VIDEO: Recipe: ají amarillo chicken with diosa verde
Sharpen your grilling skills with this Peruvian dish, paired with a Green Goddess sauce.
As temperatures soar, so does our searing desire to congregate and cook over an open flame. But why is that?
Jason Rice’s grilling tips:Just as if sautéing on a stovetop, make sure your grill is hot. Nothing ruins food like a dirty surface. Make sure grates are brushed clean before cooking. The metal grates have pores that expand when cooking and will become sticky if not seasoned. Use a paper towel to apply high-flashpoint oils, such as peanut, avocado or grapeseed. You can’t go wrong with spreading flavored butter over your food as it cooks. Try butter and garlic, chive, basil, sage, rosemary and thyme. Food takes time. You’re not going to (safely) cook that chicken in 30 seconds. Always use a thermometer in the thickest part of the meat to make sure it’s 165 degrees before serving. Let your food sit to lock in juices: 4-5 minutes for chicken breasts, 10 minutes for that New York strip. Don’t give up! Like any other craft, grilling takes practice. We all have to eat, so why not sharpen your skills along with that chef’s knife?
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“Grilling is very ancestral; it brings us together,” said Paula Thomas, a Restaurant Management lecturer in Metropolitan State University of Denver’s School of Hospitality. “It’s a very human desire to be near the fire. Over the years, we’ve hidden heat in the stove or in a microwave, but we’re reconnecting with an instinctual element, especially in the summer when there’s so much to grill.”
Food-services lab coordinator Jason Rice echoed this, noting it’s in our evolutionary makeup to crave that hot-off-the-grill experience.
“There’s a primal sense to it, as we need food to live,” he said. “You can get so many different flavors from marinades and seasonings, and they react differently over a flame compared to a convection oven or from steel, nonstick and even cast-iron surfaces.
“Plus, there’s just something about getting outside, having a couple beers and watching the food transform as you cook it.”
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For National Grilling Month, RED caught up with Rice and Thomas for an easy and delicious ají amarillo chicken with diosa verde (Green Goddess) recipe that balances subtle heat with refreshing cool for a beach-meets-mountains flavor, fit for back yards everywhere.
