{All Around Latin America} Daisy Martinez’s Pollo Asado in Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month

Hey again my eating friends! Things are getting crispy around here today. Well, more like nice and toasty. In today’s installment of {All Around Latin America}, I welcome back a dear friend and food blogger, who some of you may know.  Eliana Ramos and I first met through our food blogs and naturally connected because of our common Latin roots. We finally met in person during BlogHer ’10 in NYC and have since then connected several times in person and love to chat on the phone. We have a crazy love for food and enjoy talking about how delicious our lives are. 

Eliana is living the sweet life as author of A Chica Bakes – a blog that explores her baking adventures sprinkled with a little bit of life and Latin Flair. A self-taught baker, she loves sharing tips and tricks to help her readers live the sweet life too. Check her blog out at A Chica Bakes and @AChicaBakes on Twitter! Please help me welcome back this sweet gal. And, I welcome Eliana’s readers! -B

By Eliana Ramos

Gracias Bren for asking me to participate in this wonderful series.  It’s because of delicious chicas like you that I am proud to call myself Latina.

My favorite part of being Latina is that our vibrancy is evident in just about every aspect of our lives, particularly with our food.  It’s as varied as its people. But whether it comes from Cuba, Argentina or Mexico a few things are always the same when it comes to Latino food – it’s bright, sassy, bold and never boring.

And that’s my favorite way to describe this roast chicken. A purist would suggest seasoning a whole chicken with just salt, pepper and olive oil. Maybe stick some wedges of lemon and onion I’m the cavity but not much more than that. Well – that would not work in my familia.

What makes this chicken special is an incredibly flavorful paste of garlic and spices that is used to season it both inside and out and.  Made in a mortar and pestle(or pilón as my mami calls it), the seasoning does require a dash of elbow grease.  But I promise you that the end result will be a succulent, juicy chicken that is anything but ordinary – just like my beautiful Latino community.

 

Eat well, love unapologetically, pray with true intention, and take care of yourself.

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Enjoy

LATIN ROAST CHICKEN OR POLLO ASADO
Adapted From:  Daisy Martinez

Ingredients:

• One 4-pound chicken, washed and patted dry inside and out
• 10 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon fine sea or kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons bitter orange juice (or Goya Bitter Orange Marinade)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic and salt into a paste. Add the peppercorns, oregano and paprika continuing to pound after each addition to incorporate them evenly into the paste. Then stir in the olive oil and sour orange juice to combine.

Gently work your fingers between the meat and the skin that covers the breast, legs and thighs of the chicken, being careful not the break the skin and just loosen it. Then continue to use your fingers to rub the garlic paste under the skin all over the chicken as well outside and inside (cavity) of the chicken.

Using kitchen twine, truss the chicken with kitchen twine and set on the rack of a roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes. Then lower the heat to 400 degrees, and continue to roast for an additional 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 165 degrees when inserted where the thigh meets the backbone. (Depending on your oven, if your chicken browns too quickly, loosely tent it on top to keep it from burning.)

Let the chicken rest for about 10 minutes before carving and serving.