Grilled Chicken With Spinach-Chive Pesto
By: Cookin' Canuck
Published: Wednesday, December 9, 2009 - 10:28pm

Ingredients




Pesto:

1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup chopped chives (about 1 oz. chives)
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation

1 To make the pesto, combine baby spinach, chopped chives, chopped garlic clove, toasted pine nuts, grated Parmesan cheese, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. 2 Puree until the mixture is finely chopped. 3 Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use the pesto. 4 When ready to use, bring to room temperature. 5 Rub each of 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts with 1 tsp olive oil. 6 Season with salt and pepper. 7 Preheat the grill to high heat and then turn down to medium heat. Place the chicken breasts on the grill and cook until done, about 5 minutes on each side. 8 Remove the chicken from the grill, let rest for 5 minutes, and then slice on a diagonal. 9 Serve the chicken breasts with the pesto spread over top.

About


When I was a little girl, I went to a daycare in a wonderful home with a lovely garden. The lady who ran the daycare loved to grow herbs and vegetables. Her garden was filled with chive plants and, to her annoyance, I enjoyed eating them by the handful and managed to convinced the other children to do the same. We would all go home stinking of garlic chives! Whenever she caught us in the chives, she would make us eat a few leaves of the mint plants to try to overcome our powerful breath. As you see, my love of chives started early.
I made this recipe for the first time last night and it's a keeper! I served the spinach-chive pesto over grilled chicken, but it would be wonderful over fish or meat, in a sandwich, or even mixed into scrambled eggs. The beauty of it is that it takes about 5 minutes to make and it can be made ahead. The recipe is adapted from one I found in Cooking Light magazine.