Lemon Herb Marinated Chicken for the Big Fam

While vacaying with the family, I wanted to make a big summer meal with lots of fresh, varied flavors. Meanwhile, my husband and brother had a hankering to make a large grill out of rocks. Enter grilled, lemon herb marinated chicken!

This chicken was the perfect protein to tie together a Mediterranean smorgasbord type of meal. We bought pitas and hit up the olive bar at the local grocery store. I made tzatziki and greek salad. Mamah [my grandma] made a good ole' fruit salad and my mom made a killer dill and feta cole slaw. For my cute, vegetarian sis in law [and also because I wanted to feast on grilled veggies] we grilled zucchini slices and then made aluminum foil packets full of mushrooms, onions and red bell peppers that we threw around the coals.

Mamah's grill was broken so the boys excitedly took the grate off of her grill and put it over some coals in between some big rocks in the yard.

 

A few hours before the boys crafted a grill, I began marinating my chicken. 

Lemon Herb Marinated Chicken [for a crowd of 20]

10 chicken breasts, sliced into tenderloins [about 4-5 slices per breast]

1 cup of olive oil

Juice of 4 lemons

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

6 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup each of chopped parsley, basil, dill and green onion

Mix together everything but the chicken in a large roasting pan [or divide between however you want to marinate your chicken-several ziploc bags, a couple mixing bowls...whatever fits in your fridge].

Add in the chicken, toss to coat the chicken. Cover and marinate for at least 2 hours.

After marinating, throw on the grill and cook until done. Approximately 5 minutes a side.

While we grilled chicken, we also grilled zucchini slices that we sprinkled with salt, pepper and oregano.

The boys lined the charcoal with the tin foil packs filled with veggies. This is an awesome cooking technique....I have had foil packs filled with chicken and a little barbecue sauce, I have also had mussels with herbs and a little white wine. The meat stays super tender and still gets a little smoky! Roll out a long rectangle of foil. Place your veggies or meat on one side. Fold the other half over the meat or veg then fold up the remaining three sides to seal everything.

When all was said and done, we had an unbelievable family meal, made even cooler when the buffet line was in Mamah's retro kitchen! My fave way to eat all the Mediterranean goodness was to stuff the veg, chicken, tzatziki and greek salad into the pita and eat it all souvlaki sandwich style!