Saucy Chipotle Chicken and Charred Pineapple Skillet Bake
Saucy Chipotle Charred Chicken Skillet Bake w/ Caramelised Pineapple & Spicy Jalapeno Crema
Ingredients
Chicken:
½ ripe Dole pineapple, peeled, core removed & diced into 2cm chunks
50g chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (it comes in small can)
2 Tbsp tomato paste
¾ tsp cumin seeds
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (about 1kg)
6 fat cloves garlic, peeled & smashed
4 medium shallots, peeled & cut into quarters
Juice of 2 mandarins (about ⅓ cup)
⅓ cup water + 1 Tbsp honey
Jalapeno Crema:
125g full-fat sour cream
About ¼ cup drained sliced jalapenos
Zest & juice of 1 small lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp maple syrup
1 small bunch (10g) coriander
To Serve:
10-12 flour tortillas
½ green cabbage, shredded
Lime wedges, thinly sliced green chilli, pickled onions (optional)
Method
Preheat your oven to 200°C fan bake.
Char pineapple: Remove skin from pineapple, then cut out the tough core and discard. Cut the flesh into chunks roughly 2cm. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a medium skillet on high heat. Once hot, cook pineapple for about 3 minutes each side, until charred. Remove pineapple from pan and set aside. Wash and reserve skillet.
Prep chicken: Finely chop the chipotle peppers in adobo sauce into a paste. Transfer the paste to a large bowl, along with 2 Tbsp olive oil, tomato paste, cumin seeds and 1 tsp salt. Mix together, until combined. Pat chicken dry with a paper towel, smash and peel garlic gloves and quarter the shallots. Add chicken, garlic, shallots and charred pineapple to bowl with the paste and toss everything together, until well coated. Tip the shallots and garlic into the cast-iron skillet (or use a medium baking dish). Arrange chicken (skin side up) and pineapple on top. Whisk honey and water together in a small jug. Pour the mandarin juice and honey water around the chicken in the skillet (make sure you don’t pour it over the chicken skin). Bake chicken on the upper-middle oven rack for 1 - 1 ¼ hours, until chicken is cooked through and liquid has reduced and thickened. Set aside to rest for 15 minutes, then shred the chicken up with two forks.
Make jalapeno crema: Blitz all of the jalapeno crema ingredients together in a mini food processor with a big pinch of salt (or use a stick blender), until smooth. Season to taste with salt and set aside to serve.
To finish: Char tortillas for about 10 seconds each side over a gas flame (or, heat wrapped in foil in the oven). Shred cabbage. Serve chipotle chicken with tortillas, cabbage, lime wedges, green chilli and pickled onions.
