Monday, May 25, 2009

Roasted Salsa and Cilantro Lime Chicken

Made this yummy recipe up, based on what was left in my fridge and the fact that the Cuisinart was sprung out from the depths of the garage for the salsa recipe (tiny kitchen=no storage). We really liked the south of the border zingy chicken BBQ'd this way.

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Throw the following in the food processor:

1/2 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 bunch cilantro
3 T. light olive oil
1 tsp. pepper
juice from 1 lime plus zest

I did not add salt because the chicken we had was "plumped" (you've seen the commercial) with some kind of saline solution. From now on, I will seek out the all natural chicken whenever I can because it was actually too salty without any added salt in the marinade. Scary.

Anyways, marinade 4 hours, poking the chicken a couple times with a fork violently to inject more flavor. While doing this, as tempting as it might be, avoid yelling "die, die, die" or else your significant other might have you committed.

Grill and eat. Easy Spanish rice recipe coming soon.

While you have the cuisinart out, here is another recipe that is pretty easy. Roasted salsa has a smoky mellow flavor and when you make your own, it's easy to control the heat or lack of it (if you are like me). The recipe I read here called for a whopping 20-25 serranos. Ummmm.....after tasting ONE bite of ONE serrano that was ALREADY ROASTED, I wanted to chug a whole gallon of milk to cool off my mouth, so I adjusted it down to a measly 3 peppers and it was still plenty hot!



Roasted Salsa

16 roma tomatoes, halved
2 onions, quartered
8-10 garlic cloves
3-5 serrano peppers
1 bunch cilantro
1 T. salt
lime juice to taste.

Preheat oven to 375. Lay tomatoes, onions, garlic and peppers out on cookie sheets and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 20-25 minutes.

Cool off a bit and pulse in a cuisinart with cilantro and salt. Add lime juice to taste.