Grilled Basil-Marinated Chicken

Its summer time and time for grilling! Lets face it-its just too hot to turn on the oven and heat up the house so grilling is the perfect solution. I found this great new marinade recipe and had some friends over to experiment on :) hehehe. I'm glad it worked out though. Its from the Foodnetwork, so you know it has to be good :) I altered the amounts slightly, but put the original amounts in parenthesis. I served this dish with cheesy potatoes in the crockpot, spinach salad and fresh fruit.

Grilled Basil-Marinated Chicken
Serves 4

Source:
The Food Network

*Original amounts listed in parenthesis*

Ingredients
· 4 tablespoon olive oil (original recipe said 1 TBS)
· 4 tablespoon red wine vinegar (1)
· 4 tablespoon chopped basil leaves, plus 4 sprigs for garnish (1)
· 2-3 tablespoon finely chopped red onion (1)
· 1 teaspoons kosher salt (2)
· 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
· 4 clove garlic, chopped (1)
· 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 3 pounds)


Directions

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, basil, onion, salt, peppercorns, and garlic in a bowl. Transfer the marinade to a gallon-sized sealable plastic bag with the chicken and shake to combine. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours.

When ready to cook, build a charcoal fire or preheat gas grill.
Remove chicken from the marinade. Grill the chicken, turning once, until browned and just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a platter and garnish with the basil sprigs.

Helpful Hints: In the reviews section of the Foodnetwork website, many people offered suggestions to making this recipe better. Among them were the following:
-Watch how much salt you use. Some said it was too salty so I halved the salt and it was perfect.
-Some said to add more fresh basil to make it more "basil-ly".
-Can substitute onion flakes.
-I wasn't a big fan of biting into the peppercorns. I liked the flavor it gave to the chicken, but next time I would maybe pick them off the chicken before I grilled them. One reviewer said she cracked the peppercorns before marinading by crushing them into smaller pieces with a metal measuring cup, which would probably be a good option too, just possibly a little time intensive.
-We let it marinade about 20 hours before we grilled the chicken and it was fine.

Photo Source: Taste Book, For the Love of Cooking