Grilled Chicken with Plum Salsa

I officially have spring fever.  When it starts to get nice outside, I immediately want to break out the grill, which we did last weekend.  I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel like I get in a grilling rut, doing the same things every time.

We were having some family members over, and I wanted to make something delicious and impressive enough for entertaining, yet easy and something everyone would like.  Last year when my herb garden was in full swing, I created a marinade for chicken that was so flavorful and made the chicken super tender.  Then recently, I saw a recipe online for plum salsa as a chicken topper.  So I got to thinking…why not combine my favorite marinade with the plum salsa?  I have to tell you, it turned out extremely well!  The sweetness of the fruity salsa really complimented the savory grilled chicken, which turns out so delicious every time.  This is a very refreshing dish, perfect for spring.

As usual, I didn’t really measure when I made the marinade.  I just started dumping things together, so this is my best guess.  You can adjust the ingredients according to your taste, but if you get too much acid, it will start to “cook” your chicken and turn it white.  This is not harmful, but you wouldn’t want to marinade too long if that’s the case.

This is a versatile marinade.  You could use whatever herbs you like or have on hand.  Rosemary goes great with chicken so I usually use that, but I didn’t put any in this time because I didn’t think it would go that well with the salsa.  I used lime zest here since I was topping the chicken with a salsa, but originally I used lemon zest, and that works very well too.  I also had a little cilantro leftover from chopping it for the salsa, so I just threw that in this time.  You could also just use the marinade or the salsa, you don’t have to use them both together.   This is enough marinade for chicken for six people.  You could easily halve it if you’re making less.

For the salsa, you could use pineapple, mango, or peaches in place of the plums.  Or mix them!  I know I’ll be trying different variations this spring to keep things interesting!

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 2 T white wine vinegar
• 2 T rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup (4 T) dry white wine
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced or grated
• 1 T fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 T fresh parsley
• zest of one lime
• salt and pepper to taste
• Enough boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs to feed your crowd

For the salsa:

• 4-5 plums, chopped small
• 3-4 T chopped cilantro
• 1/4 c. diced red onion
• 4 tsp. cider vinegar
• 2 tsp. brown sugar

Directions: Whisk ingredients for marinade together.  Place chicken pieces in a large zip top bag and pour in marinade.  Move the chicken around so that all of the pieces are covered, then squeeze out all of the air and close the bag.  Set in refrigerator to marinade for up to an hour.

While chicken is marinading, combine ingredients for salsa in a bowl.  Cover and set in refrigerator.

Grill chicken until internal temperature is 165 degrees.  Top with salsa.