Chicken Al Pastor Taco

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1jieTUtMX4

Pretty simple, but tastes great!

(Yes, Señor Lagerstrom once again. I'm a fan!)

This super fast and easy taco recipe borrows the flavors of al pastor, but uses a shortcut cooking technique to give us the charred, spit-cooked flavor in a fraction of the time and effort of cooking on a trompo. 

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TOMATILLO SALSA

▪75-100g (½ of 1) White Onion, small diced

▪100g (1 whole) Poblano, small diced

▪350-400g (5-6 whole) Tomatillos, medium chopped 

▪15-20g (5 cloves) garlic, minced

▪5g or ¾-1tsp salt

▪50g or 3Tbsp water 

01. Add onion, poblano, tomatillos, garlic, salt, water to a saucepan over med-high and bring to a simmer.

02. Once simmering, lower heat to medium low, cover and cook for about 10min.

03. Stir and cook for another 8-10min over medium, uncovered, to allow to thicken.

04. Transfer to cold bowl and cool in fridge or freezer. 

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AL PASTOR MARINADE

▪50g or 1/4c pineapple, diced 

▪100g (2 fruits worth) orange juice 

▪25g or 1 3/4Tbsp water 

▪25g or 1 3/4Tbsp white vinegar

▪20g or 1 2/3Tbsp sugar 

▪20g or 1 heaping Tbsp salt 

▪30g or 2-3Tbsp achiote annatto paste (or sub in lime juice, chile powder, & paprika)

▪2g or 2tsp dried oregano

▪5g or 3.5tsp garlic powder 

▪5g or 3tsp cumin

▪10g or 4tsp chile powder 

Puree all ingredients until smooth. 

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MEAT

▪ 2lbs/1kg boneless skinless chicken thighs

▪ 4 “planks” of fresh pineapple, cut in similar size/thickness to chicken

01. Add ½ of marinade or 100g to chicken and mix to coat.

02. Lay thighs onto a foil lined baking tray close together in the center of the tray.

03. Place 2 planks of pineapple along side chicken (see @4:32 )

04. Preheat broiler on high.

05. Place chicken/pineapple on rack closest to broiler and let cook for 5min,

- Keeping a close eye to be sure it doesn’t burn.

- Rotate tray if needed, cook for another 5min.

- Chicken should be nicely charred on top at this point.

06. Flip chicken and return to broiler for another 5-8 min to char 2nd side. 

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FINISHING/GARNISH

▪Corn tortillas, heated 

▪Oil 

▪Chopped cilantro

▪White onion, small diced

▪Queso fresco (or feta)

01. Chop chicken and pineapple into ½”/1.5cm pieces. 

02. Add long squeeze of oil to a nonstick pan over high/med-high, add in chicken/pineapple.

Fry on first side for about a minute.

03. Add 40-50g reserved marinade to pan.

Toss to combine and satee  until sauce is reduced. 

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PRESENTATION

Place chicken on double layer of corn tortilla, add chopped cilantro and white onion, tomatillo salsa, sprinkle of grated queso fresco. 

Pizza Dough 01

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4t3bqb_91E
FOR THIS RECIPE YOU'LL NEED:
(Recipe below makes two 12" pizzas) 


POOLISH:
50g water
pinch yeast
50g ap flour 
1. Combine water, yeast, and flour.
2. Stir to combine.
3. Put mixture in a container with a lid  and let sit at room temp for 18-24 hours. 


DOUGH (with Poolish):
180g warm water
All of the poolish
5g yeast
10g olive oil 
315 ap flour 
8 salt 
10g sugar 

Directions:
1. Into a container add warm water, all of the ripe poolish, oil, and 5g yeast and stir to combine.
Set aside.
2. Into the bowl of a food processor add flour, salt, and sugar.
- Slowly stream in wet ingredients.
- Spin until well combined + 15 seconds.
3. Flip out onto cutting board and give it
30-40 rolls with the palm of your hand for about 60 seconds as shown in video.
4. Tuck into a ball and put in oiled bowl  then wrap with plastic.
- Allow to ferment at room temp for 45 mins. 
5. Flip out onto surface and divide into two 300g balls.
- Shape into round balls with seam at the bottom.
Be sure to close the seams well.
6. Put the dough balls onto an oiled sheet tray, cover with plastic.
*Put in fridge to proof for about 24 hours (as a minimum).

If you're making the dough WITHOUT poolish, use the recipe above, but omit the poolish and instead use 50g more flour & 50g more water to the amounts in the recipe above. 
(C'mon, you know you HAVE TO make the poolish!)


TOPPINGS:
200g part skim mozzarella
200g full fat mozzarella
6TBSP fresh mozzarella
pinch of salt to finish pizza before baking 
Grate part skim and full fat mozzarella on the large holes of a box grater. 

TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE ONE PIZZA: 
1. Allow dough balls to come to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven with pizza stone on the lowest rack of the oven to 550 degrees f/287c
(or about as high as your oven temp will go).
3. Flour top of a dough ball and flip onto a floured surface.
4. See video for shaping method.
5. Once dough is shaped into about a 10" round.
Carefully flip onto the front of a floured pizza peel.
6. spread 200g of pizza sauce onto dough leaving about 1/2" of exposed dough around the edge.
7. Add mozz blend (175-200g total).
Shimmy dough on peel to be sure it's not stuck.
8. carefully stretch pizza to increase the size to about a 12".
9. Add about 3tbsp of fresh mozzarella
10. and a pinch of salt.
11. Load onto well-preheated pizza stone using pizza peel.

Let bake for about 6min at 550 degrees.

Pizza Sauce

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4t3bqb_91E

Ingredients:
28ox can whole san marzano tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, whole, smashed
15g olive oil
15g butter
1g chile flake
1g dried oregano 
3 g salt
5 g sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat medium saute pan over medium heat.
2. Using immersion blender (or standard blender), blitz can of tomatoes until almost smooth.
There should be some texture left to the tomatoes.
3. Peel and smash 2 whole cloves of garlic.
4. To the preheated pan, add olive oil and butter then smashed garlic.
Let gently sizzle for about 3 minutes. Be sure to not burn garlic.
5. Add tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
6. Add chile flake and oregano.
7. Cook down sauce to concentrate and reduce by about half (about 25-30min).
8. Once reduced, remove garlic cloves and add salt and sugar to season.
9. Scoop into a bowl and refrigerate. 

Note: Make a double batch and freeze some for easy pizza soon!