Jamaican Jerk Chicken

J found this 52 week cooking challenge where every week they give you a theme that you are supposed to cook one dish by. We initially were excited about it and were going to do it but I got side tracked pretty quickly and gave it up.  This week I was struggling to come up with my menu so we went back to that list to see what their suggestion was for this week and it was Jamaican.  We are both big fans of jerk chicken but for some reason never make it, so we thought we’d try it.  I have a Jamaican friend whose jerk chicken is just awesome and she would probably cringe at our results but as white people that do not eat a whole lot of Jamaican food we were both pretty pleased and will most likely make this again.

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbs coriander seeds

1 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ground allspice

1 bunch scallions, chopped

1 large onion, rough chopped

2-3 Scotch Bonnet peppers

1 tsp thyme

5 cloves garlic

½ cup white vinegar

1 cup soy sauce

½ cup sugar

10-12 boneless skinless chicken thighs

In a dry skillet over medium-high heat, toast the first 4 ingredients until aromatic.  Grind the spices then add the spices and the next 6 ingredients to a food processor and puree.  Combine the puree and the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar in a large bowl.   Add the chicken to the bowl, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight. 

Heat a large skillet to high heat and sear both sides of all of the chicken thighs.  Once seared add all of the chicken and the marinade to the skillet and cook on medium heat until the chicken is cooked through.  Once the chicken is cooked remove it from the skillet and allow the marinade to cook down, about 10 minutes, so that it can be served atop the chicken.

This could not have been easier to make.  I had J make the marinade one night while I was cooking dinner for that night and we just put the chicken in the marinade in the fridge overnight and the next night when I was ready to cook it I just threw the chicken in the skillet and made my sides.  I made Island Rice and black beans to go with this and could not have been more pleased with my dinner.

Spicy Chicken Chili

We hosted a super bowl party this weekend and I of course planned and fretted over my menu for a whole week. After scouring through super bowl menus and pinterest pins for far more time than I am ok with admitting, I decided on a few snacks and a couple entrees.  I took this as an opportunity to make a few things that I had been craving but I also made some traditional super bowl foods.  One of which was a chili.  I wanted to try something different than my standard ground turkey/bean chili recipe that is good and easy but really kind of boring.  I decided to go with a spicy chicken chili and found a number of recipes that initially seemed interesting but after further review decided to keep looking and found what is going to be the only chili that I make from now. I adjusted the original recipe a little bit to use some of the ingredients that I had on hand that needed to be used and still can’t believe how good this turned out.

When I made this I didn't measure any of the spices so I will put the recommended volumes but don’t hesitate, which you never should, to taste and season to your liking because I can’t actually vouch for these volumes but the general base I thought was really good.

1 large package of boneless chicken thighs ~ 3.5 lbs, sliced into bite-sized chunks

1 tbs olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp chili powder

2 tbs ground cumin

1 tsp black pepper

½ tsp cinnamon

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

2 roasted red peppers, diced

1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 jalapeno peppers, diced

1 can rotel

3 cups chicken broth

2 cans large butter beans

In a large pot heat the oil to medium high heat and add the chicken, stirring often.  Once the meet is browned add the onion and garlic, cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the remaining ingredients except for the beans. 

Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.  Adjust the lid so the pot is partially covered and continue simmering for about another 30 minutes to boil off some of the excess liquid so the chili is more thick and less of a stew.  Add the beans and simmer for about another 30 minutes.

Before the party J and I bet on which of the dishes were going to be cleaned out by the end of the night and this was not one of the ones I bet on but turned out to be the favorite and is definitely going to be my go-to chili recipe from now on.