Grilled Jerk Chicken

I love salad so much that in a perfect world, I'd be putting a salad together every single night with fresh from my garden ingredients. 🥗The tomatoes, peppers, spinach and cucumbers picked from my garden are the very best.  I think I can taste all of the time, sweat and effort that I put into my garden when I bite into a garden ripe tomato that I grew myself.  My home grown vegetables taste like the satisfaction of a LOT hours spent planting and caring for my precious vegetables.  🍅🌶🥒

Unfortunately, I don't live in this wonderful daily fresh salad fantasy world.  I'm not a professional farmer.  👩🏻‍🌾 I'd describe myself as an amateur gardener at best.  I don't have the time to grow, harvest and prepare my own salad ingredients all year long.    I've stopped feeling guilty about buying my vegetables in a bag and started celebrating the fact that I managed to get a vegetable on the plate with our meal.  💁🏻‍♀️

Even though I strive for homemade - my reality is a dinner that's a beautiful mix of homemade and already prepared foods.  Take this grilled jerk chicken dinner for example.  I managed to get the chicken marinated and even boil a few ears of corn to serve with it while the chicken cooked on the grill.  🌽As for the rest of the meal - it was tortilla chips and salsa, a few leftover cherries and a salad straight out of the bag.  😂  

The following day, I warmed the chicken and put it on top of the aforementioned leftover bag salad.  I added some fresh veggies and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese and it was amazing.  Not quite as good as if the whole meal would have been homemade but definitely quicker.  And if I add up the cost of the plants, the seeds, the watering bill and the organic sprays to keep the pests from invading my garden - it was probably a whole lot cheaper.  🤷🏻‍♀️

Grilled Jerk Chicken
4 scallions
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 jalapeno chile
10 sprigs fresh thyme
5 cloves garlic
2 1/2 teaspoons allspice 
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
3 pounds chicken breasts

Process scallions, oil, soy, vinegar, sugar, jalapeno, thyme, garlic, allspice, salt, cinnamon and ginger in a blender. 

Reserve 1/4 cup marinade and refrigerate.  

Place chicken in a ziploc bag with remaining marinade.  Refrigerate 1-24 hours.

Place chicken on a hot grill and cook until 160 degrees.  

Brush skin with reserved marinade and cook until charred.  

Remove chicken from grill and tent with foil to rest for 10 minutes.  

When I think of "jerk" seasoning - I usually think hot and spicy.  This make your own seasoning blend is perfect for anyone who wants to customize their spice level. I took the ribs and seeds out of my jalapeno before I added it to my marinade so my chicken wasn't spicy at all.  If you want to kick up the heat - add the whole jalapeno and maybe even a few more spicy peppers.  Go ahead - spice it up.  I dare you.  

​Ciao!

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