Chipotle Chicken
And the secret ingredient is - mayonnaise!
The first time anyone told me that, I thought I was going to faint or laugh out loud. It sounded preposterous. But then I tasted the food, and suddenly it made sense. Mayonnaise is an emulsified mixture of oil and seasonings. I always coat my food with a little olive oil, or add oil to a marinade. So mayonnaise actually makes a lot of sense.Fast forward to a trip I took to Oaxaca, Mexico, during the February "vela" or festival season. At each neighborhood vela, the women brought out numerous platters and bowls of homemade food. My favorite was a pit-fired chicken dish that had been marinated in a thick chipotle mixture.
Ingredients
2 cups mayonnaise
1 small can chipotles in adobo
1 white onion, chopped
1/2 small jalapeno, de-seeded and chopped (add more to taste)
2 chickens cut into pieces
Juice of four limes
Kosher salt
1 1 ½ to 2 pound jicama (the size of a small grapefruit)
3 navel oranges, supreme
2 limes, divided
2 mangos, chunked
4 sprigs cilantro, leaves removed
Cayenne pepper, optional
Methods/steps
Grilling Method: Indirect/Medium Heat
In a blender, mix chipotles with adobo sauce, white onion, jalapeno and lime juice. Add a pinch of salt. Remove to a large non-reactive bowl. Fold in 2 cups of mayonnaise. Taste and adjust seasonings. If it is too hot, add more mayonnaise. Add chicken pieces, cover and marinate for 2-4 hours, turning occasionally.
Remove chicken from refrigerator and place chicken, bone-side down, in center of cooking grate. You do not need to turn the chicken pieces.
Grill-roast until breast meat near bone registers 165°F and thigh meat registers 180°F about 45 minutes. If you don't have a meat thermometer, cook until no longer pink and the juices run clear. Remove from grill using tongs and a spatula to preserve the crust on the top of the thighs. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with a wedge of lime, the Cool Orange, Jicama and Mango Slaw and an ice-cold Corona.
Cool Orange, Jicama and Mango Slaw
Mango adds a cooling sweet tartness to this traditional Mexican combination of citrus and jicama. The grating of the jicama gives this cool side dish the texture of an American slaw and is a welcome change from the cabbage and mayo slaws that we eat all summer!
Peel the jicama with a sharp vegetable peeler or knife. If the skin is extremely thick, cut off a slice on the top and bottom, set it cut-side down on your cutting board and cut off the rest of the peel like you would cut the peel of an orange. Note: using the tip of your knife works best.
Grate peeled jicama and toss with the juice of one lime. Cut the other lime in quarters and set aside.
Peel the skin off the oranges in the same manner as the jicama. Hold the peeled orange in a cupped hand over a bowl to catch the juices. Cut each orange section between the membranes to make individual sections—this is called supreme-ing. When you have cut all the sections, squeeze the left-over membrane to collect as much of the juice as possible.
Toss grated jicama and orange pieces together. Mix in the chunks of mango. Arrange in a bowl or on a platter and pour leftover orange juice over the slaw. Garnish with whole cilantro leaves, lime wedges and a dusting of cayenne pepper.
Note: When selecting a jicama it should be firm and its skin should be without blemishes and look shiny, very similar to fresh ginger. They range in size from an apple to small cabbage yet the taste is not effected by size. A good jicama should be juicy and very crunchy when you bite into a piece of it, if it is dry or soft and mealy with brown spots, discard it.
© ELIZABETH KARMEL 2020