beginning again

grilled chicken Greek salad

There's a fat, full orange moon over the harbour, falling quickly and soon to disappear below the horizon across the water and on the other side. It's the usual soundtrack to our life this early morning - the birds (crows, squawking blue herons, gulls, our garden orchestra of songbirds and a loon way off in the distance), the crickets have arrived to join in and the sound of my lovely smelly Lush bath a pourin'. The coffee's been brewed, the starving beast (Gus) has been fed, Bleet's made his big, daily demanding fuss to go out before dawn so he can sit on the front porch in darkness and ponder his life, Winnie's thoughtfully licked the cat food dishes clean for me and Oliver is just warming up for some big time, flat out racin' around. Our day is beginning again.

I sparked up my little red charcoal grill the other night and impressed myself with this easy and delicious take on Greek salad. Grilled lemon oregano chicken chunks, slices of sweet grilled Vidalia onions combined with the usual suspects - tomato, black olives, feta and cucumber and dressed with a slightly sweet mint vinaigrette. Delicious. Like most foodie types I never really measure anything when cooking so this recipe (especially the dressing) is approximate - taste as you go.

grilled chicken Greek salad

marinade
1 cup of plain yogurt
zest and juice of 1 large lemon
2 tbsps. crushed dried oregano
2 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
2-3 tbsps. olive oil

Marinate 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts in a 9 x13 glass pan, turning and stirring occasionally - 30 mins. to several hours. Grill chicken and oiled thick slices of 2 large Vidalia onions and when cool slice both into chunks.

dressing
1/2 cup olive oil
2-3 tbsps cider vinegar
2-3 tbsps balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. dried oregano
1/4 - 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
1 tsp. sugar (or to taste)
small handful of crumbled feta cheese
blend in a blender or food processor

toss together
grilled chicken
grilled onions
sliced black olives - I love Kalamata olives
crumbled feta cheese
chunks of tomato
chunks of cucumber
drizzle of vinaigrette