This week we tried a Jamaican jerk chicken recipe from the Guardian's "Perfect" series by Felicity Cloake... a mouth-tingling mix of chilis, all-spice, lime juice and thyme slathered over chicken and served with rice and peas.
I ended up going slightly off-piste... time constraints, the limits of my fridge and biblical levels of precipitation outside meant that we used chicken breasts (ideally you'd use legs with the bones left in), only gave it 30 mins to marinate (overnight is better), and cooked it in the oven (rather than on the BBQ).
I also avoided the scotch-bonnet chilis in favour of milder versions... the next time I cook it I'll increase the chili heat slightly, the flavours of the marinade are strong enough to cope with more chili without being overpowered by it.
Still, even with those tweaks it still made an excellent mid-week supper... the addition of soy sauce to the marinade (apparently an authentic Caribbean ingredient... who knew!) means you're left with extra sauce to serve it with, rather than just a dry rub which can take some of the moisture out of the chicken.
And I guess rice and peas doesn't generally mean basmati and birds eye, but it did the job!
This would work brilliantly on the BBQ or for large numbers of people so definitely one to try if the sun ever appears this summer; alternatively with a bit of pre-planning and 30 mins preparation the night before this makes a quick and easy post-work dinner.
Final top tip: if you buy packaged chilis from the supermarket keep any spare ones in the freezer in a bag so they don't go mouldy; give them 10-15 mins to thaw and use them as normal.
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