Tequila Glazed Chicken

Secret Recipe Club.  One of my favorite times of the month.  I get to explore a new blog and find a new recipe.  When I get a blog by a cook who's relatively new to cooking, I'm typically amazed by how far they've come in a short period of time.  These gals typically have been on a MUCH quicker learning curve than I was!  My blog this time is Cinnamon Freud.  It's written by a counseling psychology doctoral candidate by the name of Karen.  Karen started cooking about three years ago and has amassed an impressive collection of recipes!

What to choose?  We're still dieting so sweets were out.  The pears stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with honey sounded fabulous.  I had peaches I could use.  And, the SOS brought back a lot of great memories from childhood.  I do indeed have a jar of dried beef in the pantry.  But, no, the sodium's too high.  How about the balsamic black bean salsa?  We've got sweet corn and black beans but our only picante sauce is mongo jars and I don't want to open one and have to plan a week's worth of menus around that. 

Then, we joined our fellow Kiwanians at lunch at Chef JJ's Backyard.  It's one of our favorite places.  And, we found out that our names had come up on the list to buy a Big Green Egg that'd been used as a demo.  We've been saving our credit card cash back for a few years specifically to purchase a Big Green Egg.  Now was our time!

That meant back to visit Karen since I'm spent most of the week prior to reveal day at a conference in Phoenix.  No chance there to cook!  Now, my mission was to find something to grill that didn't require a lot of preparation time.  Tequila Glazed Chicken.  Perfect.  I had sweet corn from the farmers market.  Some sliced tomatoes.  And, we'd be in business.

What did we think?  Connie said it may have been the best chicken we'd ever grilled.  He said he wasn't sure if it was the glaze or the Big Green Egg but whatever it was, I can fix it again - tomorrow!  The leftovers went into a fabulous salad with beans and corn and tomatoes and all kinds of great goodies.  Then, the last half breast got diced up and put in wraps - with the rest of the beans and corn and some melted cheese.  YUM!

Tequila Glazed Chicken

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds chicken breast
2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
1/4 t kosher salt
3/4 c pineapple juice
1/3 c tequila
1/4 c honey
2 t cornstarch
2 t water.
2 t lime zest (about 1 lime)
3 T fresh lime juice
1/4-1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes

Directions:

Heat your grill.  Karen's directions called for pounding the chicken.  I find that to be a step I try at all costs to skip...  So, I skipped it and instead butterflied each breast half.  Then, you mix the cumin, chili powder and salt

and rub the mix into the chicken. 

Mix the tequila, pineapple juice and honey and cook it over medium heat until it's reduced.  I reduced it by about a third.  Karen's recipe didn't specify so that was my guess :-)  Once it's reduced, stir in a slurry made of the cornstarch and water.  Stir until it's thickened then off the heat add in the lime zest, lime juice and crushed red pepper flakes.  Reserve half of the sauce for serving.  Use the other half to glaze the chicken as it cooks. 

With the grill at 350 and the butterflied chicken, we cooked it for four minutes a side and it was perfect.

adapted from Cinnamon Freud