1 chicken split at the back (or remove the back if desired), laid flat, or split entirely in half, or use chicken pieces; leg/thigh joint separated*

3/4 c Molho de Piri-Piri

1/4 c lemon juice (I use lemon or calamondin juice)

ground piri-piris (optional)

salt

For serving (optional):

additional molho
a head of romaine, wilted outer leaves discarded if necessary, leaves washed, dried, chilled.
1-2 lemons
1/2 medium yellow onion (I like to use Vidalia)
1-2 large ripe tomatoes

Mix the molho and lemon juice together in a large Ziploc, add the chicken, and marinate in the fridge 3-5 hours. Remove the chicken from the marinade, pat dry with paper towels, sprinkle lightly with salt and (optionally) as much ground piri-piri as you wish. Grill** till done. Rest 5-10 minutes. While resting, tear the romaine into 1 or 2-inch pieces and pile on a serving platter. Cut the tomatoes and lemons into eighths. Slice the onion into 1/4-inch rings. Cut the chicken coarsely into pieces; place on top of the romaine; scatter the tomatoes, lemons, and onion rings; serve with additional molho on the side.

* if doing butterflied chicken, halves, or leg quarters I prepare the chicken much as I would for jerk: I make 2 slashes into each leg and thigh, cutting through the skin and into the meat—probably about halfway to the bone. This allows for better marinade penetration. I work a finger between the skin and meat at the slash points to separate the skin. At the thigh slash that’s closest to the breast I’ll work a finger under the skin over the breast, separating it well but not completely.

** the last time I made this—last night, actually—I used chicken halves. I used my WSM because it’ll hold more than the kettle but I didn’t use as much lump as I’d planned and as I usually do (the chardonnay that we started pouring freely just after noon might have had something to do with this). Subsequently I did not get the heat I was after (I opted not to light more and add it), so the cook took longer. The skin was not as I like it—we ate it anyway, good flavor—but the meat was moist and delicious. I served it with garlicky collard greens and pomegranate basmati rice.

High-oil marinades work well on a kettle where you can play with skin-up/skin-down, direct/indirect heat for skin texture. I also like a brick approach, taking a butterflied chicken and putting it skin-down on a hot grate over spread-out moderate coals, with two foil-wrapped bricks to weigh it down. Cover the grill to minimize flare-ups, though you need to keep an eye out for any major ones. I find 15-20 minutes gets the skin well on its way toward the texture I’m looking for. Flip skin-up and continue cooking without the bricks till done or flip over near the end, if needed for further skin finishing.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Chris Allingham,

Kevin,

Thanks for this recipe EH!!!!
Makes my mouth water reading about it!
My neighbours are from Portugal, I'll have to
get them to find the Piris, and have them over for dinner.

Cheers

My piri-piris are ordered. Can you describe the taste tho? Will it be very hot cha cha? (I like it hot, so it's fine if it is!)

Does it end up very lemony? My mom rejects the lemon/chicken combo for some reason.

The peppers are quite hot. Used in the marinade and then cooked, the heat mellows. If you want to reduce the heat for whatever reason, you can skip the optional sprinkle of ground piri-piris before the chicken goes on.

Hmmm. As for the lemony issue...I don't find it lemony but I'm not sure if your mother would agree, if she's particularly sensitive to that combo. I think the lemon (or sour orange, if that's used) also mellows significantly. Whether or not she would still find it objectionable...? You could up the ratio to 1:4 or more, instead of 1:3 if you thought that that would be better, or use a different citrus, if you thought she would find that more appealing. In Portugal I had several Frangos with marinades/sauces very similar to this--but I also had them with less or not much lemon, with bay leaf included, and on more than one occasion, with whiskey in the mix.

Thanks, Kevin! I think if I don't mention the lemons and she doesn't see them, it will be fine.

She's the same way about smoke these days. If she sees me throw smoke wood on the fire, she tastes too much smoke. If she doesn't see it, no problem!

Have the same problem with my mom and salt. She always tells me not to add it, but for some reason, she finishes everything I make !

All I can say is, outstanding! My local market had cornish game hens on sale for 89 cents/lb., so I picked up a two pack yesterday. Whipped up the Piri-Piri sauce (molho?), Jaccarded those little hens, slapped an abundant amount of the marinade on them, and vacuum packed 'em. Into the fridge they went. In case we didn't like the hens, picked up a package of drumsticks to do jerk style, and happened to get an already cooked rotis duck which we planned to reheat on the grill with the other stuff.

Today we strapped those little hens into the rotis and sent them on the ride of their life, with the happy little drums hanging out underneath in indirect land.

The rest of the poultry was totally unnecessary! The little hens were soooooo good! We loved 'em! Served them with big lettuce leaves (wasn't romaine, but it was bitterish), diced onions, cute little grape tomatoes, extra piri-piri marinade, lemon wedges (I had omitted the lemon juice from the marinade) and sour cream, and made the BEST little cornish "tacos" ever! Wow, what a winner! We barely made a dent in the duck or the drumsticks, and I'm the only one who managed to stuff down my grilled potato (with Irish butter and sour cream, yum!). Really outstanding!

Thanks, Kevin! We'll do that one again.

pics

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Susan Z,

quote:

Originally posted by Susan Z:
.... Jaccarded those little hens...

Susan - when you say Jaccarded, do you mean with this thing...?

http://www.onlinerestaurantsupply.com/minimeat-buy.htm

Close. Susan has this one. Susan's got everything!

Well, if I had EVERYTHIHNG then I'd have both sizes, but in fact I only have the nice big one. Woof!

And now they have these cool looking BLACK colored ones, and I don't have those either.

: (

Yeah, I'll bet those hens were killer. The Portuguese use special small chickens for grilling. Our beach house is just a 20-minute drive from the Portuguese border, and we pop over there every once in a while for lunch. The frangos are almost always served with french fries (made from freshly cut potatoes--not those frozen pre-frieds) and a nice salad. All you need to top it off is a nice bottle of vinho tinto or rosado. Bom proveito!

Hey, who knew? I must have tapped into the great universal food consciousness when i picked up those little hens....!

I love Piri-Piri, but I've never found it to be hot enough for me because I hail from the Mexican border and grew with hot foods, so I'm used to hotter foods than the Iberians are used to eating.

I grow my own chilies, and I have a bunch of red Serranos stored in vinegar in my refrigerator left over from last year's bumper crop. The other day I threw a handful of them into a mortar along with some garlic and mashed them into a paste. I added the spices as per Kevin's recipe along with a little of the vinegar the chilies had been soaking in and some olive oil and slathered the mixture on some chicken pieces. I let them marinate overnight and then grilled them.

I must say that that was some of the best Piri-Piri chicken I've ever had. It was definitely spicy, just right for me. Good thing we had a six-pack of Sagres Preta beer to go along with it!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jim Langford,

Excellent idea. As soon as I get some ripe chilies happening I'll try the same. I like it hotter too; usually I just liberally sprinkle on more ground piri-piris but I like the idea of the additionally flavor (as well as the heat) from ripe hot peppers.

Do you grow your own? What varieties do you like? That Serrano plant died, but I've got some Jalapeños and some sort of a yellow hybrid going.

Yes, I grow my own. I much prefer ripe hot peppers over unripe green ones; much better flavor as I think you'd agree. Ripes are near impossible to find in the marketplace anymore so I have to grow them. Serranos, jals, cherries, Scotch bonnets, habs (sometimes) are pretty standard for me. This year I'm also doing Mucho Nachos (a jal hybrid that's supposedly larger and hotter), Thais, and yellow and red rocotos ( AKA manzanos) which you might be interested in. They're quite hot, fruity, but thick-walled, unlike habs or bonnets. http://www.rocoto.com/ for info/pics. They're perennial. When I was seeking seeds I'm fairly certain I ran across some in the UK and France (?), if you think you'd like to try growing some.

Those Rococos look great, Kevin. I've ordered some, along with some Scotch Bonnets, from this UK firm. Thanks for the tip.

Thanks for the web site - even in the UK!!
Incidentally if anyone is searching for piri piri remember it's sometimes spelt peri peri.

Made this today, here are some pics:








Way too hot today! Wow, it was burning and it was hard for me to eat (got the happy buzz going now though ). My wife couldn't and suspects me of trying to kill her. . If you're sensitive to heat go less on the piri-piris in the molho. I used nearly double the peppers and hot smoked paprika. I'm going to have to water down the molho with more oil and other spices.

The flavor is just fantastic though, I squeezed lots of fresh lemon on there. This is really one worth trying.