Mains

Barbequed Chicken with Chili-Aioli

chicken-1I woke today to a pleasant surprise – Delivery of my very own barbeque!
Barbequeing brings back fond memories of my childhood in Sweden where everyone barbeques as soon as the sun manage to stay up for more than a few hours. We did a lot of barbequeing in my family, at one point I think we had something like three DYI barbeques built with bricks scattered around the garden.
This is the first thing I cooked on the Weber. Gutsy flavours for sure but that’s what you want sometimes.I pared it with quite a heady Marsanne which worked quite well. Could also go with a medium bodied red wine.

This makes enough for about 3-4 persons.

Ingredients for the Barbequed Chicken:
700g chicken breast fillets
2 garlic cloves
1 lime
Half a red chili
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp smoked paprika powder
A few dashes of Tamari soy sauce
Salt (smoked sea salt if you have it)
Pepper

Preparing the barbequed chicken:
Start by preparing the marinade. Press the garlic cloves and the lime into a bowl. De-seed and finely chop the chili. Mix in the chili and the rest of the ingredients.
Cut the chicken fillets into 2 cm big cubes. Put them into the marinade, mix around to make them all coated by marinade. Put some cling film on top of the bowl and marinade in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours, preferably more. Take it out about once per hour and mix it around a bit.
Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before you want to start cooking it.
Thread the chicken pieces on skewers and barbeque for about 6-10 minutes. Turning the skewers halfway through.

Ingredients for the potatoes:
750g Jersey Royal potatoes
A few sprigs of thyme
2 cloves of garlic
5 black peppercorns
Salt

Preparing the potatoes:
Put a pot of water on to a rolling bowl. Add about a small handful of sea salt to it. You want the water to be quite salty, a bit like sea water. Leave the skin on the garlic but crush them a bit with a chef knife. Add the garlic to the pot with the thyme and peppercorns.
Add the potatoes and let them boil for 15 minutes.
Drain and let cool.
When you are ready to barbeque put the potatoes on and turn them regularly. They will be ready in about 6-10 minutes.

Ingredients for the chili-aioli:
2 egg yolks (in UK I recommend Burford Brown Clarence Court eggs), at room temperature
2 garlic cloves
1 – 2 limes
250 ml groundnut oil (or any other neutral oil), at room temperature
0.25 tsp red chili paste
Salt (smoked sea salt if you have it)
Pepper
A bit of cayenne pepper

Preparing the chili-aioli:
Press the garlic and one of the limes into a glass bowl. Add salt and pepper, egg yolks and chili paste. Whisk together with a balloon whisk.
Slowly add the oil first to ensure that the emulsion is forming, whisking constantly. Whisk until all the oil has been incorporated.
Check for seasoning and some cayenne pepper if it’s not hot enough. Add more salt, pepper, lime juice if needed.

Mains

Jersey Royal Potato Salad

It’s Spring and the arrival of Jersey Royal potatoes is a true delight.
Here I turn them into a quick and easy potato salad for a weekday supper. Serve the potato salad for instance with a few slices of prosciutto crudo.

This serves about two as a main course.

Ingredients for mayonnaise:
2 medium egg yolks (free range please)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 pinches of salt
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
300 ml groundnut oil (or other unscented oil)
1 lemon

Ingredients for the potato salad:
750 g Jersey Royal potatoes
A few salad onions

Preparing the mayonnaise:
With a balloon whisk – Whisk the egg yolks, mustard, salt and cayenne together in a glass bowl. Gradually, at a very slow trickle, whisk in the oil. This early stage is the most delicate and if you do not mix in the oil very slowly the mayonnaise might curdle.
When you mixed in about half the oil, whisk in the lemon juice from half the lemon to thin it down. Continue adding the oil, you can add it quicker at this stage, until it’s all incorporated.
Check for seasoning and correct with more salt, cayenne or lemon juice if needed.

Preparing the potato salad:
Boil a pot of water, add about a small handful of salt and then the potatoes to the boiling water. They will take about 15 – 20 minutes until tender. When done, drain and place on a tray to cool down to room temperature.
When they potatoes have cooled down, cut them into bite sized pieces and add to a bowl. Thinly slice the salad onions, as much as you prefer, and toss it together with the potatoes. Add some salt and pepper and mix well with a healthy dose of the mayo.