The Concert Review

It was an amazingly beautiful evening. My sister, brother-in-law, my husband and I, packed our picnics, gathered our portable chairs and headed to the train. One of the things I love about living in Chicago is that when there’s an important event downtown, we don’t have to fight the traffic. We just take the subway and pop out of the ground within a few blocks of whatever we are attending. The concert is a perfect example. The Blue Line of the Chicago subway/elevated train system drops us off on Dearborn Street which is just a couple of blocks west of Millennium Park. It’s an easy stroll. We even encountered some folks on the train who seemed a bit confused about the proper stop to get off for whatever they were doing, so I asked them if they needed some help. They let me know they were from out of town, but were going to the concert in Millennium Park. My answer was easy. “Follow us!”

The park concert venue was as crowded as I’ve ever seen it (this night, the Chicago Symphony and a guest conductor were performing). I must admit we arrived about 30 minutes later than I usually get there, but I think the popularity of the concerts has continued to grow, and when the weather provides a blissful 75-degree evening, who can resist?

Choosing where you want to sit is always open. My choice is to sit about 25percent of the way into the “green space”. I’m close enough to see the symphony performers but far enough away that I don’t feel pressured to keep quiet while they are playing. I also like this position because it’s a perfect sightline to watching the sunset behind the buildings and you get some great photos from that perspective. That night, as the sun set, some clouds moved in. RATS. It never rained or anything, but it did mess up those sunset photo ops. Oh well. Here’s a pic so you can see get a perspective of where we were. In the distance you can see the stage. We could have gone up much closer or even sat in the concert seats that surround the stage but for today we were sticking to our portable chairs, and kept our distance.

We cracked open our picnics. The dish I brought, encased in our Tupperware, was quite tasty. I’m providing you with the recipe today. It’s one of those meals that works great as a warm dinner, but this was my first try at serving it cold. We really loved it so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s also low calorie. A bonus.

I had a great time chatting with my sister. I learned all kinds of things about our family –- most of them were from before I was born, or when I was too small to know what was going on. My sister is more than a decade older than me, so she has a completely different perspective. My brother-in-law and my husband sat over a bit from us and they listened intently to the concert. Both ways to spend the evening are just fine with me. Sometimes I just like to be enveloped by the music and caught up in conversation at the same time. This venue allows for that. Everyone around us was talking, but if you want to listen to the music, there are so many speakers up over your head that you can hear it clearly, and you are not distracted by others’ conversations.

My brother-in-law declared it one of the great benefits to living in the big city. I declared the evening a success.

Apple Cider-Lemon Marinated Chicken with a Fresh Bruschetta Sauce
Serves 2. Can be multiplied

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
Juice of one large lemon
2 chicken breast halves sliced scaloppini-style. Just ask your butcher to do this for you or you can do it on your own with a very sharp knife. You are cutting the chicken breast horizontally to get thin slices. It cooks faster this way, and feels like more food when you are on a diet (because you get to eat 2 slices or more). You are free not to cut the breasts; just cook them longer. Or you can choose to pound them down to a 1/3-inch thickness as another alternative. Some grocery stores are offering scaloppini-style sliced chicken breast in the cooler. Check for them.
1/2 tsp of Italian spice blend (or to taste)
Olive oil spray
1 clove of garlic minced (I use my rasp to mince it)
2 small, or one large tomato chopped (you want two cups of chopped bits)
3-4 basil leaves cut to a fine shred
Salt and pepper to taste

On a large plate with a rim or in a container, pour the apple cider vinegar and lemon over the sliced chicken. Toss the pieces around to make sure they are all coated. Let stand in marinade for 10 minutes. Don’t marinate longer or the chicken will begin to “cook” in the acid marinade –- similar to how ceviche “cooks”.

Spray a large sauté pan or grill pan with just a bit of olive oil. Add chicken. Sprinkle on the Italian spices and grate a bit of salt and pepper on the chicken. Cook on medium high until one side is just slightly browned. Turn temp to medium and cook the other side the same way, and until there is no longer any pink in the chicken. For thin slices this won’t take more than six or seven minutes. If you choose to leave your breasts full-size, you will need to cook them longer or you might choose to finish them in the oven so they stay moister.

While the chicken is cooking you can take your chopped tomato and put it in a bowl. Add the garlic and the basil shreds. Toss and season with salt and pepper to your taste.

To Serve Warm: Put the hot chicken on your plate and mound the cold, chunk tomato sauce on top.

For Cold Service: Store the chicken and sauce separately until packing for your picnic or until you are ready to serve. For packing, put the chicken in your travel container and then add the tomato mixture on top. If serving cold at home, just put the chicken on a platter or plate and display the chunky sauce on top. It’s colorful, it’s low cal and it’s very tasty.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.