Sunday Chicken Dinner - Summer Style

For my parents coming over for dinner tonight, I decided to keep it simple - and by that I mean make a main course only (no starter) and purchase dessert. There were lots of tantalizing options for dessert at Granville Island Market this morning and I opted for an assortment of individual tarts from an independent stand in the market. Flavours included: lemon almond, tart cherry, chocolate caramel, and raspberry coconut.

I went with chicken as the main dish and prepared this as a paillard (flattened). Great technique for the barbeque as the chicken cooks evenly, which is sometimes hard to do with chicken breasts. Because they're pounded to 1/4 inch thickness, this also means they cook in record time - about 2-3 minutes per side. Start with skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Put one chicken breast in between two sheets of Saran Wrap and pound it evenly (to 1/4 inch thickness) using anything you have that's heavy e.g. rolling pin, skillet. Of course if you have one of the proper meat tenderizer mallets, this is the way to go. Once you've pounded out all the chicken breasts, place them on a large sheet pan and to each side of chicken sprinkle Kosher salt and pepper, chili flakes, freshly minced rosemary (or any fresh herb of your choosing), minced garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Be generous with the seasoning and flavouring. There's nothing less desireable than an under-flavoured piece of cooked chicken.

To accompany the chicken, a quick salad of green beans (blanched) with red peppers in a dressing of red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. This was all mixed together and chilled in the fridge until ready to serve. And last, but certainly not least - corn on the cob. Who can resist the corn right now? This is a breeze to prepare. Just put the whole corn (still in the husk) directly on the barbeque and grill for about 10-15 minutes turning occasionally. You'll know when it's done when the husk begins to blacken and pull away from the corn. Then just rip off the corn husk, plate it, and it's ready for its blanket of butter.