Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Fire Roasted Asian Chicken

This dish is based on an adaptation of Asian Ginger Spice Paste from Joy Of Cooking (the much maligned 1997 version). Joy of Cooking is one of my favorite cookbooks and is the standard of which I judge other cookbooks because of the information and technique it provides as opposed to just recipes.

I had to make some substitutions because I didn't know of any Spice Girls cover bands from Asia (Get it? "Asian Ginger Spice"? Ahhh forget it. It was funnier when I said it in my head.).

Fire Roasted Asian Chicken [Printable Recipe]


Ingredients
3 ea Chicken breast bone in, skin on
1/4 cup Ginger fresh, peeled, minced
1/8 cup Sesame Oil
1/8 cup Vegetable oil
1/4 cup Cilantro fresh, chopped, (optional)
1/4 cup Basil fresh, chopped
1/4 cup Mint fresh, chopped
3 ea Red chili dried, seeded, chopped
1 tablespoon Kosher Salt
1 tablespoon White pepper

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except the chicken into a paste. If you like heat, use a coarse mince of the ginger and include the red chili seeds. Otherwise, finely mince or grind the ginger and exclude the pepper seeds.

Lift the skin and work some of the paste under the skin of each breast. Working a seasoning under the skin is a fantastic tip for poultry.
Don't be afraid, get on in there!Also rub some on top and then let marinate refrigerated for 4-6 hours.Prepare a grill to 350f with direct and indirect heat zones. Grill the breasts skin side down over direct heat for 5 minutes.

Flip the breast skin side up and place over indirect heat. Let them roast at 350f until they register an internal temp of 160f. This took about 40 minutes, but go by temp, not time.Remove and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serving tip: Breasts are huge! I mean bone in chicken breasts. This is because they also include the tenderloin piece of meat. It's much more meat than your standard "boneless, skinless chicken breast". We often split one breast half for two servings. But if you do this, split immediately before serving so the juices don't all run out.

But since you guys didn't click off of this post after the horrible pun that I started with, I'll throw in a side dish at no extra cost (if'n you call now, operators are standing by, texting charges may apply, one order per household, must be 18 or older to order).

Chris' Teriyaki Carrots [printable recipe]Ingredients
5 ea Carrot peeled, cut into 1/8 to 1/4 inch slices
1/2 ea Red chili finely diced, seeded
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon Rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoon Teriyaki sauce

Instructions
Melt butter over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add chicken stock, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Mix in the carrots and red pepper. For the red pepper I used a red hungarian wax pepper that I seeded and finely diced.

Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Drain liquid and return carrots to pan.

Add teriyaki, toss, and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.