Peruvian Chicken

Directions

1. 1
   Take everything but the chicken and add into a large food processor.
2. 2
   Put the lid on and process until you have a nice, smooth consistency.
3. 3
   Take a chicken breast, and use your fingers to gently separate the skin from the breast.
4. 4
   Take a bit of the mixture and massage it all over the chicken breast, making sure you get under the skin.
5. 5
   Put the chicken into a large resealable bag.
6. 6
   Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts, and when done, pour any remaining marinade into the bag.
7. 7
   Seal the bag, give a little massage from the outside, then place in the refrigerator overnight, or up to two days.
8. 8
   When you are ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator, and set it on the counter to let the chicken come close to room temperature.
9. 9
   Im not a big fan of taking cold meat out of the refrigerator and right onto a hot cooking surface.
10. 10
    Now you have a couple of options here.
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    You can roast the chicken, or cook it on the grill.
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    For me?
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    Well, I go on a hot, charcoal grill to infuse some of the smokiness from the grill, then finish off in the oven.
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    With that said, heat up your charcoal, hot coals on on half, no coals on the other half of the grill.
15. 15
    This will allow you to control the grill should any of the skin grease flare up.
16. 16
    Pull the chicken out of the marinade and put each piece onto the grill, skin side down.
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    Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes, or until you get a bit of nice flame and crust on the chicken.
18. 18
    Turn them over, and cook another 10 minutes, making sure to cover the grill if the heat gets out of hand.
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    This will allow those coals to settle down and get those nice, smoke clouds inside the grill.
20. 20
    Preheat your oven to 375 F while the chicken grills.
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    Once they are partially cooked, remove them from the grill into a large casserole dish, or baking dish that can be covered with a lid, or with foil.
22. 22
    Cover the dish with foil or a lid.
23. 23
    Add the dish of chicken into the preheated oven, and cook for another 45 minutes or so, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is around 160-165 F. Once cooked, remove the dish from the oven and set it on a rack and allow the chicken to rest and take a bath in their released juices.
24. 24
    So once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken to a plate.
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    You will be left with a lot of juices, good juices at that.
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    If you have a fat strainer, this would be the time to use it.
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    Just pour the juice into the strainer and skim off the fat.
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    If not, no big deal as there is not a whole lot of fat that remains due to the grilling process.
29. 29
    Remove the skin from the chicken breasts and discard it.
30. 30
    Take the breast of each chicken and carefully remove the meat from the bone.
31. 31
    Next, chop the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
32. 32
    The add the chicken back into the juices.
33. 33
    Repeat with all of the chicken.
34. 34
    Now I made a lot of chicken thinking I would have plenty of leftovers for the work week.
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    But heres the deal.
36. 36
    Everyone in the family loved this Peruvian chicken so much that I had nothing, and I mean nothing left for the week.
37. 37
    I served mine with a mixed black bean and rice, Peruvian mayonnaise, mixed kale salad, some limes and fresh corn tortillas.
38. 38
    You would think that this dish might be spicy with the habanero peppers, but let me tell you, the balance is just perfect.
39. 39
    The fresh lime and garlic are the stars of the show, then the fresh herbs and chili peppers just perfect the chicken.
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    You get a bit of smokiness from the grill, and wow, just wow is all I have to say.
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    This one is a must make.
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    Hope you enjoy.