Cider and sage barbecue chicken
Serves 4
On a trip back home, I was invited to a friends for dinner but was told to bring something for the barbecue. Gulp . . . I felt hugely under pressure, having left the area and become a chef who was written about by the local press for my cooking achievements I could hardly rock up with a packet of sausages. So I nipped to the shops, raided nana’s herb patch and came up with this recipe. It went down a treat and when I got back to the cafe it went on the menu.
To get the best flavour, marinate for 24 hours if possible. The chicken will keep for up to three days in the marinade in the fridge.
This is also a great marinade for pork. Don't leave it in for longer than six hours, as the meat starts to go mushy.
If you're cooking over an open flame on the barbecue, make sure you drain the chicken well or you’ll get some big flames.
The cooked chicken works really well in a salad with blue cheese, crisp apple slices, walnuts and a really tart dressing. To serve this way, I’d slice each chicken breast into four long slices before it goes in the marinade. 4 chicken breasts
100ml pear cider
100ml apple juice
70ml olive oil, plus a little for frying
12 sage leaves, chopped
1 red chilli, finely diced (keep the seeds in if you like a kick)
1 tsp salt
tsp cracked black pepper
Method
Trim your chicken, removing all traces of bone, skin and fat. Slice each breast into two lengthwise to help get the flavour into the middle of the breast. Place the chicken pieces in a large plastic tub and cover with cider, apple juice, olive oil, sage, chilli, salt and cracked black pepper. Stir everything through, cover and put in the fridge. Marinate for a minimum of 12 hours, preferably 24.
Lightly oil a large frying pan and put over a medium heat or fire up your barbecue. Cook the chicken for about five to eight minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through.
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