After squirreling throughout links
from a particular email
my friend Marion sent me,
I ended up at this recipe:
Chicken with Tamarind, Apricots, and Chipotle Sauce
on
Pati's Mexican Table.
Thanks, Marion,
for introducing me to Pati.
Rosie, as usual,
will take a perfectly lovely recipe
from a professional, well-seasoned chef
and drag it down to my level,
kicking and screaming all the way -
the recipe, not me.
I do this ...
because I can.
Naturally,
I made "adjustments."
Here's Pati's recipe:
CHICKEN WITH TAMARIND, APRICOTS AND CHIPOTLE SAUCE
Serves 8
INGREDIENTS
1 whole chicken cut into pieces, plus two more pieces of your choice, with skin and bones
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground, or to taste
1/2 cup safflower or corn oil
4 cups water
1/2 pound, about 3/4 cup, dried apricots, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons apricot preserves
3/4 cup tamarind concentrate, can be store bought or homemade (recipe follows) or substitute with 2 tbsp tamarind paste mixed with 1 tbsp sugar and 3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons chipotles in adobo sauce, or more to taste, add chiles if you please
TO PREPARE
Thoroughly rinse chicken pieces with cold water and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
In a deep extended skillet, heat oil over medium heat until it is hot but not smoking. Add chicken pieces in one layer, bring heat to medium-low, and slowly brown the chicken pieces for one hour. Turn them over every once in a while, so they will brown evenly on all sides.
Pour water over the chicken, raise the heat to medium-high, and bring it to a simmer. Incorporate the apricots, apricot preserve, tamarind concentrate, chipotle sauce and salt and stir, and keep it at a medium simmer for 35 to 40 minutes more. You may need to bring down the heat to medium.
The sauce should have thickened considerably as to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Taste for salt and heat and add more salt or chipotle sauce to you liking.
Pati calls for tamarind concentrate.
I have no concentrate, but I've got the real thing.
Pull the strings off
and take off the pod.
Pour boiling water over the tamarind pulp
to cover.
Cover with lid.
Let sit for at least 30 minutes.
Pati uses a whole chicken plus parts.
There are only 2 of us here,
so I'm just using a few parts.
I'd bought a whole chicken chopped up
for $0.99/pound at the Teeter.
Rinse off pieces
and blot with paper towels.
Grind up some salt and pepper.
I only used half the pieces of that chicken
and saved the rest for something later.
That something later will be
Mr. Hawthorne's
Smoked Chicken Parts in a salad.
Mr. Hawthorne is playing with
his new toy
he bought
me for my birthday in January.
Testing the oil.
You want it at 350 degrees.
Pati uses safflower or corn oil.
I used canola.
Pati used 1/2 cup of oil.
I used much less.
My pan is over medium heat
and I put the breast in first and cooked that
for a while before I added the smaller pieces in.
Rosie Tip # 498:
Whenever adding meat to hot oil,
put it in the oil and LEAVE IT ALONE.
Don't go poking at it and moving it.
If you try to move it now,
the meat will stick to the pan and tear.
Wait a few minutes, then go turn the meat.
It will release itself.
I added the chicken pieces in one layer
and turned the heat to medium low.
Keep turning to brown the meat all over.
I cooked mine about 45 minutes;
At this point, I drained the oil out,
although Pati didn't mention this step.
She went straight to adding water.
Let's go back to the tamarinds now.
In case you're wondering about tamarinds,
they offer a sweet and sour flavor to your dish.
I just found a
couple of recipes I want to try
for Sweet Tamarind Chutney and Tamarind Salsa.
Here are my lovely tamarinds
which have been bathing in hot water
for about an hour.
What did you say?
They look like what?
Press the pulp
through a sieve ...
... discarding the seeds.
I washed the sieve off in the tamarind liquid ...
... then poured that into the tamarind pulp.
Waste not. Want not.
Pati uses chipotles in adobo sauce.
I had none,
so I'm using sweet yellow, orange, red, and green peppers.
And I've got some dried apricots up there.
I chopped my peppers and apricots.
I'm getting my ingredients together:
tamarind pulp and juice
chopped peppers
chopped dried apricots
apricot preserves
cooked chicken pieces drained and blotted dry
Wait.
No chipotles in adobo sauce
but I do happen to have this little dried, hot, smoky nugget.
I happened to like this picture of the chicken in the pot.
Everything's ready for the pot.
Pour in the tamarind juice and pulp.
Add in a rainbow of chopped peppers.
Zzzadig,
did you not give me these preserves?
I added in a few big glops of apricot preserves.
Add in the little dried pepper.
Stir around a little bit.
Then I added water to cover the chicken.
Raise heat to medium high until simmering.
Reduce heat to medium low
and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.
I was pleasantly surprised with this.
Sweet. Sour. Smoky. Juicy. Tender.
Different.
And I like
different.
Rice by Mr. Hawthorne.
Don't you like my little rice mold?
I happened to like this so much
that I wanted it for lunch the next day.
I decided to doll it up with some carrots.
I used my squiggly cutter to cut squiggly carrot cuts.
I melted some butter in my skillet,
added in the carrots.
Medium high.
Saute about 1 1/2 minutes ...
... and drizzle in some honey ...
... and some orange juice.
Parsley from my yard.
Scallion and chives from pots on the deck.
I planted the seeds late last summer,
right before we left on our trip.
We had fresh scallions and chives
when we got back in November
and they've overwintered very nicely.
Tamarind chicken with peppers and apricots,
Rosie's way.
And Rosie's way was pretty darn good.
Bon appetit!
Smoke with the skins on.
We have 1 breast, 1 leg, 1 thigh, 1 wing,
and a back with basically no meat on it.
A smoked chicken leg is a thing of beauty.
Mr. Hawthorne minced 2 stalks of celery,
about 1/2 cup,
and chopped and toasted an equal amount of almonds.
Mr. Hawthorne removed
every piece of chicken from the bone ...
... and added it to the celery and nuts.
Next he put in two heaping tablespoons of sweet relish.
He's starting out easy on the mayo.
One heaping tablespoon.
Mix well and taste test.
Needs another heaping tablespoon of mayonnaise.
And a kiss of Old Bay.
Mix well.
S & P to taste.
I had to try some immediately
On a Ritz.
Goooooood cracker.
Exxxxxxxxcellent chicken salad.
Well done, Mr. Hawthorne
