If you’re using a
frozen chicken be sure to take it out of the freezer with enough time
to let it defrost and allow it to get the marinating it deserves. You
can also marinate the chicken before freezing it. That way when it’s
defrosted, you are ready to grill!
Yield: 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
1 Whole chicken –
spatchcocked
For marinade:
2 cloves of garlic,
finely chopped
1 pinch of salt
juice of one lime
(or two if it’s not very juicy)
25 grams achiote
paste*
2-3 tbsp olive oil
To make the
marinade, first mix the achiote paste and olive oil until it is a
smoother but still quite thick paste, then add the lime, garlic, and
salt. Mix it all together well. The important thing is to make sure
there aren’t any lumps of the paste in the final marinade.
If you’ve never
spatchcocked a chicken, it’s easy street: with a poultry shears cut
on either side of the backbone and remove it. Keep the backbone for
soups or discard. Flip the bird over and flatten it as much as you
can. Place it in a glass dish that has sides.
Run your fingers
beneath the skin of the chicken to loosen it and, using a teaspoon,
place some of the marinade between the skin and the flesh of the
chicken on each leg and thigh, then the breasts. Rub it in to make
sure it gets spread out. Turn the bird over and rub marinade on the
inside of the cavity. Flip it back over rub the remainder of the
marinade all over the outside of the skin. Try to get sauce into
every nook and cranny. Let sit in the fridge 4 hours to overnight.
When you’re ready
to cook, turn your BBQ on full blast and heat it up as much as you
can. Then turn off the middle burners and turn the side burners to
med-low. If you’re using charcoal, heat it up as much as you can
and then push the coals to either side. Either way, you don’t want
direct heat on the bird while it’s cooking.
Place the chicken in the centre of the grill with the breast side up (cavity facing down). It should sizzle very nicely! Then you close the lid and let it cook slowly for 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the chicken. You should check it quickly every 10 minutes or so and you may want to move it around on the grill a bit but don’t turn it over.
It’s ready when
the skin is a beautiful dark red and the juices from the thighs run
clear.
Remove from the
grill and cut it into quarters and serve. This chicken goes nicely
with grilled, fresh corn on the cob or some nice potatoes, and a
salad with a vinaigrette-type dressing.
* Achiote paste,
also know as recado rojo or recado colorado, is a deep red, mild
tasting paste made primarily from annatto seeds. It is available in
most Latin grocery stores. It usually comes in a small yellow box
similar to boullion cubes. You can always make your own but I take
the easy way out with this marinade so it’s quick. It is also
apparently really good with pork and fish.
© Gail J. Cohen
2016
