jerk

Needed a little change-up from all the Asian food lately, so we took a little trip to the Caribbean this week. I followed a pretty simple epicurious recipe for jerk chicken marinade. I did cut back on the scotch bonets and added ginger since that seemed appropriate. For the chicken I used a whole chicken I cut up, and let it marinade in the fridge overnight. Since it was kind of cold and wet outside the following day, I opted to cook the chicken in the oven instead of on the grill. Low and slow is the key here. The oven was set at 350 and I cooked the chicken pieces for a good 80-90 minutes, turning the oven down to 300 for the last 15-20 minutes. The result was very juicy and delicious chicken. As a side I cooked some plain rice and tossed with lime juice and cilantro. I also made black beans. The beans were soaked overnight and then cooked with a pablano pepper, a dried chipotle, a small onion, apple cider vinegar, cumin, and oregano in water for a couple hours until tender. Not exactly a side you'd find in Jamaica next to chicken (tasted more like a southwestern chili), but still delicious. Plus beans are one of those things that gets better with time, so the leftovers have been quite wonderful.