FCG: Jamaican Chicken 11/30/04

Greetings Gangsters! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. Today's recipe comes from "The Party Girl Cookbook" because I'm such a party girl. Right. But that's what the book is really called. The recipe is called "Jamaican Chicken" and frankly, I don't comprehend why it isn't just "Jerk Chicken" because it has a jerk marinade on it. I call it Jerk Chicken my own self, but y'all can call it what you want. I thought it nice served over rice, but it could also be served just as an appetizer I guess. I like that the recipe halved nice and evenly. :) Also, it wasn't terribly spicy as I had thought it would be, though that may be because jalapenos are out of season right now so they're not as hot. I also came across something in the phone book recently that I thought interesting. From Transwest Publishing: "Trivia about Chocolate Chip Cookies: These delights were originally developed in 1937 in a local country inn in Massachusetts. Experiments led to a recipe combining bits of chocolate candy with a shortbread-type cookie dough. Chocolate Chip cookies have revolutionized the dessert industry ever since." I wouldn't say "delights," or "revolutionized." myself, but then, CC isn't my favorite cookie in the whole world. (And I'm personally not local to Massachusetts nor any inn therein.) But that has nothing to do with Jerk Chicken. Without further ado, I give you the recipe. Enjoy!-Devon

Jamaican Chicken
2 onions finely chopped*
1 cup green onions, finely chopped*
2 jalapeno peppers, sliced*
2 tsp pepper
4 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried
2 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
6 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP vinegar (any kind. I used red wine vinegar and really liked it.)
4 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts

Combine everything except the chicken in a blender/food processor until smooth. *I just chopped the stuff small enough to go into the food processor. I see no point in chopping stuff up that you're going to grind into smithereens in the food processor: just get it all small enough to fit and let the blender do the work. If you're not as lazy as I am, chop chop away and have loads of fun. If you have other stuff to do, let the food processor do the bulk of the work. :) Put the chicken in a glass baking dish and cover it with the marinade: turn to couat well and let chill overnight. I personally cut my chicken up BEFORE the marinade thing: I already had a cutting board out for chunking up the vegetables, why do dishes twice? (Again, laziness.) The marinade is not the liquidy stuff you normally think of: it's more like marinading chicken in salsa. It's a rather thick marinade, but it's worth it.

Next day, preheat the oven to 350 F and soak 36 bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes. Slice each chicken breast into 8 thin slices. (Okay, math is NOT my thing, so someone explain to me why you would need 36 skewers if you have 4 chicken breasts sliced into 8 slices each. Wouldn't that give you 4 extra skewers? I guess not being a party girl, I just don't get the finer nuances of skewering 32 pieces of chicken onto 36 sticks.) Thread the slices onto the skewers, piercing three times. (I don't know what would happen if you pierced less than thrice, but some of my pieces got skewered more times and they turned out okay I thought.) Line a baking sheet with foil , put baking racks on top of that and place the skewered chicken on the racks. Bake 15-20 minutes (until done) and serve warm. These will keep a few days in the fridge, but the smell becomes more and more potent. They still taste good, but it's kind of stinky.

This would probably be great on the grill too.