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Chicken piri-piri
( SERVES 4 )

Photo by Tam West

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Bite 17/10/2016

This piri-piri chicken recipe comes from Rick Stein’s Long Weekends with photography by James Murphy (BBC Books, hardback $65). It's perfect for a Saturday night barbecue, followed by Rick's impressive smashed liquorice meringues.

Chicken

1½ kgs	Chicken, jointed into 8 pieces, or 8 large chicken thighs
1	Lemon, to serve

Marinade

2 tsp	Salt
2 cloves	Garlic, crushed
½	Lemon, juiced
2 Tbsp	Olive oil

Piri piri sauce

7	Dried piri-piri chillies, or 5-6 red jalapeno and 1 red bird's eye, roughly chopped, seeds left in
1 clove	Garlic, chopped
1½ Tbsp	Red wine vinegar, or juice of 1 lemon
125 ml	Olive oil
1½ Tbsp	Hot smoked paprika
½ tsp	Salt
¼ tsp	Caster sugar
1 tsp	Dried oregano

Directions

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl. Add the chicken pieces, coat well, then cover and leave for an hour in the fridge.
Make the piri-piri sauce by combining all the ingredients except the oregano to a paste in a food processor. Stir in the oregano at the end. If the sauce is too thick, let it down with a little more olive oil. This will keep in a glass jar in the fridge for two weeks
Heat the oven to 200C.
Place the marinated chicken on a baking tray and roast for about 25 minutes. Heat the grill to hot.
Finish the chicken off under the hot grill for 5 minutes to crisp up the skin, then brush with about 4 tablespoons of the piri-piri sauce. Alternatively, cook the chicken on a barbecue for about 15 minutes, skin-side down to crisp and slightly char it, then turn over and continue to cook for about 10 minutes or until cooked through. The chicken is ready when the internal temperature reaches 75C. Brush with the piri-piri sauce as above.
Serve with lemon wedges and more sauce on the side.