Grilled Chicken with Tomato-Avocado Salad

Yum

Today's dish screams summer.  

We're taking advantage of our warm evenings and grilling our dinner for a night under the stars with good food and good company.

I encourage you to take advantage of the last summer bumper crop of corn and tomatoes (Yum!) and pull together a dinner that is fresh and light. This dish was adapted from a Cooking Light recipe of the same name, and is perfect to throw together this weekend.  

The grilled chicken is flavored with a spicy rub that's easy to put together.  The salad is fresh with several types of tomatoes, avocado, and corn.  Top it with a homemade dressing made with buttermilk.  It's the perfect topping to the salad.  

Serve your fabulous dinner with a mixed fruit salad to keep the fresh theme going.

The result?  Killer dinner!!!  Your family and guest will think you are a genius! (shhh!  don't tell them how easy this was...)

Hope you enjoy this dish and take time to savor the end of summer.



Grilled Chicken with Tomato-Avocado Salad

serves 4

For the Dressing:
1/4 cup nonfat buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola mayonnaise
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 garlic clove, minced

For the Chicken:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded thin
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chipotle or ancho chile powder

For the Salad:

2 ears yellow corn, shucked
1 yellow heirloom tomato, sliced
1 red heirloom tomato, sliced

1 orange heirloom tomato, sliced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 sliced peeled ripe avocado

Preheat grill to high heat. Combine first 9 ingredients in a mason jar, shake to combine. Chill buttermilk mixture until ready to serve.

Combine oil, onion powder, cumin, and chipotle or ancho chile powder. Rub evenly over chicken. Arrange chicken and corn, on grill rack; grill 8 minutes or until done, turning chicken once and corn occasionally. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes. Cut corn kernels from cobs.

Slice chicken. Arrange on a platter or individual plates.  For the salad, arrange tomatoes on a platter alternating colors, and adding cherry tomatoes randomly.  Top with corn and avocado evenly on the platter.   Drizzle with dressing and serve.  

source:  Cooking Light via MyRecipes.com