Pollo Asado Tacos With Fire Roasted Poblano Strips

It's very rare that we don't have tacos at least every other week, and complimented by soft pillowy homemade tortillas The Missus excels at making. Usually tacos are filled with carne asada, or crispy bits of Salvadoran Chorizo, but occasionally, we like a lighter version with chicken.

This time, I decided to liven things up a bit and thought it would be a nice touch to combine some fire roasted poblano chiles with the chicken.

The marinade I use for the pollo asado is identical to what I use with carne asada: thin slices of white onion, fresh cilantro sprigs, a b it of freshly squeezed orange juice, with the chicken liberally dusted with seasoned salt, and McCormack BBQ seasoning. While that might not quite sound authentic, it's nearly identical in flavor to what many carnicerias use. Instead of the usual chicken breast, I prefer boneless chicken thighs - they're far more forgiving to cook on the grill, and the flavor is more full bodied than breast meat.

After marinating the chicken thighs all afternoon (since the thighs are boneless, there's no need for an overnight marinade) the meat was ready to put on the grill.

But first, the poblano chiles. After seeding the poblano, I cut it into strips so as much surface area would be exposed to the heat from the grill, and in this case, went directly over the hot coals:

When the chiles were somewhat blackened, I moved them away from the fire so they could cook more and soften a bit. Now it was time to cook the chicken. I put the meat on the indirect side of the grill, and added a small chunk of pecan so the chicken would get a nice kiss of smoke.

After about 15 minutes, I moved the chicken to the hot side of the grill to finish up:

After the chicken and chiles were finished cooking, The Missus began making tortillas, and when they were done, they went into this little ceramic warmer while I chopped up the chicken and chiles:

And here's the finished pollo asado tacos, topped with fresh pico de gallo and hot salsa roja:

Accompanied by an ice cold beer, the tacos were a meal to remember. We'll be doing this again very soon!