Last night, Kim and I whipped up Pesto-Rubbed Chicken with Panzanella, from Saveur.

One of the top motivators in this one was simply to get rid of some of our tomato crop – several bowls of the fruit are around the kitchen in various stages of ripeness. As an added bonus, the garden also sourced the pesto and cucumber for us.

Not the prettiest shot from my phone.

 

The only real variations to the recipe – we used baguettes and chicken thighs, rather than a large loaf of bread and a whole bird. Everything was prepared on the grill, which makes for a pretty fun cooking session. Grilling bread, the whole pepper, chicken parts, roasting the tomatoes and garlic really puts your skills to the test.

The recipe produced an awesome end product. At a brief glance it sounds somewhat simple.. but once you are eating it, the deep flavors from the roasted garlic, charred bread and pesto really stand out. Black olives add an almost exotic flavor and consistency, as well. It has a bright edge courtesy of the the lemon – and the red wine vinegar helps as well. While I normally prefer balsamic, this gave it that lighter touch.

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