Looking for something to cook to cheer you up on a gloomy day? Something to remind you of sunnier days and beach bliss? Have a Friday night alone with your significant other and don’t want to spend hours cooking? Try this yummy grilled chicken and pineapple for two.

Ingredients:

Marinade:
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbls dark soy sauce
2 tbls honey
1 tbls teriyaki sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 fresh pineapple, cut into wedges
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and pounded thin
3 green onions (sliced, green part only)
2 tbls chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 tsp black sesame seeds
1/4 tsp white sesame seeds

Directions:
Oil and preheat grill to 375 degrees.

Whisk marinade ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

In a shallow dish (I prefer a pie pan) arrange the pineapple and pour 1/2 of the marinade mixture over the top. Toss to coat and set aside to marinate. I find that the pineapple wedges are more grill friendly than rings, which while lovely, can be fragile when it comes to grilling.

Trim and pound out 2 chicken breasts. The chicken breasts are pounded thin prior to marinating to speed up the cooking time and give a little more surface area for all of that yummy marinade. Add to the remaining marinade and set aside.

Marinate meat and pineapple for at least 30 minutes, tossing occasionally in the marinade.

Add the pineapple to one side of the grill and chicken to the other. Put the grill lid down and leave it alone for 5 minutes. Flip and repeat another 5 minutes on the other side. Sometimes an extra flip and 5 more minutes is required here (depending on the thickness of your chicken).

When the juices run clear from the chicken and the pineapple is covered with grill marks, remove from the grill. Rest for 5 minutes.

Slice the chicken and serve with rice. Garnish with green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds. I use forbidden black rice for a little extra dramatic flair.