They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and for us this evening that was certainly the case.
I’ve been in a cleaning-out-the-freezer kick, and one of the items I was planning on using this week was a bag of marinated chicken thighs. I use chicken thighs instead of breasts or tenders because they are juicier and more flavorful, and the thin style of this cut goes great over the grill.
For the marinade, I throw one cup of unsweetened plain greek yogurt, some lemon zest, 1 tbsp salad dressing, and whatever spices you like, and throw it all in a freezer bag with your chicken. Mix and massage it all with the bag closed, and let it marinate for at least an hour before throwing it over the grill for about 5 minutes on each side.
The best part of the chicken recipe is that it freezes well; just smooth your freezer bag of chicken and marinade into a relatively flat layer, and pop it in the freezer for easy stacking and even freezing. When you go to use it, just let it defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours before hand.
Usually, I serve these chicken thighs with a big Greek salad, but I goofed at the supermarket. I didn’t get enough tomatoes, I didn’t get any fresh mint to add to the spring mix, and I didn’t have any croutons. Womp-womp.
However, what I did have were a bunch of green, unripened tomatoes that we’ve been slow-ripening inside since the first freeze. Bingo.
I sliced three of our unripe tomatoes in roughly 1/2″ slices. Next, I combined 1 egg, a tsp of sour cream, and a splash of water in a bowl, and beat it together to form a quick egg bath. Finally, I combined bread crumbs with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, and cumin, and mixed it all together.
With all the prep work complete, I dredged the tomato slices in the egg wash, then the breadcrumb mixture, then they went into a hot pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. And these puppies fry up quick! I only needed about 1 minute on each side before they were nice and crispy. Then, they went onto a paper towel, while I pulled together the rest of the salad. I tossed spring mix, feta, kalamata olives, and vinaigrette in a large mixing bowl, then plated it and added the tomatoes on top.
And it was SUPER delicious! Plus, getting to grill and have fried green tomatoes in the middle of December? It felt like quite the luxury. Enjoy!
