Whenever I’m teaching, or writing a recipe, or sharing anything cooking related, I’m always thinking about the technique over ingredients. Because understanding the process first means you then get to adapt it to make it work for you. To play around with different ingredients. To get creative.

That’s what I want most. More people playing in the kitchen. It’s also something we’ve been doing as humans since forever when it comes to cooking….but more on that later. Right now let’s dive into what we’re talking about today:

Escabeche.

What’s escabeche you might ask? Well, we’re cooking with acids but not like ceviche where things are cold, instead we’re heating things up and making a delicious, tangy sauce that you can cook with meat, fish and/or veggies. The other step is searing or frying in oil so you get the balance of fat and acid that gives you almost a hot vinaigrette that you quick braise your ingredients in. Yum!

Depending on where you go in the world, the star ingredient will be vinegar or citrus which not only adds that special little zing to the dish, it acts as a tenderizer for whatever meat you use. To me this is the perfect thing to make coming into the warmer months because you can eat it hot or cold so when you make a big batch, the leftovers just get better!

Like any dish, it’s always fun for me to look at the history of it because there’s usually debate as to where it came from first and with this one, there’s lots of theories and clues - and who knows there could’ve been multiple countries that cooked this way at the same time but never wrote a recipe to prove they were the first, so who REALLY knows, right? Today I’m going with the theory that says it originated from Persia. Who introduced it to the Spanish. The Spanish then introduced it to the Italians and in the Philippines. And so on…..

This is the cool part - the technique is the same, it’s just the ingredients that change depending on where you go.

In the Yucatan it’ll be turkey, oregano, cumin, cloves, and sour oranges. In Portugal it’ll be sardines, peppercorns, paprika, onions, peppers, garlic and sherry vinegar. In Thailand it’ll be fish, ginger, carrots, rice vinegar, lime.

Wherever Escabeche ended up, people adapted it using ingredients they had. Bringing me back to where I started. We’ve always been doing this. Adapting. Getting creative. That’s cooking!

It’s also cool to think about how connected we really are when it comes to cooking, right? Any technique usually has a story like this.

So where to start? I’ve got a recipe for you below that I’m loving but again this is where it gets to be fun. You can try the flavour combinations I mentioned above or things like bay leaf, peppercorns, cinnamon, cumin or cloves are great to try.

As for vinegar choices, think about what you’re cooking them with: poultry, vegetables, and shellfish, go with something lighter in flavour like white-wine, cider or rice wine vinegar; meats and oily fish, on the other hand, can stand up to deeper, darker vinegars like red wine or sherry.

What’s Cooking This Week: Chicken Escabeche

I love making this a one pan meal by adding the potatoes (think vinegar based potato salad or lemony Greek potatoes) and I also do a mix of vinegar and grapefruit juice which is a good place to start if you’re worried about too much of that vinegar zing. I also add in the grapefruit segments but feel free to leave them out (or add them to the avocado salad suggestion). And if you need a little lesson on segmenting citrus, watch that here

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs

• 3 shallots, sliced

• 3 medium cloves garlic, peeled and minced

• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

• 2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano

• 1 cinnamon stick

• one grapefruit, segmented, juice reserved and zested

• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar

• 1 poblano pepper, deseeded and cut into slices

• 8-10 new potatoes

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Season the chicken with salt and rub with half the grapefruit zest. Let rest for at least 30 minutes, up to 2 hours.

Heat oil over medium-high heat in an oven-safe Dutch oven until shimmering. Place chicken in pan, skin-side down. Cook without moving until golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. Turn and brown second side, about 4 minutes longer. Remove chicken from pan transfer to large plate. Add the shallots, poblano and potatoes to the pan, scraping the bottom to dislodge any browned bits. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly softened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until softened, about 2 minutes longer.

Add the grapefruit juice and vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, then add the oregano, cinnamon stick, allspice, remaining zest, and grapefruit segments. Return chicken to the pan, nestling thighs skin-side up in vegetables. Transfer to oven and cook uncovered until chicken is cooked through and liquid is mostly reduced, about 25 minutes.

Remove the cinnamon stick and serve hot with sliced radishes, alongside avocado and jicama salad. Warm tortillas would also be perfect to mop up the sauce! And of course, it’ll be just as good cold the next day. :)

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Happy Cooking :) 

love,

Krista  

Nourished & Whole
Eat well. Live well. Cook often.
www.nourishedandwhole.com