Blasted Chicken and Cilantro-Chile Sauce

*Post by Angela.

Until recently, whole roasted chicken was strictly a weekend meal. That’s because, while I’ve made some really good recipes, I always feel like they’re so fussy. Too much work for after work. And then I discovered this recipe for blasted chicken (for which I was inspired to look after the great half-blasted chicken at Mas Malo). It’s amazing – it takes about 5 minutes of prep, a little over an hour of roasting and the chicken always turns out juicy and flavorful, with crispy skin. I’ve made it probably 4 times in the last 2 months, which is practically unheard of (I don’t usually repeat recipes too often).

And while I’ve made a variety of sauces to go with the meat, this cilantro-chili pepper sauce is probably my favorite. It’s salty, tangy, and sweet, and tastes better the longer it sits. Which means fantastic leftovers. Which means happy Angela.

Ingredients for the chicken:

• 1 3-4 lb chicken, rinsed and patted dry
• 3-4 tbsp melted butter
• Lots of salt and pepper
• A standing chicken roaster or an empty tall boy (24 oz can of beer)

If this takes you more than 5 minutes, you’ve probably got an arm or a leg or both trapped under a heavy piece of furniture. If that’s true, you should probably not be making things in the oven or on the stove. Or doing anything that could potentially result in fire.

Since I was not trapped or otherwise encumbered, it took me less than 5 minutes. I removed one of the racks from the oven, leaving only one in the lowest slot, and preheated the oven to 450 degrees. I rubbed the melted butter all over the chicken, making sure to get some under the skin and inside the cavity, then I generously sprinkled salt and pepper all over. I fitted the chicken on the beer can, then put it in the oven to roast (about 15-20 minutes per pound).

Once the skin was nice and brown all over, and the internal temperature of the meat was about 160, I removed the chicken from the oven, tented it with foil and let it sit for about 10 minutes before carving.

Ingredients for the cilantro-chili pepper sauce:

• 3 bell peppers (whichever color you have)
• 2 serrano peppers (or habaneros, if you’re feelin’ nasty)
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt
• ½ cup malt vinegar
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 green onion, chopped

While the chicken was blasting, I seeded and destemmed the peppers, charred the skin of each over a burner on the stove and let them rest in a covered bowl for about 10 minutes. This makes it easy to remove the blackened skin. After deskinning them, I gave the peppers a good rough chop.

I heated the sesame oil in a pan over medium heat and cooked the garlic for just about a minute before throwing in the peppers and a pinch of salt to cook for another minute. I poured in the vinegar, brown sugar and fish sauce, brought the mixture to a boil, then turned the heat down to let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

I poured it all into a blender with the soy sauce, lime juice, cilantro and green onion and blended it until it was smooth.

Perfectly roasted chicken and a great sauce (served with rice and these Brussels sprouts). Not just for weekends anymore.