Fresh and light dinner...

Lemons were used in both of the dishes tonight for dinner. I mentioned yesterday that they would be used quite a bit this week in savory and sweet recipes - tomorrow look for them to be used in a sweet way.

For a side tonight, I made Whole-Wheat Couscous with Parmesan and Peas. Since we discovered that Jeff actually likes peas now, this sounded like a great way to use up some pantry staples. Since the couscous takes just 5 minutes to cook, this is a fast and healthy side dish. The small pearls of pasta are enhanced by the bright zest from a lemon. I stirred in the nutty parmesan with the rest of the ingredients at the end instead of sprinkling on top - I wanted it to be a little more dispersed in the couscous. I ended up leaving the dill out as we forgot to pick some up at the market - but I'm sure it would have fit in well!

The main portion of tonight's meal was Lemon-Arugula Chicken Paillards. A quick side salad is made that has a refreshing dressing from lemon zest, tart lemon juice and a bit of garlic. I mixed the peppery and slightly bitter arugula with some fresh baby spinach to tame the flavors a bit. The paillard part comes from flattening the chicken until very thin - which speeds up the cooking time a fair amount. The chicken is then simply seasoned with salt and pepper and sautéed in a hot pan until golden and cooked. When done, the chicken is removed and a colorful mixture of yellow/red cherry tomatoes along with white wine are added. When the tomatoes have absorbed the flavor of the wine and loosened up the flavorful bits left behind from the chicken, they are served along with the juicy chicken breasts.

Recipes
Lemon-Arugula Chicken Paillards
Whole-Wheat Couscous with Parmesan and Peas