Teriyaki Chicken with Zucchini Salad

Juice in the batter, juice in the batter, we bake pie and nothing's the matter! When I was a kid, one of my very favorite books was Maurice Sendak's "In The Night Kitchen," a magical story about Mickey, who falls out of his bed & his pajamas into the night kitchen, where the bakers are busy making cake for the morning. His adventures in dough (and milk) are marvelous and I always loved chanting, along with my mama, the rhythmic words of the bakers in the night kitchen: "Milk in the batter! Milk in the batter! We bake cake and nothing's the matter!" If you've not seen this book and you'd like to know more, you can learn a bit here and also hear James Gandolfini reading it aloud:http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/06/21/james-gandolfini-reads-maurice-sendak/

Anyway, I've been up in my own night kitchen baking half a dozen key lime pies for my sweetheart's "job well done" reward picnic at her plant tomorrow. What fun! 2 dozen eggs later, the pies are chilling in the fridge now, the Crimson Cup (http://www.crimsoncup.com/about/our-handcrafted-coffee) coffee's all revved up and ready for Jeannene's 3:30 wake-up call, and yet, I am not quite sleepy enough for bed. So, on to tonight's dinner for you! Tonight, we had a dinner that was simple in the extreme. It's also a great one for the grilling season, which is upon us. Today, we welcomed our new grill into the household, a beaut of a Brinkman that can handle 40 burgers, I believe, at one time. Had we the forethought to pick up a canister of propane, we could have initiated it tonight, as this dinner lends itself well to grilling.

I cut a couple skinless, boneless chicken breasts into strips and marinated them in a little more than a quarter cup of teriyaki sauce. My favorite is Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki. I only marinated them about half an hour, but you could soak them much longer for deeper flavor. Then, I put them on a broiler pan I'd coated lightly with cooking spray and broiled them until they were cooked through, about 7 or 8 minutes. This is where the grill could have come in handy. While they were doing their thing, I cooked up a pot of jasmine rice, cooking water seasoned with a little salt and a splash of sesame oil. I also made a deliciously fresh-tasting salad by slicing 4 zucchini into thin ribbons lengthwise (had I a mandoline, they'd've been lots thinner---and probably a great deal more even!), then tossing it with the juice of a lemon, a tablespoon of sesame oil, and a sprinkle of sea salt. Before serving the chicken, I sprinkled it with some toasted sesame seeds. Easy peasy and quick to pull together, if you remember to throw the chicken in to marinate ahead of time.