Chicken Paillard with Cherry Tomatoes, Olives and Arugula (pan seared OR grilled)

with roasted potatoes and a secret POST MARINADE to keep your chicken juicy and moist

Paillard (“PIE-ard”) is a French word for a boneless piece of meat that has been pounded thin or butterflied. Pounding the meat does double duty of tenderizing the meat and makes a thinner cut that cooks faster with less moisture loss. If you buy chicken at a butcher counter you can ask them to pound it out for you, or you can DIY (instructions below.) This meal makes me happy, and my kids love the simplified version. Win win.

I did a grilled and a pan seared version of this recipe to show you how each works. The secret to keeping the chicken tender is a POST MARINADE. Yup. You don’t have to do anything in advance. The way the post marinade works is, as soon as the chicken is cooked through, it’s removed to a shallow dish containing (at its simplest) a tablespoon each of lemon juice and olive oil. The lemon does a little extra tenderizing and the olive oil ensures you don’t get tough dry chicken. What I also try to do is add a chopped shallot. That little extra ingredient adds flavor to the sauce that develops as the chicken rests (and turns a pretty pink in the lemon juice.) To make it more interesting/fun, I added some olives and minced herbs (totally optional.) You can keep it as simple as lemon juice and olive oil and your chicken will still be delicious.

All recipes serve 4 unless otherwise noted.

Shopping List

2-4 chicken breasts cutlets preferably pounded thin or butterflied and flattened. At my grocery store they call this a chicken breast cutlet and if you ask they will pound it out more for you. A half breast each works for our family - buy more if you want a full breast each or want leftovers for lunch. The chicken makes a great lunch the next day in a salad or sandwich.

1 shallot

1 lemon

1 Tbs minced parsley or basil (optional)

2-4 cups arugula

handful (1/2 pint) of halved cherry tomatoes (optional)

1 cup olives (optional - I used green whole castelvetrano but any kind (or pitted) will work)

1 lb fingerling potatoes or potatoes of choice

pantry: olive oil, salt and pepper, Frontier Mexican fiesta seasoning (optional - Its a mix of chilies, tomato powder, cumin, onion, garlic, paprika and cilantro - a really great multi-use seasoning blend. You can use another soice blend or simply s+p.)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Make the post marinade for the chicken: place minced shallot in a shallow dish and add the juice of a lemon, 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil, and the minced herbs and olives if using.