Thursday, October 26, 2023

Grilled Chicken with Tomatillo Roasted Poblano Cream Sauce

Here in Florida we have so many options for great produce any time of the year. I found lovely poblano peppers at Roosters Produce on Palm Beach Blvd near us in Fort Myers. Sunday mornings there is a terrific selection of most everything IN SEASON in Florida at the Babcock Ranch's Sunday farmer's market. The grocery stores are hit or miss, but I found great tomatillos at Winn-Dixie. Our refrigerators are full here with everything I've packed in for the month we will spend at the end of 2023.

I found this recipe on joyfulhealthyeats.com and didn't change much up except for a few things such as using a few more garlic cloves and using the lime zest and all of its juice. I also grilled skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts. Next time I'll use boneless thighs or breasts so that we can slice the chicken before serving it.

Grill:

1 poblano pepper, cut in half

2 large tomatillos, husked and cut in half

Use a pastry brush and paint the peppers and tomatillos with olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.

Marinade:

Place chicken in a bowl with olive oil, all but 1 T. lime juice and salt and pepper.

Zest one lime and juice it. Set the zest and the juice aside.

Grill (or roast) the pepper for 5 minutes until charred. Place it in a small bowl covered in plastic until it is cool (while the tomatillos are grilling or roasting.) Grill the tomatillo cut-side down for about 3 minutes. (We use our indoor IR grill.)

Blend all until creamy in  a blender (or use a Ninja or immersion stick):

1/4 cup (or up to 3/4 cup) chopped cilantro

1-2 garlic cloves cut into pieces

5.5 oz plain Greek yogurt

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 T fresh lime juice (see above)

salt and pepper

the grilled poblanos and tomatillos, cut into chunks

Cook a few cups of rice of your choosing. If cooking in a rice cooker, add 1 T butter, 1/4 tsp. paprika and lime zest.

Grill the chicken on both sides until it is done. Slice before serving with the rice. Generously drizzle or spoon the cream sauce on all and serve the remainder of the sauce in a serving container on the table.