Ginger Lime Chicken and the Past Days of Summer

Say it ain't so, the last days of summer are upon us. *Can we have a collective a moment of silence in observance of the passing of this cherished season.* Dear summer, I'm sure going to miss you, especially since I squandered most of the season of the sun literally running around like a chicken with my head cut off, toeing the line of sanity and reason, having little time rest nor blog. 'Till the next time we meet, I shall be waiting, and I'll be ready.

Anon.

As you would imagine, all things involving ginger and citrus=good summer eats. Throw in a copious amount of pestle-ground black pepper, as I am prone to do, and what you end up with is the start of something wonderful, and the perfect grilled chicken for a hot summer's day picnic the Reggae Wine Festival. 

Per my usual routine, I vastly underestimated how labor intensive hand juicing limes and shredding fresh ginger was. But as God as my witness, it was worth the effort. I only wish I had let the chicken marinate over night [and added more salt, I always under salt because you know salt in large quantities tends to kill peoples of African descent by the hundreds of thousands...], but in light of the events that proceeded this event, that wasn't a possibility.

But any flavor that was lost due to lack of maceration time, is more than made up for by the cast iron grill. Man I love that thing, it's honestly one of my most valuable kitchen items.

Ginger Lime Chicken

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4 Large Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

8-10 Limes, zested and juiced

4 oz Fresh Ginger, Shredded

1 Tbsp Whole Black Peppercorns

1 clove Garlic

Sea Salt (lots)

In a mortar and pestle, roughly crush peppercorns, then add garlic clove and grind garlic into peppercorns until completely garlic is completely pulverized. Season chicken breasts with sea salt and  garlic and pepper mixture, set aside. In a bowl, combine lime juice, lime zest, and ginger. Add salt to taste. Add chicken to lime/ginger mixture, cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, but up to 24 hours.

Coat a cast iron grill pan/or grill with vegetable oil, heat on high flame. When grill is hot, add chicken two pieces at a time, reduce heat to medium.  Grill chicken 10-12 minutes on each side, until clear grill marks have formed and juices run clear.

Remove from heat, and let cool for an hour. Slice, and refrigerate. Best served chilled, wrapped in a flour tortilla with a spoonful of roasted corn salad making it the best damn chicken taco EVER. This is fact.

And as for the Reggae Wine Festival, I don't need to tell you it was a good time.

Except, I'm going to tell you anyway that it was a really good time, in spit of the 90+ temperature, and our lack of picnic umbrella. You know what wasn't a good time? Wearing a strapless bra in that heat. Next year, I'm going braless [tmi, much?]  And I'm going to need a much bigger hat.

Odichi [big sister]. Her big hat is amazing.

Alihah [fab 5]. She's never taken a bad picture. {jelly}

Barrels o' berry wine. Personally, I think fruit wine is for children, but I drank some anyway.

Hillary [fab 5] +Joe [honorary fab 5, because we ALL love Joe]

¡Salud para el verano!