Oh, man – man, oh, man, oh, man. First of all, there’s nothing better than a warm, juicy, roasted chicken on a cold winter day. It’s a staple in my house, but I also got a little sick of your standard roasted chicken and decided that it was time to mix things up a bit. At the time, I had a craving for Peruvian style chicken, which is probably where the inspiration for this recipe came from (but, don’t be fooled – the end result tasted nothing like it, but it certainly fulfilled my taste for salt, chicken and bold spices).
Second of all, this was my first time making this recipe, which is basically a hodgepodge of six different recipes that I found on the Internet and elsewhere. Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but this turned out so much better than I ever could have hoped.
Third: achiote paste is a blend of spices that hails from Mexico. It not only gives the roasted chicken a beautiful burnt red color, but also adds to it’s bold flavor. I had no problem finding it at my local Safeway, but if you come up short there, you can always find it in any latin food store.
Oh, and I served this chicken with Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Hash, which I had leftover from the day before. You, of course, could easily prepare this while the chicken is resting.
