Jerk Chicken and Jamaican Rice and Peas

For some reason I had a hankering for Jerk Chicken.

When I was in my early twenties I lived in Boise for a couple of years. One of my short-lived jobs was at a little deli called Neville and Neville. Their main specialty was Jerk Chicken. They slow cooked it every day in a huge rotisserie oven. It was outstanding! Such wonderful, sweet, tangy, spicy flavor!

So, I did a little online research and came up with my own version of Jerk Chicken. In case you want to take a peek, I found most of my information here.

So, here is what I used for my Jerk Marinade:

• 1 cup orange juice
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• juice from 1 lime
• 2 green onions thinly sliced
• 5 tsp minced garlic
• 2 Serrano peppers chopped
• several thyme sprigs chopped
  
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp all-spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Pour everything into a blender and mix briefly to combine. Place 3-4 lbs of boneless chicken into a Ziploc bag or large bowl. Pour marinade over chicken and marinade at least 4 hours or overnight. Remove chicken (saving marinade) and place onto a medium grill. Cook thoroughly, turning often. (I was grilling this during a thunder and lightening storm! That was a little crazy!)

Strain your marinade into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer until reduced by half. This will be a basting and dipping sauce for your chicken.

The rice is a bit tricky because I couldn't find a recipe that would specifically tell me how much water to use. I followed this Bobby Flay recipe fairly closely but, again, he didn't say how much water to use so I changed the directions just a bit. I find these directions to be a little more clear for me to follow but you can do it Bobby's way if you wish. This was just easier for me.

You will need the following:

1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup red beans
1 1/2 cups long grain rice (I used Jasmine.)
2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 can light coconut milk
3 green onions
2 sprigs thyme
1 Serrano pepper (I couldn't find Scotch Bonnet.)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Rinse beans. Cover with water and soak overnight. Drain and rinse. Place your beans and garlic in a pan and cover with water. Cook until tender (about 1 hour). Drain. Bring 2 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 can of coconut milk to a boil. Add rice, beans, whole onions. thyme sprigs, uncut Serrano pepper, salt and pepper. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Remove your pepper, thyme and onions and serve.

I also served a simple salad with this. For the dressing, I doctored up a Jalapeno Ranch dressing I had with a little lime juice and fresh chopped cilantro.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

Oh, and by the way, Dar at Girlchef is having a fabulous cookbook giveaway! Run on over there right away to find out the details! :0)