Weeknight Grilling: Grilled Chicken and Potatoes with Spicy Cilantro-Garlic Sauce

Honestly.... I guess I'm just not able to grill up pretty looking food on weeknights. Probably because my objective is to get the food to the table in less than an hour, clean up, and then have some time to do a post..... But I gotta say, it ain't easy being green.

 And in fact, if you consider that I par boiled the potatoes the night before with the intent to throw them on the grill, perhaps this doesn't even qualify for one of my weeknight grilling posts.

The recipe itself, is based on what Rick Bayless calls his "chimichurri" in his latest book, Fiesta at Rick's. If you ever wanted a recipe for a gallon of Michelada, this is the book for you. In fact, I've kinda planted the seed in the minds of my friends..... just the fact that they are considering digging a pit in their Mom's backyard to do the recipe for a 30 pound lamb based on the recipe in the book.... well, you get the point. In his book, his "chimichurri" is used for a ceviche. I've posted on a more traditional Chimichurri before, but when Bayless mentioned that this was great on chicken; well, I had to just give it a try.

The actual sauce recipe didn't use any acid, which Rick Bayless added in later as part of his ceviche. And for the skin on, boneless chicken legs and the potatoes, I didn't use any acid. The recipe itself is a bit different from what's in the book, I usually use recipes as more of a guideline, and make adjustments for my taste preferences anyway. In this case, I cut down the flat leaf parsley, since I didn't care for an overwhelming chlorophyll taste. I also bumped up the garlic (of course) and the serrano chilies (of course again), and added a bunch of scallions to the whole mess for some additional punch. The sauce came out pretty thick, like a pesto, and smelled wonderful. And to tell you the truth, it isn't particularly spicy either......

 
So form the time I got my chimney starter going......

Spicy Cilantro-Garlic Sauce

16 cloves of garlic
5 serrano chilies
2 medium bunches cilantro, hard stems removed
1/2 of a small bunch flat leaf parsley, hard stem removed
1 bunch green onions
2/3 cup olive oil
2-3 Tb Sea Salt

- Roughly chop cilantro, parsley, serrano chilies, and green onions. (For less heat, remove the seeds and "veins" from the serranos before using)
- Place in a blender with garlic
- Slowly add olive oil while pulsing the blender.
- Scrape excess unblended ingredients off the sides of the blender, and then blend until fairly smooth.

This will make about two cups, more then enough for several uses.

For the chicken pieces, I put about 1 1/2 tablespoons of sauce on one side and lightly rubbed over the chicken. I then turned the chicken over and did the same. I put the chicken in the fridge for about 15 minutes to marinate, and prepped my potatoes. I had sliced two russet potatoes into 3/4 inch slices the night before and parboiled. I rinsed well, to remove excess starch, made sure they were nice and dry, and put them in the fridge. I took them out right before I got my charcoal started. I seasoned with sea salt and fresh ground pepper, rubbed with extra virgin olive oil, and split into two groups. Right before grilling, I tossed one group with red wine vinegar. The other group was grilled on one side, and after turning, I brushed on some of the sauce on the grilled side of the potato. After turning I repeated with the other side, making sure to grill the potatoes, without burning them. Of course I was grilling up the chicken as well.

It turned out to be pretty good.

 
Regular readers may recall that the Missus doesn't eat chicken anymore, so I also grilled up some eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers.

 
Toasted some ciabatta bread rubbed with garlic oil on the grill. I mixed about 1/2 cup of the sauce with a few squeezes of lime to add some acid, which the Missus used as a spread for sandwiches, which She loved. In fact, She had a couple of days worth of sandwiches.

A couple of days later, I repeated the sauce with lime, added a touch more salt, and a few turns of black pepper, and made a salad dressing.

Tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, green leaf lettuce, a few sprigs of cilantro, and pepinos, made for a nice salad.

I'm always happy to find these recipes that can be used for multiple purposes....... it makes life so easy. 

Comments

[Chris]

charcoal really brings out the flavor in my opinion.... no offence to "clean burning gas" fans

Kirk have you ever tried Chermoule sauce? I use it like you did the chimichurri and it goes great with fish, too

[kat]

it might not look pretty but it does look delicious!

[Kirk]

Hi Chris - And beyond that, I prefer hardwood charcoal to briquettes. I've had food prepared with Chermoula sauce at various Moroccan restaurants, but have never tried to make it myself.

Hi Kat - I was surprised that it worked so well as a sandwcih spread.

[Carol]

The sauce sounds great, especially on grilled veggie sandwich.

[AZ]

I got to ask, why doesn't the Mrs. eat chicken? I'm all about garlic and cilantro, this is a sauce that I might enjoy, I'm not sure about using it as a marinade, but it sounds like a great salad dressing or dipping sauce. I’ve got to grill more vegetables, I usually do zucchini, onions, and asparagus, but never thought about eggplant.

[Kirk]

Hi CArol - Yes, it really worked well on bread.

Hi AZ - The Missus stopped eating chicken and turkey after seeing a commercial on television. I mention it at the end of this post:

http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2010/03/playing-chicken-a-bunch-of-chicken-posts-saffron-nazca-grill-mercado-2000-casa-de-pepe-sab-e-lee-2-a.html

[Lynnea]

that sauce sounds delicious but I have to say it's really a lovely shade of green.

[Kirk]

Hi Lynnea - The Missus enjoys this best cut with a little lime used as a sandwich spread.