no. 153: herb-marinated grilled chicken, feta, and pita

Plus, my amazing Rice Krispie treats.

Over the long weekend, I catered a 50 person birthday dinner, and I think I wrote a pretty hot menu!!!! Here’s what we served:

• Pan Roasted Salmon with Hazelnut & Preserved Lemon Chimichurri

• Grilled Chicken with Celery Zhoug (zhoug recipe from Eden Grinshpan’s Tahini Baby), Garlic Yogurt, and Marinated Tomatoes

• Caramelized Lemon Orzo with Kale, Parm, and Toasted Breadcrumbs

• Honey Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Crispy Wild Rice, Shaved Pecorino, and Garlic Yogurt

• Farmers Market Gem Salad with Pickled Shallots, Snap Peas, Herbs, Feta, and Citrus Vinaigrette

• Shaved Celery Salad with Hazelnuts, Cherries, and Mint Vinaigrette (recipe from Eden Grinshpan’s Tahini Baby)

The celery zhoug from Eden’s book was definitely a highlight for me. It cannot be overstated how much a toasted cumin seed can enhance a sauce. I’d also like to give a small shoutout to the crispy wild rice that we served over the roasted carrots.

I remember H A T I N G wild rice as a kid and asking my parents, “why are we eating wood for dinner?” As an adult, I can say with my full chest that I think wild rice is good, and only made even tastier by tossing it in some oil and crisping it up on a sheet tray.

An unrelated but equally important highlight from this week was the random batch of Rice Krispie treats that I made for no apparent reason (the best kind of baking, of course).

I happened to have black sesame seeds, freeze dried strawberries, and freeze dried mangoes, so I threw a fistful of each into the treat, and it certainly didn’t make it any worse. I followed any ol’ Rice Krispie treat recipe and eyeballed the rest. Highly, highly recommend.

Brag incoming—I am known around the halls of my physical therapy office as the “cookie queen” because I often arrive to my sessions with treats in hand, so I pawned these off on them, and they were quite the hit. I also did my first box jump, so LET’S GOOOO.

Pepper says hi!

Herb Marinated Grill Chicken Thighs with Feta and Pita

Serves: 4-6

Active time: 25 minutes

Total time: 40 minutes

I found myself with an entire leftover block of feta from my event last weekend, and I thought to myself, “is there a way that I can incorporate this into my series, ‘Grilled Chicken Recipes That Don’t Suck?’” Well, of course I can. Because I can do anything that I want.

At the risk of sounding a bit self congratulatory, this dish was genuinely HEAVEN, and ithas provided me with extremely JOYFUL sustenance throughout the week. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, hot honey is THAT BITCH.

If you don’t have a perfect little pocket sized cast iron that makes for the perfect home for your block of feta, first of all, what are you doing? Mine is from Field Company, and not only is it unbearably cute, it’s also the perfect excuse to make a skillet cookie for one. That said, even if you don’t have one, any cast iron will do the trick.

DO NOT TOUCH THE CAST IRON ONCE IT IS ON THE GRILL. I REPEAT, DO NOT TOUCH THE PIECE OF METAL THAT IS SITTING ON YOUR RIPPING HOT GRILL. IF YOU TOUCH THE SCORCHING HOT CAST IRON, IT IS LITERALLY NOT MY FAULT, OKAY? IT IS HOT.

You can grill your feta to whatever sort of end product you desire. I cooked mine for about 15 minutes, which gave it some light caramelization and meltiness around the edges, yet it was still able to crumble in the center. If you want to cook it for even longer for deeper caramelization and further meltiness, I say GO FOR IT. Wait until the very end of cooking it to drizzle with hot honey, because that will burn quickly.

Similar to the rest of my grilled chicken recipes, you should feel empowered to use whatever chicken part you desire (breasts, bone-in thighs, whatever you’re feeling). The longer it marinates (no longer than 48 hours, though), the better both the chicken and feta will be, but even if you can let it sit for an hour, that’s great news.

I hate to be out here plugging B*zos’ pantry, but the Whole Foods 365 feta is superior to all the other ones, IMO. It’s reasonably price ($7.99 in LA), which I think is fair, especially given how good it is. The flavor is clean and tangy, and the texture is perfectly crumbly.

That said, if you ever see me doing a paid partnership with Athenos feta, I’m going to politely ask that you pipe down and let me get my bag, mmmkay? Use whatever feta you like, but I’d be remiss to leave out this crucial feta PSA.