Mexican Citrus Chicken with Rice & Black Beans

Mexican Citrus Chicken with Rice & Black Beans

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico’s first step towards independence and is celebrated throughout Mexico and North America every year on the 5th of May. For more on the back story of that momentous day (click here).

For this year’s Cinco de Mayo I wanted to focus on influences on Mexican cuisine that began with Hernan Cotes’ arrival on the Mexican gulf coast in 1519. There he established the port of Veracruz which was to be his launching point for the conquest of the Mexico. Marching inland Cortes captured the Aztec capital of Tenochttitlan and claimed Mexico for the Spanish crown in 1520.

After a little more than three centuries Spanish rule finally came to an end following a momentous victory in the Franco-Mexican war. A brief French occupation of Mexico followed but ended with a ragtag battle of Puebla on the 5th of May in 1862. The Cinco de Mayo defeat of the French in Puebla has been celebrated every year since.

With Cortes came many culinary influences from Spain, Cuba, as well as from West Africa communities in the Caribbean that forever changed native Mexican cooking. This is particularly apparent in the cuisines of the Gulf coast of Mexico as well as Caribbean coast of the Yucatan.

The recipes that follow reflect the melding of influences that make Mexican food so fascinating. There is a colorful story told with every bite!

Menu:

• Mexican Citrus Chicken
• Flame Roasted Peppers & Jalapenos
• Yellow Rice
• Black Beans

Mexican Citrus Chicken: serves 4

• 4 chicken legs with thigh attached
• 2 lemons (or 3 limes), zest peeled into large strips and juiced
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 12 garlic cloves peeled and very thinly sliced
• 8 sun dried tomatoes, reconstituted, and thinly sliced into small strips
• fresh marjoram leaves, about 2 tablespoons
• 4 teaspoons capers (optional)
• 2 onions, peeled and cut into thinly sliced rings
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rinse the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Generously salt and pepper the chicken and press the seasoning onto the chicken and set aside.

Using a deep baking dish, combine the zest strips, lemon (or lime) juice, olive oil, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, marjoram leaves, and capers (if using). Whisk the ingredient together and then add the onions and toss together.

Add the chicken, exposed flesh side down, and using your hands gently massage the chicken in the mixture and arrange the chicken in the dish leaving some of the mixture in the bottom of the dish and covering the chicken with the remaining mixture. Firmly press the chicken into the marinade and cover the dish with cling film. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for up to six hours or overnight. Turn the chicken skin side down after several hours and return it to the refrigerator for several hours more.

Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 425f/220c

Turn the chicken skin side up. Massage the chicken in the marinade and then arrange the other ingredients around and on top of the chicken. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

Baste the chicken with the pan juices.  Add a little water if needed to ensure there is enough liquid in the bottom of the backing dish. Rotate the baking dish and roast another 30 minutes.

Once again baste the chicken with pan juices. If the surface of the chicken very brown loosely cover with foil and roast another 15 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven and allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Serving: Plate the chicken along with the other ingredients placed over and around the chicken. Spoon pan juices over all and serve.

Quick Black Beans:  Serves 4 to 6

• 2 8 ½ oz/240g cans of black beans
• 2 tablespoons cold pressed peanut oil (or olive oil)
• 1 large onion, peeled and finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds, coarsley ground
• 2 dried red chillies, whole
• 2 to 3 cups stock or water, hot
• sea salt to taste

Heat a large saucepan over medium low heat. When hot add the oil and then the onions. Cook the onions, stirring now and again, until they are soft and translucent. Add the garlic and the cumin seeds and cook 2 minutes while stirring.

Add the beans including their liquid and stir them into the onion mixture. Then slip in the whole chillies. When nearly boiling add 2 cups of nearly boiling hot stock or water and stir. Once boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Taste the beans. You want them to be quite soft. If they are still a bit firm cook another 1o minutes.

Remove about ¾ of a cup of beans and place them in a bowl. Mash them until fairly smooth and then stir them back into the pot with the beans. At this point you may want to add a little more water if the beans in their broth seem very thick. Cook another 10 minutes while stirring. Add salt to taste and stir to combine. The beans should be very moist but not soupy.

Serve at once or set aside to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator.

Flame Roasted Peppers, Jalapeno chilies:

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 yellow bell peppers
• 6-8 green jalapenos
• 4 large garlic cloves, whole with skin on
• olive oil
• sea salt

For instructions for flame roasting (click here).

Once the peppers, jalapenos, and garlic are flame roasted and sweated, remove the skin and cut the peeled peppers and jalapenos in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and any pithy membranes and discard. Slice them into strips (rajas) and place them in a bowl.

Peel off the skin of the garlic cloves and thinly slice the cloves lengthwise and add them to the bowl of rajas. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt to taste. Toss until well combined, cover with cling film, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yellow rice:

• 2 cups long grain rice, well rinsed
• water or stock
• ½ teaspoon saffron threads/ 1 teaspoon azafran (dried safflowers)/ or powdered turmeric
• sea salt.

Coloring the rice is optional, but it does add to the aesthetic appeal and well worth trying. True saffron adds a subtle color and flavor to the rice, while azafron (available in Mexican and some Asian markets) adds color only. Turmeric adds a yellow color with a pleasant subdued flavor and is readily available in supermarkets.

Put the rinsed rice in a large pot and cover with an equal part of water or stock. Stir in your seasoning of choice, as well as a pinch of sea salt. Place over medium heat and when boiling reduce the heat to a low simmer, partially cover with a lid, and cook about 15 minutes or until the liquid is nearly absorbed into the rice. Be sure to stir frequently so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Promptly remove the pan from the heat and cover with a tight fitting lid. Set aside for about 20 minutes to steam.

Fluff the rice with a fork just before serving.