Description
Pollo a la Brasa (Rotisserie Peruvian Chicken) with Drip Pan Purple Potatoes. A taste of Peru cooked on the grill in your own back yard.
Adapted from: Classic Pollo a la Brasa, [holypollo.com]
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 (4 pound) whole chicken
Peruvian Paste
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- ½-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 tablespoons aji amarillo pepper paste (or 1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and minced)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- Juice of ½ a lime
Drip pan potatoes
- 1 ½ pounds new potatoes, halved (A mix of purple, red and white if you can find them)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon aji amarillo pepper paste
Instructions
- Season the chicken: At least 2 hours before cooking, drop the 3 cloves of garlic and fresh ginger into a running blender or food processor, and process until minced. Add the rest of the Peruvian Paste ingredients and blend into a thick paste. Rub the chicken with the paste, inside and out. Gently work your fingers under the skin on the chicken breast, then rub some of the paste directly onto the breast meat. Put the chicken in a baking dish, then let it rest in the refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
- Truss and spit the chicken: One hour before cooking, take the chicken out of the refrigerator. Fold the wing tips under the wings and truss the chicken. (Trussing instructions here). Skewer the chicken on the rotisserie spit, securing it with the spit forks. Let the chicken rest at room temperature until the grill is ready.
- Set up the grill for indirect high heat: Set the grill up for indirect high heat, about 450°F, with the drip pan in the middle of the grill. For my Weber Summit, this means removing the grates, turning the two outer burners (burners 1 and 6) to high, setting the infrared burner to high, and preheating the grill for ten to fifteen minutes. For my Weber kettle, I light a chimney starter full of charcoal, wait for it to be covered with ash, pour it into two equal piles on the sides of the grill, and put the drip pan in the middle, between the piles.
- Rotisserie grill the chicken at high heat for 1 hour: Put the spit on the grill, start the motor spinning, and make sure the drip pan is centered beneath the chicken. Close the lid and cook until the chicken reaches 160°F in the thickest part of the breast, about 1 hour.
- Drip pan potatoes:Â As soon as the chicken goes on the grill, toss the halved new potatoes with the salt and aji pepper paste in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and microwave for six minutes. Set the potatoes aside until the chicken has been cooking for 30 minutes, then remove the plastic wrap and pour the potatoes into the drip pan under the chicken. Cook the potatoes, stirring occasionally until they are browned and crispy, about 30 minutes. (The potatoes should be done about the same time as the chicken.)
- Serve: Remove the chicken from the rotisserie spit and remove the twine trussing the chicken. Be careful - the spit and forks are blazing hot. Remove the drip pan, and use a slotted spoon to transfer the potatoes to a platter. Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes, carve, serve, and enjoy!
Equipment
Buy Now → - Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Sunday Dinner
- Method: Rotisserie
- Cuisine: Peruvian