Mojito chicken with mint and lime

You know when you have a mixed drink and you say to yourself, “Wow, if only I could come up with a chicken dish that captured this flavor?” No, me neither. But I am all too familiar with the predicament of having a giant bag of literally 40 chicken breasts in the freezer, with only two of us to consume them. Such excess necessarily inspires creativity, because how many times can you handle the same old Asian-inspired stir fry or salt-and-pepper seasoned chicken breast?

I am a fan of the recipes from the women’s health magazines (Self, Shape, Women’s Health, etc…) mainly because whereas I often find myself cringing at the amount of butter, oil, and cheese called for in recipes from magazines like Gourmet, the women’s health magazines make an effort to print only seriously healthy recipes. With these recipes, I tend to find myself cheating, if anything, by adding a little more cheese or butter, rather than scrimping as I often do in typical recipes. With this recipe from Women’s Health, though, I didn’t need to cheat, as the recipe worked perfectly fine as is- think stir fry meets Kentucky Derby.

At 435 alleged calories, mojito chicken was both healthy and filling, and luckily, wasn’t too close in flavor to the eponymous cocktail. The mint and lime were prominent in the flavor profile, but the rum ended up fading into the background and could probably be omitted.

And may I recommend velveting your chicken? (No, it’s nothing dirty!) We heard about this technique on America’s Test Kitchen several months ago, and tried it here for the first time with fabulous results. The chicken was so much more tender and delicious, with only a minimum of extra effort involved.

All in all, two thumbs up for mojito chicken; while it may not become your go-to chicken recipe, to add a little variety to the monotony of chicken breast, it’s well worth a try.

With mint, lime, and asparagus (herbs, fruit, and veggies!), this is my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging, hosted this week by Rinku of Cooking in Westchester.

Chicken mojito with mint and lime over couscous (serves 4)

Ingredients:
1 cup couscous
24 spears asparagus
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sugar
4 chicken breasts (or one per person), cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup light rum
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.

2. Preheat oven to 400. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Chop asparagus into bite-sized pieces, arrange on cooking sheet, and coat with cooking spray (we used olive oil in a diffuser bottle). Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Roast 15 minutes, until tender.

3. [OPTIONAL] Velvet the chicken by drying it very, very well with paper towels or a clean dish towel. Then season with salt and pepper. Mix 2 tbsp cornstarch with 2 tbsp oil, then toss with chicken in a bowl to coat.

4. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and sugar. Saute about 3 minutes.

5. Add chicken and saute 3-5 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Add rum and broth and simmer 5 minutes.

6. Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and zest. Season with salt and pepper.

7. Put a bed of couscous on each plate, top with chicken mixture and asparagus. Garnish with mint.