Chicken Breasts with Fresh Tomato Salad and Oregano Oil

April 8, 2010, Belhaven, North Carolina. The road trip continues with a stop in Belhaven, NC to see my sister, Mary and her husband Uli. The have a house on the Pungo River which empties into Pemlico Sound and is very close to Heaven. We went kayaking and just sat on the porch and enjoyed the view and the sound of the birds.

For dinner one night I made chicken breasts on their GAS grill - another rule violation... It came out ok but was kind of dry and not as interesting as some of the other recipes in the book. Of course part of that may have been that I cut some corners with the ingredients since it was 20 miles to the nearest full size grocery store. I also had a little trouble with the grill. I find it much harder to use someone else's gas grill than someone else's charcoal grill. Each gas grill seems to have unique idiosyncrasies that make it tricky to get things cooked just right. I had to put the chicken back on 2 or 3 times before it was fully cooked through. When it was done, the flavor was good. I thought it went better on the green salad that Uli made than it did on the macaroni the recipe calls for which was kind of bland. I think the marinade would be good for a chicken Caesar salad or any green salad with chicken. To be fair, I will try this recipe again when I can do it on my home turf with charcoal grill and Whole Foods near by!

The other dinner we had with Mary and Uli was a wonderful tenderloin that Mary had marinaded in some kind of red wine and garlic sauce. mmmmmmm good!! Maybe Mary will post the recipe!

April 17 - We are back in Milwaukee and tried this recipe again. It was very tasty. The chicken has a fabulous flavor. The oregano flavored oil is well worth the trouble. I want to try this one more time when I can get fresh tomatoes out of the garden.

- Mark