Peruvian Roast Chicken with Green Sauce

This is totally embarassing.  Alex and I made this roast chicken back in February or March.  And then I forgot to post it.  I really thought it was up on the blog.  And then I was looking today today at other recipes that I had bookmarked to try and came across the draft of this post.  The recipe was on there, the picture was too (even though it's not a very good picture), but I never got around to adding any text.  Fail.  

Roast chicken is one of my favorite things if it is well done.  And Peruvian roast chicken seems to be, on average, a lot better than your average roast chicken.  I don't know how they season it traditionally but their rotisserie chicken is magical - even the white meat is juicy and flavorful.  I also love that spicy green sauce you get at Peruvian restaurants to go with their roast chicken.  It's pretty much the best thing in the world.  So it's a little shocking that it took me this long to make it at home.  In my defense - it turns out that there is a whole lot of mayo and sour cream in the sauce.  I don't know why the addition of mayonnaise and sour cream to a sauce that I know will be spicy and delicious bothers me when I make it at home, but it throws me for a loop.  However, I am going to have to get over it because this stuff was pretty delicious.  It's creamier than what I usually get at the Peruvian restaurants that I go to, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  It also doesn't taste quite the same, but for a homemade version (that we adapted from Serious Eats), this was close enough for government work.  Ours had some pretty good kick so if you want your green sauce a little milder, leave out some of the jalapeno seeds.

Recipe after the jump!




Roast Chicken with Peruvian Spicy Green Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

For the Chicken: 
1 whole chicken, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds
4 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp paprika
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
For the Sauce:
3 whole jalapeños, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 medium cloves garlic
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
s&p
2 tbsp evoo

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

Mix paprika, cumin, s&p in small bowl.  Add vinegar and oil to make a paste.   Set aside.

Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Tuck wing tips behind the shoulder of the chicken and massage spice paste evenly all over the chicken.  Place chicken breast side up in a large cast iron skillet (or roasting pan).  If you want you can tuck herbs and lime halves in your chicken.  We had half of a lime and some cilantro leftover from the green sauce so I threw them inside because why not.

Place chicken in oven to roast.  Roast chicken, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes after the first half-hour of cooking for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 175°F and the breast registers at least 145°F.

Meanwhile, combine jalapeños, cilantro, garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, lime juice, and vinegar in the jar of a blender.  Blend on high speed, scraping down as necessary, until smooth.  With blender running, slowly drizzle in evoo.  Season to taste with s&p and additional lime juice (if necessary).  Sauce will be quite loose at this point but will thicken as it sits.  Transfer to a sealed container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Transfer chicken to a cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes.  Carve and serve with sauce.