Grilled Chicken Breasts with Eggplant, Creole Style

From Thou Shalt Not Grill
Tamar Myers

Ingredients:

2 lemons
2 whole boneless chicken breasts, sinned, split, and trimmed
Salt and whole black peppercorns in a pepper mill
1 medium eggplant (about ¾ pound)
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg, well beaten, in a wide, shallow bowl
1 cup fine cracker crumbs or matzo meal, spread on a plate
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Creole Sauce
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Grate the zest from one of the lemons and then juice them both through a strainer. Put the chicken breasts in a shallow nonreactive stainless steel or glass bowl and sprinkle them with the grated zest, a large pinch of salt, and several generous grindings of pepper. Pour the lemon juice over them, turning them several times to coat them, and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes (or as much as 8 hours or overnight, covered and refrigerated).

Wash the eggplant under cold, running water. peel and slice it crosswise into 8½-inch thick slices. Lightly salt both sides of the eggplant slices and put them in a colander set in the sink or over a plate. Let them stand for 30 minutes. meanwhile, prepare a charcoal grill with coals and light it. When the coals are glowing red and lightly ashed over, spread them and position a rack about 4 inches above them. let the rack get very hot. Or preheat the oven broiler at least 15 minutes before you plan to use it.

Wipe the eggplant with a paper towel and pat dry. Lightly roll each slice in the flour, shake off the excess, then dip it in the egg, coating all sides. Lift it from the egg, allowing the excess to flow back into the bowl, and then roll it in the crumbs or matzo meal. Shake off the excess and put the breaded eggplant on a wire rack.

Lift the chicken from its marinade and pat dry. Spread it on a platter in one layer and lightly brush it and the eggplant with butter or olive oil. Put them both on the grill (or on a broiling rack under the broiler), buttered side toward he heat, about 3 to 4 minutes. brush lightly with butter or oil, turn them, and grill/broil until the chicken is cooked through and the eggplant is tender and browned on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes longer, depending on how hot the fire is. The eggplant may be ready a little before the chicken. Place the eggplant on a warm platter, lay a chicken breast over each slice, and spoon Creole Sauce over them. Sprinkle with parsleyy and serve at once.

Serves 4.

More about Thou Shalt Not Grill
Tamar Myers

Tamar Myers tantalizes readers with her perfect mix of mouthwatering recipes and mayhem. Now, the national bestselling author dishes up a sizzling new mystery that takes intrepid innkeeper Magdalena Yoder outdoors for some outrageous sleuthing…

If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen…and head to the Hernia bicentennial barbecue where guests will partake in some great outdoor cooking and the unearthing of the 1904 centennial time capsule. Rumor has it that the capsule contains the key to a great fortune. But when it goes missing and Magdalena’s guest, Buzzy Porter, is found dead, suspicions flare. With the police on a perpetual picnic, Magdalena has to dig into the pasts of her guests at the Penn Dutch Inn, grill the likely suspects—and smoke out the killer…

INCLUDES A HALF-DOZEN SIZZLING RECIPES FOR THE OUTDOOR GRILL!

(A Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery with Recipes)
NAL, January 2005
Featuring: Magdalena Yoder
272 pages ISBN: 0451212134
Paperback
$6.50

Also by Tamar Myers:
Assault And Pepper, February 2005
Custard's Last Stand, January 2004
Custard's Last Stand, February 2003
Gruel and Unusual Punishment, January 2003
The Crepes of Wrath, January 2002
The Hand That Rocked the Ladle, March 2000
Play It Again Spam, August 1999
Eat, Drink, and Be Wary, September 1998
Between a Wok and a Hard Place, March 1998
Just Plain Pickled to Death, October 1997
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Crime, August 1997
No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk, March 1997
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth, August 1995
Thou Shalt Not Grill, January 1991

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