to make 4 or 6 cutlets. You can slice them lengthwise at the thickest part if the breast is more than about 3/4 inch thick.

|Ingredients:

Cooking spray or oil

6 four-ounce or 4 six-ounce boneless chicken breast halves.
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 tbsps olive oil
1 large onion, vertically sliced (|I substitute a small onion finely chopped)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 ounce chopped kalamata olives (about 14|)
1 medium tomato, halved and sliced (|this time I used slow roasted tomatoes from freezer, plus their oil and juice (there goes the low calorie benefit)
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tsps chopped fresh oregano (I've used fresh time from the yard, also|)
2 tsps fresh lemon juiice
at least 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled (I use a lot more.

heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add oil, swirl, add onion and garlic, saute 4 minutes (longer for chopped onion--just be sure it is wilted and not crunchy).  Add olives and tomato and cook about 3 minutes or until tomato starts to fall apart, if using fresh. Remove pan from the heat, stir in parsley, oregano and lemon juice. leave on simmer

heat a skillet or grill pan over medium high heat. Coat with spray, put the chicken parts in and brown--about six minutes on each side.

Have the orzo pot ready on a separate burner. Have the water close to boiling. When the chicken goes in the pan, start the orzo (|I use a cup uncooked for 4 servings of chicken...more for six servings)  Boil 9 minutes, take off stove, quickly add about a cup of ice to stop cooking.  When the chicken is done, drain in a fine mesh colendar.