Tomatillo sauce is an easy way to jack up the flavour of roasted chicken breasts. Deglaze the pan with tomatillo salsa and fry it in a bit of chicken fat. Doesn’t sound very good when I put it that way but it is. Trust me. Chicken with tomatillo is a match made in heaven. If you wind up with leftovers, they make great tacos.
This recipe all about having things ready before you start cooking. In restaurant speak, that’s having your “mise en place” done. This recipe is dead easy if your tomatillo salsa at hand. And it’s better than most Mexican restaurants serve.
As always, you are cooking to an internal temperature. Time alone is not a reliable guideline. Cook the chicken to 165F. You have an instant read thermometer, right? If not, please get one. It’s probably the most important kitchen gadget there is…
roasted chicken with tomatillo sauce
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts air-chilled grain-fed
- 1 cup tomatillo salsa - recipe link below
- creole seasoning - recipe link below
- olive oil
- chicken stock as required
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Place an oven proof skillet in the oven to pre-heat
- Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and then season generously with creole seasoning.
- Roast, skin side up, for about 35-40 minutes. You want an internal temperature of 165F.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and then heat skillet over medium heat.
- When the skillet is hot, add the tomatillo salsa to the hot pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits in the pan.
- Simmer salsa for 3-4 minutes, adding stock to to adjust the consistency.
- Spoon sauce onto plate, top with the chicken and serve.
Notes
roasted chicken with tomatillo sauce
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts air-chilled grain-fed
- 1 cup tomatillo salsa - recipe link below
- creole seasoning - recipe link below
- olive oil
- chicken stock as required
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F. Place an oven proof skillet in the oven to pre-heat
- Rub the chicken breasts with olive oil and then season generously with creole seasoning.
- Roast, skin side up, for about 35-40 minutes. You want an internal temperature of 165F.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet and then heat skillet over medium heat.
- When the skillet is hot, add the tomatillo salsa to the hot pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits in the pan.
- Simmer salsa for 3-4 minutes, adding stock to to adjust the consistency.
- Spoon sauce onto plate, top with the chicken and serve.
Notes
There’s a secret to perfect BBQ back ribs. One that will get you awesome ribs every time. Every time. It’s not hard. Internal temperature. That’s it.
Cook your ribs until an instant read thermometer inserted between the ribs (never touching the bon though) reads 195F.
Perfect internal temperature for perfect ribs – every time
A good dry rub and a BBQ made from scratch help too, of course. Every little bit helps. But internal temperature is the big one.
Miss that and no sauce will save your ribs. Not even the bourbon BBQ sauce below. It’s good. But nothing is that good…
A smoker makes this pretty easy but it takes forever. Somewhere around 5 hours for baby back pork ribs. This recipe gives you perfect BBQ back ribs in about 2 hours. Still slow but not crazy slow.
Anywhere between 190F and 200F is in the zone but 195F is the magic number. Below 190F and they will be tough and chewy.
Much above 200F and they will start to dry out. 195F gets you perfect BBQ back ribs. Tender but firm with that little bit of pull when they come off the bone. Championship ribs.
There’s art to BBQ. But there’s science too. Tending your fire. Timing. Just the right amount of smoke. That’s art.
Cooking to a specific internal temperature. That’s science. BBQ takes meat way past the normally recommended internal temps and yet it can be moist and tender. That’s magic.
