Hawaiian Chicken

When my friend Lisa put out the call for testers for Cooking Light recipes, I was quite happy to help.  I must have been one of the first to reply, and got my first choice to try out.  I picked Hawaiian Chicken because the only thing I needed to buy was chicken, and it sounded delicious.

I made a few changes, some because of my own poor planning.  First, I realized about 3 hours before dinnertime that I needed to marinate for four hours.  Yup, I chose a recipe in the "marinating" category and totally didn't.  Doh.  So, it got about 2.5 hours of marination.

Next, I used my George Foreman.  I preheated it at 350 degrees (it seems that I'm the only one in the world who has a GF with a temperature setting), and flipped after three minutes as directed.  I wanted to make sure I marinated both sides as suggested.  This also meant I didn't get those gorgeous grill marks because of the flipping.

When it came to the rice, I used brown Minute Rice, and added some pineapple juice to it.

I also served with some pineapple chunks, which I popped on the GF.  I should have done it a little longer in order to get those beloved grill marks, but, as BAJ said, "It's just kinda warm pineapple."  Still tastier than cold pineapple!

I typically would have guesstimated on all the measurements in the marinade, but since I was making it "for" someone else, I wanted to measure everything properly.  The marinade was pretty tasty.

The GF may not have been warm enough, but I needed to cook the chicken an additional 3 or so minutes in order to get it done properly.  The meat was still really juicy (I have this awesome habit of totally overcooking chicken on the GF), and the marinade was really tasty.

I won't, however, go crazy and say this was so delicious you need to make it now.  It was tasty, and very importantly for busy weeknights, it was easy and fast (throw that marinade together the night before, or in the morning, and your work is almost all done).  It's something great to have in your repertoire when you're feeling crazy, especially since it requires ingredients you probably have in your kitchen already.


Thanks for allowing me to participate, Lisa!  Go check out her blog; she's got some great stuff and is a HUGE Don Draper fan!


Hawaiian Chicken, from Cooking Light's website.  Cooking Light, January 2011

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  pineapple juice
• 2  tablespoons  ketchup
• 2  tablespoons  lower-sodium soy sauce
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  minced peeled ginger
• 2  garlic cloves, minced
• 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• Cooking spray
• 3/4  teaspoon  salt, divided
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
• 2  cups  hot cooked long-grain white rice
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients. Reserve 1/4 cup marinade; place remaining marinade in a zip-top plastic bag. Add chicken to bag; seal. Chill 4 hours.
2. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade in bag. Sprinkle chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 6 minutes. Turn chicken over; baste with 2 tablespoons reserved marinade. Cook 6 minutes.
3. Combine rice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and cilantro