Raspberry Chipotle Chicken

I was skimming through some old food photos to see if I missed posting any recipe, and found this one I had made for D to commemorate Cinco de Mayo. It turned out quite fiery and delicious, and went well with some cold and delicious Dos Equis, some mango salsa and rice.

Mango Salsa is sort of thrown together, not really well planned. I love mangoes so I try to buy a few each week during the mango season and try to find ways to use them in recipes rather than eat them up as-is (which is great too!).

Mango-Avocado Salsa:
2 firm and ripe mangoes, skinned and diced
1 small red (or yellow) onion, diced
1 jalapeño, diced (seeded if preferred)
2 Tbsp chopped chives
1 ripe and firm avocado
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
½ tsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice (adjust to taste)
cilantro for garnish
salt to taste

Combine the ingredients, adjust flavors and enjoy!

Chicken recipe is very simple. I thawed, brined and marinated the boneless skinless chicken breasts. But chicken thighs can work just as well. Made a raspberry+chipotle+tomato sauce. Pan seared the chicken breasts and then smothered it with the sauce and cooked till chicken was done.

Marinade I used: raspberry vinegar, cider vinegar, yellow mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, rosemary, marjoram.

We had a bunch of raspberries in our garden and were quite excited. It has been yielding consistently this season, dwindling down to maybe a dozen raspberries once a week now that the season is almost over.

Raspberry Chipotle sauce:

2 cups loosely packed fresh raspberries
¼ cup chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (I used the store-bought canned variety)
4-5 garlic cloves minced finely
1 medium red onion, minced finely
1 medium red tomato, diced finely
1 Tbsp Agave nectar, OR, brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp raspberry syrup (optional)
salt to taste
2 Tbsp canola oil

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pan and pan-sear the chicken breasts on both sides till brown; remove from pan

in the same pan as above, add the minced onions and sauté till caramelized; adding a little more oil if needed

add the rest of the sauce ingredients, slide in the chicken breasts, add some water (or broth) as needed, and simmer gently till sauce reduces to desired thickness and chicken breast is fully cooked

Alternately, finish the chicken in the oven and smother it with the sauce to serve.

And since I got to use my garden raspberries in this recipe, I am glad to add this post to the Summer 2007 GBP event hosted by Deepz.