Chicken Thighs with Honeydew and Cucumber Salsa

Chicken Thighs with Honeydew and Cucumber Salsa is the ultimate summer meal. It is light, fresh, spicy, a little sweet and a little savory. Talk about a feel-good meal! I love the hues of green from the honeydew, the english cucumber, the jalapeño, and the cilantro. This chicken dish has all kinds of flavor components going on; sweet, spicy, salty, and smoky flavors from the cumin, coriander, and sesame seeds of our Glory Kitchen Cairo nut & spice mix.

Summer freshness oozes out of this dish filled with juicy fresh fruit, garden herbs, and vegetables. You can pile the salsa on high to get plenty of flavor on a nice tender piece of chicken. After a quick marinade, the chicken is pounded thin with a meat mallet between two pieces of plastic wrap which helps it to cook evenly and quickly. With this quick-cook process, the chicken stays perfectly fork tender. Once pounded and marinated, I grilled the chicken thighs but an oven can get the job done just as easily. I would probably broil them just a bit at the end to get a bit of color on the top.

If you like things spicy you can certainly add more jalapeño than the recipe calls for – even a bit more onion would have added additional heat. The salsa can be made a few hours before serving. Even the chicken could be baked beforehand and warmed up just a bit or served at room temperature. I think this chicken dish makes a beautiful presentation with all of the pretty green colorations so take advantage of the wow factor and serve it on a large platter. Enjoy!

Margie Bruner
owner of Glory Kitchen

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Chicken Thighs with Honeydew and Cucumber Salsa

Yield: serves 4-6 persons

Ingredients

for the honeydew salsa:

3 cups honeydew, cubed
2 1/2 cups english cucumber, chopped (about 1 large cucumber)
1 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped
1 large jalapeño, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice, fresh
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Cairo nut & spice mix
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

for the chicken:

6 chicken thighs
1/4 cup lime juice, fresh squeezed
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon dijon mustard

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the chopped honeydew, cucumber, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, 1 tablespoon lime juice, olive oil, honey, 1 teaspoon Cairo nut & spice mix, and sea salt. Stir together and set aside to marinade the flavors at room temperature.
Allow the chicken thighs to come to room temperature then place the thighs between two large pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat mallet (also called a meat tenderizer) to flatten so they become thin and even. Place the pounded chicken into a large bowl and add the marinade of 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, soy sauce and dijon mustard. Toss them in the marinade and let them sit for about 10 minutes. At this point you can remove them from the marinade and place them on a hot grill to cook through. Alternatively, you can place them into a baking dish, along with the marinade, and bake in a 350° oven for about 25 minutes until it is cooked through. Be careful not to overcook because the chicken has been pounded thin and will cook more quickly. Just before removing from the oven, I like to set them under the broiler for a few moments to brown the tops.
Place the thighs on a serving platter and spoon the honeydew cucumber salsa over the chicken. Sprinkle with a bit more 1 teaspoon Cairo nut & spice mix and serve.