Miso Chicken

On a fairly regular basis I am challenged, for lack of a better word, by friends and family to try to recreate a dish they had someplace or to create a dish using a certain ingredient.  Recently I was given some Miso paste and told "let me know what you come up with."  I put the paste in the refrigerator and forgot about it for a few weeks.  Then about a week ago I decided it was time to do something with it.

I love Miso soup but didn't want to do the obvious so I decided to make a marinade and grill some chicken with it.  I wanted something that wouldn't require very much planning ahead and would give us a little bit of change.  I looked in my pantry and decided to on a few additional ingredients and went to work.  The marinade took only minutes to put together and while the chicken marinaded I cooked the rice. I served it with jasmine rice and broccoli and found that the combination of ingredients gave the chicken an earthy flavor that went well with them.

I used the Williams Sonoma's GreenPan Cast Iron Nonstick pan, which I LOVE.  Any grill pan, cast iron skillet or skillet that conducts heat well will work.  Using your BBQ would work really well also. 

Miso Chicken

4 Tablespoons light miso paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon roasted ground ginger
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Combine the miso paste, minced garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil and ginger.  Stir until well combined.

Place chicken pieces into a a gallon size zip top bag.  Add the miso marinade.  Seal the bag and massage the chicken with the marinade for about two minutes, making sure each piece is coated.  Place bag of chicken in the refrigerator for an hour.  

Heat your grill pan over medium high heat and lightly oil it.  Remove the pieces of chicken one at a time and place them on the hot pan.  Sear both sides until nice grill lines develop (or chicken is browned) and lower heat to low heat.  

Cover and cook chicken just until the juices run clear.  Chicken cooks quickly so you will only need to sear each side for about three minutes and then cook the chicken for about 5 minutes depending on how well your pan conducts the heat.  Remove chicken from the pan and allow to sit for five minutes before cutting or serving.