Chicken and broccoli

I have a fear of cooking chicken. I think that I have been scared off by concerns of salmonella, or even worse, overcooking. My mom did not make too much chicken while I was growing up, certainly none of the Western classics like roast chicken or fried chicken, so I don't have much familiarity with it. And, I'd stopped eating it for a few years, partly because I never cooked it for myself. But I think it's time for me to get over my fear and learn how to cook chicken.


My primary goal is to make chicken that is not too dry (as opposed to juicy chicken--that seems too ambitious, perhaps by phase B, or maybe even phase C). I'm still so terrified of undercooking chicken that I would rather err on the side of overcooking. One of the methods I found is to marinate chicken in yogurt. I think this is similar to making fried chicken which is marinated in buttermilk. I guess there is something about the dairy that softens the meat. (Calling Alton Brown...)


Here's what I did: I took about 1/3 of one of those big containers of plain, non-fat yogurt, mixed in some salt and pepper, then dumped it onto three chicken breast halves that I'd trimmed of any extraneous fat and/or tendons. I also cut the chicken so that the thickness was somewhat even.


I covered this in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge until the next day. I think you can get away with marinating it for an hour but overnight is ideal. So yeah, this is probably not a spur-of-the-moment meal.


When I was ready to cook, I scraped off as much of the yogurt as possible, then started grilling on my grill pan.


So that I could make a complete meal, I prepped some broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper...


Which I stuck in a 425 degree oven...


Just to make things more difficult for myself, I made quinoa too. (One cup of quinoa, a little less than 2 cups of water; bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to lowest temp, turn off heat after 18-20 minutes, leave covered for about 5-10 minutes.)


After about 10-15 minutes of roasting, I added a handful of halved grape tomatoes, that I'd also tossed in olive oil, to the broccoli, to roast for another five minutes. I like having a mix of colors on my plate.


Yay, grill marks!


And fluffy quinoa!


I'm still getting the hang of timing the chicken. The results are definitely not consistent. It usually takes a few pokes with a knife to figure out if it's cooked thoroughly. I also sort of press on the chicken to check--if there is still a lot of give, I cook it longer but if it starts to feel tougher, then it's close to being finished. Several minutes of resting will let it cook through and keep it moist as well. There is something about the yogurt that kind of caramelizes on the chicken for a great grilled flavor (although it can burn).
The star of this show though was clearly the broccoli. Roasting broccoli, or just about any vegetable, is sublime. Don't forget the olive oil and salt.

Update: Bonus! I made this with the leftover chicken, tomatoes and quinoa to take to work for lunch. Dressed with parsley, salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Kind of a tabouleh. I added a little goat cheese too, just because I had it.