Chicken Pinchitos

I love this recipe. It's perfect for this time of year and would taste delicious cooked on the barbecue. The only thing to remember is that the meat needs to be marinated over night and therefore you have to be organised enough to do this. There have been a few occasions where I've planned to make this dish and forgotten to get it all sorted and in the fridge the night before and ended up making some other chicken dish. Organisation is key!

The mix of spices in the marinade is amazing. They've got a lot of kick to them and are complex in flavour. I particularly love the smoked paprika which gives a barbecue flavour with a slight sweetness, absolutely delicious... Have I built these up too much? I hope not. I usually skewer these with red onion slices but we only had white onions. I felt they might be too strong on their own so I added some green pepper and only small amounts of the onion and it worked really well (if I do say so myself).



I used skinless, boneless chicken thigh pieces this time but I would normally use chicken breast pieces as they tend to cook evenly and have a more even texture. These were fine though and seemed to go down well with my parents.



Ingredients
3 or 4 chicken breasts cut into even sized chunks
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
2 tsp dried thyme
Salt to season
1 dried bayleaf, crushed
3 cloves of crushed garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Cooking spray
2-3 red onions cut into wedges (or one white onion and a green pepper)

Combine the spices, thyme and salt in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the mixture into the meat with your fingers. Place in a dish with the bayleaf and garlic distributed evenly. Stir in the lemon juice and spray with cooking spray. Cover this mixture with cling film and marinate in the fridge overnight.

When you're ready to cook, thread the chicken and onion alternately onto skewers (if they're wooden make sure you have soaked them in water beforehand to prevent burning). Cook under a hot grill or on the barbecue for 4-5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.

I served these with homemade wedges and salad but they'd be good with all sorts of things.

This recipe is from Slimming World's Four Seasons Cookbook available from Amazon.