Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken

Eleven days. Eleven days of silence and then the phone rang.

It was Ana. She called from a neighbor phone — a satellite phone someone had brought from the mainland. She said two words: We are alive.

Mi amor, I fell. I did not sit down. I did not lower myself gracefully. I fell to the kitchen floor, right there, holding the phone, and I made a sound that I have never made before — not crying, not screaming, something between the two, something that lives in the body not the throat, something that comes from the place where eleven days of not knowing turns into knowing and the knowing is ALIVE and the alive is EVERYTHING.

Eduardo ran in. Sofia ran down. I was on the floor saying, They are alive, they are alive, and I was crying the way water falls — without control, without pause, without the ability to stop even if you wanted to. Eduardo knelt down and held me. Sofia was crying. I called Miguel Jr. I called Rosa. I called David. I said the same two words each time: They are alive. And each time, on the other end, I heard the same sound I had made — the sound of eleven days releasing, the sound of fear leaving the body, the sound of alive.

Ana told me: the house lost its roof. The roof is gone. But the walls held. They were in the interior bathroom during the worst of it, Mami and Ana, huddled in a bathtub while the wind took the roof and the rain came in and the world outside sounded like the end of everything. They have no power. No water. No nothing. But they are alive.

I booked a flight. The first flight I can get — it takes two more days because the airport in San Juan is barely functioning. I am going. I am going to Bayamon and I am going to find my mother and I am going to cook. I do not know what I will cook. I do not care what I will cook. I will cook because cooking is what I do when the world falls apart, and the world has fallen apart, and I need my hands to move, I need the sofrito in the oil, I need the sound of something sizzling that is not my fear.

Tonight I cooked for the first time in eleven days. Arroz con pollo. Simple. Basic. The first meal, the foundation meal, the meal that says: the stove works, the pot is whole, the sofrito is here, and we are alive. We are alive, mi amor. The food is back. The kitchen is lit. The hands are moving. We are alive. Wepa. We are alive.

Arroz con pollo was what I made that night — the full pot, the sofrito, all of it — but the recipe I keep coming back to now, in the weeks since, is this one: grilled lime cilantro chicken, fast and bright and alive with the flavors that have always meant home to me. It is the kind of dish you can make when your hands are shaking and your heart is still catching up, when you need something that smells like you and tastes like the kitchen you have always known. The lime hits the pan and you breathe. The cilantro goes in and you breathe again. If you are also waiting for a phone to ring, or you have just heard the words you needed to hear, make this. Let your hands move.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes (plus 30 minutes marinating) | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each), pounded to even thickness
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
Lime wedges, for serving

Instructions

Make the marinade. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, minced garlic, cilantro, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes if using.
Marinate the chicken. Place the chicken breasts in a zip-top bag or shallow dish. Pour the marinade over the chicken, turning to coat on all sides. Seal and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours. Do not marinate longer than 4 hours — the lime juice will begin to break down the texture of the meat.
Preheat your grill or grill pan. Heat an outdoor grill or stovetop grill pan over medium-high heat. Lightly oil the grates or pan surface.
Grill the chicken. Remove chicken from the marinade, letting excess drip off. Grill for 6–7 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F and the outside has clear grill marks. Avoid pressing down on the chicken — let it sit and get that char.
Rest before slicing. Transfer chicken to a clean plate and let it rest for 5 minutes. This keeps the juices in the meat where they belong.
Serve. Slice or serve whole, topped with fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Goes beautifully over rice, in a wrap, or alongside roasted vegetables.

Nutrition (per serving)

Grilled Lime Cilantro Chicken — The First Meal Back