Grilled Chicken Pinwheels
Having a family spread out across 4 states from Nevada, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Florida the summertime often provides a perfect opportunity to get together for the annual family reunion.
This year marks the 50th birthday celebration of my younger sister, Carolyn, and to celebrate she and my brother in law, Roger, rented a seven bedroom house on the beach. Both of them having long time careers in the casino industry coupled with immensely friendly families on both sides, the continuous guest arrivals create activity like a virtual revolving hotel.
Given the easy nature of our hosts, and many of the guests being from the hospitality industry, it’s pretty much a 24/7 party. Meals just appear with little discussion. From Bloody Mary’s and Breakfast burritos to leftovers from the day before someone is always discreetly in the kitchen whipping up their own contribution to the festivities so there is always plenty of really good food to eat any time of the day.
This morning I’m going to prepare Grilled Chicken Pinwheels which are easy,colorful, and packed with flavor that we will grill for dinner.
Guests can eat leftover pinwheels cold or warmed in the microwave; either tomorrow, or in the middle of the night since the large front porch with the view of the beach seems to capture a large crowd buzzing with conversation until the early morning hours.
With my Grilled Chicken Pinwheels done, I am off to help round up the crowds for the beach, this takes much longer than preparing dinner. Hope you enjoy as many happy memories at your summer family reunion!
Grilled Chicken Pinwheels at the Family Reunion
Ingredients
- 6 chicken breasts sliced lengthwise yielding 2 slices each breast
- Couple pinches of coarse kosher salt
- 1 cup sliced sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped Kalamata olives
- 1 cup basil, stacked, rolled, then very thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups chopped feta cheese
Instructions
- Mix together the sliced sun-dried tomatoes, chopped Kalamata olives, sliced basil and feta cheese
- Slice each chicken breast lengthwise so that each breast yields two pieces
- On a cutting board, place a chicken breast between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, waxed paper, or in a plastic storage bag
- Pound the chicken using a meat pounder beginning at the center and working out to the sides. Be careful not to pulverize the breast, you are only creating a thinner flat surface with the chicken
- As each piece is pounded lay it on top of a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet
- Season chicken pieces with salt
- Put about a Tablespoon or more of the mixture on one end of each breast leaving a little room on each side so that the filling does not ooze out when grilling, roll up then set seam side down
- Grill the chicken about 4 minutes per side or until chicken is just cooked, let set for five to ten minutes
- Slice the chicken into half or one inch pieces creating pinwheels
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