Monday, August 15, 2011

Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs + Drick's Marinated Artichoke Pasta Salad and Mexican Restaurant Margaritas

First off, I'd like to thank Elise of Elusive Reveries and Mariceli of Mariceli's Corner for following my ramblings!

Ready for a juicy grilled meal with tequila?!

Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs
Hands on time: 40 minutes
Total time: 60 minutes



This was a memorable meal. It wasn't difficult to put together, it was certainly not time consuming and it wasn't expensive. Win-win-win. Doug pronounced this chicken the best he'd ever had....and believe me, this man loves a roasted chicken. Please make this. You will thank me. Promise.

Ingredients....

1 ½ tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. chipotle chile powder (which we omitted because of serious heartburn troubles)
6 bone-in chicken thighs
¾ cup pineapple juice
1/3 cup tequila
¼ cup honey
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. water
2 tsp. grated lime rind
3 TB fresh lime juice

This recipe talks about preheating your gas grill. My man uses charcoal in his spiffy new Weber Performer so…if you use gas, turn one burner off after you preheat so you may use the indirect grill method. Otherwise, start the charcoal after you have combined your ingredients and mixed your first drink. Just sayin'.

Combine first four ingredients in small bowl. Rub over chicken.

Bring pineapple juice, tequila and honey to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook until reduced to ¾ cup, about 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water in small bowl, stir well. Add cornstarch mixture to juice mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring to a boil and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in lime rind and 3 tablespoons lime juice.

Place chicken on grill. Cover and grill for 5 minutes each side, basting occasionally with juice mixture. (Move chicken to the other side of grill IF you are cooking using indirect heat. Cover and grill 5 minutes on each side until done.) Doug did not use indirect and I can tell you...this chicken was incredibly moist.



All sticky ooey gooey and you will want to eat the skin. Oh my. The side dish was perfect for this meal, one I had been meaning to try for awhile. It's a cold Artichoke Pasta Salad.



Recipe for Drick's Marinated Artichoke Pasta Salad may be found HERE and I highly recommend it. Nice addition to the table for a summer meal.

As for the drinks.......these are a variation on a traditional margarita someone had at a Mexican restaurant and proclaimed as their favorite. Here are photos but details may be found at Cocktail Puppy HERE



I will be sending this to CreamPuffs in Venice for her roundup of Magazine Monday. This recipe is from Cooking Light, June 2011 - honest...Cooking Light!!
Surf over to visit the Creampuff and see what else is shaping up in her neck of the woods :-)



Good eating!

10 comments:

  1. you betcha I'm gonna try this, and this week - I cannot think of a better rub for this glaze or vise-versa... it sounds like a perfect marriage - many thanks for trying the salad, to me, that is the best compliment one can give...

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  2. Love the nod you gave to your new followers, Tina. Do you mind if I "steal" the concept?

    Seems like chicken is on the menu tonight in my neck of the woods. I'm just learning how to work a gas grill, always a charcoal weber girl in the past.

    I'm not sure about the indirect-direct heat thing but I know I have tequila and pineapples around here so perhaps, I will experiment tonight. (I was just going to marinate the chicken tenders in some yogurt I made yesterday)

    I'd love to try Dricks' artichoke pasta salad but alas, none in the house.

    Thanks for sharing, Tina, it sounds yummy!!!

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  3. had to come back around so I could get this recipe....

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  4. Ooooooh! This sounds delicious - one for Simon and I when I get home ... the "Collins boys" don't eat chicken on the bone BUT oh boy can they eat Tina - mum said in the supermarket that she was glad she wasn't feeding all six of them! It's her birthday today ... I am going to have to go and find a cake somewhere ;o)
    Mrs L

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  5. If Doug says that this is the best chicken then it's definitely one I need to try. Plus, I gotta say that I love it when meat gets all glazy like that!

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  6. Mmmmm....that is good eating. The glaze on that chicken is so mouthwatering!

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  7. Drick - let me know how it goes, I think you'll fall in love with this combination. Salad was great!

    Louise, by all means ..."steal" away :-) We really need to catch up but lately...it's been a whirlwind.

    Mrs. L - I hope Vin had a fantastic birthday. No chicken off the bone?! They would hate living with us then - Ha!

    KIm - He was quite pleased at the credit you gave but this man loves a grilled chciken so....you know it was a pretty good.

    Girlichef -Thank you! I have been meaning to get by and tell you about all the posts you've written lately that are on my check-off list.........

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  8. Oh I could sink my teeth into that right now!!!

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