Bobby's Chicken Tacos

I made Bobby Flay's Spice-Rubbed Chicken Breast Tacos with Grilled Poblano Pepper and Coleslaw. Long title, and interesting ingredient list, but I was in the mood to go out on a limb and experiment. My trust in Bobby Flay was rewarded, these tacos are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!

There are several components. The Grilled Poblanos, BBQ Onions, Coleslaw, Spice-Rubbed Chicken and  Guacamole. Here are the step by step directions:

Of course Bobby Flay uses an outdoor grill, probably charcoal. Our gas grill is unreliable and on it's last leg, so I used a grill pan by Lodge that my girlfriend Jenna gave me as a wedding gift. It's great because it has grill ridges on one side, perfect for searing meats and a flat griddle on the other, perfect for foods like fish and eggs.

Bobby used his grill to blacken the poblano peppers. I turned my oven to broil and placed three poblano peppers in and let them blister and blacken for about 10 minutes, checking and turning about every 2 or 3 minutes.

Remove from the grill or oven, place in a bowl and cover with plastic for 10 minutes. The poblanos steam and the skin becomes easier to remove. Remove the skin, seeds and stem and cut into thin slices. Set aside.

I'm very happy with how the onions turned out. In the past, I've cut an onion into rings and then sauteed them on the stove. Here, I cut the onion into slices (leaving the layers intact) season with a little salt and pepper and placed them on my grill pan (ridge side) and let them char for about 4 minutes. Flip the onion slices over and brush with a jarred bbq sauce. If you want to make homemade BBQ Sauce, see my HWM BBQ Sauce recipe. I was SO skeptical of the BBQ flavor in my chicken taco, but I went with it and I encourage you to try this also.  Separate the onion into rings, set aside.

For the Coleslaw I use:

3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
1/2 small red onion, thinly diced
i bag of shredded cabbage

Bobby's recipe called for buying your own cabbage and shredding it. The taco recipe already had enough made-from-scratch elements, this was a step I skipped. Whisk together the mayonnaise, sugar, celery salt, celery seed, vinegar in a large bowl. Add the cabbage and stir to combine, season with salt and pepper, if needed. Let slaw sit at least 15 minutes before serving.

Have I added that I don't even like Coleslaw, of any kind!?!? This is really good though, a must try.
 

I've never made a chicken rub quite like this before. Check out the ingredients:

2 tablespoons ancho chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

The cinnamon is a great surprise! Whisk together all the spices in a small bowl. Season top side of the breasts with the rub mixture, turn over and season the back with a little salt. Drizzle with some of the oil and place on the grill, rub side down and grill until lightly golden brown and a crust has formed, about 3 minutes. Turn the chicken over, cooking until just cooked through, about 6 minutes longer. Remove from the grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.  The brown sugar helps the rub caramalize, it's great.

I admit I went rogue on the Guacamole. I didn't care for the way Bobby made his guacamole, so I did a little something different. In my cuisinart blender I put two avocados,  2 T lime juice, 1/2 red onion, 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, 1/2 seeded jalapeno (happened to be a VERY hot one.) I pureed this until it was a paste, hardly any chunks.

The Assembly: I purchased freshly made tortillas from my grocery store (yum) and assembled the taco by first smearing a thin layer of my guacamole, then placing a few strips of chicken, topped with a few thin strips of poblano, then coleslaw. There were SO many flavors going on, I couldn't believe my first bite when everything came alive and worked so well together. The spicy guacamole and spicy warm chicken went very well with the tangy bbq onions and all was cooled off by the coleslaw. Jim gave this an A++! Way to go Bobby Flay!  

{Bobby's Chicken Tacos}

Cinnamon