food comas

Jen and I were having a few guests over for dinner on a weeknight and needed a delicious, but quick recipe to cook. I found this in my new What to Cook and How to Cook It book, which by the way, is awesome and has amazing food photography. The recipe calls for whole chicken breasts, but Jen and I decided to make skewers to speed up the cooking process and make the dish easier to serve. We also changed up the salsa recipe a bit to accommodate a friend who is allergic to fresh pineapple.

We served the chicken with spoonfuls of salsa, wedges of lime, guacamole, homemade tortilla chips, and watercress, orange and avocado salad, which turned out to be a wholesome and healthy meal!

Cajun Chicken with Pineapple and Mango Salsa

Chicken Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (either scored, or cut into pieces for skewers)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp dried thyme (I used fresh thyme from the Aerogarden)
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• boiled rice (optional, to serve with)
• skewers (optional)

Salsa Ingredients:

• 1 medium, ripe pineapple (I used 1 can of pineapples)
• a small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 green chile, seeded and finely chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 handful fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 lime (more to serve in wedges, optionally)

Directions:

First prepare the chicken. Preheat the broiler (unless you are letting the chicken marinate for a while). The original recipe suggests scoring each breast with a sharp knife, cutting about a third of the way through the flesh. I decided instead to make skewers of chicken because it would be easier to serve for a group dinner

Crush the garlic, then put it in a small bowl with the thyme, paprika, black pepper, allspice, and oil. Season with salt and mix well.

Rub the spice mixture all over the chicken. The chicken can be left for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator in this marinade, if you like. When ready to cook, put the chicken onto the rack of a broiler pan. Broil the chicken for 12 minutes, turning it once or twice during cooking. I’d say the skewers, because of smaller chunks, cooked in more like 8 minutes.

While the chicken cooks, start the salsa. Cut the ends of pineapple into quarters lengthwise, then slice off the strip of hard, pale core that runs along the middle of each quarter.  Cut criss-cross lines about 1/2 inch apart across each pineapple quarter, cutting all the way down to the skin. Then, starting with the knife about 1/2 inch away from the skin, run the knife between the flesh and the skin to release the small cubes into a large bowl. Since I used canned pineapple (because of my friend’s allergy), all of these steps were done for me! I also sliced up a mango to add more fresh fruit flavor. Add the onion, chile, and red bell pepper, then squeeze the juice of the lime and stir. Season with salt and pepper

Helpful hint: use a fork and grind lime halves around it to help juice a lime or lemon.

After broiling, the chicken should be dark golden brown – almost black in places – and cooked throughout.

Serve the chicken with spoonfuls of salsa, wedges of lime, guacamole, homemade tortilla chips, and rice (optional). Watercress, orange and avocado salad goes great as a meal starter as well!