Inspiration. It’s a hell of a thing. When I put one of these posts together I don’t automatically have an idea what next week’s recipe is going to be. Believe it or not most of the time the inspiration comes to me Friday night or on Saturday when I’m at the grocery store. Most of the time I have no fucking clue what next week is going to produce. Last week I was given some habanero chilis grown by my niece in San Diego. I thought that was a thoughtful gesture. As the week went on I started thinking about what to do with these chilis. For the uninitiated these motherfuckers are hot. Stupid hot. If you remember I used them a few weeks ago when I made Jerk Chicken and I didn’t want to repeat recipes. Also it was just a couple of weeks ago when I made Texas chili which also would have been a great application for these chilis. Ultimately weather was the deciding factor. I ain’t cooking shit inside the house this weekend.

Then I reflected even further back to an older post about pork chops where I tossed out this quick recipe:

Bonus recipe! Pineapple Serrano salsa!

1/2 fresh pineapple, cleaned, cored and cut into smaller sized chunks.

1/2 cup finely minced red onion.

1 fresh serrano chile diced.

1 tbl lime juice.

Combine ingredients and serve with that cumin rubbed pork chop. Hell yes.

Today we are going to remove the serrano chile and replace it with a small minced habenero and for sanity’s sake we will remove the seeds and stems. Also, instead of the fresh pineapple we are going to grill the pineapple which should give a nice smokiness that can help offset the heat from the habanero. Grill the pineapple in slices until it has a nice light brown char, chop it up, remove the core if you haven’t already and add it to the other ingredients. Let it set up a bit in the refrigerator while we grill the rest of our proteins.

Alright! Inspiration has struck and today we are going to grill some shrimp and we will also grill some spicy chipotle chicken. “But that’s chicken two weeks in a row” you may whine. Piss off! I can grill what I want to and I promise you are going to love this fucking chicken. I always make a bunch extra because it goes great the next day with any application and if you don’t live alone you will probably hear sneaky little footsteps creeping into the kitchen to steal the leftovers later that night. It’s amazing. Besides I eat a little lighter in the summer and my Doctor says “Eat chicken you asshole!” So there’s that on top of it. I figured we would do a Mexican cuisine theme today and I will be serving all of this with some flour tortillas, some refried beans, some of my famous chili tepin and 30 or 40 beers. Bet you can’t tell that I finally figured out how to post a link canya? I had lots of help.

So, are you ready?

Are you pumped?!

ARE YOU JACKED UP??!!

GOOD! Because we are going to grill the fuck out of shit!

LET’S DO IT!!!

Spicy Grilled Chipotle Chicken

1 7 oz canned chipotle chiles in adobo

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 onion, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 3 1/2-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces

Beer as needed

Add all ingredients, except chicken, to a blender and blend until liquified. If the mixture is too dense and doesn’t appear to be blending correctly dump some of that beer that you just opened in there. Use your judgement on how much. Both to drink and how much to add in to the blender. Reserve about 1/4 cup of marinade for basting. Place the chicken and the remaining marinade in a…”Class?”

/class in unison “And put in a 1 gallon zip top bag and marinate in the refrigerator overnight!”

Very good class. This will be grilled over the standard issue charcoal fire until cooked and delicious. Baste with the reserved chipotle sauce right at the end of the grilling session.

I have to admit to you right now that this can be a very stick to the grill type of item. Lube up your grill right good and proper prior to cooking. This is also part of the reason why we did the pineapple and shrimp first as a sort of grill lubricant.

Grilled Shrimp

1 lb 20-22 count raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined.

Olive oil to baste

2 teaspoons Essence*

I like to keep the grilling method simple for shrimp. A little oil and a bit of seasoning is all you need. You can also try olive oil, fresh minced garlic and red pepper flake and it also works famously. In today’s case we want the shrimp to be the upfront and primary flavor so it’s nice and simple for this one. Drizzle some oil, sprinkle some spice, skewer and grill for a couple of minutes per side. You don’t want to overcook this.

Essence was created by (or for) chef Emeril Lagasse. It’s that stuff that he throws into a dish and yells “Bam!” What the fuck ever. It is a really solid day to day season mix and I always have a small tupperware container of it on hand. It goes great on lots of dishes, particularly chicken, potatoes or eggs.

One interesting note about grilling shrimp, when the shrimp are close to done, they make a very distinct noise on the grill. I call it the “Screaming of the Shrimp”. It’s a good way to know if they are cooked. “Are the shrimp still screaming, Clarice?”

*Essence

recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse and Food Network.

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon cayenne

1 tablespoon black pepper freshly ground

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 tablespoons salt

₁ tablespoon dried oregano

₁ tablespoon dried thyme

This makes a fair amount of seasoning. Enough to last for the better part of the year.

The grilling order for the day will be pineapple first, so you can put it with the rest of the salsa ingredients, once it cools of course; followed by the shrimp, so you can have a shrimp snack while grilling the chicken; followed by the chicken. The chicken may have to go in two batches depending on grill size. Warm up the tortillas and serve with beans and chips and salsa.

Notes on the beans, chips and salsa. I mentioned before that I would not be cooking indoors today so I bought these items from my favorite neighborhood Mexican food place, El Tarasco. It’s this family run mini-chain of restaurants but the one here on Main Street in El Segundo is the best. You can get a big ass glass of Dos Equis Amber and they make, without a doubt, the best chips and salsa of any restaurant ever. They also make a really tasty batch o’ beans. Yes, I am fully capable of making beans myself and I plan on sharing that during a season when we aren’t a mile from the sun. Oh and their carnitas are fucking perfect. I also do carnitas and I guarantee you will see that recipe soon but holy shit balls. These guys? Delicious carnitas.

Now a note about the beer in the picture. That’s Wipe Out IPA from our boys down in San Diego at Port Brewing Company. Technically they are in San Marcos which is North County off of the 78 between Oceanside and Escondido (says the former Escondido resident). Wipe Out is a very hoppy IPA, as is much of the West Coast Craft movement but it offsets the hops with a healthy dose of carbonation. The resulting pour gives it a nice creamy head (MMM, nice creamy head!) and a surprising drinkability for a beverage that weighs in at 7.5 ABV.

Nifty tortilla grilling technique:

I was taught this method years ago from a good friend, she called it the three tortilla exploding heart palm technique or maybe I just made that up. Anyway get your tortillas, flour or corn, and stack three at a time on the grill. Grill for about 20 seconds, flip the top two tortillas and then flip all three. Once again grill for about 20 seconds flip the top two then flip all three. Do this until all sides are toasty. It’s a cool trick to show off your grilling skills and it’s a good space saver if you are still using other parts of the grill for cooking other things.

Now! For the knife and fork crowd who haven’t been exposed to too many alternative eating techniques. Tortillas can be used to wrap things up in, vis-a-vis burritos or tacos but they can also be used as a grab things and shove it all in your mouth type deal. Many world cuisines have this method. You rip up a piece of the bread substance, and use it to grab some cooked meats, beans, veggies or whatever and just shove the whole delicious thing into your gaping maw. It’s a primal, simple and very smart method and can save you some labor on washing utensils.

In summation, we have created a lot of BOLD FLAVORS here! The spicy, sweet, crisp salsa, the glorious, subtle grilled shrimp and the slow smoldering, savory chipotle chicken. This is the stuff that legends are made of. This is summer time eating at it’s finest. This just screams out for massive beer consumption and grilling overindulgence.

I hope you have been inspired by some of these recipes and I hope you can take the time to step out of that sweat shop you call a kitchen, take the food prep outside and prepare to Grill The Fuck Outta Shit!!

Peace!