Roasted Chicken with Adobado

This recipe is from the Rick Bayless website. I made a few klein and dine tweaks to it of course. Rick Bayless is one of my favorite chefs and he specializes in traditional mexican food.  I love using his dishes to get an authentic mexican meal in my own home. 

The adobado is multi-purpose. it can be used as a  marinade or as a sauce! Just reserve 1/2 cup of the adobado sauce before marinating the chicken.You don't want to eat the adobado after it's been sitting with the raw chicken for a few hours. 

I served this dish with the Quinoa and Black Bean Salad since it tastes like a healthy version of rice and beans! The recipe can be found here- http://kleinanddine.blogspot.com/2012/07/black-bean-and-quinoa-salad-with-cajun.html

 Ingredients

  Red Chile Adobo (Adobado) Marinade (makes about 2 cups of marinade)

2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil

3 medium dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and torn into flat pieces
2 arbol chiles, steamed, seeded and torn into flat pieces

2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, preferably fresh-ground Mexican canela
A pinch of cloves

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1/6 cup cider vinegar
Salt

4 chicken breasts
1 large lime
1/4- 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. brown sugar (if necessary)

Directions:

1.   Make the marinade.  Heat 1 tbsp. of the oil in a medium skillet over medium.  When hot, oil-toast the chiles a couple of pieces at a time until aromatic and blistered, a few seconds per side.

2. Remove to a bowl.  When all are toasted, pour in 3/4 cups hot tap water; weight with a plate to keep the chiles submerged.  Let rehydrate for about 20 minutes. 

3. Lightly toast the garlic over low heat in the same chili oil. Add to blender. Also add the pepper, cinnamon, cloves, sugar, vinegar and a generous tablespoon salt - it is critical that this marinade be salty since it seasons all the chicken.

4. Pour the rehydrated chiles, liquid and all, into the blender.  Process to a smooth puree.  Press through a medium-mesh strainer set over a bowl to remove bits of skin and stray seeds.  Taste  the abodabo sauce, it should be spicy, sharp and salty.  The consistency should be like steak sauce - not as thick as ketchup, not runny like hot sauce.

5. Marinade the chicken. Add chicken breasts to a plastic bag and cover with 3/4 of the marinade. Make sure chicken is covered everywhere with marinade. Allow to marinade for 2 hours in the fridge and up to overnight.

When you're ready to cook:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Cover a pan with aluminum foil and place chicken on it. Put a thermometer into the thickest part of the chicken. Place chicken in oven and cook until chicken reaches 155 degrees.


2. While chicken cooks make any side dishes and work on sauce. Add reserved adobado sauce to a new sauce pan. Add 2 tsp. lime juice and 1/4 cup heavy cream. Taste and check for seasoning. Add salt and pepper or some brown sugar if the sauce is to acidic or spicy. Heat through over medium flame right before serving chicken.

3. Remove chicken from oven when it hits 155 and cover with aluminum foil. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Reheat sauce and side dishes. Serve everything together!