Grilled Chicken with Piri Piri Sauce

Phil — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:42:15 GMT

When I decided to add this blog to ItalianChef.com, I thought it would be a good forum for occasionally writing about other types of food. The main focus will always be Italian cuisine, but I do branch out and would like to share my experiences with cooking in general. My wife, Sandy, is Portuguese and since we have been together I have been exposed to a lot of great dishes from a culinary tradition I did not know much about before we met. Continuing the grilled chicken theme from last week, I thought I would share one of my favorite Portuguese grilling recipes, Grilled Chicken with Piri Piri Sauce.

Piri Piri Sauce is named after the very hot chile that is the main ingredient, the piri piri pepper. The pepper, also known as malegueta is kind of hard to find here in America, so you can substitute any small hot pepper. Bridgeport, Connecticut where Sandy's family is from has a few Portuguese specialty food stores where I am able to find the jarred maleguetas from Brazil that I use. You can adjust the heat to your own taste by increasing or decreasing the number of chiles.

Recipe:

12 piri piri or other small hot chiles, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds, cut into eight serving pieces

Serves 4

Combine chiles, garlic, salt, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Cover, shake well and let rest in refrigerator for at least 24 hours. The sauce will keep for about 1 month.
Place chicken in a baking dish and pour half the piri piri sacue over. Cover and let marinate in refrigerator for 4-6 hours, turning chicken once.
Start a fire in a charcoal grill, or pre-heat a gas grill to medium-hot. If using a charcoal grill, arrange the charcoal on one half of the bottom of the grill and leave the other half empty for indirect cooking. If using a gas grill once the grill is pre-heated, turn off the burners on on one side of the grill.
Place chicken on grill directly over the fire and cook for 5 minutes, turning once. Move chicken to the side of the grill that is not directly over the fire, brush with piri piri sauce and cover the grill. Cook chicken covered over indirect heat, turning occasionally and basting with remaining piri piri sauce, for about 20 minutes, until the juices run clear. Serve warm.

The Best Grilled Chicken

Phil — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:04:48 GMT

Everybody has certain foods and flavors that they associate with summer; burgers on the grill, tomatoes, watermelon, ice cream, etc. For me it isn't summer without Grilled Chicken with Salmoriglio. Leading up to Memorial Day weekend I told my wife, Sandy, "I don't care what else we do this weekend, but Monday I am making Salmoriglio Chicken."

I got the technique I use in this recipe, grilling the chicken first then transferring to a hot sauté pan (I use the side burner on my gas grill for this) and finishing with the marinade, from my Mother. This reduces flare-ups and also results in a nice fresh flavor, since the chicken and the marinade are cooked together very quickly in the pan just long enough to meld the flavors.

Salmoriglio made from olive oil, lemon, garlic, oregano, salt & pepper is a very typical Sicilian marinade that has many uses. It can also be used on fish(especially swordfish steaks) or grilled vegetables. I like to make it and pass it around for people to drizzle on Stuffed Swordfish Rolls at the table. You can also make a variation of it, replacing the lemon with red wine vinegar for basting on steaks when grilling them.

I served the chicken with my famous grilled corn, and we topped it off by going to Ferris Acres Creamery for Ice Cream. All in all a very satisfying Memorial Day cookout, and a promising start to the summer.

Recipes:

Grilled Chicken with Salmoriglio

Grilled Corn

2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt to taste
8 ears of corn, husked

Combine butter, olive oil, garlic, paprika and salt in a small bowl. Arrange corn on grill over medium-low heat. Grill turning and basting with butter and olive oil mixture occasionally, until ears are slightly charred and tender about 15 minutes. Brush with remaining mixture and serve.