Ahh, I am finally sitting down to blog! I have been inundated with great food this month. As soon as I get the pictures from my belated birthday fete I will post about that smorgasbord of yummy goodness. I am also excited that my Honey is taking me on a hot date this weekend, and we will be able to blog about Nonna Tata's! Stay tuned for those blogs!
I spent the first part of March out of town, I was only home a short time when Mike left to go out of town for work. This put a damper on our cooking together, but it gave me time to contemplate what I wanted him to fix for me when he came back home. Finally, after all the soccer games on Saturday, Mike took us to our favorite place... Central Market. They were in the middle of an Eat the Heat event so there was an assortment of peppers and peppered goods throughout the store... and samples! We hit the jackpot! I had already asked Mike to make Caribbean Jerk chicken, but we needed to pick up some jerk, and Central Market sells it in bulk. This is really the cheapest way to buy spices, FYI. We bought several ounces for $1.44.
We couldn't just run in and buy the seasoning, we had to check everything out. We were going to pick up some shrimp to also throw on the grill, but when we got to the seafood counter we noticed a treat we couldn't resist... bacon wrapped shrimp stuffed with a New Mexico green chili. Grabbing some fresh herbs, chicken breasts for us and drumsticks for the kids, and of course some good beer (Hofbrau Original Lager), we headed home with our bounty.
I decided I would make cilantro lime rice to accompany the chicken, so my job was easy.
I melted a tablespoon of butter in a medium pot and threw in a cup of rice. I toasted the rice and then added the juice of one lime and a teaspoon of salt. I cooked it for about a minute and added 1 and 3/4 cups of water. I brought the water to a boil and then I covered it. I turned the temperature down to low and left it cook for about 20 minutes and then turned off the heat. I chopped up a handful of cilantro and tossed it into the rice. Voila.
Mike was assigned the chicken and shrimp. He decided he would trick it up a little and after rubbing the chicken with extra virgin olive oil he made a marinade with honey, about one and a half tablespoons jerk seasoning, and a little Guinness we had on hand. He brushed it all over the chicken breasts. (The jerk is a little too spicy for the kids, so we just rubbed their drumsticks with evoo and kosher salt.)
He then took it out to the grill and proceeded to make Mike magic. He continued basting the breasts with the marinade throughout the cooking process. All I could do was rub my hands in anticipation! Finally, he came in with all the goodies.
We started off the meal with the shrimp which were fantastic. The shrimp were tender and sweet and combined with the saltiness of the bacon and the bite of the pepper were little bites of amazing goodness.
We moved on to the chicken. The honey caramelized on the chicken binding the jerk to it. It was incredible. The sweetness of the cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ginger combined with the savory onions, chili, garlic, black pepper, and paprika pulled together an amazing dish. This was one for the books! Good job Mikey!
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