Piña-Miso Glazed Chicken with Minty Squash Salad
Piña-Miso Glazed Chicken with Minty Squash Salad
Bursting with umami and pineapple two ways, this chicken is a summer party.
Chicken teriyaki just happens by fate.
Or at least for me, I felt like I deserved some kind of medal for getting through a full day of work and a doctor’s appointment. On a recent Monday, that medal came in the form of chicken teriyaki with broccoli from Rascals in Long Beach, a South Bay teriyaki institution since 1987.
Teriyaki comes from the Japanese root words teri, to shine, and yaki, to broil or grill. I’m so inspired by the deep flavors of teriyaki, I kept dreaming up my costeña approach to this classic. It had to be one that is very pineapple-forward with just the right amount of sweetness to glaze the chicken. Swapping soy sauce for shiro miso turns this sauce from bold to nuanced umami, in the same way miso soup has the power to thrill your palate. I combine shiro miso, also called 'sweet white' or 'Kyoto-style' miso with pineapple juice, garlic, ginger, and smoked pimentón and then reduced to really make Shiro miso’s nutty and sweet umami-rich qualities pop.
The chicken is brushed with a minimal amount of glaze to infuse it with flavor, but not too much to get in the way of getting the skin crispy and deep golden brown. An overnight marinade is ideal, but even a quick dab of the marinade before going into the oven does the trick. Right before serving, the roasted chicken gets spooned with the rest of the glaze.
The squash salad completes this summer party. But this salad is my gift to anyone, who like me, has a very meh reaction to cooked squash. It turns out that raw squash can be revelatory and play along well with fresh and juicy pineapple tossed with lemon juice, olive oil, and mint. You can sub yellow crookneck squash for green squash, but I love a monochromatic moment.
Eaten together, it’s like a savory dole whip float on a hot day.
This piña-miso goes great with this week’s mixtape by DJ Cozmic Sound. Jesse Martinez has one of the dreamiest tastes in music and he curated his favorite Afro-Latino tunes for you and only you. Jesse is the best!
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