Grilled Lime-Soy Chicken with Miso-Mixed Vegetable Salad

This is one of those meals that just makes you feel good after you eat it. It's so fresh, so clean and healthy, that it can truly leave you feeling satisfied but not overly so. It's plenty filling, but you don't feel kinda gross afterwards, like you ate too much. Once again, Cooking Light Magazine has provided the inspiration (and most of the recipe) for a home run meal at our house.

The chicken was actually tuna in the original version I found in my June issue of Cooking Light. Since I am still not brave enough to try tuna (yet!), I decided that this meal would be just as good with chicken instead. I can't speak for the tuna dish, but I can tell you that the chicken was a huge success. A quick marinade of lime juice, soy sauce, oil, honey, ginger, cayenne pepper, and garlic is thrown together with the chicken. About 20 minutes later, simply discard the marinade and toss the chicken on the grill. How easy is that?

You can easily make the side dish while the chicken is marinating. It can be served at room temperature, so it's fine if it has to sit for a bit. The crisp veggies soak up the simple dressing, yet somehow they retain their shape and texture. The flavors are delicate, yet everything comes together so beautifully in this salad. I highly recommend this as a side dish to almost anything with an Asian flair. It can be made in a flash and it's so yummy!

The original version of this recipe, made with tuna, can be found here. I modified this so the chicken was the protein, of course, and I also omitted the noodles that are served with the tuna. Feel free to make them, though; they sound delicious. We didn't make them because we had a huge lunch the day we made this and we were going for a lighter dinner.

Grilled Lime-Soy Chicken with Miso-Mixed Vegetable Salad
adapted from Cooking Light
makes about 2 servings

Ingredients
For the chicken:
8 tsp. fresh lime juice
8 tsp. less-sodium soy sauce
4 tsp. canola oil
4 tsp. honey
2 tsp. fresh peeled ginger, minced
dash of cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 (6-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, about 1-inch thick

For the vegetable salad:
1 cup sugar snap peas, trimmed
1/4 cup radishes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1 tsp. red miso (original recipe used white miso)
1 tsp. canola oil
1/4 tsp. dark sesame oil

Directions
1. Combine the first seven chicken ingredients in a small bowl. Pour lime juice mixture into a ziplock bag. Add chicken to bag; seal and marinate at room temperature 20 minutes, turning bag once.
2. Meanwhile, make the vegetable salad. Steam the sugar snap peas 3 minutes, or until crisp-tender; rinse with cold water, then drain. Combine the peas with the radishes and bell pepper. Toss with the vinegar, miso, and the oils; mix everything well. Set aside.
3. Back to the chicken: remove the chicken from the bag and discard marinade. Heat a grill pan or grill to medium-high heat. Coat grill with cooking spray. Cook chicken for at least 5 minutes per side, until fully cooked. Serve alongside vegetable salad.