Valentines Dinner

We made a special meal at home. We made chicken spedini, pasta, and spinach salad. Finished off with Ghiradelli's Ultimate Fudge brownies (my favorite!) for dessert. Really good stuff. The chicken speidini recipe is a family favorite that I clipped out of the paper a couple years ago. It's from a local restaurant called Ricardo's Italian cafe. I don't use a stick of butter, instead I use 3-4 tbsp of Smart Balance and about 1/2 of a lemon juiced. It still is very delicious. For bread crumbs I usually just toast bread and put it in the food processor. Careful with the skewers, I have caught a couple of fingers in them.

Chicken Spiedini

1 1/2 to 2 lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts (on sale at Dierberg's this week!)

1 tbsp olive oil (little more if doing more chicken)

1 clove garlic (again little more if doing more chicken)

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt (I guestimate)

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper (guestimate again)

1/2 tsp onion powder (you get the idea)

1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley (I just used a tsp or two of dried)

1 1/2 to 2 cups plain dry bread crumbs 

Wooden skewers soaked in water for 15 minutes (Maybe that's why I skewered my fingers, I missed this)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine (again I used less and I used Smart Balance)

Juice of 2 lemons (I used 1/2 a lemon)

Wash chicken and pat dry then cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes and put in medium bowl. Add oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and onion powder; toss to coat. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Prepare a very low fire in the grill or preheat the broiler (my broiler doesn't work so I did the highest bake setting). When ready to cook, add parsley and bread crumbs to the chicken and toss well until pieces are thoroughly coated. Skewer chicken, pieces should be touching but not smashed against each other. Cook 8 to 10 minutes each side. While the chicken cooks melt butter and mix with lemon. When chicken is finished place on platter and drizzle with lemon butter sauce.