Recipe > Mains
Jerk Chicken
Okay, you're all familiar with jerk seasoning right? Yeah, y'know that thick paste you get out of the jar that makes you go 'Oohh' and 'Ouchio!'
Well forget that, this is the real deal. This isn't pre-packaged, pre-processed chump food, this is a genuine recipe for a hot-doggity, fiery sauce of richness and joy.

You're going to love the crazy combination of chilli, thyme, lime and cinnamon, its like nothing else you've ever had before.

If you do have a char-grill to cook the chicken over all the better, however if not the oven set on high heat will do!

Serve with rice

Serves 4

Ingredients
For the sauce:
1Tblsp allspice
2 Tsp cinnamon
1 Tsp nutmeg
1/4 Tsp ground cloves
3 red chillis
1 bunch thyme
1 Tblsp vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
3 Tblsp tomato puree
110g / 4oz tomatoes
200ml / 7fl oz chicken stock
3 Tblsp brown sugar
2 limes, zest and juice of
Salt and pepper

4 x chicken breasts or legs

Mise-en-Place:
Preheat the oven to gas mark 6 / 200°C / 400°F
Weigh the ingredients
Mix all the spices together
Zest and juice the lime
Prepare the stock, roughly chop the garlic, onion and tomatoes

Method:
Make the sauce:
In a saucepan over a medium to high heat:
Heat the oil
Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned
Add the onion before the garlic colours too much and 'brown off'
Add the spices, cook for 1 minute to release flavours
Add the tomato puree and chopped tomato, cook for 2-3 minutes
Add the remaining ingredients, bring the sauce to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes
Blend
Adjust seasoning and set aside

The chicken:
Arrange the chicken on a roasting tray
Pour the sauce over the chicken
Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes
The chicken is ready when the skin has begun to blacken. To test if the chicken has cooked all the way through insert a knife into the thickest part of the flesh. The juices should run clear, the flesh and bones should be white. If the flesh is still pink or the juices are red, return to the oven to cook through
Serve

Adjust: Adjust the sauce before you place it over the chicken
Too bland: add more lime, thyme, stock, salt and pepper
Too sharp: add more sugar
Too spicy: chilli heat is hard to remove without the addition of fat, in this case I would suggest adding some more sugar to smooth the bite and serve the chicken with yoghurt on the side so that those who can't handle the heat can cool the dish to their requirements

Presentation:
Serve this dish with rice and the vegetables of your choice
Arrange the rice in the middle of the plate
Place the vegetables on top, aiming for centre height
Place the chicken on top of the vegetables
Pour over any sauce remaining in the roasting tray
Serve with a wedge of lime
(If you are serving chicken legs I would suggest that you cut the leg in half before plating)

Chef Insight:
The flavouring of jerk chicken and other meats owes alot to its origins in the Caribbean where meats and fish were barbequed over fires made from the branches of the pimenta tree (which is the source of allspice berries.) The smoke from the pimenta fires flavoured the meats and fish with a distinctive flavour that quickly became a favourite flavour of the caribbean