Caribbean Chicken with Black Bean Salad

For the bean salad, zest the lemon and then cut it in half. Add the lemon zest to a large bowl with the beans. Preheat a large, cast-iron pan over medium-high heat for 2 minutes along with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Add the pineapple and lemons to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, or until the bottom of the pineapple and lemons have nice char marks. Remove the lemons from the pan and flip the pineapple over and cook another 4-5 minutes until charred. Roughly chop the pineapple and add it to the bowl with the beans. Remove and discard stem from the kale then finely chop leaves. Add kale to the black beans and season with the juice of the charred lemon, 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, ½ teaspoon salt and a couple cracks of pepper. Mix well and check for seasoning.

To make the chicken, combine the garlic powder and spices in a small bowl and mix well. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with a generous pinch of salt and the spice rub. Allow the chicken to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes so the marinade can go to work. Preheat the same pan used for the pineapple over medium-high heat for 2 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the pan along with 3 chicken breasts. Make sure not to overcrowd the pan or the chicken won’t get golden and crusty. Cook for 4-5 minutes, flip and cook another 4-5 minutes. You will know the breasts are ready to flip when the sides look white. Remove chicken from pan and cook the second batch.

The chicken will keep in the fridge for 5 days or can be frozen for 2-3 months. The salad will keep for 3 days if dressed or 5 days if you dress each portion the day you want to eat it. The salad can't be frozen.