Blackened Chicken Breasts with Soybean Succotash

In a small saucepan, bring cream, thyme sprigs, garlic and bay leaf to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to boil until reduced by half.

Meanwhile, cut kernels from the ears of corn. Remove stem and ribs from bell pepper. Cut lengthwise in 1/4 inch strips. Cut strips to form 1/4 inch dice. Remove stem from scallions and slice into 1/4 rounds, white part only, discarding green stems.

When cream is reduced, remove bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Transfer to a large saute pan preheated over a medium flame. Add corn, soybeans, red pepper, scallions, salt and pepper to taste to cream. Bring to a simmer and cook for five to seven minutes until soybeans are heated through corn and pepper and scallions are just cooked.

Meanwhile, preheat grill pan or grill over medium high heat.

Combine the thyme, paprika, oregano, chili powder, ground black pepper, and kosher salt on a large plate: dried thyme, paprika, dried oregano, chili pepper, black pepper and salt.

Either have your butcher butterfly the chicken breasts or do it yourself with the tip of a sharp knife so breast is flat and relatively the same thickness, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. You can also pound the chicken with a meat mallet to achieve the desired thickness.

Brush grill pan with vegetable oil. Dredge chicken breasts in spice mixture to coat. Place on hot grill and cook for about 3 minutes per side until breasts are cooked through.

Serve soybean succotash with chicken.