Peter is Doing Churrasco
Mar 30th, 2008 | By Peter Minakis | Category: BBQ, Main, Portuguese, Poultry, Sauce, Spices
Go out and seek ground bay, RIGHT NOW! If I didn’t convince you to buy this unique spice when I introduced it’s use with my Greek Ribs, then my Churrasco Chicken will.
My barbecue hasn’t even cooled as I’m writing this urgent post to you. This recipe for Churrasco chicken is that good. I had originally bought ground bay months ago in anticipation of trying this recipe out when barbecue season has arrived.
My patience with the melting snow has worn thin. I lifted and dragged my barbecue to a spot on the deck where the sun shines and the snow melts. Open the fridge, crack open a beer and let’s celebrate…I can grill again!
The inspiration for this recipe came from an Australian-produced show called Food Safari and it’s hosted by Maeve O’Meara. Each episode of the show focuses on a particular cuisine. This time I watched the show’s exploration of Portuguese cuisine.
From watching a few of the show’s episodes, I get the impression that Canada & Australia are very much alike with an Anglo majority, Aborigine peoples and a multicultural mosaic. This show uses to it’s benefit the cooking wisdom of it’s immigrant population who flex their culinary might.
Churrasco is Portuguese for barbecue and it can mean anything that’s been grilled or barbecued. Toronto also boasts of a substantial Portuguese (and Brazilian) community and there are some shops that sell Churrasco style chicken and we have the world-reknowned Nando’s Chicken.
If you been to either eatery, you’ll often see whole chicken on the rotisserie or flattened and grilled to perfection as I’m going to show you now.
Go get Ground Bay now! From the time when I finished preparing this marinade and taking the very first whiff, I knew this chicken was going to be spectacular. The aroma lifted my feet off the air.
After grilling the chicken and tearing a piece of the succulent meat off for tasting, my hunch was right, I pumped my fist in the air, yelled out YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally and I clicked my heels like Dorothy.
Churrasco Chicken is that good. Find some ground bay or even order some online. This chicken is moist, cooks quicker and it’s like no other chicken that I’ve tasted. This is going to be the summer of Churrasco. I will make this chicken often for guests and my relatives in Greece are gonna go “ga-ga” for this chicken.
I’ve tweaked the original recipe a little and you can see the original recipe here. Churrasco chicken is often served with a Piri Piri sauce and it’s spicy but a fantastic complement to this smoky, grilled whole chicken. If you’re making just one churrasco chicken, half the Piri Piri recipe will suffice.
Go buy ground Bay now!
Churrasco Chicken With Piri Piri Sauce
Marinade
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, grated
Pinch salt
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp bay leaf powder
2 tsp paprika
2 shots scotch whiskey
2 tbsp melted butter
1 whole chicken coarse sea salt
1. Mix all ingredients for marinade together.
2. Prepare chicken – trim away excess fat. Then use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to cut the chicken through the breastbone. Open out, turn over and flatten by pressing down with your hand along the backbone.
3. Make a small cut under each wing to help it flatten further. Make several incisions in the flesh with a knife. This will allow the flesh to absorb the marinade and allow fat to drain. Prick all over with a large fork.
4. Brush both sides with the marinade and sprinkle with rock salt. Cover and marinate in the fridge for 30 – 45 minutes.
5. Cook over a charcoal BBQ (or gas grill). Use indirect heat buy having only the one side of the grill on medium-high heat. Set the chicken face skin-side down on the direct heat and grill for 10 minutes to crisp up the skin. Now flip the chicken over and place on the side the the grill that has no heat. Close the lid of your grill and monitor the internal temperature of your barbecue (should be 375F adjust accordingly).
6. Roast your chicken in the barbecue for about 30-40 minutes or until the juices run clear from your chicken. Cut the chicken into pieces with kitchen scissors and brush with Piri Piri sauce or serve on the side.
Piri Piri Sauce
10 – 12 birdseye chillies, chopped finely
Pinch salt
Juice of ½ lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp garlic powder (not crushed garlic as the mixture will be too runny)
Mix all the above ingredients(except for the olive oil) in your food processor and flick it on to high. Gradually add your olive oil until you’ve achieved your desired consistency.
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© 2008, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
AHH your so excited now you got to grill!I have to get the ground bayleaf.
This looks great! I love to try different rubs and marinades for chicken. This will be used very soon.
Great post!!
Mary
Wow, this chicken looks PERFECT. I’m jealous you are already grilling, let alone something as beautiful as that chicken!
Very jealous to see your grill in action. I made grilled lamb chops today but it was in the stovetop grill pan. chicken looks great!
I love churrasco. I had it at a Brazilian/Peruvian restaurant once in NYC and I loved it. We are going to get a new grill here in a while and we’ll be swamping pics and recipes :D
Hail to the grill gods!
Well now, there’s some enthusiasm. I have to say, I can always eat grilled meat.
I’ll have to look for that ground bay, or I suppose I could just grind it myself, couldn’t I?
Say no more I’m out the door!!! Ground bay here I come!
Hmmm… ok, I knew getting a separate coffee grinder was a solid bet… I got that when I did the roast from your rib rub… (for Ferdzy, yes, but make sure it’s superfine – in this case, there was no such thing as over-grinding)
Here’s looking forward to trying this on my picky hubby. lol
Peter – is this something that can translate well into the oven? I’ll take any insight you might have on that…
I’m fairly new at this whole cooking thing and am afraid that I might just set my hair on fire if I attempt grilling. lol
Your chicken looks so good. I am so happy to discover your blog. :)
I’ll have to check out my local herb store for ground bay. The chicken looks great. I plan to bbq later this week too. Just want to get rid of the ice on my balcony.
Peter, you’ve now convinced me that ground bay is a must! This chicken looks great – I am a fan of nandos, so if I can replicate the taste at home, even better.
Hey, I was convinced with the ribs. But if I have to try the chicken, too – well, it’s a tough life, but I guess someone has to do it… ;-)
I request more grilling posts. I need help in the grilling area. There aren’t too many grilling blogs out there.
The way you split the chicken and flattened it, is really interesting. Have you ever cooked chicken under a brick?
oh peter!!i cant take my eyes off your chicken!! yummmmmmmmmmy..i’ll go buy now the bay spice..
WOW! That looks amazing Peter. I want to eat it now! I love grilling food and I can’t wait to get back into it either. I’ve never used ground bay before but I ‘ll be seeking it out now.
Oh Peter I am sat here at lunch time just drooling over your magnificent chicken. Will have to buy some bay spice for when we get back grilling here again in the uk!
Peter wow that chicken looks fabulous, so delicious. I must keep a look out for the bay :-)
Ah Peter is back in “man’s world” with his BBQ. Glad to hear you cleared a path and started in on Spring or even summer!!!!!!
This sounds delicious and easy. No exotic spices this time.
That churrasco chicken looks good! Bookmarked to try. I am going to have to look for the ground bay.
Wow, my stomach is rumbling cos of this post! That chicken looks and sounds amazing!!!
I can’t wait til we can get our BBQ out again!
Oh boy! I was missing you already… he, he!
This Churrasco is magnific!!! You made me crave for some :D I just love any kind of meat done this way… it brings true flavours out, and that Piri piri sauce seems so good too!
Ok, I’ll get some ground bay and do it since you sound soooooo enthusiastic about it!
Oh, it looks so good – I like the use of whiskey in the marinade :-) I recently bought Old Bay seasoning which contains ground bay and love it – guess I’ll need to pick up some pure ground bay and try this. Thanks!
Glam, the wait was too long…I usually even BBQ in the winter but this year it was just too much snow.
Mary, this chicken will be a summer show-stopper…just you wait.
Elly, break out the grill and get cookin’ outside. Both our cities have the same climate.
Kalyn, throw your coat on and grill, it’s worth it.
Ferdzy, yes you could but a very fine grind.
Marie, it’s a wonderful spice, I’m hooked.
Nikki, you’re quite right about the grind and as for throwing it in the oven, of course but obviously that BBQ taste will be absent.
Coco, welcome…the food is tasty over here…grab a seat!
Psych, Portuguese & Spanish stores will carry this.
Cake, I’m glad you saw the light…ground bay all the way!
Forkful, life’s tough having to try all these new dishes? lol
Emi, lots of grilling here. Do a search within my blog and you’ll see tips and grilled dishes I’ve already done.
Dhanngit, welcome back from your vacation.
Helen, simply go seek it…it rules!
Rosie, you should be able to grill now over there, no?
Cooking, look around at Portuguese shops.
Val, you do quite well in the men’s grilling realm ya know!
Hvi, you could very finely grind bay leaves there.
Kevin, the aroma and taste will blow you away. I got mine in Kensington market.
Ruth, why wait…unleash the BBQ!
Nuria, this chicken from your neighboring country…VIVA PORTUGAL!
Allen, the ground bay is much different from Old Bay (love both).
Just wait take to sniff this marinade…heaven!
So…do you think I should buy ground bay?
lol
I LOVE this! Nothing like grillin’ that makes my life thrillin’! Yo ho ho!
i remember having chicken grilled like this at a charcoal chicken shop when i lived in athens – they did a mediterranean lemon-and-spice mixture which was also very tasty.
I’d say that has dinner tonight written all over it! Thanks Peter!
Can you tell me what cross street that Athen’s Bakery on Davenport is?
drooool.
i should not have clicked on this link so close to lunchtime. any takeout food i will get will pale in comparison to this.
we’re uncovering the grill next week, come hell or high water. as god is my witness, i’ll never go without churrasco chicken again.
Peter, this would be a hit here! :)
Damn Peter, that’s a mighty fine looking grilled bird! I can see the meat falling off the bone already….and the piri piri sauce with all those birds eye chili’s are the bomb!
We’ve got a couple of Portugese friends that don’t really cook (but they’re great eaters!). Maybe we’ll try hitting them up this barbque one day. They’ll probably say “Oohhh, this is just like home. Where did you learn to cook Portugese?”
We would answer, “A Greek Guy in Canada!”. :)
That looks like some amazing chicken! I like to grill chicken flat like that too. I’ll definitely have to try it your way.
One of my fave churrasco recipes is to use skirt steak with a chimichurri sauce made with tons of fresh herbs. You might like it too. There’s a recipe on my blog somewhere.
Looks fabulous Peter, and with your ringing endorsement and “encouragement” to get ground bay… I just might have to try this one.
Love your easy spirit of encouraging grilling season by finding a warm spot for your BBQ and crackin’ a beer!
I’ve bookmarked this and added ground bay to my grocery list. I hope I can find it!
As soon as this almost April snow leaves my deck, I am grilling this up! It looks amazing!
Catherine…Mmmmmmmay-be!!!!!!!!!!!
Maria, my relatives will go nuts for this in the summer.
Judy, I await a full BBQ report.
Michelle, christen BBQ season the way I did with this dish.
Patricia, it’s Churrasco, need I say more?
White Rice Duo…tell’em the Greek ‘net dude showed ya!
Sticky, the flat chicken method is great for speeding up the cooking.
Lori, if you experienced the winter we’ve had this year, you’d celebrate BBQing like this too.
Pam, if not there’s always mail-order and yes, it’s worth it!
Brittany, sweep off the snow and SHOO away winter with a good BBQ!
Yum! Your chicken looks so crispy and delicious!
Could you tell me one more time what I’m supposed to get? And for those of us in the Toronto area – where do you get it?
I’m starting to get bbq pangs – my deck is nearly cleared of snow – ok Costco tomorrow, bbq Wednesday yeeee haaaa!!! Gotta love that enthusiasm.
Giz, I bought my ground bay leaf in Kensington market. A Spice shack on Augusta, just south of Baldwin.
Yeah, that looks dang good!
You’ve got me looking out the window looking for a space in the Japanese garden to install a grill.
Zen master gardener, forgive me!
KyotoFoodieã®Peko
I made this last night and you weren’t kidding…It was fantastic. I stayed true to the recipe and don’t regret a thing except that I did not use a whole chicken. I tried to cheat by using what I had, 2 skinless breasts and 4 skinless thighs. I can’t wait to try this on a whole chicken!
Peter, I saw this episode of Food Safari as well, and definitely bookmarked the recipe. I made your ribs a few weeks ago, and ground my own bay in a coffee grinder..easy peasy, and the taste was magic. Looks like I’ll be doing it again real soon. Looks as fantastic as the one on TV.
Judy, are you going to show the world how delicious this was? As for using parts of chicken, this recipe still works just fine.
Pam, you enjoyed the ribs…will you be posting your results? It would be great if you also showed folks how to grind your own bay.
I’m jealous, you’re out and about using your barbecue. We don’t own one, we don’t have a garden. Chicken looks great and I’ll have to lug one over to in laws bbq; looking forward to even warmer days.
Peter I loved your ribs recipe. Post is up if you want to take a look at your recreated ribs! http://backyardpizzeria.blogspot.com/2008/04/peters-ribs-greek-style.html
Yes. very late, this comment./ We saw the same episode and that was what prompted us to make peri-peri chicken! The Nandos (diff locations) here are very inconsistent… and sometimes the chickin is not up to par. So we made this chicken and it was SO GOO! When it was grilling we exclaimed, “Hey, it really does smell like Nandos. We don’t need them anymore!” ;D