Raspberries are my favorite fruit in the whole world. As a girl growing up in Wisconsin, we had a patch of wild ones in the back yard and come raspberry season, I stuffed myself with abandon. My love affair with the fruit has not abated. I was almost reduced to tears this year when my fall bearing raspberry order got cancelled. There are no places close by where you can pick them and raspberries have such a short shelf life that it's best to buy them locally and use them up in the next day or two. I was able to pick up some raspberries from a farmer's market but I can't wait until we have our own to pick. I'll be able to go out to the backyard and graze for breakfast. If you have a lot of berries, they do freeze well. In fact, if you want to get the most juice out of them, freezing them helps you out.
There are thousands of delectable sounding recipes out there for raspberries, but the majority of them seem to be focused on baking. Baking is an admirable end for a raspberry but there's only so many miles I can face on my rowing machine in an effort to fit into my clothes so I wanted to find another way to use them.
It's been gorgeous here - in the low 80s which is unheard of in July. It should be at least 90 with the humidity high enough to make my hair resemble a bad junior high perm. We're taking advantage of the cool temps while we can and grilling seems so right when the evening are as lovely as they are. I've always loved Eating Well magazine. It seems to really place an emphasis on using seasonal produce and the recipes usually don't contain too many processed ingredients. I glanced through some old issues and found a recipe for an asian-style marinade.
The recipe suggests that you use boneless chicken thighs and after making it, I'd have to agree. The level of sugar in the sauce (from the raspberries and hoisin sauce) is too high to allow for long periods of grilling. We're trying to eat down the contents of our freezer so I used a whole chicken instead and cut up one of the breasts to make chicken tenders. It was still very tasty but very finicky on the grill because of the length of time it took. It was prone to getting too brown. The chicken tenders were done quickly but I think using the thighs would be a better option because the chicken would cook quickly enough not to burn but stay juicy.
If berry seeds drive you to distraction, make sure to use frozen berries and put them through a sieve to strain the seeds out. I'd probably use a little more than a cup as well.
Make sure to check the ingredients in your hoisin sauce. I'm trying to cut out all artificial colors and what do you know, there it was lurking in our hoisin sauce. Next time I buy it, I'll be on the lookout for a different brand.
Barbecued Raspberry-Hoisin Chicken
Adapted from Eating Well
Adapted from Eating Well
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
3/4 cup hoisin sauce3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed, each cut into 3 crosswise strips
3/4 cup hoisin sauce3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of crushed red pepper
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed, each cut into 3 crosswise strips
Place the raspberries in the blender.
If they're frozen, let them defrost a bit in there. Add your hoisin sauce. If you like, you can call it hoser sauce like we do. Because we're twelve.
Get your choppables ready.
Chop your garlic, orange zest and ginger. Try to ignore your husband offering you tips on how to improve your chopping techniques. It's all going to end up in the blender anyway.
Add the rice vinegar, garlic, orange zest, ginger, pepper and red pepper to the raspberries and hoisin sauce in a blender or food processor.
Blend until smooth. Set 1/4 cup aside to use as a dipping sauce. Transfer the rest of the sauce to a ziploc bag and add chicken. Make sure the chicken is coated. Lick the spatula.
Let that marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours. We marinated ours for six hours.
Heat your grill up to a medium heat. Remove the chicken from marinade and thread onto four skewers(if you're using boneless thighs), distributing as evenly as possible. Put the skewers on the grill. You need to keep a close eye on these on the grill to make sure they don't burn.
If you notice them getting too brown, pull them over to a cooler part of the grill. They should take about 4-5 minutes a side. You can always cut into one to see if it's done. We use a thermometer, especially when we grill chicken that isn't boneless but you can also grill until you notice the chicken is firm to the touch. This is something that takes a little practice.
Serve chicken with dipping sauce on the side. Try not to gross out your loved ones by licking your fingers too enthusiastically.
We really enjoyed this chicken. The ginger gives it a nice kick and the fruitiness is perfect for a summer evening. I served it with some leftover rice I tried to jazz up (and I failed miserably at this) and sauteed some grated summer squash and onion with tamari. The leftovers re-heated beautifully for lunch today.
I think this is a great way to use raspberries, although there was also a delectable raspberry tart in the same issue that's calling my name. I think my rowing machine is going to get a work out this summer.
For a printable recipe, click here
Wowsa that looks good. I am not much of a raspberry fan but I would make an exception for that!
Posted by: Laura | July 24, 2009 at 02:26 PM
Love your blog!
Posted by: CyndiC | August 17, 2010 at 03:18 AM