Free The Big Book of Backyard Cooking by Betty Rosbottom

and lime zests and juices, soy sauce, chopped cilantro, chopped basil, and 1 tablespoon black pepper. Stir to blend. Remove ⅓ cup of the marinade to a small nonreactive bowl and whisk in honey. (Cover and refrigerate the honey mixture until ready to grill chicken.) Add chicken to dish and turn to coat in marinade. Cover and refrigerate 4 to 5 hours, turning several times.
    Remove chicken from marinade and using a rubber spatula, scrape excess marinade from breasts. Strain marinade into a heavy, medium saucepan. To make sauce, boil marinade in saucepan until reduced to 1½ cups, about 15 minutes. Whisk in butter and season with additional pepper and salt if desired.
    Oil a grill rack and arrange 4 to 5 inches from heat source. Prepare grill for a hot fire (high temperature). Brush chicken with oil and grill, turning several times and basting with reserved honey mixture, until chicken springs back when touched with your fingers and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife, 4 to 5 minutes per side. (Internal temperature should be 170 degrees F.) Arrange breasts on a serving platter and garnish with cilantro and basil sprigs. Serve with sauce.
    CHICKEN “SCALLOPS” TOPPED WITH
    TOMATOES, BLACK OLIVES, AND FETA
    Typically, when boneless chicken breasts are pounded into thin scallops, they are then sautéed. In this recipe, they are grilled, then topped with a distinctive garnish of quartered grape tomatoes, slivered kalamata olives, and crumbled feta. The tomatoes add a sweet note while the olives and cheese provide salty undertones. Good accompaniments would be the Easy Saffron Rice (page 21
    in Basics) and grilled zucchini halves.
    8 6-to 7-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of excess fat ⅓ cup olive oil, plus extra for oiling grill rack
    ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
    2 tablespoons, plus 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano, divided (see notes), plus 8 sprigs of oregano for garnish (optional)
    2 medium cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
    Kosher salt
    Freshly ground black pepper
    20 pitted kalamata olives, cut lengthwise into slivers
    10 sweet grape tomatoes, stemmed and quartered lengthwise (see notes) 3 to 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
    Remove the small strip of meat called the fillet from the underside of each chicken breast and save for another use. Place a chicken breast between 2 sheets of waxed paper and using a meat pounder or rolling pin, pound until between ¼ and ½ inch thick. Continue, using more waxed paper as needed, until all chicken has been pounded. Place chicken in a large, shallow nonreactive dish. With a sharp knife, score the top of the chicken breasts.
    Combine ½ cup oil, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons chopped oregano, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and several grinds of black pepper in a small bowl and whisk well to blend. Pour over chicken. Cover chicken with plastic wrap and refrigerate, turning several times, for at least 2 hours or up to 6 hours.
    Thirty minutes before you are ready to grill chicken, combine olives, tomatoes, cheese, and remaining 2 teaspoons chopped oregano in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
    When ready to grill chicken, oil a grill rack and arrange 4 to 5 inches from heat source. Prepare grill for a hot fire (high temperature). Pat chicken dry and grill until chicken springs back when touched with your fingers and juices run clear when flesh is pierced with a sharp knife, about 3
    minutes per side. (Internal temperature should be 170 degrees F.) Do not overcook or chicken will be dry.
    Remove to a platter and salt and pepper chicken lightly. Garnish each chicken breast with a generous topping of tomato garnish and then with a sprig of oregano, if desired.
    NOTES: This dish is best made with fresh oregano, but if it is unavailable substitute 2 teaspoons dried oregano for the fresh herb in the marinade and use a scant teaspoon dried oregano in the tomato/olive/feta garnish.
    : Grape tomatoes, a variety of tomatoes slightly smaller and sweeter than