Summer Grilling Time: Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Jamaican Jerk Chicken

It is finally raining after a very hot week. Some people love the heat and humidity, I am not one of them. Having grown up in Seattle even when summer was at it hottest it was nowhere like it is where I live now. My mother was determined before she came out for my wedding that according to the weather channel the humidity wouldn't be that bad. It was 95 and very humid the day of my wedding. My mother never said another word about the weather. It didn't help anything that our wedding was outside, the rose garden was beautiful where we were married, but it was hot! Even my tomatoes are unhappy with the near 100 degree, hot and humid weather this week. They are not happy at all and I have lost a number of leaves to heat scorch. So let it rain as much as it want. There is something great about southern summer storms. Since the heat has been high I have been using the oven as little as possible. Yesterday I tried a new recipe for Jamaican Jerk Chicken from Redbook magazine.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 22 minutes of total time (plus marinating), all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I only made a few changes o the original recipe. First I used a seeded jalapeno. Since my kids were eating it I wanted to cut down on the spiciness. I used my indoor electric grill, with this heat I had no desire to go outside. I left out the time, because honestly I forgot. I was too busy doing other things that I failed to read it in the ingredient list. I served the finished chicken with basmati rice.

The sauce on this chicken is deliciuos. It is a nice combination of spicy and sweet. Seeding the jalapenos was perfect, it really cut down on the heat, which was perfect for my kids. This dish was even better the next day after the flavors had sat on the chicken over night. Plus it re-heated very well.

This recipe is currently not available online (Redbook's decision - not mine). You can find it in the August issue of Redbook magazine. (I think that is the issue, but for whatever reason they don't put the month on the bottom of the recipe pages - hint, hint Redbook).