The High-Protein Cookbook - Linda West Eckhardt [37]
Mound one-quarter of the cabbage mixture on a dinner plate and top with a grilled chicken breast. Just before serving, toss the cabbage and pepper with the dressing.
Note: Buy commercially prepared quatres épices, or blend your own by grinding together ¼ teaspoon each cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg. You may use a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder.
Nutritional Analysis: 401 calories, FAT 25 g, PROTEIN 33 g, CARB 14g, FIBER 5 g, CHOL 80 mg, IRON 4 mg, SODIUM 1,548 mg, CALC 165 mg
Cooking Lesson
You’ll get 126 percent of the vitamin C and 46 percent of the iron you need for a healthy diet from this colorful, one-dish dinner. To lower the sodium, reduce the amount of anchovies in the salad dressing.
Menu Suggestion
Don’t forget about those sugar-free Popsicles and ice cream bars. They’ll add virtually no carbohydrates to your dinner and will provide a sweet finish.
Grilled Lemon Chicken with Gremolata
Whose freezer doesn’t contain the ubiquitous chicken breasts? And who hasn’t gotten sick and tired of eating them? One trick is to marinate them for a few minutes in plain old lemon juice, then sear them on the outside to create a golden glaze. Don’t overcook them, and top them with a shot of this ancient Italian secret, gremolata. Nothing more than an ad-lib mixture of finely minced lemon (or orange) zest, parsley, and garlic; it will make that chicken fly.
Should you have some chicken left over, make an impromptu niçoise-style salad the next day, tossing cooked chicken with niçoise olives, hard-cooked eggs, lettuce, and wedges of terrific tomatoes. Finish with drops of extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Marinating time: 15 minutes maximum
Cooking time: 5 minutes
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (10 ounces total), split and pounded to ¼-inch thickness
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste
GREMOLATA
2 tablespoons minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons minced lemon zest
Dry the chicken on paper towels. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Dab with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside for up to 15 minutes. Stir the ingredients for the gremolata, and set aside.
Preheat a ridged grill pan until smoking hot. Add the chicken, cooking just until golden grill marks begin to show, no more than 2 to 3 minutes. Turn and finish cooking on the second side, about 4 minutes total.
To serve, place a chicken breast on a warmed dinner plate and top with a shot of gremolata.
Nutritional Analysis: 320 calories, FAT 13 g, PROTEIN 43 g, CARB 5, FIBER 1 g, CHOL 119 mg, IRON 2 mg, SODIUM 685 mg, CALC 48 mg
Cooking Lesson
Hidden assets in this recipe come by way of the gremolata. You’ll get nearly 40 percent of your daily requirement for vitamin C and 27 percent for iron just by munching on the lemon and parsley. Not to mention the health benefits from garlic. First, there’s the vampire factor. Eat this much garlic, and you’re safe from any Dracula. Second, your heart will pound all the more securely from the micronutrients found in garlic.
Menu Suggestion
Make an ad-lib salad using as much arugula as you’d like, tossed with clementine or tangerine wedges and your own vinaigrette (see the choices in the Extras chapter). You’ll only add 5 to 10 carbohydrate grams if you serve 1 piece of fruit for two people, and you will have upped that vitamin C even more.
Chicken Jamaica
From a hot and balmy island comes this quick skillet stew. Serve it alongside spaghetti squash for a colorful, crunchy, hot-and-sweet supper.
MAKES 2 SERVINGS
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes (Concurrent).
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (10 ounces total)
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon freshly