Cuban-Spiced Chicken Thighs with Chrizo and Rice

Marinade:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro stems
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2 teaspoons chopped seeded jalapeño chile

2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika (Chef used regular paprika)

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

10 chicken thighs with skin and bone (about 4 1/2 pounds)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 pound fully cooked Spanish chorizo or Portuguese linquiça sausage links, cut into 1/4-inch thick rounds (Chef used Hot Italian Sausage, as Camrose was suffering from a chorizo shortage)

2 cups finely chopped onions

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 cups arborio rice

2 1/2 cups of low-salt chicken broth

2 medium tomatoes (CJ had 3 roma tomatoes), diced

2 teaspoons Hungarian sweet paprika

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

1 canned piquillo pepper or 1 whole canned pimiento, cut into thin strips (Chef was only able to obtain some jarred, sliced pimento).

Garnish:

1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

Lime wedges

***

I mentioned a few posts ago that I was trying to find another one of my Cuban dishes. And what better way to celebrate May Day than by preparing the marinade. All this followed up by cooking up the chicken while enjoying a Cuba Libre, watching the Flyers host the Bruins, playing a little "Call of Duty: Black Ops" and watching the Canadian election results (yawn!).

I have a few notes that I'd like to share:

- I used my cherry red 6.7 L enameled cast iron le creuset pot to make this bad boy, and I'd recommend a larger vessel: There was just a little too much crowding for the chicken, and this left the chicken a little undercooked, which I had to compensate for by cooking the complete dish for about 20 or 30 minutes longer than the recipe suggested. Unfortunately, this resulted in my adding a little more broth than required which led to the rice being too mushy.

- Make sure you get that chicken brown! You really need to get some colour onto those thighs!

- Pour out more of the oil/fat than the recipe suggests. Too greasy/oily of a dish.

- That saffron is damn expensive. But is smells good and added to a gentle, smoky flavour to the dish.

- Make sure you have a 2nd Cuba Libre while you enjoy your meal...

Here is my dish: two chicken thighs along with some rice.

This was my second time cooking the dish: the first time had been early in 2007. I was still a little disappointed with it: I think a bigger pot or even halving the recipe is warranted.

The grade: 5.9 out of 10.0

Jalapeño, Chicken and White Bean Chili

1 1/4 cups dried navy (pea) beans
1 tablespoon each cumin and coriander seeds
2 onions, quartered
4 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
1/4 cup vegetable oil

12 jalapeño peppers

2 teaspoon each dried oregano and salt

3 pounds chicken thighs, skinless

1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander

2 tablespoon lime juice

Chef's note: recipe was halved.

***

Chef Jeremiah made this a few nights ago. CJ's momma actually found the recipe when we were in line at the grocery store a few months ago. Then when I had my interview at "The Firm", I noticed that they had it along with the rest of the reading material they leave out for their clients. It just took me several months to remember (and then find) the recipe.

Hmm. The hardest part of the recipe was finding the dried navy beans. No kidding. I searched Superstore high and low, and no dice. I even asked the manager and she had one of the cashier ladies try to help me find it. Nope. It wasn't until my quick trip to WalMart did I find those elusive beans.

The other disappointing part of the dish involved the beans too. Not only did I soak the beans for an additional 8 hours that the recipe recommendation, but they were still a little too hard. Was my water not powerful enough to penetrate this ivory-skinned legume? Or does WalMart grow a particular hardy bean? Chances are we'll never know... But we do know this: soak those beans for at least 24 hours.

This is a refreshing dish. It can certainly be muy caliente if you don't seed the jalapeños too much or go easy on the cumin.

Actually, this dish reminded me of one of my favourite Cuban dishes..some chicken with saffron dish...geez.... I need to find it.

Anyway, a tasty chicken dish.

Here's the photo:

The grade: 7.5 out of 10.

Garlic Lime Chicken Breasts

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 chicken breast halves (2 pounds total), rinsed and patted dry

***
I got this recipe from my Gourmet cookbook. It's a fantastic book, a Christmas gift from a couple of years ago. Lot's of good stuff (Cuban sandwich and some mouth-watering pancakes...). But this recipe just didn't cut it.

Well you marinate the chicken for at least two hours (which is what I did). But the lime and garlic flavours didn't end up penetrating the chicken all that well. That and the chicken cooked a little too unevenly - some overly cooked - dry, like that muffin at had at the Camrose Starbucks a couple of days ago. (Why do I keep going back there? I swear it was like eating a mouthful of the Sahara. Awful.) Anyway, some of the chicken was still a little pink.

Very little taste to the chicken, and I would highly recommend that you let it marinade for more than 2 hours, just for the hope the flavours develop a little more.

As always, here is the photographic evidence:

As for the grade: a 5.5 out of 10. Yeah, that's pretty bad for Chef Jeremiah. But I calls it like I tastes it - cuz Food Don't Lie...