Piri piri chicken

The clocks went forward on the 28th of March to mark the start of summertime. And what better way to celebrate than to have a barbecue? Of course we are talking British summertime here which meant it was absolutely chucking it down outside. So rather than taking my eyebrows off during an unfortunate incident involving lighter fluid and delirium tremens I dragged my griddle pan to Hammersmith to cook indoors for Grub and Charlotte.

For your piri piri marinade you need:
6 to 12 red chillies
3 cloves of garlic
½ a tablespoon of paprika
½ a teaspoon of oregano
Around 1 teaspoon of salt
50ml of red wine vinegar
100ml of olive oil

If you find this makes more marinade than you need don’t worry as it’ll keep for a couple of weeks if it’s been nicely sealed up in something.

I arrived to find Grub bellowing down the phone at his internet provider, Charlotte shrieking down my phone about where she could park (half seven on a Saturday – ANYWHERE!) and got in to trouble with the oven. You see it’s got lots of knobs on it and I don’t know what any of them do. Even Grub has to light the stove by a process of elimination. While he bollocked web geeks I stood looking a bit lost and finally just turned a selection of dials and hoped for the best. If you know how to work an oven heat it to 180°c / gas mark 4. I managed this after Grub came in to say hello and ask why I had the grill on.

Stick the chillies on a baking tray and roast them for 10 minutes. How many you use depends on how long you want to spend with your mouth open, fanning it with your hand going ‘eeeh ooooooh ohohohoh’. I thought they smelled rather lovely but Charlotte repeatedly asked if they were burning. Out they come a lovely ruby red with crispy brown splotches, all wrinkled and hot. Once they’ve cooled enough for you to handle them roughly chop them up.


The garlic part of the recipe I had involved a quick Google (thank God Grub had put those internet chaps in their place and got it working again) as it said to use blanched garlic. Apparently you do this by placing the peeled cloves of garlic in some cold water, bringing it up to the boil, draining and repeating twice more. This leaves you with something that I imagine feels like just a warm eyeball and needs chopped up.

Now very simply put the vinegar, olive oil, salt, paprika, oregano, garlic and chillies into a pan and simmer for a few minutes. The photo isn’t brilliant but this was such a wonderful mix of colours and it smelt amazing.



Let this all cool down and then pour it into a food processor or a blender and purée it. Let the chicken marinade in it for an hour minimum before cooking.

I shoved some baked potatoes in the oven while this was going on and hastily stuck some sausages under the grill to stop Charlotte stuffing her face with sneaky bits of the baguette I’d bought to go with dinner. I did these in the bourbon and Tabasco glaze I mentioned in another post (4 tablespoons honey, 10 drops Tabasco, two tablespoons bourbon) and they were lovely.

I used a splash of oil in the pan when I cooked the chicken but wouldn’t again as there’s enough in the marinade.

Once this was nice and browned I chucked it onto plates with a potato and some salad. If it’s a bit too hot for you squeeze over some lime juice.

Due to the fact I’m a complete idiot and can’t really time anything well we ate at 11 o’clock so if you’re as special as me I’d suggest doing all this and marinading the chicken the day before you need it.

I also tried my hand at mayonnaise but the less said about that the better.