Here in the Pacific Northwest, when it feels like spring will never break through the gray, rainy days of winter, we really savor the promise of warmer weather by choosing recipes that remind us of sunny days to come. We were thrilled to try out some tropical flavors from Sam Choy's cookbook. I picked the Macadamia Nut Chicken Breast (pg. 112). What appealed to me about this recipe - beyond the fact that it sounded delicious - was that all I needed to get from the store was the macadamia nuts!

The whole meal really was a cinch to put together. We decided to amp up the tropical appeal by making some coconut rice as a side dish. This chicken would have been delicious with just the panko/macadamia nut coating but what really made it great was the Asian style marinade. We let the chicken sit in the marinade for over an hour to really let the flavors sink in prior to coating in the flour, egg and then panko/macadamia nut mixture.

The chicken turned out moist and flavorful inside and crunchy, golden-brown on the outside. Yum! I also made the Minted Pineapple-Papaya Marmalade (pg. 114) to go along with it but I substituted mango for the papaya since I happened to have a mango on hand. The marmalade was described as being a dipping sauce for the chicken but it was more like a chutney than a sauce which worked just as well. The coconut rice really was a nice addition to this meal. All we did was prepare rice as usual but used coconut milk instead of water.

Thanks for giving us an opportunity to bring some island flavor to the rainy Pacific Northwest!

Aloha!

Tempa