Gin And Lime Chicken

Gin?  Lime?  Chicken?  Right, I'm in!  This recipe is actually adapted from Nigella's latest cookbook - Simply Nigella.  She uses tequila to marinate the chicken, but tequila is a no-go for me.  The last time I had it was in a frozen margarita (which I reckon came out of one of those buckets of frozen margarita mix).  Afterwards was not pretty as I vomited up my dodgy Mexican dinner.  This is why I always like to pick the restaurant when we go out.  And why I don't drink tequila!

I had my beautiful bottle of purple Ink Gin on hand, so that became the base for the marinade.  I even remembered to stick the chicken in the bag and leave it sit for 6 hours (or overnight if you remember to do it the night before).  So grab your ingredients and get marinating.


Serves 4:


ingredients:


1.4 kg. of bone-in chicken pieces (I used thighs)

75 mls. of gin - or tequila if you must

zest and juice of 2 limes

1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, or 2 small red chillies, finely chopped

2 tsp sea salt

30 mls olive oil - 1.5 tbs if using an Aussie spoon of 20 mls.


To serve:

chopped fresh coriander leaves

lime wedges


Method:


Place the chicken pieces into a large, plastic ziploc bag

Mix together the gin, lime zest and juice, chilli, salt and olive oil

Tip the mix into the bag of chicken pieces

Seal the bag, shake it gently, then place it on a baking tray or dish

And into the fridge it goes for at least 6 hours or overnight

30 minutes before you are ready to bake, take the chicken out of the fridge

Take the pieces out of the bag and place on a baking dish to come to room temperature - you want a dish that holds the chicken comfortably but with not much space around the pieces.  They have to sit nicely together, shoulder to shoulder, so to speak

Now pour half the marinade over the chicken, and place in a hot oven at 220C for 25 minutes

Take it out of the oven, and pour the rest of the marinade over the chicken that you have turned over in the dish

Now back in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through

Place the chicken on a serving plate

Pour a small amount of boiling water into the dish so that you can gather up the sticky juices on the bottom

Spoon/pour this over the chicken

Serve with the chopped coriander leaves, a bit more chilli if you like, and lime wedges


Tips:


Make sure you use bone-in chicken pieces.  Sadly my grocery delivery came with thigh fillets (no bones!) so I had to use those.  It was not as tender as I would have liked, 'cos you really need the bones for flavour and juiciness.  I also baked it for a little less time than Nigella's recipe says; fillets cook faster.

ingredients ready for the marinade   

mixing the marinade

chicken and marinade in the bag 

chicken out of the bag and into the oven  

and baked!

looking tasty and sticky 

serve with couscous and (oops! I forgot) the coriander  

This went really well with the couscous, and I served a salad too, which added a bit of freshness.  I can see this becoming a regular on the chez Pickings menu.  Nigella comes up trumps again. 

my gin doodle

(p.s. I am not sponsored by Ink Gin BTW:=))