Jerk Chicken And Caribbean Rice & Beans

We had not made jerk chicken in a long time and we decided it would make a good Thursday supper for our friends and us.  I used our normal jerk marinade to season the chicken but the recipe below is for one and half times.  I like whole chicken for the dish so I spatchcocked one for us but they prefer breasts so I did four large ones for them.

Jerk Chicken Ala Larry

The Ingredients:

1 five lb. chicken, spatchcocked (split in half)

4 large bone-in chicken breasts, trimmed

6-9 scotch bonnets peppers (I omitted any heat)

3 Tbsp. thyme

3 Tbsp. ground allspice

1½ Bulb of garlic, finely chopped

4 Medium onions, finely chopped

3 Tbsp. sugar

3 Tbsp. salt

3 Tsp. ground black pepper

¾ cup olive oil

3/4 cup soy sauce

Juice of 1½ lime

1½ cup orange juice

1 ½ cup white vinegar

1½ Tsp of the following

     ground cinnamon

     nutmeg

     ginger

 The Process:

1. Rough chop the onions, garlic and peppers. These do not need to be chopped too fine as they will be liquefied by the blender.

2. Blend all of the ingredients (excluding the meat) in a blender to make the jerk sauce.

3. Chill marinade in the fridge for several hours.

4. Add the chicken to a two gallon plastic bag, whisk the chilled marinade and pour over the chicken, massage it to be sure all surface are covered.  Remove the air and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours (I did 11 hours).

5. One hour before cooking, remove chicken from the marinade and jaccard the breasts to tenderize (if you have the device).

6. Grill (lid closed) over low - medium heat to an internal breast temp of 160F (it will rise to about 165F)

Note: I couldn’t bring myself to pour out all of the good marinade that was left so I cooked then froze it for another meal.

To go with the chicken, I found a recipe for Caribbean Rice on the web at Imaculate Bites and made 1½ times the recipe below which was plenty for both families.  Here is a shot from the web and mine looked just the same except for the pepper.

Caribbean Rice & Beans

The Ingredients:

¼ cup vegetable oil (or canola)

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup diced onion

2 teaspoons creole spice (Tony Cachere’s)

2 cups uncooked long grain rice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 can (1¾ cups) coconut milk

1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 small bay leaves

salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

2¼ ups chicken broth

1 whole scotch bonnet pepper.

1 teaspoons paprika (optional)

The Process:

1. Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain water.

2. Heat a saucepan with oil. Then add onions, garlic, thyme, and hot pepper, sauté for about a minute.

3. Stir in rice to the pan, followed by beans for about 2 minutes.

4. Then add coconut milk, bay leaf, bouillon powder, creole spice, with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil reduce heat, cover with a lid and simmer until rice is cooked, about 20 minutes or more. Stir occasionally from the sides to prevent burns, add more water if needed.

5. Adjust for salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves You have to stir occasionally to prevent any burns.

The Verdict

I thought the chicken was very good but next time I will add some heat.  The rice was good but needed more of something plus a little heat – don’t think I would make it again.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

7/9/20 event date