You try things; you win some, you lose some. But this recipe, it seems, is an alarm-bell winner, based on the reactions of countless friends who’ve had it. And since I cook food as a gift to my guests, nothing makes me happier than offering them something that turns out to bring them joy.
I came up with what I call BLT Chicken by making a salad and adding things I love, things that swing together like great jazz — chicken, fresh corn, tomatoes and, I thought, why not — let’s butter and grill the cornbread. Grilled cornbread has a crispy edge that makes me buckle in the knees, caramelized and buttery on the tongue.
Listen, you’re free to make the cornbread on a weekend, when there’s time to do it from scratch, but you can also buy it, using the supermarket as your prep chef. That’s what my pal Jacques Pepin does; he buys supermarket stuff pre-chopped to save time. I mostly buy the cornbread made. It’s okay to use a packaged mix, or pull out that time-honored family recipe. In fact, you can prep most of this recipe on a Sunday night for Monday supper, including washing the greens, dicing the scallions, making the dressing, preparing the fresh corn and slicing off the kernels, and cutting the cherry tomatoes in half.
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 4 strips crispy bacon
- Cornbread for 4 homemade or store-bought
- cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 bunch of diced scallions or 1 red onion, diced
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped, stems and all
- 1-2 diced avocados
- Lettuce for 4
- 1 stick softened butter
- Any other salad ingredients you like
- SALAD Make a salad of your favorite lettuce and ingredients. I add a full bunch of chopped fresh cilantro, fresh corn kernels, diced avocado, cherry tomatoes cut in half, and diced scallions. Toss salad with a vinaigrette. I mix together Ariston Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Greece, balsamic vinegar, and the juice of a whole lime or two. (If limes are too expensive, go with fresh lemons.) A little salt and freshly ground pepper. Taste it and see. Set the bowl aside.
- CHICKEN Grill the chicken breasts and four slices of bacon, cooking bacon until it is crisp. Set the bacon aside to cool. When the breasts have been cooked on both sides, remove.
- CORNBREAD Homemade or Store-Bought Slice the cornbread in half horizontally so that it is about a half-inch thick. Lightly butter both sides of each slice. Grill one side of the slices, moving them a little so they have nice grill marks and are deep golden and a little crispy. Flip the pieces and grill the reverse side the same way. Make sure it's golden, not faintly grilled. You want at least two pieces per person.
- Place the chicken breast on a plate, top with dressed salad greens and crumble a slice of bacon on top of each serving. Put two slices of grilled cornbread on the side, or bring them out on a platter, and let guests help themselves. They will want a lot of all this, so be prepared! I now double the cornbread allotment.
Seriously, I'd make double the cornbread. It's freaky delicious.
