11 Ways to Cook Your Goose....er Chicken: Day One

In honor of the total Eleven-Fest we had this past week, I decided that now would be a good time to find new ways to cook chicken, since it's one of the main protein items we consume about 4-5 times a week. You CAN teach an old bird new tricks and so, I'm searching for 11 new chicken recipes so add some zing to our otherwise boring repertoire of foodstuffs.

While I don't promise that all of these dishes will be completely healthy or diet-friendly, I do know that moderation is key and you can pair these up with healthier sides (salads, steamed veggies, etc..) and still be on the winning side of food consumption.

Starting out the series, I bring you Chipotle-Barbecue Chicken from Rachel Ray's Everyday magazine. Of course, being the rebel that I am, I cannot ever follow a recipe to the exact letter, so I made some revisions along the way.

I made this for dinner the other night, and while there was a bit too MUCH zing....the flavor still kicked ass and it was even better the next day for lunch.

So, here's the original ingredient list, borrowed from the link above:

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 8 chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)

And here is how I revised: 

No butter

No onion

2 Tbs olive oil instead

2 garlic cloves instead of 6

2 chipotle chiles, cut open, seeded and rinsed (instead of above amount) 

Ketchup, probably about 1 cup total

1 Tbs cider vinegar instead of 3

1/2 c brown sugar instead of 2 Tbs

2 or 3 good splashes of Worcestershire sauce

Chicken boobs instead of thighs.  

Added: 

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

1 small handful fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Preheated oven to 385 degrees (F). 

Sauteed shallot and garlic on medium-low (otherwise, garlic burns quick and thusly sucks) 

Removed sauteed items from skillet, put them in a bowl for later.

Added everything else to the skillet, stirred over medium, put shallot/garlic mix back in

Simmered for about 5 minutes. 

Trim off fat and other gross bits from chicken, feed scraps to the gentlemens Paulie and Dio

Place trimmed chicken directly in the skillet, to coat with the sauce.

Sprayed cooking sheet with no-stick spray, since I was out of aluminumumumum foil. 

Placed boobs on sheet, with smooth side up and coated with remaining sauce. 

Baked for approximately 35-45 minutes. (Yes, a while, but I have a fear of raw chicken!)  

I don't have a pic, but if you visit the link, it looks pretty much like that only with boobs instead of thighs.  

We don't stomach extremely spicy foods very well in this household. What I added was MORE than enough and I could have stuck with one very small chipotle, still seeded and rinsed. To some, it might be too mild, so add the amount of heat that you can stomach or decrease even more...to say 1/2 a pepper, seeded and rinsed. Regardless, it's a sweet, smoky, spicy sauce and it makes for an excellent sandwich the next day if you only eat half, which I did because it got too hot for me.  Yes, I am a weinie, for lack of a more appropriate term.  

So, enjoy. Goes good with veggies and a baked potato or oven roasted potatoes...or probably even rice.  It's just good. Enjoy!