Memorial Day 2017 Recap ~ Peri Peri Chicken and Rum Marinated Shrimp Salad

I'm back with two new recipes I had the pleasure of preparing for my family at Camp Davis (our name for the family house in Paw Paw, Michigan) over the Memorial Day weekend. As Memorial Day is the official start of summer, these are recipes that you can come back to again and again this summer!

Peri Peri Grilled Chicken Thighs

Actual Peri Peri peppers are very hard to find, so for this recipe I substituted dried arbol chiles, which, although pretty high on the flavor scale, lack much of the heat that comes with authentic peri peri. 12-24 hours of marinating is plenty of time to ensure the chicken is thoroughly seasoned. If you've read any of my other chicken recipes, it’s no surprise that I love chicken thighs for their flavor and one thing that really helps the flavor is scoring the chicken on the skin side. This allows the marinade to penetrate deeply and amplifies the flavor. Recipe was adapted from America's Test Kitchen (https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/8416-peri-peri-grilled-chicken?incode=MASAD00L0&ref=new_search_experience_1)

I grilled the chicken over charcoal, first charring the skin side, then the reverse, and finally moving the chicken to indirect heat for 45 minutes to an hour to allow it to cook through.

I served with simple red skinned garlic mashed potatoes, stuffed poblano peppers (made by my cousin Morgan) and rum marinated grilled shrimp salad with queso blanco (using a recipe shared with me by my new friend Bob).

Rum Marinated Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

3 lbs of peeled and deveined lg or xl shrimp

½ cup of rum

Tabasco sauce

1 tsp of red pepper flakes

3 minced garlic cloves

1 tbsp cumin

Directions

1. Mix together rum, tabasco, red pepper flakes, cumin, garlic and pour marinade over shrimp

2. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours

3. After shrimp has marinated, grill over moderate heat about 8-10 minutes (4-5 minutes per side, flip when shrimp starts to turn pink.

Salad

Shredded cabbage

Shredded romaine lettuce

Two sliced cucumbers

1 pint of halved cherry tomatoes

Pickled red onion*

1 can of corn

Queso fresco

Dressing

2 tbsp cumin

1 bunch Cilantro

2 cloves garlic

4 tbsp honey

1 cup rice vinegar

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 cup orange juice

4 cups canola oil

1 handful roasted peanuts

Directions

1. Blend the cilantro, honey, crushed red pepper, orange juice, rice vinegar, salt, garlic, cumin, peanuts in a blender until smooth

2. Slowly emulsify in the oil

3. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve

Cheers to summer! Happy grilling season!

#Grill #RoastedChicken #Holidays #WhatIMakeforHer #seafood #Summer