Grilled Harissa Chicken... with millet and tomato salad

Grilled Harissa Chicken... with millet and tomato salad. Leftover chicken can be sliced and  used as lunchmeat. I'm always thrilled to add another chicken recipe to my collection of simple and delicious chicken meals. I'll admit these aren't the best pictures... was hurrying up the dish, and really didn't take my time to properly heat up the grill, therefore the lack of good grill marks on the chicken. On the other hand, the chicken came out so moist and quite delicious:). In any case, this recipe came about one day when I decided to do something different with the defrosted chicken breasts I had on hand. Knowing we wouldn't eat them all at one sitting, I immediately thought of grilling them. Grilled chicken always tastes better, and it makes for good leftovers. 

I'll be honest, sometimes I take the easy route and simply season the chicken with some olive oil, grated fresh garlic, salt and pepper... sometimes I'll add some chile flakes or some paprika, be it smoked or sweet. This time though, I wanted to bring in a slightly different flavor. Why, with all the spices I had in my pantry, I should be able to come up with a good spice mix:). I decided to go with a harissa marinade for the chicken. Not only would it be different, but I'd use some spices that both my husband and I love. After looking over some harissa chicken recipes online, I settled on one from Food and Wine as the inspiration for my version. And even though I ended up using spices and ingredients I had in the house, the result was still delicious!

My intention was to serve the harissa chicken atop a tomato salad, but I quickly changed my plan when I noticed a full bag of millet in my fridge. I knew it wouldn't take much to cook the millet, plus  it would "stretch" the chicken meal even further and bring in some added nutrients. The millet would also help to absorb some of the tomato juices from the salad. But I loved the combination and found a new dish to make again. 

I'm thinking next time, to change things up a bit, I'd substitute the millet for other grains... even couscous. And because we didn't eat all the chicken breasts, I had some leftover chicken for the following day. We sort of finished the salad and millet(millet is best the same day it's made) for dinner. The next day I decided to thinly slice the grilled chicken breasts and made a sandwich for my husband. He absolutely loved it. Sometimes I wonder why I still buy deli meats:). 

The flavor on the chicken isn't overpowering, so it works to use it in sandwiches. I think when I want some lunch-meat, I'll just make the chicken without the salad. And it's a cheaper alternative to the store-bought lunch-meat... it actually tastes much better. In any case, if you're looking to try a different chicken dish, you might want to give this recipe a try(or the original from Food and Wine).  Even if you make the chicken alone, to use as lunch-meat, it would still be worth it. Hope you enjoy...