Thursday, February 17, 2011

California Grilled Chicken Flatbread


Something about this flat bread just says "California" to me. I don't know what it is, maybe contrasting flavors and textures of the veggies and chicken with the spicy sauce.  Something I really liked about this dish is that it's a great way to not make the same ol' boring chicken.  Chicken breast is by far the protein I use the most and I am always thinking of new ways to re-invent it.  This flatbread is also topped with lots of fresh veggies like avocado and tomatoes which are great for you.  In fact, you could easily make this dish vegetarian by omitting the chicken breast and bacon.  It's also quite healthy in terms of fat content, the chicken is simply grilled  and the cheese and sauce were made using reduced fat ingredients- you'll feel like you're eating something really indulgent, but it's actually good for you too! I know I'm a little late for the party, but shoot, this would have been good for the super bowl! Oh well, summer is right around the corner.  I can just imagine serving this at a casual summer get together- I think it'd be a hit. I can always test out this hypothesis- any takers?

Ingredients:
4 lemon- size balls of pizza dough (I used this recipe, but if you were in a hurry you could use the store bought kind that comes in a tube or even buy the raw dough  from your local pizzeria.)
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp. canola oil
1 tbsp. herbs de Provence
6 slices bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1/2 a red onion
1 ripe tomato
1-2 ripe hass avocados
2 tbsp. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used the reduced fat kind)
salt and pepper to taste

First, pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  While the oven gets hot, butterfly your chicken breasts and sprinkle them with a little salt, pepper and some herbs de Provence. Take out your grill pan and turn the heat up to medium high.  Don't oil the grill pan because it will only collect the oil in the grooves.  Instead, brush the chicken breasts with a tiny amount of oil and transfer them to the grill pan once it's hot.  Grill the chicken for about 4 minutes on each side.  It shouldn't take very long since you'll cut the cooking time by butterflying the breasts.

While the chicken is cooking, begin rolling out the dough into rectangular shapes using a rolling pin. I like my flatbread a little on the thin side, so I rolled it out quite a bit, but you can roll it out depending on how thick you like your dough. Using a pastry brush, brush a little bit of oil on the flatbread and place it on a cookie sheet.  Now would be a good time to place the strips of bacon on another cookie sheet.  Transfer the cookie sheets to the oven and allow the flatbread to cook until it's nice and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.  The bacon should be done about the same time too.  Remove the trays from the oven and transfer the flatbread to your platter.   While the flatbread cooks, make sure to keep an eye on your chicken breast, turning it once to cook on the other side.  Once the chicken is cooked, transfer to a plate, and allow it to rest for about 4 minutes before slicing into thin strips. While you're waiting on the chicken to rest, and the flatbread to cook, let's begin cutting up our veggies.  Dice the tomatoes, thinly slice your onion and slice your avocado.  When the bacon is cooked, dice that up too.  Now let's begin assembling the flatbread.  Place the chicken over the flatbread, then top with your veggies and bacon.  Sprinkle a little bit of shredded cheese over the top, and drizzle with the spicy sauce, (recipe below)

For the spicy sauce:
1/3 cup plain- non-fat yogurt
2 tbsp. reduced fat mayo
2 tbsp. ketchup
2 tbsp. water
1 small garlic clove (or half a big one), grated
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. hot sauce
a pinch of salt

Add the yogurt, mayo, ketchup, hot sauce and water to a little mixing bowl.  Whisk it well, removing any clumps, you'll want a velvety smooth sauce.  Next, sprinkle in the cayenne pepper, salt, lemon juice and the grated garlic clove and whisk once again until all of the ingredients are evenly combined.

1 comment:

Jenna said...

This looks fabulous! You always cook such lovely and colorful dishes. =) I'm checking out your pizza dough recipe right now . . .


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