Last night’s dinner was a low carb feast of our favorite herb-marinated chicken under a brick, served with sauteed green beans and a salad of greens, fruit, Roquefort and balsamic glaze.

It’s helpful to have the butcher butterfly a whole 4.5-5lb chicken for you, but doing it at home – if you have the kitchen shears and stomach for it – is as simple as cutting out the backbone and then pressing on the breastbone to help flatten it out a bit like an open book.  I also prefer to snip of the wing-tips, since they get in the way of the breast meat.

My marinade is a combination of about 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, fresh-squeezed juice and grated rind of one lemon, 2-3 roughly chopped garlic cloves, about 1/2 cup minced fresh herbs – in this case, rosemary, oregano and thyme – and a generous hand with salt and pepper.  The chicken can marinate flesh side down and then skin side down over several hours – even overnight – in a large shallow dish or pan.

Our “other weighted object” is a cast iron grill pan with handles that we wrap with foil.  It weighs down the whole surface area of the chicken, which we then grill with indirect heat at about 400 for 35-40 minutes.  First skin side down, then skin side up.  All the fat melts out of the skin, leaving a crispy, herby veneer on the juicy chicken.  Easy to cut into serving pieces with poultry shears.

Having purchased an abundance of green beans at the Chinese market last week (many of which get served in small pieces to my dear Cicero mixed in with his kibble…we love the sound of his crunching on them), I simply blanched two large handfuls and then sauteed them lightly in EVOO with minced shallot and sun-dried tomato.

Our salad, as I’ve discussed in previous posts, was a mixtures of spring greens – mostly baby spinach – diced nectarine, blueberries, and Roquefort.  Lightly tossed with EVOO, salt  pepper, and drizzled on each serving with balsamic glaze.

Looking foeward to the leftovers tonight – a composed salad plate topped with shredded chicken.