Sriracha Marmalade Salsa Grilled Chicken

Sriracha, salsa and orange marmalade as a marinade.  Does that sound like a weird combo? It was a simple, fast marinade and basting sauce I came up with when I was in a rush and really did not feel like cooking but was intent on eating.  Only 3 bottles that you may already have open and in your fridge. Substitute any "no sugar" jam - peach or apricot would work well.  Any type of salsa; homemade would be even better.  Mango lime is a favourite but I don't have any right now.  No Sriracha?  Try sambal olek or a Buffalo hot sauce will work.  This is a flexible recipe.

Although I often read that you aren't supposed to put sweeter ingredients on the chicken before grilling as it'll cause flare ups I find the no sugar added marmalade does fine but I have a tip for that in the method section.

INGREDIENTS:
4 large chicken breasts - local or organic (this'll work with tofu, pork etc.)
1 cup (250 ml) salsa - your choice
1/2 cup (125 ml) orange marmalade, no sugar added
1/4 cup (60 ml) Sriracha to taste - or hot sauce of your choice

METHOD:

1.  Put the chicken breasts in a pan.  I have four that were quite large and I ended up dividing them in two when almost cooked through.

2.  Stir the three marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl.

3.  Pour marinade over chicken.  Use a fork to coat tops of breasts.  Marinade in the refrigerator for one hour and preferably over night.

4.  Brush the left side of the grill with vegetable oil to help prevent sticking while cooking.  Heat the right side with lid closed to medium-high.  Set chicken on cool side of grill, bone side down, and close lid.  Grill chicken for approximately 15 minutes per side until a meat thermometer reads 165'F (74'C).

While the chicken is cooking prepare the salad.  I served the chicken with cooked brown rice and a fresh green salad with sorrel, garlic chives and mint out of the spring garden.

Sorrel (rumex acetosa)

Garlic chives

NUTRITION FACTS (per patty or 1/8th of recipe):  440 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 1150 mg sodium, 155 mg cholesterol, 32 g carbohydrate, 0 g fibre, 20 g sugar, 61 g protein.  %Daily Values: 15% vitamin A, 45% vitamin C, 6% calcium, 6% iron.

Yours in good taste,
© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

http://nancyguppy.com/

Pico de Gallo - salsa fresca with garden tomatoes, onion and cilantro

Here is an uncooked "fresh" Mexican salsa that is quick to prepare from simple ingredients.  "Pico de Gallo" in Spanish means "rooster's beak." The fresh chile gives a little peck! Scoop it up with corn chips or spoon over cheese covered nachos, tacos, burritos or even eggs. It is also a great with grilled chicken, fish, tofu... pretty much grilled anything! Some versions use a bit of oil, salt and sugar but I don't think it usually needs it if the ingredients are very fresh. In the Yucatan region of Mexico I had a fresh salsa that also had diced fresh orange and avocado!

Makes approximately 3 cups/750 ml:

2 cups ripe tomatoes, finely diced- 500 ml
1/2 cup red onion, medium size, minced - 125 ml
1 hot Chile (jalapeno or cayenne), minced - to taste if you are timid!
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice - 30 ml
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro - 30 ml
Pinch of salt


Optional: minced radish, chives or parsley, fresh chopped avocado or orange. Try it with a tablespoon of tequila gold!



METHOD:
Toss all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and let set at room temperature for a few hours ahead so flavours have a chance to develop. Serve in an attractive bowl on a platter surrounded by your favourite tortilla chips. I am favouring Black Bean and "Red Hot Blues" - both organic by Garden of Eatin'

You can also make it by pulsing ingredients in the bowl of a blender or food processor. If you want it chunky make sure you don't over-process. It can be refrigerated overnight but I prefer to serve it fresh at room temperature.

NUTRITION FACTS (per 125 ml serving): 20 calories, 0 grams of fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g fibre, 1 g protein. % Daily Values are 2% each calcium and iron, 15% vitamin A and 25% vitamin C.

© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

Tomatillo (Physalis Ixocarpa)

If you are thinking about your summer garden you may want to get some tomatillo seeds.  Tomatillos are Mexican and were a staple part of the diet for Aztec and Mayan peoples.  They are not tomatoes but members of the genus Physalis, a group of plants whose fruits grow in paper-like husks. They are related to the ground cherry as well as those ornamental Chinese Lanterns that are inedible.

Tomatillo tastes like green tomatoes with a citrus bite. Quite hardy and worth growing as they now reseed themselves throughout my northern garden.  In Mexico they grow wild.  Get yourself some seeds. You won't regret it. 

 
USES: I eat them fresh by slicing and adding to garden salads.  I also use them in fresh garden salsa and they go well in guacamole along with the avocado.  A green salsa made with tomatillos is usually called salsa verde and there are lots of recipes online. 

Any extra I remove the husks and freeze.  To prepare tomatillos, use your fingers to remove the papery husk and rinse under water to remove the sticky sap that clings to the skin.  I don't blanch them, just rinse and freeze in zip lock bags. 

NUTRITION FACTS: Tomatillos are a good source of vitamin C, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.  They are high in beta-carotene and the antioxidant lutein.

Young tomatillo plant below in my 2010 garden. I have read that you need at least two plants growing close by as they pollinate each other.

Chimichurri Sauce

Chimichurri is an Argentinian sauce that I have become quite fond of it.  I first made it  last summer and was delighted to find another easy use of the garden garlic, onions, parsley and oregano. They have all been growing with wild abandon lately.

Traditionally in Argentina chimichurri is served with grilled steak.  It works well as a condiment and/or marinade with fish and chicken and is also delicious with grilled pita and many cooked vegetables (e.g, green beans, grilled mushrooms and zucchini).  You can eat it with corn chips/tortillas too!  It is quite similar to a salsa fresca (i.e., uncooked salsa) although the version I make does not have tomatoes or peppers.  Feel free to add them though.  This is perhaps not the most appetizing of photos (above) but do try the recipe as it is very flavourful and versatile.

GARDEN and ORGANIC ingredients:

4		Jalapeno peppers, raw, cut in chunks
½ cup	125 ml	Red onion, raw, diced
4		Garlic cloves
½ cup	125 ml	Parsley, fresh, leaves and stems
¼ cup	60 ml	Oregano or marjoram, fresh
1 Tbsp	15 ml	Black pepper, freshly ground
2 Tbsp	30 ml	Olive oil, extra virgin, organic
¼ cup	60 ml	Red wine vinegar – I used Eden organic
2 Tbsp	30 ml	Lemon juice, raw (use a bit less if you use bottle)
¼ cup	60 ml	water

METHOD:

1.  Combine the first ten ingredients for the Chimichurri sauce in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped.  

Note: follow this link to the Chicken Farmer's of Canada website for a recipe I developed for them of grilled chicken with chimichurri sauce and brown rice

http://www.chicken.ca/DefaultSite/index.aspx?ArticleID=3166&lang=en-CA.  Part of the chimichurri is used as a marinade and the remainder of the sauce is served as a condiment.

NUTRITION FACTS for 1/4 cup - 60 ml

Calories	50
Total Fat (g)	3.5
Saturated Fat (g)	0.5
Cholesterol (mg)	0
Carbohydrate (g)	4
Fibre (g)	1
Cholesterol (mg)	0
Sugar (g)	1
Protein (g)	1
%Daily Values
Sodium	5%
Calcium	2%
Iron	4%
Vitamin A	8%
Vitamin C	25%

		2000 Calories	2500 Calories
Total Fat (g)	Less than	65 g	80 g
Saturated fat (g)	Less than	20 g	25 g
Cholesterol	Less than	300 mg	300 mg
Sodium	Less than	2400 mg Preferably 1500	2400 mg Preferably 1500
Total carbohydrate (g)		300 g	375 g
Fibre	At least	25 g	30 g

%Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.  Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Calories per gram       Fat 9    Carbohydrate 4          Protein 4

Tastefully yours,

© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc

Chapman's Landing Cooking Studio

Our next cooking class coming up at Chapman's Landing is "100 Mile Diet of SLOW Foods" on Friday July 16th followed by "Thai Cuisine" Saturday July 17th.  Please see my menu and register online at http://www.chapmanslanding.com

Moroccan Inspired Salsa

My Moroccan inspired salsa shown above was originally a recipe called Matbucha which is a cooked salad of tomatoes and peppers popular in Arab countries.  They eat it hot or cold as a dressing for rice or potatoes.  Matbucha is popular in Israel too and one site said to use it as a dip with fresh Challah on Friday.  I think most countries have their own special "salsa."

Here in Nipissing village we had it with organic blue corn tortilla chips!  But, it would also be great with any kind of bread, pita wedges and as a fresh accompaniment to grilled fish.  Sort of like a middle eastern Bruschetta.  I must admit I am a bit of a salsa nut.  It is low in fat and sodium and nutritious in many ways.  It is a much better choice than creamy or cheese based dips which are usually high in fat, saturated fat, sodium  and calories.  Corn tortilla chips are naturally wholegrain and you can even buy baked versions if you want to skip more fat calories.

I used my fresh garden tomatoes and roasted red peppers I had frozen.   I posted a recipe earlier on how to make your own roasted red peppers.  I am down to the very end of my fresh garden tomatoes and next year I really need to grow more of them.  At one point they were in every window on the main floor and we ate them as they ripened.  I know many people like to wrap them in newspaper and put them in a box to ripen slowly in the dark but I find the window sill method works well.

INGREDIENTS - they were all homegrown or organic:

5 roasted red peppers
5 tomatoes, ripe (about 8 cm/3 inches)
3 cloves garlic, fresh
1 cup (250 ml) red onion
1/3 cup (75 ml) raisins
1/2 cup (125 ml) cilantro, fresh
2 Tbsp (30 ml) mint, fresh
1 Tbsp (15 ml) olive oil, XV
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1 tsp (5 ml) cumin seed
1/4 tsp (1.25 ml) cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) ground cayenne or other hot pepper to taste

METHOD:

Combine everything in your food processor and pulse until you get your desired consistency.  If you don't have fresh tomatoes you can use drained canned tomatoes.

NUTRITION FACTS (per 1/4 cup or 60 ml serving): 30 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 5 g carbohydrate, 1 g fibre, 3 g sugar, 1 g protein.  %Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet and are 15% vitamin A, 25% vitamin C, 2% each calcium and iron.

© Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc
Visit me at http://www.chapmanslanding.com  

for course information, menus and registration.