Tangy and Sweet Asian Marinated Chicken Appetizer
There comes a time in every person's life when they are faced with one of life's most perplexing and stressful situations: the potluck dinner. DUN DUN DUN. They lure you into their homes whispering sweet promises of free alcohol and good company. Maybe it's a cookout, and there'll be cornhole or a pool. They talk it up, and then right at the last minute of the phone call or line of an invitation they say the words that make babies cry: bring a dish to share. Ok, ok, maybe it's not that anxiety-ridden, but it can definitely be a challenge when you're making something for people for whom you don't normally cook. When I'm asked to a potluck or a cookout, I usually stick to appetizers or desserts. Usually there is more of a variety present at the gathering with these courses, and if people don't like your dish,
This recipe came about like most of mine do: by chance. I was scratching my head as to what to make for dinner one night, and opened the pantry to see what ingredients I had. Noticing an Asian trend, I developed the marinade. Marinating is incredibly important, by the way, when cooking meat, as opposed to veggies. With the water content in veggies, it's hard to dry them out unless you really try. Meat and fish, on the other hand, can dry very easily. (TayTip: to get the most out of your marinated meat, keep it in a fridge for a minimum of an hour; 3-5 is good, and overnight is best.) I used chicken drumettes for this recipe since it's an appetizer, but have recreated it many times with whole breasts, pork loin, tilpia, etc. This is also a great grilling marinade, but my current lack of grill throws that idea out the window, so I roasted mine in the oven. Now to the good stuff!
The first thing you'll want to do is start your marinade. First get the wet ingredients: sriracha, white rice vinegar, agave nectar, sesame oil, and low-sodium soy sauce. I'd be lying if I said I measured everything out perfectly. I really don't have an exact method, because I'm going by taste here. But, for 10 chicken drumettes, I used about 3T of sesame oil and 3T of rice vinegar, 1tsp of sriracha, 1T of agave nectar, and 1.5T soy sauce. (TayTip: if you're just starting cooking or just don't trust your instincts in the kitchen yet, measure your single ingredients over an empty bowl, rather than your mixing bowl. That way if you over measure, you don't ruin your marinade)
Now onto the solid ingredients in your marinade. For this you'll need 3 sliced button mushrooms, 1T grated ginger, 1/4 cup chopped pineapple, and 1 garlic clove (not pictured).
For the ginger, you'll want to cut away the fibrous outer peel before you grate it. (TayTip: if you don't use it often, keep fresh ginger in the freezer. It lasts forever and makes it easier to chop or grate when needed)
Add it straight into the marinade.
Then grate your garlic.
Next, you'll want to clean and prep your mushrooms. Never clean your mushrooms by running water over them. Mushrooms are like a sponge and will soak any water you put on them (and you want them to soak up the marinade!). Instead, take a damp paper towel and gently rub any dirt off the outside. The way I see it, if anything left on the mushrooms makes it through the roasting process, it deserves to kill me!
Slice them lengthwise with the stem up.
Place them in the roasting dish with the drumettes and squeeze half a lemon over the top. This keeps the mushrooms from oxidizing.
Now you'll want to chop your pineapple and throw it into the pan with the chicken and mushrooms.
And the last step is to pour the marinade over the chicken. Cover it in plastic wrap and let it rest for as long as possible, but no more than overnight. Turn the pieces over halfway through the marination process.
To roast, cover your chicken with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. At this point, you're just trying to thoroughly cook the meat. It will look like this when done.
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Then drizzle a tiny bit more agave nectar on top of each piece of chicken, and roast an additional 7-9 minutes uncovered. It should look like this when finished.
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Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley and a couple lemon wedges. This is the ultimate summer appetizer. It's basically chicken wings taken up a notch. The acidity of the rice vinegar against the sweet agave and the tangy and salty soy sauce is a trifecta of flavor gold. Marinating the chicken makes the flavor present in every juicy bite, not just the outside. The sriracha and ginger add a spicy kick. And not only are these drumettes delicious, but they're also super healthy! The ginger and garlic are packed full of magic that can help increase blood flow and work as anti-inflammatory agents. The lemon contains vitamin-C, and the agave is a real sugar, unlike non-nutritive or artificial sweeteners. Sesame oil has been around so long (both as a cooking oil, and in ayurvedic practices), that people aren't sure from which country it originated; it helps lower blood pressure, and improves your immune function. So next time you're asked to a potluck or cookout, bring these tangy and sweet little morsels of goodness. People will be begging for more! Buon appetito!
Categories:
agave nectar,
appetizer,
chicken drumettes,
cookout,
garlic,
ginger,
lemon,
marinade,
mushrooms,
parsley,
pineapple,
potluck,
sesame oil,
soy sauce,
sriracha,
summer,
white rice vinegar
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