2 breasts and 2 thighs cut from whole chicken (save carcass for soup, etc.)
Or 4 breasts or 4 thighs or whatever. Important - skin ON. The flavour really sticks to the skin. Leave your diet at the doorstep.
Caribbean Jerk Chicken
1 bunch of green onions, cut into 2 inch sections
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp ground ginger
zest and juice from 1 lime
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp molasses
hot sauce - adjust heat according to your taste
coarse salt
Whiz the whole thing up and marinade chicken for 2 hours in a plastic bag, massage every now and then. Grill over low heat (skin side down first) for 45 minutes, flipping half way. Check that the chicken is cooked through with meat thermometer.
We ate this with brown rice and grilled mini bell peppers ($$ usually but found them on the half-off cart at the grocery store - I actually thought they were habanero peppers at the time...).
We also enjoyed some Apple Stuffed Pork Chops this week. They were so good that I found myself almost rolling my eyes with each bite! Chance even ate these because they were tender and filled with sweet apple stuffing.
Apple Stuffed Pork Chops*
3 palm-sized sirloin pork chops, boneless, thick-cut
1 Tbsp butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 apple, peeled and sliced
splash of apple juice
fennel seed
2 slices of whole-wheat toast, cubed
dijon mustard
1/2 cup apple juice
Melt butter in frying pan and saute onion until transparent. Add apple slices and splash in some apple juice to help apples steam. Cover and let simmer until apples are soft. Onions and apples should be browning nicely. Add bread cubes and remove to a bowl to cool down.
Cut pockets into pork chops using sharp knife. Stuff with apple mixture and squish pork chops closed. Heat frying same frying pan to med-high heat and sear pork chops briefly. Move to roaster. Keep heat on frying pan and pour in apple juice and mustard to deglaze. Pour this sauce into roaster. Cover roaster and cook for 45 minutes at 350°F.
All of this inventive cooking has revved up my imagination. I have been finding inspiration outside of cooking shows, and when I bought bought 2 bunches of baby beets from some Hutterite farmers who were set up next to the library, I knew I had to do something creative with them!
Honey Roasted Beets*
10 small beets (tennis ball size), greens trimmed, peeled & cubed.
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
olive oil
1/2 cup water
orange zest
italian seasoning
coarse salt
ground black pepper
Directions
1. Place beets in a roasting pan.
2. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. In a small bowl, combine honey, vinegar, oil, water, zest, spices, salt, and black pepper; pour over the beets and toss.
3. Roast beets for 1 hour. Check to make sure that liquid is evaporating down to a sauce (leave lid off for last few minutes to speed it along if you're in a hurry).
Also I have been on a real squash kick lately. We have been enjoying zucchini squash and small patty pan squash (microwaved with butter and lemon juice). At the Farmer's Market on the weekend I picked up a buttercup squash for three bucks. I made an Apple-Squash Casserole with it.
Apple-Squash Casserole*
1/2 large (head-sized) buttercup squash, cleaned and cubed into 2" pieces.
2 apples, peeled and sliced.
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp nutmeg
Put squash in roaster, layer apples on top. Mix remaining ingredients and pour mixture on top of squash and apples. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.
This was good, but both Cam and I were not crazy about it - also due to the fact there were a ton of leftovers. I'm baking that chicken carcass left from the Jerk Chicken right now, I'll make a chicken stock with it and then puree it with the leftover squash with some curry powder and perhaps a little milk. So Thursday we will have Curry Squash Soup with Naan and Chicken Tikka....yum....
*denotes that Chance ate this along with us - what a gourmet palate he is developing!
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