I Am... 6 Ingredient Piri Piri Chicken – a Nando’s knockoff
If you’ve ever had Nando’s, you’ll recognize these flavors. This is an easy weeknight recipe for portuguese-by-way-of-historically-unethical-african-colonies perfect oven broiled chicken thighs with spicy piri piri sauce. Nothing about this recipe is authentic, but damn if it doesn’t taste good with only 6 ingredients. It’s spicy, bright, tangy, sweet, and delicious. Why does this recipe work? Leaving the chicken out while you marinate it lets it come to temperature for more even cooking. If the idea of this makes you squeamish, you can marinate in the fridge, but then you’ll need to add additional cooking time and, ideally, use a meat thermometer to check when the chicken has come to about 180°F. You should marinate the chicken for as long as you can, but know that it takes 30 minutes for the chicken to cook. Piri Piri sauce is traditionally made with African bird’s eye chiles, which are far, far spicier than anything you can get in a grocery store. In this recipe, I went with Thai bird’s eye, which are plenty spicy. So spicy in fact, that you should carefully consider how spicy you can handle. The recipe calls for 4, if you can’t handle spice, go for 1, or even none. What do you need? A blender, an oven, and a baking sheet with a rack that fits. Optional but great: a meat thermometer. How do you serve it? You can demolish this on its own, or you can serve with portugese rice, potatoes, or a nice salad. You can also sub wings or a whole chicken for the thighs.
Nando's knockoff 6 Ingredient Piri Piri Chicken Serves 21. Make a marinade by blending the vinegar, thai chilis, bell pepper, garlic, sugar, and rosemary, if using. 2. Season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper to taste (I omitted this step, to be honest - it didn’t seem to need it). Marinate your chicken thighs with half of the sauce for a minimum of 15 minutes and up to two hours. 3. Preheat your oven to broil (500°F) with the rack set to the middle position. At the same time, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a rack on top. 4. Meanwhile in a small saucepan, bring the other half of the sauce up to a very low simmer and hold it there until you are done. 5. When you are done marinating, position the chicken on the rack spacing each thigh about 1/2” apart. 6. Place the chicken in the oven, check back every 5 minutes or so for signs of burning, you want a little char, but not too much. 7. After 15 minutes has elapsed, flip the chicken and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. 8. Remove and serve with the simmered piri piri sauce.
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 4 Thai chilis
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 sprig rosemary (optional)
- 1lb chicken thighs
I Am... Small Batch Sundays: French Yogurt Lemon Loaf Cake
Hello! Are you looking for a perfect sized small batch loaf cake to bake for the week ahead? Maybe you want to have cake for breakfast everyday but don't want a giant calorie bomb slice? This small batch French yogurt lemon loaf cake is for you!
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I Am... 15 Minute Thai Red Curry Ramen Recipe
This bowl of noodles is what you want to eat when you're looking for a fast and cozy dinner. Creamy, spicy, full of vegetables, chicken, and noodles: perfect for warming up and relaxing after a long day in the cold.
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I Am... Easy Weeknight Coconut Curry Braised Chicken Legs Recipe
Easy, braise-y, beautiful. I'm a sucker for punny plays on words and easy weeknight recipes, so when I saw a Bon Appetit article claiming "These Braisey Chicken Legs in Coconut Milk Are Almost Too Easy to Make," I was sold. Of course it helped that the photo was gorgeous: deeply burnished chicken legs, golden brown coconut chips, and a coconutty red curry just begging for rice.
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I Am... How to Make Crispy Fried Eggs
With the perfect sunny side up egg the whites are usually tender and just set. The yolks are runny and everything is nice. But is it just nice eggs you want? Isn't "nice" a little bit bland when you think about it? Don't get me wrong, sunny side up eggs are good, but once you've had a crispy fried egg, you might never go back.
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I Am... How to Make Crispy Air Fryer Roasted Broccoli
I never thought I would say this, but I think I'm an air-fryer convert. We got one as a gift this Christmas, and after about three weeks of it just sitting there, taking up space, I decided to take the plunge and air fry something. You'd think it would be a package of frozen fries because I LOVE fries, but no, I decided to go the healthy route and do air-fryer broccoli.
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I Am... How to Make Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
If you've ever gone to a Mexican restaurant and had the rice and wondered, how the heck is it so delicious, this post is for you. Mexican rice is simple to make with pantry ingredients that you probably have at home. It's not a lot of work for a huge taste pay off. It goes along great with tacos or chipotle chicken or even chile verde.
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I Am... How to Make Jammy Soft Boiled Eggs Recipe
Jammy eggs are having their day in the sun, probably because they're been rebranded from soft boiled eggs to "jammy." I'm a sucker for a good rebrand, so I'm not complaining. I love soft boiled/jammy eggs.
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I Am... 5 Ingredient Oven Broiled Chipotle Chicken Wings with Salsa Negra
This is one of the best things I've eaten in a long time. It's an easy recipe for perfect oven broiled chicken wings complete with charred edges, crispy crunchy skin, and fall-off-the-bone meat that will make you never want to pull out the deep fryer ever again. The chicken is paired up with an adaptation of Rick Bayless’s incredible salsa negra recipe. You can adapt this technique to any sauce you’d prefer, from hot sauce to honey garlic, and it'll still be easier and healthier than deep frying, and worlds better than ordinary oven baked chicken wings. If you've never tried salsa negra before though, give it a shot before you try anything else. It's sweet, spicy, and smoky in all the best ways. This isn't a true salsa negra, it's more like an easy-level version, but this is dinner & chill, who's got time for buying so many ingredients, there's tv to watch and wine to drink! Why does this recipe work? Leaving the chicken out while you marinate it lets it come to temperature for more even cooking. If the idea of this makes you squeamish, you can marinate in the fridge, but then you’ll need to add additional cooking time and, ideally, use a meat thermometer to check when the chicken has come to about 200°F (the fall-off-the-bone stage, for me). Salsa negra is simply spanish for black salsa, and it’s normally made with a mix of chiles, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and cumin. Here, Rick Bayless has substituted a single fairly easy to find ingredient - chipotles in adobo - and it works amazingly. What do you need? A blender, an oven, aluminum foil, and a baking sheet with a rack that fits. Optional but great: a meat thermometer. What do you serve with it? You can demolish this on its own, or you can serve with mexican rice, tortillas, or a nice salad. If you’re interested in turning these into tacos, sub the wings for boneless skinless thighs and save 1/4 of the marinade for use as sauce.
5 Ingredient Oven Broiled Chipotle Chicken Wings with Salsa Negra
- 7 oz chipotle peppers in adobo (aka one small can)
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 lbs chicken wings
Make a marinade by blending the sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and chipotle in adobo.
Thoroughly mix the marinade in with your chicken wings and allow to sit, covered, on the countertop for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 2 hours (a gallon ziploc bag is perfect for this).
Preheat your oven to broil (500°F) with the rack set to the middle position. At the same time, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a rack on top.
When you are done marinating, position the chicken on the rack spacing each wing about 1/2” apart.
Place the chicken in the oven, check back every 5 minutes or so for signs of burning, you want a little char, but not too much.
After 15 minutes has elapsed, remove the chicken from the oven and move the rack up a position, then close the oven door so that no heat escapes. Flip the chicken and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove and enjoy immediately.
I Am... Easy Roast Chicken with Eggplant and Tomatoes
Like everyone else on the planet, I've been trying to eat healthier this month. Well, wait, that's kind of a lie. I've only really started trying to eat healthier since I made this chicken two days ago. See, I have really, really poor eating habits. I LOVE carbs and processed food and basically all the stuff that's bad for you. But, I love healthy foods too, it's just that I sometimes forget it. And when there's nothing in the fridge that's healthy, it's so easy to turn to a bag of chips or pasta or bread, or anything carb-heavy. But chips are not really my friends, so I'm gonna take a little break from that toxic relationship (at least until I can figure out how to make healthier chips at home) and focus on eating fresh, carb-light, veg-heavy foods.
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I Am... Instant Pot Vietnamese Maple Caramelized Short Ribs
This is a super quick & easy take on Vietnamese style caramelized claypot beef with maple syrup subbing in for the traditional caramel sauce and an Instant Pot subbing in for the clay pot. It's sweet, savory, and deliciously punch-you-in-the-face the way only southeast asian flavors can. Although the recipe calls for 35 minutes, you can go up to an hour if you have the time for a more fall-apart texture to the meat. Why it works: Caramelizing sugar the traditional way is a slow and watchful process that can easily go wrong. Here we bump it up flavor-wise while avoiding the whole need to caramelize in the first place with a little maple syrup. Tools: You'll need an Instant Pot, a knife, and a pair of tongs. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, change up the cut of meat to something that cooks faster but is still tasty, such as ribeye or pork belly, and thinly slice or cube it up to cook faster. Serve it: You can serve this as-is with a side salad. You can also shred the short ribs and toss 6oz of your favorite pasta shape or rice into the braising liquid for a nice pasta with short ribs or claypot rice. If you're feeling like soup noodles, after it’s done combine 1qt of low sodium beef stock to the braising liquid to make an excellent broth for soup noodles, just add your favorite noodles (such as ramen or pho) and season to your liking. Garnish with: Thai chilis or jalapeno Green Onions Cilantro A squeeze of lime [caption id="attachment_26078" align="alignnone" width="1450"] Caramelized Short Ribs with Ramen Noodles[/caption]
Instant Pot Vietnamese Maple Caramelized Short Ribs Serves 21. Gather your ingredients 2. Add the oil to your instant pot and set to saute on high 3. Season your shortribs generously with salt 4. Rough chop your onions and garlic 5. When the instant pot is at temp, brown the short ribs 3 minutes on each side. 6. Meanwhile, make a sauce with the garlic, maple syrup, fish sauce, soy sauce, and black pepper 7. On the last side of the short ribs to be browned, add the rough chopped onions 8. Add the sauce plus enough water to just cover the bottom of your instant pot (about 1/2 cup for the 8qt) 9. Set to high pressure and 35min, and let it cook. Prepare any side dishes or garnishes you’d like at this time. 10. Quick release and serve
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 bone-in short ribs (about 1lb)
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
I Am... Pho-strami: A Pho-Forward Take on Pastrami
DISCLAIMER: Technically this isn't really pastrami because pastrami is smoked. It's actually a pho-spiced corned beef but that just didn't sound as good >_<
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