Few smells say Portuguese summer quite like a churrasqueira, a grill house, at full tilt: rows of flattened chickens over charcoal, a cook brushing them with chili oil from a little pot, and a queue that does not mind waiting. The chili is the piri piri, a small, fierce pepper whose ancestors traveled from the Americas to the Portuguese territories in southern Africa, Mozambique above all, and took root there. The chicken that bears its name is most closely tied to Guia, a village near Albufeira in the Algarve, where grill houses began serving it in the 1960s and which still holds a festival in its honor every summer.

Its popularity at home grew in the 1970s, as people returning from Africa brought their taste for the sauce back with them. Every grill house guards its own recipe, but the bones of it are simple: chilies, garlic, oil, something sour and plenty of salt. Opening the bird out flat means it cooks evenly and quickly, so it works as well under a home oven broiler as over coals. Have a cold drink ready; the heat is entirely adjustable, and entirely the point.

The piri piri sauce

Ingredients

• 6 to 10 fresh red piri piri or bird's eye chilies
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) olive oil
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 bay leaf

Method

1. Put on the gloves. Roughly chop the chilies and put them in the blender with the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, paprika, oregano, salt and bay leaf. Blend for about 1 minute, scraping down the sides once, until you have a smooth, bright orange sauce.
2. Pour the sauce into the small saucepan and warm it over low heat for 3 minutes, just until it bubbles at the edges, to soften the raw garlic. Let it cool. Pour half into the heatproof jar and keep it for basting and serving; the other half is the marinade.

The chicken

Ingredients

• 1 (about 3 1/2 lb / 1.6 kg) whole chicken
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• half of the piri piri sauce

Method

1. Set the chicken breast side down on the board, with the tail end facing you. Using the shears, cut along one side of the backbone from tail to neck, then along the other side, and lift the backbone out. Keep it for stock if you like.
2. Turn the chicken over so the skin faces up. Put the heel of your hand on the middle of the breast and press down firmly until you feel the breastbone crack and the bird lies flat. Tuck the wing tips behind the breast. With the knife, make 3 short, shallow cuts in each thigh and drumstick so the marinade can get in.
3. Sprinkle the chicken all over with the coarse salt. Put it in the large dish or bag and pour over the marinade portion of the sauce. Rub it in on both sides and into the cuts. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 12 hours. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking.
4. On a charcoal grill, bank the coals on one side; on a gas grill, light one side to medium high and leave the other side off. Lay the chicken skin side up on the cooler side, close the lid and cook for 30 minutes. Move it skin side down over the hot side for 5 to 8 minutes, watching closely, until charred in patches, then turn it skin side up again for the last few minutes. For the oven, see the cue below.
5. Move the chicken to the board. Brush it generously with a few spoonfuls of the saved clean sauce and let it rest for 10 minutes. Cut it into 8 pieces with the shears: halve it down the breastbone, then separate each leg from the breast and cut each in two.

Tomato and onion salad

Ingredients

• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1/2 small red onion
• 1 small green bell pepper
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• to taste salt

Method

1. While the chicken rests, put the tomatoes, onion and pepper in a shallow bowl. Sprinkle with salt and oregano, then drizzle over the olive oil and vinegar and turn everything gently with your hands. Leave for 5 minutes so the tomatoes release a little juice.

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