By: Chef Laura Bonicelli
Chicken with Jalapeño Vinaigrette. The sweetness of the roasted garlic, the heat of the jalapeños, and the brightness of the herbs give this roasted chicken recipe tremendous flavor and beautiful color. Buy your ingredients at your favorite Farmers Market!
about Roasted Chicken with Jalapeño Lime Vinagrette
Here’s a little background about the chicken with jalapeño vinaigrette recipe. There was a time when I wouldn’t have considered biting into a jalapeño pepper. That was before I started cooking professionally and before I realized that in the scope of pepper heat, jalapeños are pretty tame. Even at their hottest, they are under 8,000 Scoville units. The Scoville scale measures heat in peppers, which relates to the amount of capsaicin that causes the heat.
Bell peppers have no capsaicin, so they are at the bottom of the scale with a zero. The hottest pepper is the Carolina Reaper; it has up to 2.2 million units. You can see there’s quite a range. Jalapenos are almost at the bottom of the scale. Knowing that gave me the confidence to take the bite – and I love them! This recipe showcases the jalapeno nicely, surrounding it with herbs and lime in a sauce (or as I like to call it) an after-marinade.
putting the roasted chicken with vinaigrette together
This chicken with jalapeño vinaigrette recipe takes some time. If you start in the morning, you can roast your garlic, marinate your chicken, prep your vegetables, and make your dressing early. Take the afternoon off and finish the dish an hour before serving.
The marinade for the chicken with jalapeño vinaigrette is a mixture of roasted garlic, Dijon mustard, thyme, and olive oil. The marinade coats the chicken and soaks in for hours, lending flavor and moisture to the bird. We have many herbs involved: the thyme I just mentioned, basil and cilantro in the vinaigrette, rosemary, and thyme again in the vegetables. What sets the dish apart, though, is the jalapeño peppers and roasted garlic in the vinaigrette.
Eat well and have fun!
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Step by Step Instructions
Roasted Chicken with Jalapeño Lime Vinaigrette
Ingredients
=====chicken marinade=====
- 1 head garlic -- roasted as in direction #1
- 1/3 cup Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 whole 4-pound chicken -- backbone removed quartered
=====vinaigrette=====
- 1 head garlic -- roasted as in direction #1
- 1 lime -- zested and juiced
- 1/4 cup packed chopped basil leaves
- 1/4 cup packed chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 jalapeño peppers -- sliced
=====
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
=====
=====potatoes=====
- 1 1/2 pounds fingerling or baby potatoes -- whole or halved if larger
- 1 red onion -- peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary -- leaved removed
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
=====cauliflower=====
- 1 medium cauliflower -- cut into small florets
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
=====roast garlic for dressing and chicken=====
- 1. Preheat the oven to 375º F. Cut the top off of each head of garlic (2), exposing the cloves. Place the garlic on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, making sure the entire head is coated. Wrap in the foil and bake for 45 minutes until the cloves are tender and the garlic is light brown. Remove from the foil and cool until cool enough to handle.
=====marinating the chicken=====
- 2. Squeeze the pulp of one head of garlic into a food processor, fitted with a metal blade. Add the Dijon, thyme leaves, and olive oil. Process until smooth, about 1 minute.
- 3. Pat the chicken dry and place on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet. Slather the mustard mixture over the tops of the chicken using all of the mixture. Set the chicken uncovered in the refrigerator for one hour. (Can be for up to 8 hours)
=====vinaigrette=====
- 4. Squeeze the pulp of one head of garlic into a small bowl and mash. Stir in the lime zest and juice, basil, and cilantro. Whisk in the olive oil, and finally add the jalapeños. Set aside.
- =====roasting the chicken, potatoes, and vegetables====
- 5. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Arrange 2 racks in the oven, one on the bottom and one in the upper 1/3 of the oven. Place an empty rimmed baking sheet in the oven on the upper rack. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and wipe off the excess marinade. Heat the canola oil over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed skillet. Add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until very browned, 7 to 9 minutes. Flip the chicken and put the skillet on the lower rack in the oven. Roast the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes until temperature registers at 160º F. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- 6. While the chicken is roasting, toss together the potatoes, red onion, rosemary, thyme, salt, and olive oil. Remove the sheet pan from the top rack of the oven and carefully spread the potato mixture on the sheet. Return the sheet pan to the upper rack in the oven and roast for 10 minutes.
- While the potatoes are roasting, toss together the cauliflower, red pepper, salt, and olive oil. Add to the pan with the potatoes when the 10 minutes is up. Distribute evenly. Roast cauliflower and potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the cauliflower is crisp-tender and browning. Remove the chicken when done and let rest, uncovered, while vegetables finish roasting.
- Place the chicken pieces on a large platter; surround with vegetables; spoon the vinaigrette over the top. Serve with extra vinaigrette.
Nutrition
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