Cuban Pollo a la Plancha
Fresh, healthy and delicious, this chicken dish from Create Cooking Challenge Second Place Winner Dennis Perez delivers bright flavors of garlic, spices and citrus. Serve with white rice and black beans for a quick weeknight meal. Yield: 4 servings Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Total time: 55 minutes
Recipe Ingredients
- - 2 limes for cooking, 1 for garnish
- - 1 bitter orange (naranja agria) OR 4 oz orange juice and 2 oz grapefruit juice
- - 6 cloves of garlic
- - 1 tsp cumin
- - 1 tbsp oregano
- - 1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- - 1 tsp salt
- - 4 chicken breasts
- - Neutral cooking oil, or olive oil
- - A few sprigs of cilantro
- Hardware
- - Large bowl
- - Citrus juicer
- - Knife
- - Plastic wrap
- - Meat mallet (or heavy skillet)
- Skillet
Recipe Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the juice of two limes with the juice of one bitter orange. If you cannot find bitter oranges, you can use 4 ounces of orange juice and 2 ounces of grapefruit juice.
- Smash the garlic or alternatively, use a garlic press, and add the garlic into the bowl with the juice.
- Add the cumin, oregano, black pepper, and salt into the bowl. Mix, and set aside.
- Butterfly the chicken breasts by cutting down the middle lengthwise, but stopping before reaching the end. Then open the breast like a book - it should resemble the shape of a heart.
- Place a piece of plastic wrap over the chicken and pound it with a meat pounder (or a heavy skillet) until all the breasts are about 1/4" thick.
- Place the chicken breasts into the marinade making sure they're well coated. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Place a skillet over medium high heat. Once hot, add some oil to the pan.
- Remove each piece of chicken from the marinade and wipe off some of the marinade, then place into the pan to cook. Let the chicken brown nicely and cook, which should take about 4 minutes per side. Make sure not to crowd the skillet, otherwise you won't get the same level of browning!
- Once a piece of chicken is cooked (165 F internal temperature), remove from the skillet and place into a dish that is then covered to keep it warm.
- When all the chicken is cooked, add your onions into the skillet and season with a pinch of salt. The water from the onions will help release the fond* created from cooking the chicken.
- Cook the onions until they start to brown but can still hold their shape.
- Plate the chicken (white rice and black beans work really well). Then place the onions over top.
- Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- “Fond” are those little browned bits of food that are often stuck to the bottom of the pan, skillet or baking dish, especially after searing meat or poultry. These browned bits are packages of flavor!
- You can cut the breasts in half after butterflying them - this can make it easier to handle and cook.
- Don't skip the lime as a garnish - it adds a huge amount of brightness to the dish!