Jamie’s Whole-roasted Chicken with Homemade Barbecue Sauce

The star of this recipe is the barbecue sauce that Jamie quickly puts together. I just copied him using some of my own measurements. Just the sauce is so awesome that it got my taste buds going as it filled my hands and the home with the most fantastic smells.

The idea of using fresh, gutsy, woody herbs and spices and aromatic ingredients are a great olfactory turn on for me.

Ingredients for Jamie’s Whole-roasted Chicken with Homemade Barbecue Sauce are:

1 whole chicken, skin on, without giblets (about 1.5 kg)

With a pair of kitchen shears, remove the backbone of the chicken and “open (the bird) down like a book”. Score the chicken on its legs, thighs and breasts.

For the dry spice mix:
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
10-12 black peppercorns
4-5 cloves
2 teaspoons salt

In a mortal and pestle, bash all the dry spices till coarse and keep.
For the sauce:
3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme
4-5 fresh bay
1 pod of garlic
2-3 red chilies
Half cup Balsamic vinegar (I did not have it at home and used regular vinegar)
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
Juice of one orange
Zest of one orange
Three-fourth cup tomato ketchup (Jamie used organic)
2 tablespoons canola oil

On a chopping board, put together the rosemary, thyme, garlic cloves, red chilies and orange zest. Chop everything in together and into each other!

In a baking dish, toss in the chopped fresh herbs, etc., the dry ground spices, fresh bay, tomato ketchup, vinegar, orange juice, and smoked paprika.
 
Mix all the ingredients well. Lay the chicken on the sauce and massage the sauce into the chicken. Make sure you cover all the nooks and corners. Jamie does not marinade the chicken, I however kept my bird in the barbecue sauce for an hour. If you have more time, I suggest marinating for 5-6 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Start with the chicken face down in the baking sheet. Drizzle a little oil on the chicken and toss it in the oven for one hour 30 minutes. Turn the chicken once mid-way of cooking.

Its not possible for us to do an outdoor barbecue in this weather. But on a clear, summer day, I am going to do what Jamie did! Barbecue the bird on an outdoor grill with this heavenly sauce.
This chicken is one of the most “simple, honest and bloody good” things I have eaten in a long, long time.

P.S. If you have not seen this TED talk by Jamie, please do.

Masala Salmon

I did not know I was making this Masala Salmon until I picked my new barbecue recipe book.

I got two Salmon steaks from Chinatown and its only 10 minutes before dinner time, that I got ahead with making this recipe and I am so glad I did!

Page 373 of The Barbecue Collection has this recipe, which is quite easy. The original recipe has curry paste in it, but I personally don’t like curry powder or paste so I conveniently left it out. The rest of the ingredients remained the same.

Ingredients for Masala Salmon are:

Two Salmon steaks
1 small red onion
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup fresh coriander
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3-4 green chilies/ hot peppers
2 teaspoon grated root ginger
2-3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 vegetable oil
Salt

Finely chop the onion. In a skillet, heat oil and deep fry the onions till they turn red and crispy. Reserve the oil and remove the onions with a slotted spoon. Let it cool.
In a blender, add the ginger, garlic, yogurt, green chilies, coriander, lemon juice, the fried onions, very little of the oil (from the onions) and salt. Give it a good swirl. This is the marinade for your fish.

Slobber the fish steaks with this marinade. For basting, drizzle the remaining oil you used to fry the onions.

Let the fish stand in its marinade for about 15 minutes.

I used the broiler of my oven (on high) and grilled the salmon for about 7-8 minutes on each side.

I served the Salmon Masala with some Potato Wedges and a Mexican-inspired Salsa. (Remember all those fresh vegetables I got from the Farmers’ Market?)
For the Salsa, I chopped finely a small red onion, half a cucumber, a firm red tomato, two red radishes, a handful of coriander and a few green chilies (I used the Thai green chilies). The seasoning was a simple lemon juice, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper (or a pinch of red chili powder), and half a teaspoon of cumin powder. That’s a whole lot of flavor and crunch in a bowl.
A perfect, delicious and remarkably “healthy” dinner was awaiting us, and it took me less than an hour to make it! The flavor the fried onions added to the fish was just so classy, I intend to do it to a few other recipes I have in mind.

Only wish the local Pakistani restaurant offered fish this good. 

No Bore by the Chore

I was out for groceries today and I spotted these dwarf pomegranates in the neighborhood! Aren’t they just gorgeous?

And these wild Oriental lilies growing by a school…
I also bought my first cook book in many years. And that white planter you see with the money plant, that was left in the garbage dump area of our condo! Someone apparently doesn't like the antique white look of it. I thought it'd be perfect for my money plant.

So this book is called The Barbecue Collection by Andrew Chase and the Canadian Living Test Kitchen.

Its got BBQ recipes for Fish & Seafood, Poultry and Sausages and Patties...I could just spend a lifetime barbecuing my heart away!
I hope to share some recipes from it with you...soon. But not today.

Oh and I also re-potted my ever growing Kalanchoe sprouting those lovely orange flowers...

My chores for the day seem done. Pretty much.