Food: Quick Grilled Chicken and Caesar Potato Salad

When I think of summer barbeques and picnics, two of the items that instantly come to mind are potato salad and grilled chicken. A couple of weekends ago I made this really quick meal for dinner, inspired by the Caesar Potato salad recipe featured in June's Bon Appetit. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to try a Caesar dressing on potatoes before, but this was great! Not only was it a non-mayo potato salad (which makes it more transportable for sticky, summer days), it's all fancied up for a celebration (or in this case a casual dinner) with colored baby potatoes, radishes, and crunchy sugar snap peas. It'd make a fantastic, showy, 4th of July side dish - especially if you mixed in some purple potatoes. I'm looking forward to making it again very soon.

Sorry...another blurry iPhone picture....

Smoky Grilled Chicken MM

Ingredients

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Tb Smoked Paprika
• 3 Tb Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

• Pre-heat your grill to medium heat
• In a small bowl, mix together smoked paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper
• After trimming any excess fat off the chicken, lay the breasts on a counter between two sheets of waxed paper and pound them flat to ensure they are all of uniform thickness.
• Brush both sides of the chicken them with the oil/paprika mixture
• Grill 8 to 12 minutes on Direct Medium, turning chicken mid-way through
  

Caesar Potato Salad with Sugar Snap Peas
From Bon Appetit (June 2009)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds unpeeled assorted fingerling potatoes or baby potatoes (such as white-skinned, red-skinned, and purple), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 8 oz trimmed sugar snap peas
• 1 bunch radishes, trimmed, sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 garlic clove, pressed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  

Directions

• Steam potatoes on steamer rack set in large pot over boiling water until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add sugar snap peas and steam until peas are crisp-tender and potatoes are just tender, about 1 minute longer. Transfer vegetables to large bowl. Cool slightly.
• Add radishes and onion.
• Whisk next 4 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Whisk in Parmesan. Season dressing with salt and generous amount of pepper. Add dressing to potato mixture; toss to coat. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.