Grilled chicken with achiote marinade

I’ve had a package of achiote paste in my cupboard for ages. I always forget about it so not quite sure why it jumped to mind when I was trying to figure out a good marinade for a whole chicken I had in the freezer and wanted to spatchcock and grill on the BBQ.

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

Blueberry paletas

On an incredibly hot day when you have a gang over for a bbq, you don’t necessarily want a heavy dessert but a hit of cool sweetness is always welcome. Mexican paletas, or popsicles, are the perfect solution. I prefer making my paletas without cream or yogurt but there are lots of people out there how will make blueberry or strawberry ones with dairy. Also, not having dairy means you can have them with a meat dinner if you’re kosher and swing that way and they are vegan.

You will need a popsicle mold for these.

Yield: 8-10 depending on the size of your molds.

Ingredients

500 g blueberries (frozen works fine)

2/3 cup water

2/3 cup of sugar

juice of half a lime

a few fresh mint leaves

First make a simple syrup. Mix the water, sugar, and mint leaves in a small pot and heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Let it sit to cool for a bit. Once it’s cooled down, remove the mint leaves.

Put the syrup, lime juice, and blueberries into a blender and liquify it all. If you are using the fresh, larger blueberries, you might want to strain the liquid in a fine sieve to get rid of all the little seeds.

Pour the blueberry mixture into the popsicle molds and freeze. You need at least three hours, if not more, for them to freeze nicely.

To serve, loosen them from the molds by running a bit of hot tap water on the outside. They should slip out pretty easily.

© 2016 Gail J. Cohen

Albondigas mexicanas

I am consistently trying to think of ways to marry the classic meatball with Mexican flavours. So here’s another go at it. This sauce is deep and rich but not very spicy. It also gets better with time.

Ingredients 

Sauce:
2 guajillo chiles
1 poblano chile
2 medium tomatoes
2 large or 3 smaller tomatillos
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp of salt
1 small onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 a lime (if it’s juicy, use a whole one if it’s not)

Meatballs (you can easily double this because the above makes A LOT of sauce):
1 lb of extra lean ground beef
1 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
pinch of ground pepper

Roast the poblano. If you have a bbq or gas stove, char the skin over the flame. If you have an electric stove, put it under the broiler for 10-15 minutes turning it so all sides get charred. Put the hot pepper in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let theitm sit/steam for 10 minutes or more. The skin should now come off easily when you rub it. Remove as much as you can then cut out the stem and seed. Rinse it to get all the black stuff off and remove the final few stubborn seeds.

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Peel and thickly slice the onions. Dry roast the slices,  garlic (with the skins still on),  tomatoes, and the peeled and washed tomatillos in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, tomatillos, onions, tomatoes, oregano, cumin, salt, cilantro, lime juice, and up to a 1/4 cup of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth sauce. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Now put the egg into a large bowl and whisk it. Add the meat, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and chopped parsley and mix it all together with your hands. Then form the meat into walnut-sized balls.

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot and once it’s really hot, pour the sauce into it – watch out for the splatter! Stir, stir, stir. It’ll boil fairly quickly then turn it down to simmer. Add the meatballs. Cook for at least half an hour. You can simmer it for up to an hour to smooth out the flavours of the sauce even more. This would also be a good dish to make in the morning or day before and heat up later.

Serve over your favourite rice and be generous with the sauce.

As is the case most of th time, meatballs in sauce taste much better than they look.

© 2016 Gail J. Cohen

Red, red soup

I don't know why but I was thinking of this recipe today so I've reached back in time to bring it back.

From the archives

At one point in time, I used to eat a lot of borsht but it was always the stuff in the bottles and it was farily purple. I loved it. I dreamed up this easy recipe tonight to use up some of the beets in the fridge. Traditionally it's made with cabbage but my body doesn't agree with it very well so I left it out.  It should be served with a dollop of sour cream but I didn't have any. No matter, it was super delicious.

Ingredients
1 large beet, 2 medium, or 4 small - peeled and grated
1 large carrot - peeled and grated
1 medium potato - peeled and grated
1 stick of celery - finely sliced
1/2 an onion - finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
4-6 cups of beef broth
juice of about a half of a lemon
1 tbsp dried dill
salt and pepper to taste

Basically you throw everything into a pot of boiling broth and let it cook for half an hour. Serve and eat. You can obviously drop in a tablespoon of sour cream, but you really don't need it.

Nutritious and delicious. And it's a great colour. The picture does not do it justice.

 

(c) Gail J. Cohen 2013

Carne asada en adobe de guajillo

My friend Sarah recently returned from Arizona with a couple of bags of chiles in tow; keen to use them but not really sure what to do with them. So I offered to help. If you have a “I want to make things with chiles but don’t really know where to turn” emergency, I’m you’re gal. So we set a date for some Mexican cooking basic training and I set out figuring out something delicious to do with either cascabel or guajillo chiles.

I particularly enjoy guajillos because they have a beautiful deep red colour as well as a lovely fruity flavour without too much heat. Quite often people are afraid of cooking with chiles because they don’t want to eat spicy foods but the beauty of many Mexican chiles is that they’re not crazy hot but deliver a delightful flavour punch.

If you’re ready for some great grilling, this marinade is absolutely spectacular and worth making over and over again on the BBQ this summer (and also winter if you’re anything like me.)

Ingredients:

2 pounds flank or skirt steak

Marinade:

4 dried guajillo chiles

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp cider vinegar

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes or so. Dry roast the garlic (with the skins still on) also in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, vinegar, salt, sugar, cumin, and a 1/4 cup or so of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth paste. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Take the steak and cut it into two pieces then put it in a non-reactive (preferably glass) plate and smother the meat with the marinade. You want every bit covered in it. Cover and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least four hours but better for eight or so.

When ready to cook, heat the grill until it is super hot. Put the meat on and sear each side for 8 or so minutes. Then flip it a couple of times to finish it off. Make sure you use up all the delicious marinade during the cooking process. Remove it from the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then slice thinly and serve in a taco or over rice.

And why not grill up some shrimp along with it! They are great with salsa verde or marinated in lime and garlic.

© Gail J. Cohen 2016

A spicy meatball (aka albondigas picantes)

The coming together of two loves is a beautiful thing. In this: the meatball and the flavours of Oaxaca. It’s Sunday and I want to whip up something delicious that uses some of the many Mexican chiles in the cupboard as well as the ground beef I took out the other night but didn’t end up using.  This happened:

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

Sauce:

4 medium tomatoes

2 Oaxacan pasilla chiles

1 ancho chile

2 avocado leaves

2-4 garlic cloves (depends on the quality of your garlic)

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 small onion, sliced into four or so thick rounds

¼ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cumin

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 cup chicken stock

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp oil

Meatballs

1 lb extra-lean ground beef

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 egg

¼ cup breadcrumbs

Salt & pepper to taste

Stem and seed the dried chiles. On your comal or in a large non-stick frying pan, gently toast the chiles for a 10 or 15 seconds on each side until they are soft. Don’t burn or blacken them because your sauce will be bitter. Then place them in a bowl of enough boiling water so they are covered. You can add your avocado leaves to this too if they are very dry (ie: have been at your local grocer or in your cupboard for some lengthy period of time.)

Then dry roast the garlic (you can leave the husk on and peel it off afterwards), onion, and tomatoes on the comal.  Turn the tomatoes so you get blackening on all sides but don’t let them get too soft or all is lost. (You can also roast them under the broiler in your oven for 10 minutes or so until they’re blackened). Once everything is nicely toasted, add it all to your blender.

Add the chiles, avocado leaves, chopped cilantro, cumin, oregano, coriander, salt and a few tablespoons of the chile liquid to the blender and waz it up. Taste for salt and add more. If it’s a tiny bit bitter, you can add some sugar to counteract.

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan and once it’s good and hot, pour in the tomato-chile mixture so it sizzles. Add the cup of chicken stock and stir. If it’s still very thick, add a bit of the chile soaking water or just plain water to it. Turn it to low and let the mixture boil for 5 or 10 minutes. It’ll turn a deep shade of red.

In the meantime, add the egg to a glass bowl and beat it. Then add the ground beef, tomato paste, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper. Mix it all together with your hands. Once everything is well mixed, form walnut sized balls and add them to the boiling tomato-chile sauce.

Bring it all back to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for half an hour.

You can eat them right away or let them sit and get cozier with the flavours for a while longer. They are fine overnight in the fridge too.

Serve with the rice of your choice and topped with some sliced avocado.

(Weight Watcher Smart Points = 6 per serving)

© Gail J. Cohen 2016

Blueberry-avocado smoothie

I've not really been feeling particularly creative in the kitchen the last few weeks. Lots of repeating the easy, well-tried, known-to-not-disappoint dishes.

This morning though, I woke up with a hankering for a smoothie. There was a literally a hole-in-the wall juice bar near where I used to live. They made an apple and avocado smoothie which kind of rocked my world. Never thought of drinking avocado but I was open to try anything made with the beautiful green fruit. So wilth that fine memory in mind, I tried this out this morning and it was delicious.

Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp orange blossom honey
1-1/2 cups of 1% milk

Waz it all up. Drink it all up.  Smile all day.