Monterey Chicken

An aside: When grocery shopping, I always buy store brand except when it comes to chicken. I just won't buy cheap chicken. I pass on the solution pumped gigantic breasts (1 breast/pound) for Colorado's all-natural RedBird chicken (3 breasts/pound). Yes, at $7.99 it's pricey but the difference is staggering... flavor over rubber. Enough to make this hoofed animal lover appreciate poultry. When you buy the cheap chicken, you are paying mostly for the solution used to inject the breasts. Wonder why they are so dry despite all that liquid pooling at the bottom of the Styrofoam tray? Because they are so large that you have to cook the daylights out of it before you can even get to the center. The only time I buy cheap chicken is when RedBird is BOGO. Then I clear them out. Get the good stuff. It's worth it. 

This chain-restaurant favorite combines honey-mustard chicken breasts, bacon, and melted Monterey Jack cheese. For a grilled version, we butterfly boneless, skinless chicken breasts to provide more surface area for tasty char, and we marinate them in a simple mixture of honey, Dijon, salt, and pepper. While the chicken cooks on the hotter side of the grill, we let red onion slices—basted with the reserved fat from cooking the bacon—soften on the cooler side of the grill. To finish, we slide the chicken away from the fire and top it with the smoky onions and a mixture of cooked diced bacon and spicy shredded pepper Jack cheese.

You won’t need an entire red onion for this recipe; you can use the remainder to make Pico de Gallo which you should make when the chicken is marinating.

1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
4 (6-8 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
6 ounces pepper Jack cheese, shredded (1 1/2 cups)
4 1/2 inch thick slices red onion
lime wedges

Whisk mustard, honey, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup honey-mustard mixture for basting chicken. Transfer remaining honey-mustard mixture to a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag.

Working with 1 breast at a time, starting on the thick side, cut chicken in half horizontally, stopping 1/2 inch from edge so halves remain attached. Open up breast like book, creating single flat piece. Place chicken in bag with honey-mustard mixture, toss to coat, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in 10 inch skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper-towel lined plate. Reserve bacon fat. Once cool, toss bacon with pepper Jack.

FOR A CHARCOAL GRILL: Open bottom vent completely. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (6 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour two-thirds evenly over half of grill, then pour remaining coals over other half of grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.

FOR A GAS GRILL: Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Leave primary burner on high and turn other burner(s) to medium. Adjust primary burner as needed to maintain grill temperature of 350 to 400 degrees.

Clean and oil cooking grate. Push toothpick horizontally through each onion slice to keep rings intact while grilling. Brush onion slices lightly with reserved bacon fat and place on cooler side of grill. Place chicken on hotter side of grill, cover, and cook until lightly charred, about 5 minutes. Flip onion slices and chicken. Brush chicken with reserved honey-mustard mixture, cover and cook until lightly charred on second side, about 5 minutes.

Remove onion slices from grill and move chicken to cooler side of grill. Quickly remove toothpicks and separate onion rings. Divide onion rings evenly among chicken breasts. Divide bacon-pepper Jack mixture evenly over onion rings. Cover and cook until pepper Jack is melted and chicken registers 160 degrees, about 2 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter, tent loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Top with pico de gallo and serve with lime wedges. 

For Pico de Gallo
3 tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno chili, stemmed and seeded, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced

Toss tomatoes with 1/4 teaspoon salt in bowl. Transfer to colander and let drain for 30 minutes. Combine drained tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice, and garlic in bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.