Orange Glazed Chicken & Mini Eggplant Pizzas

Orange Marmalade Glazed Chicken & 

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

I had the pleasure to go home to Sacramento for a week, and I knew I wanted to cook something for my friends. I wanted to use eggplant, so I decided mini eggplant pizzas would be perfect for an appetizer. I also got a few good cheeses, a baguette, and some quinoa. I have a quinoa recipe earlier in my blog; you can use the search engine on the home page to find it. I also saw some good looking melon at the store, so I thought that prosciutto wrapped cantelope would be a good appetizer as well. Obviously, I had to throw in some arugula somewhere, so I also made an arugula salad.

I have been seriously slacking on my cook book reading. I have been feeling really guilty about not using recipes from the cookbooks I already have, as opposed to lazily just going online to find a recipe (which seems to happen fairly often). I started flipping through a Real Simple magazine, and found a good marmalade chicken recipe. It seemed easy enough, and I have an actual grill at home, so I was ready to use it. I actually doubled the recipe because I was cooking for more than what the recipe yielded, so I will put my recipe here.

This dinner wasn't too exciting, but everything turned out well. I was able to host friends outside on my backyard patio for a late night, warm summer night dinner, so all was worth it. After all, my greatest joy is cooking for those I love. 

Orange Marmalade Chicken  

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper

1 cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

8 thin chicken cutlets (about 1 1/4 pounds)

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium-high heat

2. In a big bowl, whisk together marmalade, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper 

3. Add the chicken and turn to coat

4. Grill the chicken until cooked through, 2-4 minutes per side

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

Ingredients:

1 packet of wheat pitas
1 eggplant
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 package of fresh mozzarella
1 cup tomato sauce of your choice

Directions:

1. Heat the grill on medium-high heat (Turn your oven to 400 degrees if you don't have a grill)
2. Slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch pieces, and place flat on a cookie sheet, over paper towels. Salt generously, and allow most of the water to come out (about 20 minutes)
3. Take the paper towels out from under the eggplant, and broil (change your oven setting) for about 5 minutes on each side
4. Slice the mozzarella into 1/4 inch pieces
5. Spread tomato sauce, cheese, and eggplant slices on each pita, and either grill for roughly 7 minutes, or bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes