Frango no Churrasco - Barbecued Chicken

There are some meals that you have a specific memory associated with. For me, grilled chicken is one of those. But not just grilled chicken, I'm talking about the Frango no Churrasco.  A barbecue chicken that is beyond delicious, grilled to perfection, with the perfect amount of seasonings and just a little kick from piri piri (chilies).

In Portugal, we have a lot of little corner shops, called Churrasqueiras, that sell these divine barbecue chickens.  I used to go with my dad and brothers, on the weekends, down to our local churrasqueira in Sao Joao do Estoril, and we would get a chicken and some kettle cooked chips to go with, or a large order of fries and a salad.

To this day, Frango no Churrasco is one of my favorite of favorite ways to barbecue chicken.

It does take a bit of time, it needs to grill over about an hour to an hour and a half, and needs to basted, every 15 minutes or so.  Basically, I am out there turning the chicken every 15 minutes, and basting it.  It's time consuming, but well worth the effort.

Frango no Churrasco

Ingredients for the chicken and marinade:

1 whole chicken, flattened and cleaned

2 garlic cloves, diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Massa de pimentao (red pepper paste, but you can omit if you don't have)

1 whole dried chili pepper, crushed (or 1teaspoon of cayenne pepper)

Salt to taste

 

For the basting sauce:

50 ml vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon red pepper paste

2 garlic cloves, diced

25 ml beer (you can also use wine)

black pepper to taste

Juice of half a lemon

1 bay leaf

salt to taste

Instructions:

Make the basting sauce, by mixing all the ingredients together, and then set aside.

 

Clean the chicken, open it up and butterfly it.  It needs to be flat.  Mix the ingredients for the marinade and rub all over the chicken.  Set chicken in fridge to marinade, for at least an hour.  The longer it sits, the better it will be.

Cook over hot coals, turning every 15 minutes, and basting each time you turn.  When the chicken is evenly cooked, and nice and charred, remove and serve immediately.  Cut into smaller portions and serve with homemade fries and a salad.

If cooking on a gas grill, like I did.  Turn on the grill and set each burner to maximum. Keep lid closed and let it preheat for about 20 minutes on high heat, it should reach 400 degrees.  Then turn all the burners down to a low heat.

 

You can place the chicken directly on the grates, but I prefer to put it in a grilling basket with a handle.  

 

 Set it on the grill, close it, and then every 15 minutes, flip the basket and baste the chicken. 

Bang Bang Chicken Kabobs

 

It's been years since I've made kabobs. It's not something I make a lot, and thankfully I had some skewers left over for this meal. Just shows you how long it's been since I've bought wooden skewers. 

But while looking through some food blogs a few weeks back, I came upon this recipe and knew I had to make it.  It's summer time, I love using my grill and this is the perfect meal to throw on, and get on the table in no time.

 

  

 

So where does Bang Bang Chicken originate? 

 

It is a typical street food sold in the Szechuan Region in China.  Basically the sauce is made of mayonnaise, sweet chili and sriracha.  It is delicious and really easy to make.

This meal came together pretty quick, aside from the hour that I left the chicken marinating in the fridge, everything else was quick and in no time we had a delicious summer meal on the table.

By the way, if you don't have a grill, or can't grill for some reason, you can pop these in the oven, I would say maybe at 375 F, until done, then just turn on the broil to give it a nice charred look.

 

 

Bang Bang Chicken Kabobs 

 

 

 

Ingredients 

Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 tbsp mayonnaise

4 tbsp sour cream 

1 tsp mustard 

1/3 cup sweet chili sauce 

1/2 tsp sriracha 

1 tsp honey 

Wooden skewers

 

 

 

Instructions 

Soak the wooden skewers for at least 10 minutes, to prevent burning.

 

In a big bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, sweet chili sauce, sriracha and honey.  

Add the chicken cubes, and stir well to combine.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.  

 

Add the chicken pieces to the wooden skewers.  Preheat your grill, make sure to brush on some oil on the grates so the chicken won't stick.  

 

Cook about 5 or 6 minutes on each side, until cooked through.  

 

Drizzle on any remaining sauce over the chicken, and serve immediately. 

 

 

Recipe adapted from:  4 Sons 'R' Us

 

Easy Lemon Grilled Chicken

With all my organizing and cleaning around here, I'm often finding kitchen appliances that I forgot I had.  It's that whole out of sight out of mind kinda thing.

While in the pantry this morning I came across my George Foreman grill.  Now I know some of you are probably gasping and shocked that I have one that hardly, if ever, sees the light of day, but I promise I'm going to try and use it more often.  Matter of fact, my boy already asked me to make some Grilled Cheese sandwiches on it for lunch tomorrow.

Anyway, back to tonight's dinner.  I had chicken drumsticks and wanted to make some sort of healthy grilled chicken, and this is what came of it.  Very tasty and the kiddos enjoyed it....not sure about the hubby as he hasn't had dinner yet, he's still at his Chemistry Class, so we'll see.

Easy Lemon Grilled Chicken

Chicken Drumsticks
1 Lemon
Salt and Pepper
Garlic powder
Olive oil

In a big ziploc bag, add the drumsticks, then squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper, garlic powder to taste, and a bit of olive oil.  I didn't measure, just eyeballed it, but I would say about 1/4 cup or so.  Shake well to combine and let it sit in the refrigerator until dinner.

To make sure my chicken is cooked properly, I like to boil it first, so that is what I did.  I just removed it from the ziploc bag, and boiled it until cooked all the way.

Then I fired up my George Foreman Grill, and cooked the chicken in there for about 5 minutes on each side, just to get it a little seared.  So yummy!

Served it with potato salad, and that was dinner.  Quick, easy, delicious.