Sweet and Spicy Grilling
It’s the dog days of summer, and by no means am I dissing the dogs! While I am a fan of all dogs, I am not a fan of super hot, humid weather. That’s when my hair takes on an area code of it’s own and I generally have makeup running down my face at all times. Fortunately, I think we can all agree, thoughts on hot and sticky weather aside, that almost nothin’ can be finer, than a evening barbecue after a long, hot day. Since I am still waist high in peaches and corn, here’s my simple and delicious recipe for summer nights. Make a Tequila Lime Marinated Chicken with Spicy Grilled Peach and Corn Salsa. The tequila marinade makes this chicken so super tender and moist and the skin so perfectly crispy.
To grill a spatchcock chicken is to let it go, just low and slow. Nothing much to do but let it cook on it’s own. No crazy attention to detail required. A perfectly relaxing, delicious and easy to prepare dinner.
Tequila Lime Marinade
This marinade is so delicious and I also call it Margarita Marinade, the flavors work perfectly with the salsa. The marinade makes for a very tender and moist chicken.
Don’t use your finest sipping tequila. Save the good stuff for a batch of margaritas. By the way, why don’t you make a batch while you’re preparing the marinade? It’s the perfect tipple for grilling time! Here’s a link to a recipe for my Pineapple Jalapeno Margarita: https://wp.me/p9KEfL-2wU
Into a medium sized bowl, add 1 cup tequila and 2 teaspoons olive oil. Finely mince or grate 5 cloves of garlic and add to the bowl. Add 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Zest 4-5 limes for about 2 tablespoons of zest, then juice the limes. Add 1 teaspoon each of of chili powder, cumin and turmeric, then mix to combine.
Spatchcock The Chicken
You can do anything you want with the chicken. From this whole method of spatchcocking the chicken to thighs only, skinless, whole cut chicken pieces, you get it. Just change the cooking time if you use chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken.
Remove the whole chicken from the package and remove any internal bits and rinse it well, then pat dry with paper towels. Set on a meat only cutting board or work surface with the breast side down. Using kitchen sheers, snip down from the next on each side of the back bone. Remove the bone completely. You can save it for making stock later, or discard.
Once the back bone is removed, push down on the breasts, so that the chicken flattens out as well as possible. This means to breakdown any of the cartilage that remains after cutting that prevent the flattening of the chicken breasts.
Put the chicken into a large, gallon size zip lock bag, then pour the marinade into the bag. Seal it, removing as much of the air as possible. Give the chicken and the marinade a gentle massage to work the marinade into all parts of the chicken. Put the bag into a shallow rimmed baking dish or bowl and set it in the refrigerator to marinate, about 12 hours.
Prepare your grill pan by lightly brushing the grills with vegetable oil. Preheat grill to about 400 degrees. Grill the chicken over medium direct heat, about 20-25 minutes per side, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Keep in mind that sometimes the legs and thighs take longer than the breast meat. You can adjust this by positioning the breast meat to a section away from direct heat if the legs and thighs need to cook longer.
Remove when done and let the chicken rest before cutting, about 15 minutes.
For the Spicy Grilled Peach and Corn Salsa
Most of the ingredients in this salsa are grilled right alongside the chicken.
Prepare the salsa by peeling 4-5 medium sized ripe peaches. Split the peaches in half and set aside. Separately, shuck 2 ears of corn and set aside, along with 1 jalapeno pepper.
Into a medium sized bowl, add the zest and juice of 2 limes. Add 1/2 a red bell pepper, seeds and veins removed and diced. Set aside until the vegetables and the peaches are grilled
Brush the corn and the peaches and the jalapeno with vegetable or olive oil. Place the corn on the grill over medium direct heat. Let the corn grill until it’s nicely charred on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Add the peaches and grill a few minutes each side, just until heated through and slightly charred. Allow the jalapeno to grill and start to blister. Remove from the grill, let everything cool enough to be handled.
Remove the corn from the cobs and add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Chop the peaches into 1/4 inch dice. Slice the jalapeno in half. Remove the seeds or keep some, depending on the heat level you prefer. The more seeds and veins you keep, the hotter the salsa will be. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste.
Serve the Salsa with the chicken. Enjoy!
Tequila Lime Marinated Chicken with Spicy Grilled Peach and Corn Salsa
Ingredients
For the Tequila Lime Marinated Chicken
- 1 5 lb whole chicken
- 1 cup tequila
- 2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Juice and zest of 5 limes
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
For the Grilled Peach and Corn Salsa
- 4-5 medium peaches, split in half, pits removed
- 2 medium ears of corn
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1/2 purple onion
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- vegetable or olive oil for grilling
Instructions
For the Marinade
- Into a medium sized bowl, add all the marinade ingredients, mix to combine and set aside.
For the Spatchcock Chicken
- Prepare grill and preheat. Lightly oil grates.
- Once the grill is about 400 degrees, place the chicken breast side down on medium direct heat.
- Grill the chicken, about 20-25 minutes per side, until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- (Note: sometimes the legs and thighs take longer than the breast meat. You can adjust this by positioning the breast meat away from direct heat if the legs and thighs need to cook longer.
- Remove when done and let the chicken rest, covered about 15 minutes.
For the Spicy Grilled Peach and Corn Salsa
- Prepare the salsa by peeling 4-5 medium sized ripe peaches. Split the peaches in half and set aside.
- Shuck 2 ears of corn and set aside, along with 1 jalapeno pepper.
- Into a medium sized bowl, add the zest and juice of 1 limes. Add 1/2 a red bell pepper, seeds and veins removed and diced.
- Set aside until the vegetables and the peaches are grilled
- Brush the corn and the peaches and the jalapeno with vegetable or olive oil.
- Place the corn on the grill over medium direct heat.
- Let the corn grill until it's nicely charred on all sides, about 10 minutes total.
- Add the peaches and grill a few minutes each side, just until heated through and slightly charred.
- Allow the jalapeno to grill and start to blister.
- Remove from the grill, let everything cool enough to be handled.
- Remove the corn from the cobs and add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
- Chop the peaches into 1/4 inch dice.
- Slice the jalapeno in half. Remove the seeds or keep some, depending on the heat level you enjoy. The more seeds and veins you keep, the hotter the salsa will be.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste.
Serve the salsa over the grilled chicken
- Enjoy
Karen Harris https://www.bittersaltysoursweet.com
