July 5: 30-Minute Chicken Under a Brick

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breast halves
4 fresh bay leaves
8 garlic cloves, cracked away from their skins
3 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for liberal drizzling
   A pile of a few sprigs each of fresh flat-leaf parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme, finely chopped
2 tablespoons grill seasoning, such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
   Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 romaine lettuce hearts, chopped
1 head of radicchio, shredded
1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs, whatever you have on hand, loosely packed and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons grainy mustard
   Salt and freshly ground black pepper
   Crusty bread, to pass at the table

Preheat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high to high heat and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Loosen the skin on the breasts with your fingers and place a bay leaf and some of the cracked garlic between the skin and the breast. Drizzle the breasts with a liberal amount of EVOO. Mix the finely chopped herbs with the grill seasoning and lemon zest, then coat the breasts liberally with the mix.

Place skin side down in the skillet and top with another, smaller skillet. Weight the pan with a brick (or with a heavy can). Cook to crisp the skin, 6 to 8 minutes.

Transfer the pan to the hot oven and roast for another 15 minutes, or until done.

Combine the greens and coarsely chopped herbs in a bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, mustard, and lemon juice, stream in the 3 tablespoons of EVOO, and season the dressing with salt and pepper.

Dress the salad and toss.

Serve the salad and crusty bread alongside the chicken.

4 SERVINGS

I made this meal at my parents house and had it (just about) ready for my dad for lunch when he got home from his 10 day trip to Ecuador. We all really enjoyed it. The chicken breasts were very big, but I still was able to eat the whole thing. Plus I ate half the bowl of salad and about 4 slices of bread! I'm very hungry lately, being in my 6th month of pregnancy. I used dried rosemary and bay leaves instead of fresh. I also used the box of "herb blend" instead of the romaine, radicchio, and herbs. It worked out nicely. Our chicken breasts were so big, that it took about twice as long to cook in the oven, so 30 minutes for that.