We were off the chicken for a month or so but with thighs for $5 a family pack, it would be a crime not to take them. I baked half and poached the others also making a nice rich stock.
My sister had mentioned she had pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches from her deli and that sounded so good. But I forgot I had no BBQ sauce. Like pizza sauce, like many sauces, its easy to whip up your own but you forget just how easy.
First I made a quick roux in my cast iron pan with flour and oil and I toasted up cumin seed, chili and cumin powder. Then I added some chicken stock, orange juice and whisked that. Added a splash of red wine vinegar and a couple tablespoons of ketsup, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and let it heat to bubbling. Robust and Amazingly simple.
For that extra umphh I added chunks of pineapple to the shredded chicken into the sauce and let it all marry before piling it on my toasted potato rolls. I don't suck tonight!! This dear friend is a winner! The way the heat of the BBQ sauce lights up when you chew into the sweet juicy pineapple and then get a bite of the roasted spicy chunks of chicken. And the comforting soft slightly toasted potato roll blankets each bite and mellows it all out.
Using my Cuisinart for ease I also made a Red Cabbage Green Apple slaw with carrots and red onion dressed just with EVOO and red wine vinegar and a little sugar. Perfect match.
I don't even want to look on the web and see if someone has thought of this already, the pulled chicken with pineapple. For tonight I want to believe that I alone came up with this winning combo. I'm out of this world, intergalactic, dyno-mite! Thank you, thank you. No, please, sit.
