My wife ordered some cookware that came with a bonus Food & Wine hardback recipe collection, a 'best of" annual. I flipped to the "Summer" section, and some grilling recipes caught my eye.

"From the Food & Wine Test Kitchens...."

What got my attention was three chicken marinades. Each calling for only a few ingredients, minimal prep and cooking time. One Greek, one Indian, one Peruvian. All short and simple. This is the one I tried first:

Peruvian Marinade

Blend:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup White Wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
8 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tablespoon of Tumeric
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Cumin
Salt & Pepper

Whip it up in a blender, then marinate the chicken pieces in a zip-lock bag for anywhere between 1/2 hour, and 4 hours. (I did it for about 3.5 hours) Then grill it. That's it! The whole process took very little time or effort.

Tumeric, I think, is the key ingredient, it's a spice I'm not very familiar with, but have long been curious about. That and the paprika give it a unique flavor and slightly orange-red color. The lemon juice gives it a brightness. What impressed us is that it tastes original, very fresh and lively.

It called for serving it with an avacado & red onion salad. It sounded good, so we did just that. With olive oil, white wine vinegar, salt, pepper. A perfect summer side dish.

I'd become disenchanted with poultry lately, partly due to the mediocrity of standard chicken, the high price of "Free Range" alternatives, and mainly, a lack of new cooking ideas. Well, I tried this one, and it knocked me out! I used four whole leg pieces (leg & thigh) and grilled for about 25-30 minutes. It restored my taste for chicken. If you're still grilling outdoors, I highly recommend this one!

my favorite chicken recipe involves this;



put chicken in bowl, pour over Mojo, let sit for a day, grill. it's basically the same as your recipe but made with sour orange juice instead of lemon juice.

If you're tired of chicken try this. Two bottles of Trader Joes Marsala sauce, one half package of their frozen "ménage-à-trois" and about 1 & 1/2 lbs. of boneless chicken (white dark - doesn't matter)

Serve over white or brown rice.

Takes about 30 minutes total.

Tell me what you think later.

Hey, guitarist, aren't you in Seattle? Do you ever shop QFC? They carry Draper Valley all natural chicken (I don't have a label available to read, but it's something like no hormones, all vegetable feed, tada, tada.) They come on sale fairly often, and I've found them very tasty, especially in comparison to the usual brands carried by the other supermarkets. If you've never tried it (and make sure you get the "all natural"), check it out and see what you think. I can't afford the free-range, either, but the Draper Valley chicken is far superior to what I was getting at other stores.

Oh, and, for heaven's sake, don't spill any of that tumeric!! I'm sure it was used in olden days to make clothing dye.

Quote
RgrF
If you're tired of chicken try this. Two bottles of Trader Joes Marsala sauce, one half package of their frozen "ménage-à-trois" and about 1 & 1/2 lbs. of boneless chicken (white dark - doesn't matter)

Serve over white or brown rice.

Takes about 30 minutes total.

Tell me what you think later.

I welcome suggestions for pre-packaged, frozen, or bottled sauces. There's always a whole shelf of 'em, and one never knows which ones are good unless you get positive subjective reports. These types of products have flourished in recent years, with countless boutique brands, some with very inviting labels. Similar thing with dressings, dips, and hot sauces, it seems like a booming market.

Having said that, there IS a certain satisfaction and flavor advantage to whipping up a good blend from scratch, with fresh ingredients.

Tell me what you think later.

Mr. BigStuff...

Mojo!!! We make Cuban pork with that. Put a pork loin in the crock pot, cover with Mojo and cook 6 hrs on low... mmmm good.

---

If you don't stand for something, you'll probably fall for anything.t

Quote
AlphaDog
Hey, guitarist, aren't you in Seattle? Do you ever shop QFC? They carry Draper Valley all natural chicken (I don't have a label available to read, but it's something like no hormones, all vegetable feed, tada, tada.) They come on sale fairly often, and I've found them very tasty, especially in comparison to the usual brands carried by the other supermarkets. If you've never tried it (and make sure you get the "all natural"), check it out and see what you think. I can't afford the free-range, either, but the Draper Valley chicken is far superior to what I was getting at other stores.

Oh, and, for heaven's sake, don't spill any of that tumeric!! I'm sure it was used in olden days to make clothing dye.

Yeah, familiar with the local brand. You're right, it's good. Whole Foods has good prices on their Rocky Range Hens, too, particularly if you like chicken wings, which I do. Didn't mean to suggest I was hopelessly bored with chicken.

I think I'd gotten more into other meats for the grill. Particularly pork shoulder, tri-tip, rib eye, salmon, etc. Chicken got ignored this year, my wife prefers seafood, I like beef and pork. Not enough bird lately.

I shouldn't complain, our region has better-than-average chickens, partly due to Wa. State standards. The worst chickens are from Arkansas. I avoid "southern-grown" chickens, they're cheaper but they're the low-rung chickens on the market (with apologies to our southern members) and hey, Tumeric tastes good. The color is just a bonus!

c'mon guys, doesn't anyone squeeze a lemon or chop garlic? Anyone can pour liquid out of a store-bought bottle. Five minutes of effort, and your dining companion will think you're a CHEF!

Peel a garlic clove, squeeze some fruit. Plug that blender in, and use it for something besides making frozen liquor beverages!

Quote
guitarist
Yeah, familiar with the local brand. You're right, it's good. Whole Foods has good prices on their Rocky Range Hens, too, particularly if you like chicken wings, which I do. Didn't mean to suggest I was hopelessly bored with chicken.

I'm a chicken wing lover, too, and that's what's on the menu tonight. I finally did a Google search for locations of Whole Foods stores, since I've seen the chain mentioned a number of times here on the forum. Whoops - none here in the blue collar area; I'd have to go 50 miles north to Seattle or 100 miles south to Mill Plain! Not gonna happen. Draper Valley at QFC will have to suffice for me.

It's hard to beat the taste of the MOJO! seriously, I make almost all my food from scratch, but this stuff is worth the "pour from a bottle" alibi.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

>>>>it tastes very fresh and lively


Cook it longer! Oh, and kill it first!

I'm going to try the recipe and the MoJo.....yummmmmmmm sounds good.

I hat to kill things

[icuban.com]

This is home made MoJO sauce - Cuban

[www.tasteofcuba.com]



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/19/2008 11:24AM by samintx.

The New American Chef is a good book that teaches you how to cook with "flavor profiles".

"The book focuses on the ten cuisines that have influenced and driven modern American cooking. Chinese, Mexican, French, Moroccan, Indian, Spanish, Italian, Thai, Japanese and Vietnamese are featured in separate chapters."

If you learn flavor profiles, you'll be able to cook like chefs do - without recipes. The turmeric and cumin are traditional Indian spices, but the addition of paprika is quite odd.

[www.globalchefs.com]

That Peruvian marinade looks great, thanks for sharing it.

Careful of the shelf products, folks. Sodium and sugars, ouch.

Chicken Tandoori...

[www.recipesource.com]

Those small pork tenderloins are on sale at Kroker. I just bought one.

I do it cajun style, with The Holy Trinity (onions, peppers, celery), garlic, carrots, red potatoes. Brown the seasoned loin (stuff it with garlic) Salt, black and red pepper,in butter, slowly in a black skillet large enough for the whole dish. Brown the vegetables, add the celery and garlic last after the others have almost browned. While this is browning get your potatoes and carrots peeled and sliiced. Potatoes should be larger pieces than carrot, because they cook faster.

Cover and cook in the oven on 350 ish, Take the lid off to brown the carrots and potatoes during the last 20 minutes.

Make a pot of rice, because the gravy is so damn good. Serve with green salad and french bread.