My brother and sister-in-law were in town this past weekend, so I decided this was a good excuse to put my bread (pain au levain and Reinhart's soft rye made with the mother) on a test run for others, paired with some other culinary-overachieving items. Main item on the list: a riff on DC's riff on Peruvian chicken (loosely based on the recipe found on Serious Eats).
As you probably surmised by this point, I thrive on planning ahead, steady work and a big finish (perhaps a holdover from my recent dissertation exploits, or the marathon training), so step one: brining the chicken, sourced from Cooks Illustrated, for 4 hours, followed by 24 hours of skin-drying time in the fridge (have to have crispy skin!).
After the brining, and after my brother and Sara arrived with the Aji panca and huacatay from Jungle Jim's, it was time to make the marinade paste:
Peruvian chicken paste, Brutto ma buono style:
(marinates 4, 3-4 lb. chickens)
4t minced garlic (yes, I cheated. My garlic was looking sad)
3t cumin
4t pepper
4t salt
8T huacatay paste
4T Aji panca paste
8T Olive oil
Juice from 2 limes
Mix ingredients together and spread over exterior of chickens, as well as between the skin and breasts. Place in Ziploc bags and marinate in fridge overnight.
To go with the chicken, I made two sauces - again riffs - that showcased the aji panca and huacatay.
Aji panca sauce
(based on this recipe)
2T Aji panca paste
1/2c mayonnaise
1/4c sour cream
1T ketchup
2 green onions, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
S/P to taste
Place ingredients in blender and let marry in fridge overnight.
Aji de huacatay
5T huacatay paste
2T aji panca paste
2T olive oil
1/4c sour cream
3T plain yogurt
Mix ingredients in blender and let marry in fridge overnight.
The chicken was rotisseried (the process of which caused much amusement), served with the sauces, pain au levain and a salad of mixed greens (Hot-Kiln Farms, GCFM), strawberries (Hersberger Produce, GCFM), sliced red onion, walnuts and a shallot balsamic vinaigrette. Success.
Looks delicious! I enjoy cooking, although at a certain number of ingredients or steps I tend to get weak in the knees, so this might be an excessive challenge.
ReplyDeleteAji panca paste sounds poisonous. Are you sure it's not poisonous?
Only poisonous if you are 1) allergic to peppers or 2) allergic to awesomeness :)
ReplyDeleteAll in all, it wasn't too complicated, it just necessitated planning. Being fresh off the dissertation, I think I am still in the 'lets create a whole bunch of building blocks and hope it creates a house (or something edible or a dissertation) in the end' mode. Thus the chicken, bread, etc.