Sticky Chili Chicken with Hot-and-Sour Pineapple by Alison Roman

hey bud

Themed birthday parties were my childhood idea of “BEST BIRTHDAY EVER.” I would spend days and days dreaming up the theme, possible decorations, any necessary costumes, the games we would play, invitation design, etc. Thankfully, my parents were totally on board, costumes and all. I had several themed birthday parties, at least two of which were “Hawaiian Luau’s.” Both parties had tiki torches lit in the backyard, fake flower leis doled out at the door, plastic flamingos and grass skirts, the whole sha-bang. 

I recently thought about how fun it would be to throw another luau party, but make it more “adult.” There would still be tiki torches, lei’s and a plastic flamingo. There would also be some sort of delicious spiked punch and a pineapple juice, rum cocktail. And instead of serving hawaiian pizza (which no one actually likes), I’d serve this sticky chili chicken. 3 large platters of it, with extra pineapple spears on the side. 

Here’s the process for making this fabulous pineapple chicken. First, marinate the bird! I used a 4lb. organic chicken from TJ’s. I patted it dry, and seasoned it with salt and pepper before placing it in a gallon-sized Ziploc. Then I assembled the marinade – the most labor-intensive step (which is hardly labor-intensive at all). The marinade includes: brown sugar, chili paste (Alison suggest sambal, but I used harissa), fish sauce, lime juice, red pepper flakes, garlic, and rice wine vinegar. 

I cannot, for the life of me, find rice wine vinegar anywhere. I own rice vinegar, wine vinegar, and mirin (sweet rice cooking wine), but the specific rice wine vinegar combination is nowhere to be found. Alison uses this mythical substance in multiple recipes, so it must exist. But alas, I got creative with this recipe. To replace ¼ cup rice wine vinegar, I used ⅛ cup rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of mirin. It seemed to work great! 

I let the chicken marinate for about 4 hours. In the meantime, I peeled and cored a small pineapple, and cut it into spears. The spears joined the chicken and all of the marinade on a sheet pan to cook at 425 for an hour. My chicken took longer than usual to cook, I think because we left another sheet pan in the oven underneath the chicken, and that blocked some of the heat. (Why did we do that? I’m not sure. I wasn’t thinking.) The bird was ready in an hour and 20 minutes. While roasting, the pineapple released its sweet juices, which bubbled and thickened perfectly with the hot and sour marinade. A bite of roast chicken with a piece of spicy pineapple? It brought me right back to my luau. 

I served this dish as part of, what I am now going to call, an “ALL-OUT-ALISON” meal: 

• Appetizer: Crispy Haloumi with Honey and Pistachio

• Side Dish: Perfect Asparagus with Garlic and Salted Olive Oil 

• Main Dish: this chicken!

• Dessert: Blueberry Cake with Almond and Cinnamon

If you made it to the end of this post, consider yourself warmly invited to my next luau.

83 recipes cooked, 142 to go.

Sticky Roasted Carrots with Citrus and Tahini by Alison Roman

I had a realization the other day about Alison’s use of the word “sticky.” At least when it comes to use in a recipe title, both these sticky carrots and her sticky walnuts use maple syrup, a naturally sticky substance, as a sweetening agent in the roasting process. But oddly enough, both the carrots and walnuts didn’t turn out to be very sticky. That’s about as far as that realization went. Anyways…

Regardless of the lack of stickiness, this carrot dish is rather inventive in its flavor pairing, and in true Alison fashion, is unapologetically bold. I’ve said before that Alison commits wholeheartedly to flavor, and this recipe is no exception. There’s nothing subtle about it. 

The elements at play here are the subtle sweetness of the carrots. I prefer smaller carrots like the multicolored Le Petite bag from Trader Joes. They’re pre-peeled and trimmed so the preparation is simpler. The quartered carrots are tossed with maple syrup, thinly sliced citrus (I used a navel orange), red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. The other element present is half a red onion, sliced into .5 inch chunks and lightly pickled in lemon juice a few minutes before roasting. The combination of these spicy, acidic and sweet flavors and textures make this not your average veggie side. 

As if this needed another dimension, a simple tahini sauce coats the serving platter before placing the carrots and onions on top. I’m not always in the mood for a strong sesame seed presence. However, I found myself reaching to dip some of my carrots into the sauce throughout the meal. The tahini’s nutty flavor and smooth texture added another welcome complexity. 

All in all, I found Alison’s signature boldness a perfect strategy for cooking this mild vegetable. There will be more of these carrots in my future.

53 recipes cooked, 172 to go.