Paper Palate

I have owned The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by the Food Network’s Ina Garten for about three years and guess how many recipes I’ve made from it?  None.  That’s right, none.  Just like Alex yesterday, except adding on about 2 years and 10 months.  I bought this neglected book in my early days of learning how to cook and I think I was just intimidated by it.  Maybe because the Foreward is written by Martha Stewart?  Or because there are instructions like: “Slice the breasts diagonally into 3/8-inch-thick slices.”  That level of precision is just a bit much for me, which explains why I never bake.

To give Ina a fair shake, I spent a great deal of time poring over the recipes to find something that was appropriate for my skill level, with ingredients that I could easily find at my local store.  It also had to be quick to make, since that’s how I roll.  So, I landed on Grilled Lemon Chicken Salad.  The ingredient list for this recipe is delightfully short, until you realize that one of the ingredients (Grilled Chicken) refers you to another recipe in the book.  Even with that wrinkle, my shopping list was just a little guy (EVOO usually wouldn’t be there, since it’s a staple).  I cut the recipes in half and ended up one lemon short, but other than that, the whole shopping process was very low key.

According to the cookbook, Grilled Lemon Chicken is a famous recipe at Ina’s store in the Hamptons (called Barefoot Contessa).  While she usually serves it as an appetizer with a satay dipping sauce, it was among a few things in her fridge when she wanted to create a quick salad.  She threw the chicken in a bowl with sugar snap peas, julienned red bell peppers, julienned yellow bell peppers, lemon slices and a lemon vinaigrette.  The result was “the most popular salad of all times.”  To see how my attempt at making it looked, click on “Continue Reading.”

Doesn’t it just scream summer?  It was also surprisingly quick.  Ina recommends marinating the chicken for as long as possible, so I marinated the chicken the night before I intended making it (a major accomplishment for me).  That took about five minutes with just fresh lemon juice, olive oil, minced thyme and a whole bunch of salt and pepper.  In the 20 minutes it took for my husband to grill the chicken, I sliced all the vegetables and dressed them with the equal parts lemon juice and olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste.  Then I sliced the chicken (although not into 3/8-inch-thick pieces) and tossed it with the veggies.  That’s it!

This recipe was much easier than I thought any recipe from this cookbook could ever be.  If I’d have known, this cookbook would have earned a place on the kitchen counter from the start instead of being relegated to a distant bookshelf.  I’m not sure how long it will stay on the counter, but it’s certainly there now.