Recipe: Grilled chicken breasts with watermelon salsa
Grilled chicken gets a sweet-spicy spark of flavor from watermelon salsa. Debbie Arrington
What better way to end summer than with spicy watermelon salsa?
This combination makes the most of watermelon’s savory side while retaining its juicy sweetness. Watermelon salsa is a refreshing warm-weather topping for grilled chicken breasts. (It’s also great with pork tenderloin or sturdy tortilla chips.)
Grilled chicken breasts with watermelon salsa
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon seasoning salt
½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
2 chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
Instructions:
In a shallow dish, mix together wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, seasoning salt and pepper.
Pat dry chicken breasts and place in marinade, turning to coat. Refrigerate chicken breasts in marinade until ready to grill, at least 30 minutes.
Heat grill to medium. Grill chicken breasts for about 20 minutes, turning once, until done and juices run clear.
Serve chicken immediately with watermelon salsa.
Watermelon salsa
Makes about 4 cups
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
½ teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup onion, diced
½ cup yellow or green bell pepper, diced
1 Hatch or Ortega chile, chopped (about 2 to 3 tablespoons)
3 cups watermelon, cubed and seeds removed
Instructions:
In a medium bowl, mix together olive oil, lime juice, garlic salt and crushed red pepper. Stir in chopped cilantro, onion, bell pepper and chilies. Fold in cubed watermelon. Chill until ready to use.
Note: Refrigerate extra salsa for later use.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
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April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
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March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.