Healthy Meal / thyme

Recipe by Noel Prophet Last summer Dana and I went to a pot luck beer and food pairing: everyone brought a dish and a beer that went with it.  Dana made a summer saison that was a bit citrus-y  and it went well with the berries n biscuits I brought for dessert.  However, I thought the best dish was the jerk chicken that Noel and Kristen brought along with some very appropriate Red Stripe.  Just recently Noel sent me his jerk sauce recipe which I was pretty darn excited to see if I could replicate.  As per his suggestion, the recipe can be modified to suit, the one that follows is enough to marinate 3 pounds of chicken/meat/tofu with enough leftover to serve as a side sauce for greens.   I only made a few changes to Noel's recipe and the end result was deliciously hot and there were no leftovers! [caption id="attachment_551" align="aligncenter" width="516"] Bright ingredients makes for a spicy brown sauce.[/caption] Suggested Ingredients:

• Up to 6 scotch bonnet peppers or whatever hot peppers you like - I used the one Habanero that was ready in our garden and then some of the chili peppers that Pete and Jennifer from Woven Roots Farm gave us at the Harvest Festival.
• 2 Tablespoons each: dried thyme, ground allspice, Fire Cider, salt and black pepper
• Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger (fresh or powdered), to taste.
• 8 garlic cloves
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup or less olive oil
• 1/2 cup or less tamari
• Juice of 1 lime or lemon, or more, to taste.

Method: Chop up everything and then put all in the blender.   Or, put all ingredients into a wide mouth mason jar and use a wand blender to puree, same difference.  The marinade is done, ready to eat now on cooked greens or... Poke holes in your chicken (or tofu!) before you jerk it so it will hold the flavor better. Marinate overnight. When you are ready you can bake, grill, roast, etc your jerked chicken.  This would also work well with tempeh or tofu or other meat. Here's what I did with the chicken I let marinate in the fridge, well covered, for over 12 hours: Pre-heat the oven to 365.  Spread the chicken breast (I had about 2 pounds) and the jerk sauce I used to marinate it, in a wide glass baking dish.  I covered the dish with aluminum foil (or a glass lid if you have one) and baked it for about 45-50 minutes, until the thermometer read 142 and when I sliced into it, it was juicy and cooked through! Dana made coconut brown basmati rice to go with the baked jerk chicken.  I made a huge side of broccoli rabe dressed in olive oil and salt, which we ate with the remaining jerk sauce. [caption id="attachment_552" align="aligncenter" width="538"] All covered in Jafakin' Jerk Sauce![/caption]