Lick-Your-Plate Delish

Looking for a go-to recipe this spring and summer? Look no further.  I honestly could eat this dish three-four times a week. I bet Mary Jo Pruitt would be sitting at the table with fork and knife in hand as well.

Instead of writing how to make this recipe step by step, here is the recipe. I also pasted the full recipe at the bottom of the blog.  It’s from a Cooking Light issue a few years ago, but it’s still one of my favorites. I love Cooking Light recipes!

There are so many different food labels on chicken: organic, no hormones, cage free, and more.  Not sure about it all?  Read this article!  We use organic chicken without hormones.

The spice mix calls for chipotle chili powder.  While it costs $9.99 a bottle, it’s worth it. It gives the chicken such good flavor (and use it for chili another time)!  I like the kick it gives the recipe.  I make up a little more spice mix to coat the chicken better.  I sprinkle the spices on the chicken and put foil on it.

I then move on to making the buttermilk dressing.  The dressing calls for a shallot and garlic. Make sure to chop both up very fine.  I use a nice long knife to chop it super fine.

minced garlic

chop the shallot super fine

Because I don’t want the calories, I make my own buttermilk with a 1/2 a cup of almond milk and a few squeezes of lemon and a pinch of cream of tartar.  See the recipe here.  Use reduced fat olive oil mayo, which has half the calories.  Fresh thyme gives this dressing  a little pop. When finished, put it in the refrigerator to chill, but make sure you lick the spoon because this is so good!

Cut the red onion in 1/2 inch slices to prepare it to be grilled. I use a large red onion even though the recipe calls for a small one. Strip the corn and put salt and pepper on it.

Move on to get the heirloom tomatoes ready for the salad portion.  Pick three gorgeous heirloom tomatoes: one yellow, one red and one green. So plump and juicy!  A friend of mine once called heirloom tomatoes too indulgent.  I beg to differ!

My husband is the grill master so he took care of the chicken, corn, and french bread.  An important grilling tip from him – put the chicken and corn on the grill wrapped in foil to start.  Take the foil off when it’s close to being done to get the grill marks. Both will be so juicy!

The grilled french bread is a nice touch.  It’s necessary to soak up the juices left on the plate from the dressing and the chicken!  Brush it with olive oil before it’s grilled.

Cut the avocados in a few pieces and put the pit in the bowl to cut down on the browning. While we finished grilling, I washed up the dishes. I love having a clean sink before dinner when guests are over!  The guests this afternoon were busy eating the opening act. Read here to see what that is all about!

When the grilling is finished, it’s go time!  The fresh corn goes from pale yellow to delish with the grill marks.  Cutting hot corn off the cub is a little tricky.

Pick white plates so the meal pops off the plate.

This is when having a big island in my kitchen worked in my favor!  Build the plate, starting with the chicken and then adding the red onion.  Finally, add the heirloom tomatoes, avocados, corn, the cherry tomatoes, and the dressing!  I use extra heirloom tomatoes and grilled corn just because!

Once the plate is done, I serve it plated to the guests. No one minds there are different types of food “touching each other” on the plate.  Seriously – prepare to watch your guests lick the plate when they are finished!