Flattened Cumin-Grilled Chicken Breasts with Garlic Israeli Couscous

by Susan Hanna 

This delicious recipe from Bonnie Stern’s More Heartsmart Cooking has lots of flavour from spices and roasted garlic but doesn’t have lot of fat. To flatten the chicken breasts, place them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound with the smooth end of a meat tenderizer. Unlike regular couscous — small grains of durum wheat — Israeli couscous is a toasted pasta shaped in tiny balls, about the size of small peas.

Serves 6.

Avoiding Additives and Preservatives

Make sure the orange juice concentrate and spices have no preservatives added. For more recipes using all-natural ingredients, visit Eye For A Recipe.

Ingredients:

Chicken

• 6 skinless, boneless single chicken breasts, 4 oz/125 g each
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) orange juice concentrate
• 1 tsp (5 ml) ground cumin
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp (2 ml) salt
• ½ tsp (2 ml) pepper

Israeli Couscous

• 4 cups (1 L) chicken stock
• 8 oz (250 g) Israeli couscous
• 1 head roasted garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. To roast garlic, trim about ¼ inch/5 mm off the top of a garlic head. Place the garlic cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast at 400 F/ 200 C for about 40 minutes or until tender. Gently squeeze the garlic out of the skins.
2. Remove filets from chicken breasts (freezing them for stir-fries or chicken fingers). Pound remaining pieces of chicken until about ½ inch / 1 cm thick
3. In small bowl, combine olive oil, juice concentrate, cumin, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Rub mixture into chicken breasts. Marinate for 10 minutes or up to overnight in refrigerator.
4. Grill chicken breasts on lightly oiled barbecue or grill pan for a few minutes per side — 3 to 5 minutes, or just until cooked through.
5. Meanwhile, to prepare couscous, bring chicken stock to boil. Add couscous and cook for 10 minutes, or until tender.
6. Stir garlic paste or pesto sauce into couscous. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Place couscous in serving dish and arrange chicken on top.

From More Heartsmart Cooking by Bonnie Stern