Lemon Chicken with Cucumber Salsa

Today was another grill recipe.  This meal requires some prep work.  It needs to marinade in the juice.  It says to marinade 2-4 hours, so not that much prep, but a little more notice than...hmmmm....what's for supper tonight? :)  I prepped this yesterday and just let it marinade all night.  Is it even possible for something to marinade too long?!  I don't think so.

Lemon Chicken with Cucumber Salsa.

TJ gave this an 8 maybe 9 out of 10.  He was on the fence...couldn't quite decide. :)

Chicken breasts (We used bone in/skin on ones)
(or you could use a broiler-fryer chicken cut into quarters, or 2 cornished hens)
2 lemons
3 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp oregano leaves
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

Cucumber Salsa Ingredients
1/2 medium unpeeled, seeded cucumber (1 cup)
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped red onion
1/3 cup ripe olives, sliced
1/4 cup diced red pepper

Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Remove any excess fat.  Zest the Lemon......Have you ever zested a lemon?  I have a handy dandy tool just for this.  Mine is from pampered chef, but I'm sure they have them at Target or something.  It comes in handy every once in a while...
Zesting the Lemon

Zest the lemon to measure 1 Tbsp of zest.  Juice the lemons to measure 1/2 cup.  I don't have a juicer for this, so I cut the lemon in half.  Then squeezed the lemon first.  Next to get the most juice out of it that I could I stuck my fingers in side and squeezed against the edge from the inside to get the rest of the juice out.  Measure 1/2 cup of the juice or a little more.  Place this and zest in a bowl along with the rest of the seasonings, fresh pressed garlic, olive oil, oregano, paprika, salt & pepper.  Whip this together and then set 2 Tbsp of this mixture aside for the salsa.  Place the chicken in the marinade and turn to coat.  Marinade in the frig for 2-4 hours.

I put this in a 9x13 pan.  With the chicken upsidedown.  I put some saran wrap over and then the lid, and shook it slightly.  Then before bed, I flipped the chicken around so it could marinade a few hours on each side. (Otherwise it says to put it in a big zip lock baggie...I didn't have one that big so I improvised.

For the Salsa.  Corasely chop cucumber and onion.  Slice olives and dice bell pepper.  Place in a small bowl, add reserved 2 Tbsp of marinade and mix gently.  cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Cook the chicken over an indirect medium heat until the temperature registers 180degrees in the thickest part of the chicken.

I'd say this took about 15 minutes to prepare, and then let it marinade 2-4 hours or overnight....and then grill approximately 45-50 minutes, or until the chicken is done.