To the man in the orange suit! 1/4/2013

Roast Jamaican Chicken

Bonus points if you get the obscure movie reference in the title... Tonight we traveled across the ocean to the small island of Jamaica! Roast Jamaican Chicken and a salad dressing to die for. Sorry for the cover photo, I think my camera got possessed by JJ Abrams for the night. This recipe, again, we modified a bit, but is posted here exactly how we made it.

Entree:

• Roast Jamaican Chicken

Sides:

• Rice and Peas
• Coco Bread
• Mojo Cabbage Salad
• Fried Plantains

Roast Chicken:

Ingredients:

• 1 3lbs chicken, whole
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp salt
• Juice of 1 lime
• Zest of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground clove
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 4 habeneros seeded
• 1 thumb length knuckle of ginger (about 1/4 cup) (unpeeled)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 small onion
• 3 tbsp brown sugar

Process:

Chicken with Marinade

1. Throw everything but the chicken into a blender. The larger items we chopped up first to get them to blend better. Don't worry about peeling the ginger, the skin goes in as well.
2. Blend till a nice puree. The final flavor should be salty when tasted.
3. Put chicken in a gallon ziplock bag along with the puree. Squish the bag around a bit to coat the chicken, and let sit for an hour, turning and squishing about every ten minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 500.
5. After the hours up, place the chicken in a glass baking dish and cover with the marinade.
6. Roast Chicken for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 450, and roast another 15 minutes. Reduce again to 425, basting with the drippings in the dish as you go. After about 10 minutes, scrape the marinade from the top of the chicken, to allow the skin to crisp a bit. Continue cooking at 425 until the internal temp reads 160, about 15-20 minutes or so.
7. Remove from oven and tent with foil for 5-10 minutes.

Out of the Oven!

The came out falling off the bone, and delicious! Probably a little spicy for most people, but was just right for us. Hot enough to wake up your taste buds, but not enough as to melt your lips off.

Fried plantains were super easy. We found super-ripe (black) plantains, and sliced them on the bias. Toss them into the deep frier until they are a golden brown. Remove them and let them cool. When you are ready to serve them, smash each chip till thin, and toss it back in the frier a second time until brown and crispy on the edges.

The mojo salad dressing turned out to be full of flavor with a  ton of citrus punch. The best part about it is it is completely fat free. No mayo or oil, just fruit and spices. We have a ton of ideas for uses with this one. The only things we did differently than the recipe is used two of the habenero tops to simmer in with it as it cooked, and added 1/2 lime of juice to it after it finished cooking. It gave the final dressing a nice kick. We mixed this with shredded cabbage and mandarin orange slices.

I was skeptical about the rice and peas. Looking at the ingredients (which ironically contained no peas), I wasn't sure how this would turn out. It turned out fantastic, but not for everyone's tastes. The final dish was VERY earthy in flavor. I really enjoyed it where Anna was a bit hesitant. However, it paired perfectly with the rest of the dish when eaten with a bite of the chicken and marinade. A bit of each layered on a chunk of Coco bread (ironically containing no coco) and the flavor profile was complete!

Sources:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-whole-roasted-chicken/
http://foodjamaica.net/2008/04/17/authentic-jerk-chicken/
http://www.cooklikeajamaican.com/rice-and-peas/
http://foodjamaica.net/2008/04/17/fried-plantains/
http://www.food.com/recipe/jamaican-coco-bread-97040
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=596238