Jerk Chicken

Jerk chicken is about as Jamaican as it gets, hot from the chilli, spicy and aromatic from the allspice, mace and cinnamon, it's the original Caribbean fast food.
There are probably as many jerk recipes as there are people who cook jerk, this is just one of the many, it is very simple to prepare and super delicious.



Jerk Chicken

1 large chicken, spatchcocked, skin on (or chicken pieces)
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 tablespoon of freshly ground black peppercorns
1 tablespoon of allspice
1 tablespoon of mace
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons of dried thyme
5 bay leaves, torn into small pieces
2 scotch bonnet chillis, finely chopped (we substituted a tablespoon of chilli flakes, if you use scotch bonnets make sure you wear gloves or wash your hands thoroughly after handling them)
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of rice bran oil (or canola)
Juice of four limes
2 tablespoons of butter

Place all the ingredients except the chicken in your food processor and blend to a smooth paste.
Place your chicken in an oven pan and coat all over with the jerk marinade, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Line an oven pan with tin foil and place the chicken in the pan skin side down, cover loosely with another sheet of tin foil and bake for one hour. After one hour remove the foil, turn the chicken so the skin is up, make sure there is plenty of jerk marinade on the skin side, return to the oven and bake for another hour. Serve with prawn, pawpaw and avocado curry (see recipe below), rice and grilled corn. Crack open an ice cold Red Stripe lager and enjoy.