Nice looking dish even if I don’t know what to call it. It tastes as good as it looks, too.
It’s been serious grillin time in DFW. We’re having beautiful weather. The highs have yet to break the century mark. Instead, we have had highs in the 80s and 90s F, with the highest temperature being 97 F. Other than that day and the next at 96 F, the temps have never gotten above 95 F. Sweet! The lows, on the other hand have been in the 60s and low to mid 70s F. You really couldn’t ask for much better weather. Because it has been so pleasant, we have doing a little grilling here and there. This is one of those grillin dishes. You see, Quickstep was coming over for dinner the next day. I had just been to the store and purchased a family pack of chicken thighs not having any clue how I would prepare them. They were on sale and I like chicken thighs, especially on the grill. With the weather being so beautiful I knew when I bought them I had to do something on the grill. The question was what. Now, I could go to my trusty standby and use a chile based rub, like the ancho chile rub. But I wanted something different. I wanted something a little more lively, fresh and reminiscent of island food. I could do jerk chicken but I wasn’t really in the mood for jerk. I also had a plan to do a jerk shrimp with a wonderful cold soup but that’s for another day. I could smoke the chickens but that uses up so much firewood for such a small amount of food. What to do? Oh, what to do? Hmmm…This always lead to a refrigerator and pantry supplies visual inventory. Let me see, we have some nice lemons, limes and naval oranges. Those would be nice. Citrus always play well with chicken. And there’s some of those wonderful pickled chipotles I dearly love. Mmm…that sounds good, a nice little kick with a touch of smoke. OK, that’s the ticket. You gotta have garlic, so check on that. Then I saw this beautiful red bell pepper which would add beautiful flavor, some texture and color. Let’s see…keep going. Oh, I forgot I needed onions and there was nice red onion. Oh, yes, this was developing nicely in my mind. Then I turned around and saw the bottle of 12 year old rum I had inadvertently left out from the evening nightcap the night before. That’s the ticket. No island chicken could be complete without some rum with the delicate sweetness of the sugarcane and I had some dark rum in the liquor cabinet. Oh, yes I was onto something now. Obviously, this was coming together for a beautiful marinade. It all sounded so good in my head and I knew I was going to post it on the blog if it came out (which it did 🙂 ) Hmmmm…but what do you call this dish? Is it Island chicken? What is that anyway? It’s not really Caribbean and it’s definitely not Hawaiian. Neither is it Cuban. I guess I could call it no name chicken but that didn’t tell you a lot. So the gears spun and spun. I got nuthin. So, Grilled Spicy Chicken Whatchamacallit is the best I can do. 🙂 Don’t let the name fool you because this is one flavorful dish. Everybody loved it and sang praises to the cook. 🙂 So, without any further ado, this is what we did. 😉
Ingredients
- 3 pounds chicken thighs, washed and dried (drying is just old habit. This is going into a marinade so it doesn’t really need to be dried. It’s a health conscious thing.)
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 2 Tbsp lime juice
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup dark rum
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1-1/2 tablespoons honey
- 2 pickled Chipotles (recipe found here)
- 1 red pepper, seeded and diced
- 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Instruction
In a blender, add the red pepper, onions
garlic
vinegar
oil
lime juice,
lemon juice
orange juice
rum
honey
chipotles,
Salt
and pepper
Pulse on low speed
Do not puree because you want a chunky marinade.
Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish or in a vacuum sealable bag. Pour marinade over the chicken pieces, seal (or cover if using a baking dish) and refrigerate overnight.
Turn the chicken once regardless if using baking dish or vacuum sealed bag. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
Preheat the grill. Place the chicken pieces on the grill and baste with marinade.
Cook for 10 minutes over low to medium low heat. Turn and baste with the marinade.
Cook for another 10 minutes and turn again basting and turning the chicken every 5 minutes for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until chicken is done.
Remove from grill
Serve
and enjoy!!
REMCooks 
McGary Island chicken? 🙂 I am really sad the patio in my building won’t be open this season due to construction. no grilling for me 😦 …except at friends’ BBQs!
Hi, Andreea. Now, that’s an idea. I hadn’t thought about buying my own island. 😉
That’s too bad about the patio. That will make the summer rough because there are simply those days you just want to grill something outside. Oh, well. you will have to get your friends to BBQ more often. 🙂
Yes well, I happen to be one of those ‘unsophisticated’ Aussies who would think your recipe mouthwatering!! Just have to be a tad ‘heavier’ on the rum and I’ll sing your praises 🙂 !
Thanks, Eha, for the very nice compliment. 🙂 We’ll do your chicken on the ratio of one shot of rum for the chicken and one shot of rum for you. How’s that? 😀
Hate to tell you that I am strictly a wine drinker but don’t mind the 1:1 ratio 🙂 !
Love this. A wonderful mixture of flavors!!! I like the idea of the rum as well.
Hi, Mimi. Thanks for the compliment. I think you will enjoy the upcoming post even more. 🙂
This looks and sounds great, Richard. Love your use of thighs; they’re so much more flavorful.
Thanks, John. We like the thighs because they stay moist and juicy, as well as having wonderful flavor. They also are the perfect size for Baby Lady and me. Quickstep, on the other hand, can eat the whole chicken by himself and will if you let him. 😮
Yum! I was wondering about the chicken recipe when I looked at your bok choy post! Looks great.
Thanks for the nice compliment. 🙂
Given how much I enjoy pickled chipotle chiles, I’ll probably love this 🙂
Next time you are wondering what to do with chicken thighs, consider Chicken thighs adobo. There is a sous-vide version on my blog somewhere that’s great.
Thanks, Stefan. I will give the chicken in adobo sous vide a try. It sounds like it would be wonderful but we like adobo. 🙂 You never would have guessed, right? 😉
Is Mexican adobo the same as Filipino adobo?
No. The Mexican adobo is more akin to the Spanish adobo. It is very similar to the paste I used in the Red Chile Braised Pork Tacos, except it has more citrus juice/vinegar. https://remcooks.com/2012/10/26/red-chile-braised-pork-tacos/. As I understand Filipino adobo it is a technique of marinating meats and cooking them as opposed to a specific recipe.
My post was about the filipino adobo. You are correct about it being the technique rather than a recipe; the reason for the technique is to preserve the meat outside of the refrigerator. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste great when freshly made though 😉 Filipino adobo is marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaf, and lots of black pepper. In my SV version I cook chicken thighs in the marinade with chicken stock. Yum!
That really does sound good. I may have to do a Filipino adobo sous vide and a Mexican/Spanish adobo sous vide. Thanks, now you have the wheels inside my little head turning. 🙂
I’ve never tried the Mexican adobo, so that’s something to try.
This is my Filipino version by the way: http://stefangourmet.com/2012/04/01/chicken-adobo-sous-vide/
Looks particularly toothsome Richard.
Thanks, Conor. You can definitely get your teeth into these chicken. 🙂
Whatchamacalit, yes that sounds familiar and delicious. Actually, it is probably just the rum in your delicious chicken recipe that sounds like something I enjoyed previously…Bacardi 8 at the end of the day. 🙂 I had to laugh at your description “you really couldn’t ask for much better weather”. Your lows in the 70’s have been our highs in Maine and we say the same thing. Too many years since I have lived in Texas, I guess.
Hi, Karen. Thanks for the compliment. I guess perfect weather is dependent upon your locale and to what you have become accustomed. 😉
I love the name.
Thanks. 😀