Maria’s Piri-Piri Chicken, Very-Very Good!

If you have a family recipe like Maria’s, it ought to be shared and talked about. Maria is my kind and affable butcher lady in downtown TO. Kensington Market to be precise. If you are looking for the best personalized cuts in town, visit Kensington Meat Shop.

(Maria getting ready a leg of goat for me)

Maria loves food. Its obvious from the way she will explain to you about many traditional recipes she has grown up with. The Piri-Piri Chicken which she shared with me, among many other of her customers is one such family treasure.

Piri-Piri means “hot”. So if you are in for a little taste adventure, I’d say, try this recipe soon and get your butcher to cut and open up a whole chicken just like Maria did it for me.

Here is Maria’s recipe, handwritten by her for you! I of course measured everything and used it for her recipe.

Ingredients for Maria’s Piri-Piri Chicken are:

1 cup red wine, I used Merlot
I whole chicken, with skin, cleaned, scored and opened up to lay flat on the surface (about 1.25 kg is ideal)
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, minced
Handful of flat-leaf parsley, minced
2 tablespoons chilli flakes (you can add more, if you like it hotter)
Juice of one lime (Maria mentioned it later!)
Quarter cup olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper
Salt

Start by taking a large baking pan, lay the chicken flat on it and add all the ingredients. As Maria suggests, use your hands to rub everything in the chicken. Since I was taking pictures, my husband helped me with the prep work.

 


I marinated my chicken overnight in the fridge, turning once.

The red wine lent a beautiful dark, rich color to the meat. I have a feeling if you use white or beer, your meat will continue to retain its reddish-pink color. So if you love to cook with red, use it.

After about at least 6-8 hours’ of marinating time, keep the chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

Pre-heat oven to 350° F. Bake chicken face down for 15 minutes and then turn. I do face down first so that the chicken’s legs do not part in the heat and look obnoxious. A chicken should look dignified when served on the table!

Continue baking and basting (the chicken with the dripping marinade) for another 45-50 minutes or until done with some char on all sides. Make sure you turn it every 15 minutes of so.

It took me one hour and change to finish baking my chicken. Alternatively, you can also barbecue it outside on a good day.

I served Maria’s Piri-Piri Chicken with grilled vegetables and a fresh baguette. The result was awesome. I will make it hotter next time for the chilli lover in my life.

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.

Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

There is nothing more fun than the times someone else cooks for you. This time it was my obedient oven.

I usually make oven-roasted chicken when all my other dinner ideas run dry. Its healthy and wholesome and doesn't need much supervision either.

I will first list out the ingredients for my chicken roast and then the steps.

Ingredients for Oven-Roasted Chicken and Vegetables are:

1 whole chicken, skin on, without giblets (about 1.5 kg)
Unsalted butter
Half teaspoon dried rosemary
Half teaspoon dried oregano
Black pepper powder
Salt

1 medium red onion, cut into quarters
Handful of green beans, halved
Baby potatoes, skin on and halved
2-3 carrots, diced
Cloves of garlic

You can even use mushrooms, cauliflowers and seasonal root vegetables.

Truss your chicken. We don’t want Miss Chicken spreading her wings and legs while she is being roasted. That’s very unbecoming of ladies!

Mix the butter, dried herbs, pepper and salt. The idea here is to get under the skin of Miss Chicken. Take little portions of the rub, with your fingers, find edges, nooks and corners under the skin of the chicken and gently rub the butter mixture on. This will keep the chicken moist.

Once the insides are nicely stuffed, rub the same mixture all over the chicken from the outside.

Make a bed of vegetables on your baking dish and place Miss Chicken on top!

Pre-heat the oven to 425° F. I start with my chicken chest down, back up when I am roasting. Once the oven has fired up a bit, I reduce the temperature to 350!

I keep turning the sides after every 15 minutes. The idea is to get the breast side up when I finish. Its as if Miss Chicken is experimenting with different sleeping positions!

It takes about an hour and change to finish roasting the chicken. Poke a fork in the chicken to see if the juices run clear, that’s the sign of a cooked chicken. The melted butter and juices from the chicken will add a lot of flavor to the bed of vegetables.

Let the chicken stand for about 10 minutes before you carve and serve.

I served my oven-roasted chicken with the juicy vegetables and slices of fresh bread.