Pesto Chicken Breast

[Mohammad S]

Second time I make this dish, the wife really enjoyed it the first time around and went grabbed some boneless skinless breasts. Pounded to even thickness, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned lightly with salt and a spice mix that includes white pepper, ginger, garlic, cardamom, fennel seed, coriander, and bay leaves.
The pesto contains parsley, oregano, sage, and tarragon in addition to the basil.

On the Genesis for a quick weekday dinner.

The corn almost ready and the chicken flipped.

The plate after coating the chicken in pesto.

Pulled off the grill a tad late (was close to 170 when I checked it the first time) but still moist and the pesto adds great flavor and juiciness.

Hope you enjoy my first posted cook!

 

[Tony R]

I want a plate....

 

[John Solak]

Very nice!!! I have tried pesto shrimp, never thought to try it on chicken, bet its great!

 

[JimK]

Added to my list.

Thanks for posting - it looks fantastic.

 

[Wolgast]

Looks and sounds freakingawesome!

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Great looking cook, Mohammad! Your pictures are excellent also. You're going to do fine on this site!

 

[Mohammad S]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the feedback.

John, pesto shrimp is a great dish and is a favorite! I made it for a party once where I ended up skewering close to 1200 shrimp... my fingers were darn near frozen by the time I was done. For the shrimp, I grill it with the pesto. For this chicken I like the freshness the uncooked pesto adds.

Again, thanks for looking!

 

[Enrico Brandizzi]

Great looking chicken!

 

[Barb D]

Very nicely done.

 

[CLasko]

That all looks great!

 

[John Sp]

Mohammad - welcome to the forum. That is a great first post. I am going to give your pesto chicken a try real soon. Your rub spices are also very interesting, are all of the ingredients in equal ratio? Did you make the pesto yourself? If so will you share a recipe for that?

Regards,

John

 

[Greg B.]

Great looking plate! Can you make me a shrimp pesto pizza!

 

[ChuckO]

That's a good cook, Pesto is da bomb!

 

[Mohammad S]

Thanks all!

Mohammad - welcome to the forum. That is a great first post. I am going to give your pesto chicken a try real soon. Your rub spices are also very interesting, are all of the ingredients in equal ratio? Did you make the pesto yourself? If so will you share a recipe for that?

Regards,

John

Thanks for the welcome John, sorry I had not seen your question until today (had a hectic weekend!)

For the spices, I used a pre-mixed jar that I've gotten from overseas, I don't usually use premixed anything. If I had to guess on the ratios, I would say the stronger stuff like cardamom and cumin are probably a half portion. I think I'm also missing a couple of ingredients, I'll look at the jar and update the ingredient list. I'll emphasize that I only used a very light dusting of the "rub".

For the pesto, it's homemade from garden herbs. I don't really have a recipe as I'm very big on eye-balling. Largest portion was basil, then about half of that of parsley, together the basil and parsley were the main players, only used about 3 leaves of sage, 5 or 6 leaves of mint, a very small sprig of rosemary, same for the tarragon and oregano). One garlic clove, about a quarter cup of good olive oil, a handful of pine nuts, a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper, and a small nub of Parmesan cheese (about a tablespoon grated). This yielded about a cup of pesto.

 

[Mohammad S]

The spice mix consists of: white pepper, ginger, garlic, cardamom, fennel seed, coriander, and bay leaves ground very fine. No cumin!

 

[Tim McCann]

Healthy and good!