THE BEST CHICKEN MARINADE ON THE PLANET

[niki]

hey everyone...i've mentioned this in my posts but i don't think i posted it on it's own............YOU HAVE TO TRY THIS....IT'S GREAT.......this is the way greeks marinate chicken....one day is good...two days are great........i marinate boneless chicken breasts like this for the forman grill and THAT'S the chicken i slice and put on top of israeli chickpea soup............LOVE IT.......and if you want,you could skewer this boneless chicken and make it like souvlaki also.......you could make both lamb and chicken souvlaki for a little variety.......    
   once i've soaked and cleaned the chicken pieces,i put them in a big metal bowl that i have....
  added:oil(any kind.....1-2 tbsp)
            lemon juice(use the bottled type)
            finely chopped onion(for 1 chicken,1 med one)
            water(to dilute the lemon juice a little,not a lot)
            salt
            pepper(freshly ground)
            oregano(doesn't have to be greek)

    you marinate for a day or 2.....i take the skin off the breasts and leave the skin on some of the pieces for everyone else....i have a weber kettle grill which is particulary good with chicken...but,of course,any grill is fine.....with a charcoal grill,you want the charcoal to be competely white....then skin side up at first so that you don't set everything on fire.....you can salt,pepper and oregano everything once it's on the grill because a lot of it cooks off(don't do this with the chicken on the forman grill).....i would say about 45 minutes and they're done....you have to check them .....my neighbors love the way this smells on the barbeque.....and it's so delicious......EVERYBODY HAS TO TRY THIS.............................this is it....the right time of the year for barbeque................have fun.............niki

[niki]

here it is maggie.....you can make any chicken like this...for the split chicken breasts,i take the skin off so the spices are on the meat itself..........and letting it marinate 2 days is the best...in fact,my son will be home from new hampshire(a 2 week conference with his job) and i told him we'd barbeque friday....so when i go downstairs later,i'll take chicken out and marinate it later for friday..................this is great....i can't imagine anyone trying it and NOT loving it...this is the way greeks marinate chicken..........niki 

[maggiemae]

Okay, Niki, I'll take your word for it!  I'm sure it's absolutely delicious.  Question, is the chicken just as tender the next day?  I intend to cook at home one day and bring lunch to work the next. 

I printed it and added it to the many recipes that I have printed from the boards.

Maggie

[niki]

you just have to be careful not to overcook it...when i make it,i make a lot and eat it leftover......you can just warm it up in the microwave a LITTLE and not make it really hot so that you don't dry it out.....i also slice it and eat it cold with salad....there you have grilled chicken with salad.......................and if i make israeli chickpea soup,i slice it after having warmed it up a little and put it on top of the soup...............i like basil with chickpea soup and not parsley....so,the next time i make it,i'm going to puree it before i put the basil in so i have nice pieces of basil in it.........niki

[Queenie]

Niki,

My sister is married to a Greek guy (20+ years) and he makes this all the time - and you're so right - it's fantastic!  He was in the restaurant business for many, many years (figure the odds!) and has introduced us to so many wonderful things.  I can hardly remember the time before these tastes were in my life.

Carolyn

[niki]

hi carolyn..glad you're familiar with it....take a look at some of the other greek recipes that i've posted and see if anything else looks familiar.............and any new ones you might have gotten from him would be really appreciated...if he was in the restaurant business,he's not from the same part of greece that my parents are from so the cuisine is a little different...........niki

[Queenie]

I definitely will check out those other recipes, Niki.

And my brother-in-law is from some tiny island that's about as big as a thumb print!  I can never even remember the name.  They went there this past summer and my sister sent some incredible pictures - it is gorgeous!

Carolyn

[niki]

the islands in greece are beautiful...the little village my parents are from is set between the mountains in the northern part of greece...i went online and saw some beautiful pictures of it...it's called siatista...........niki

[nyKath]

Hey Queenie, might that island be Chios? That's where my hubs father was from and photos of it are just like a postcard. Hope to get there someday now that hubs is retired. nyK

[Queenie]

I just called my brother-in-law.  He said the name of the island is Carpathos...

Kathy, I went and looked at a map, it's south of Chios, in fact one of the southern-most islands.  Carpathos is between Crete and Rhodes if you go looking for it on a map. 

Niki, it took me a while, but I did find an interactive map with Siatista on it.  No wonder the food there is different than the food my brother-in-law knows - it's a LONG way from Carpathos!!

Carolyn

[nyKath]

I'll be checking the maps, too, as I like to know where in the world these places are when people speak of them. Thanks for the head's up! nyKath

[niki]

a long way from carpathos is right......i would say that the islands all have loads of seafood recipes while up in the mountains my mother and father grew up on a lot of beans and lentils...meat and chicken once in a while.....
   my mother has been dead for many years...i have to ask my father what kind of things they grew and lived on....the one thing i remember my mother telling me when the big marijuana craze went on in the 60s...that marijuana grew wild throughout the mountains and they never paid it any attention at all...........
  my mother and her family spent the 2nd ww in thessaloniki which is a port city so they must have lived on a lot of fish....they probably didn't have much else....people and their roots have always facinated me....take care guys................niki

[niki]

haha..i found it.....for all you guys that don't really like white meat, TRY THIS.......i always marinate it for 2 days now...it really makes a difference...and when you put it on the barbeque, you can liberally salt,pepper and oregano it..a lot of that cooks off(especially the salt).....i would still say about 45 minutes, but i take the wings(if i make whole chickens)and the legs off the grill as they look cooked(maybe 1/2 hr)and if there's a smaller breast, i might take that off, too..i take the skin off the breasts(i eat those)...sometimes i combine and marinate a whole chicken and split breasts..if everyone is on let's do lunch in your family, just buy the split breasts and take the skin off so the flavorings stay on...i'm not kidding...try this................niki

[EnJae]

Thanks for bringing this back to the top niki!
NJ

[niki]

hi georgean....i read the recipe and see what you mean...i use a metal bowl because i have a really big one and i don't usually make less than 3 chickens(when i cook, i don't mess around...i like to make a LOT)...you can use any kind of bowl....
  i'm going to say 3 parts lemon juice to 1 part water.....after cleaning and soaking the chicken, i fill the bowl up around 3/4 up at least and then the rest is water(not a lot of water)....just a tablespoon or 2 of oil..i use the bottled lemon juice and any oil...i don't waste fresh lemons or olive oil...there's no point...you're just marinating it..you don't use it afterwards....finely chopped onion,plenty of salt,pepper and oregano when marinating and once it's on the grill....skin side up for the pieces you leave the skin on(for the non-ldl family members)to start out with.......for myself, the split breasts with the skin removed so the spices adhere to the meat...
  ANYONE who eats this chicken LOVES it...there's really nothing like it.....................sincerely,niki

[niki]

because of it's excellent benefit in reducing the risk to your health when you barbecue, marinating is the thing to do...i answered this question on another post but thought i'd put it here to be helpful....

there are some things you can't do wrong and marinating chicken like this is one of them.....but, let me see...........i'm going to say that for one chicken, i'd use maybe a a cup of lemon juice and maybe a half a cup of water.......i would say less than a quarter of a cup of oil....ANY oil......you don't eat it....you discard it......spices?.....you shake loads of salt and pepper.....and, what i try to do with the oregano is shake some on every piece i can reach.........a small onion for 1 chicken....i put it in plastic bags sometimes also...that's fine...........

i often marinate it for 2 days....i made a bunch of boneless chicken breasts like this and put them on the forman grill and froze them in freezer bags to take out as i need them.........and, ANOTHER good thing about this is that you shouldn't cook them over a HOT grill......if you're using charcoal, you want them to be really white so they cook more slowly...about an hour..... 
of course, when i was a kid, we didn't take off the skin.....i take the skin off before cooking so the spices are on the meat itself and everyone loves it like that.......i would do that for the chicken breasts for yourself and then let everyone enjoy the chicken with the skin......the only person to complain in my family was my father(who didn't have a weight problem)so we gave him the chicken with the skin....the skin gets crispy and delicious....but, everyone else in my family is weight or health conscious so without the skin worked for them.................................   

[LINDA RN]

Thanks Niki, shoulda kept reading

[niki]

Thanks Niki, shoulda kept reading

don't give it a thought, linda.....if i look at a recipe on the boards, i'm not likely to read all the posts after it.....make sure you try it....it's REALLY great....i didn't make it up...THIS is the way greeks barbecue chicken....it's finger licking good...............and, you put salt, pepper and oregano on it as soon as you put it on the grill....when you turn it(in 10 minutes or so)salt, pepper and oregano it again....don't be afraid with the salt...it cooks off to some degree....i never measure and it NEVER comes out too salty....

as soon as i see split breasts on sale, i'm making this myself...