utorak, 29. ožujka 2016.

Chimichurri roasted chicken

This chimichurri roasted chicken recipe is prepared by roasting a whole chicken or individual pieces with chimichurri butter or sauce made with fresh herbs, garlic, vinegar, lime juice, butter or oil. When I was growing up my mom was semi-vegetarian, this meant that at home we mainly ate vegetarian meals and occasionally chicken/seafood. However if ate at friends or at a restaurant, we could choose to eat whatever we like, which as result was usually beef or pork. We had chickens mainly for eggs, and would only eat one for special occasions. My mom always felt bad about ending a chicken’s life, so in order to minimize the chicken’s suffering she would pour a shot of punta or aguardiente (sugar cane alcohol) down the chicken’s throat. Even now the smell of roasting chicken reminds of those special times when we have it as a kid.

I’ve always been a fan of using chimichurri sauce as a marinade. It works great for beef, pork, chicken, lamb and even seafood. I use either a traditional chimichurri or my balsamic chimichurri, but usually add a little extra vinegar when using it as a marinade. When roasting a whole chicken I like use butter to help keep it moist, so for this chimichurri roasted chicken I made a chimichurri butter and used it underneath the chicken skin so that it would both add the chimichurri flavor but also keep the chicken perfectly moist.

This recipe for chimichurri roasted chicken can be made with a whole chicken and also with individual chicken pieces. If you are preparing this recipe with individual chicken pieces then you can use regular chimichurri sauce – the only recommendation is to use regular oil, and not use extra virgin olive oil in this recipe since its smoking point is 375F (light olive oil is fine). If you have space on the roasting pan I also recommend adding potatoes, onions and/or carrots – you can toss them or baste them with a bit of the chimichurri also, their flavor when roasted with chimichurri is amazing!

Chimichurri sauce recipes:
Quick chimichurri sauce
Traditional chimichurri sauce
Balsamic chimichurri sauce