Spanish Marinated Chicken and Aji (Spanish Themed Lunch)

We were invited to Amra's house last weekend for a Spanish themed lunch and everyone was to help and bring a dish each. I've never cooked Spanish food before, all I've ever cooked was a chorizo on the bbq or mixed in pasta. That would not do. So I called upon my friend Steph who just so happens to know some wonderful recipes and was happy to share. Thank's Steph and Carlos!!!

My first dish I prepared was Spanish Marinated Chicken. Which Steph actually calls: Pollo Estefania (Poi-yo Estef-ania) Stephanie's Chicken. Great name!

Lime juice, garlic, salt & pepper, corriander and olive oil

I used chicken thighs and cut them into small pieces so they would cook faster. Steph normally uses drumsticks

I pan fried mine but I really should have cooked it over the coal bbq because it tasted much better. Recipe below.

My second contribution was Aji. A recipe Steph posted up on her blog.

Starting with diced tomatoes

Sliced onions

Corriander, lemon juice, chilli's, salt & pepper and olive oil

Mix, mix, mix

Recipe below

So what else did everyone bring to the table?

Amra & Duong - mussels

Chhay & Justin - Mini frittatas

Amra & Duong - Marinated baby octopus

Peter & Marita - Spanish salad

Vinny - Spanish rice

Prem - Spanish meatballs

Amra & Duong - Asado (grilled meats)

And the barbie with spanish sausage, asado, chicken and prawns
Amra - Tiramisu (dessert was not Spanish)

Side view

Slice view (yummo!)

Chhay - dark chocolate swiss roll

Chhay - milk chocolate swiss roll

How lucky were we? Not one type of swiss roll but TWO!!

There were some other dishes but I was so busy eating I forgot to take photos, sorry guys! Prem also made sage potato snacks and Irene & Albert made Empanadas and Amra made Sangria too.

What a wonderful, delicious and massive lunch! It's times like these I wish I had a bigger stomach capacity...

Thank you everyone for the fantastic food and a special thank you to Amra for organising the themed lunch and hosting it at her place. Next up....Mexican??? ; )

The recipes

Spanish Marinated Chicken (quantity is a guess and what I ended up using)

1.5 kg Chicken
Juice of 4 limes
3 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
1 1/2 bunches of Corriander
olive oil
3 chili's

1. Juice the limes and put it in a large bowl.

2. Chop the garlic, corrinader and chilli's and also put them in the bowl.

3. Add the salt & pepper, olive oil into the bowl.

4. Chop the chicken (if you want smaller pieces) and add it to the bowl. Mix and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

Aji

(NB - I doubled the recipe but the current quantity should be enough for about 4 servings)

Juice of 2 lemons
3 tomatoes
1 onion
1 bunch corriander
2 small chill's

Salt and pepper
olive oil
1. Dice the tomatoes and put them in a large bowl.
2. Slice the onion, add to bowl.
3. Chop the coriander, add to bowl.
4. Chop the chilli's finely, add to bowl.
5. Add salt & pepper (a lot more salt than pepper as it off sets the lemon juice)
6. Add a dash of olive oil. Mix and let it sit for at least an hour to bring the flavours.