Chicken Chimichurri with Yellow Rice & Kale Salad

We are excited to bring you this collaboration with Perspectives & Chef Dan! This dish was chosen by the kids of The Kids Cafe!

Juicy seared chicken smothered with fresh chimichurri sauce served with aromatic yellow rice and kale, bell pepper salad.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 40-45 min

This dish is Gluten-Free

Calories: 553 Fat: 9g Carbs: 54g Protein: 34g

Chimichurri is the star of this dish with big, bold flavors of garlic, parsley, and red wine vinegar. This sauce is perfect on just about anything! For this recipe collaboration with Chef Dan and Perspectives Kids Cafe we drizzle chimichurri over seared chicken served alongside aromatic spiced rice and a fresh kale salad.

Chef Dan

This recipe was designed by local chef:

Dan Tobias-Kotyk & Perspectives

Dan Tobias-Kotyk is a graduate from St. Cloud State University in Social Studies/Secondary Education. He also is a self proclaimed “foodie” and licensed teacher. In 1998 when Perspectives launched their Kids Cafe program Dan was hired to run the kitchen and forever to be called Chef Dan. Under Chef Dan’s direction, as well a licensed nutritional consultant, Kids Cafe has grown into a five day/week 12 month/year nutritional program that serves over 15,000 healthy meals/snacks each year to at-risk students in grades K-8 that live in St. Louis Park.

Ingredients

Red Wine Vinegar

Sambal

Rice seasoning

Basmati Rice

Garlic

Parsley

Oregano

Baby kale

Green Onions

Red Bell Pepper

Chicken breasts

Bias slice Cutting or slicing on a diagonal angle

Julienne To slice into thin strips about the size of matchsticks.

Sear To cook the surface of meat very quickly with intense heat.

Medium sauté pan

Medium pot

Food processor or blender

Medium bowl

Step 1: MISE EN PLACE

Read through the entire recipe before getting started. Wash and dry all produce. Leave parsley whole. Remove oregano from stem, discard stems. Remove roots from green onions; discard root, then bias slice. Remove seeds and stem from bell pepper, then julienne. Remove chicken breasts from package; rinse and pat dry.

Step 2: COOK YELLOW RICE

Heat rice seasoning in medium pot over medium heat for 30-60 sec until fragrant. Add basmati rice and 1 ¼ cups water. Bring to boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 min until rice is tender. While rice is cooking, begin making the chimichurri (Step #3).

Step 3: MAKE CHIMICHURRI

Place parsley, oregano and garlic in food processor or blender; pulse 30-60 sec until roughly chopped. Add 1/3 cup oil (preferably olive oil if you have it), red wine vinegar, sambal, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pulse 30-60 sec until almost smooth. Note: If no food processor or blender is available, finely mince parsley, garlic and oregano. Place in a small bowl with red wine vinegar, sambal, and a pinch of salt and pepper, whisk well. Add oil in a thin stream while whisking until incorporated. Let sauce stand at room temperature until plating.

Step 4: SEAR CHICKEN

Rub chicken breasts with 1 tsp. oil, salt and pepper. Heat 1 tsp. oil in medium sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once pan is hot, add chicken breasts and sear 3-4 min per side until golden brown; cover add 3 Tbsp. water cover and cook another 8-10 min until cooked through. The USDA recommends cooking chicken to an internal temperature 165ºF.

Step 5: FINISH MEAL

Add green onions to yellow rice and stir to combine. Mix baby kale and red bell pepper in a medium mixing bowl.

Step 6: PLATE YOUR DISH

Divide yellow rice and salad between two plates. Add seared chicken breast to each plate. Drizzle chicken and salad with plenty of chimichurri. Enjoy!