We originally made this dish with French-cut chicken breast. What does that mean? The ribs are removed from the breast, the skin is left on, as is the wing, or a least the drumette part. It’s great for grilling but not good for roasting in my opinion. So I got a whole bone-in chicken breast, carefully cut the meat partly away from the bone, salted it, and slathered it with chipotle paste, inside and out. I roasted it at 375°F for 35 minutes, let it rest for 12 or so minutes, and it was perfectly cooked and very juicy. You can then proceed with the recipe as follows.
The idea for this dish came to me when I took Aarón and Rodrigo, my twin sons, to eat at a Caribbean restaurant in the East Village called Sugar Reef. We ordered a side dish of mango, onion, lime juice, and chile and it suddenly brought back to me the wonderful mangos that they sell both ripe and green all over Mexico — cut in decorative patterns, sprinkled with lime juice, salt, and powdered red chile. It occurred to me then to try combining them with grilled chicken and smoky chipotle chiles, and thus was born one of the most popular dishes at Zarela.
At the restaurant we partly grilled the chicken over charcoal (about 5 minutes on each side) and finished it in a preheated 400°F oven (another 15-20 minutes). Since many people will find this cumbersome, and chicken breasts are hard to keep from drying out if cooked only on the grill, I have substituted an all-oven method.
Chicken with Mango Salad (Ensalada Girasol)
Ingredients
- ½ cup
Chipotle Paste or to taste - 2 large whole boneless chicken breasts with skin
- 2-4 tablespoons vegetable oil or as needed
- 1 large mango about 1 pound, peeled, thinly sliced
- 2 cups
Chipotle Vinaigrette
Instructions
- Preheat broiler to 500°F.
- Brush Chipotle Paste over both sides of chicken breasts. Brush a little oil over the Chipotle Paste. Place on broiler pan and broil, skin side up, 4 minutes. Turn and broil another 4 minutes. Turn off broiler, reduce heat to 400°F, and bake chicken 10 minutes longer or until cooked through. Slice on the bias (remove skin first if desired).
- Toss sliced mango in Chipotle Vinaigrette and remove, letting the dressing drain back into the bowl. Arrange mango slices around 4 serving plates, sunflower-fashion. Toss sliced chicken breasts in remaining vinaigrette and pile in center of serving plates.
