Jerk Chicken with pepper rice

Serves: 2

Preparation time (not including marination): 10 mins

Cooking time: 20 minutes

It's time to start delving into my Jamaican roots now and I have to admit I enjoyed it thoroughly. This dish is quite simply one of the tastiest things I have ever produced and will do so again and again. Its important that you leave the chicken to marinade for a number of hours, preferably overnight so plan it well in advance, I promise you its worth it. I cooked this indoors due to me living in England and it being particularly wet spring but this would be brilliant on a BBQ as well. without further ado here is the recipe and how to do it.

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 4 chicken thighs
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 yellow scotch bonnet chillis finely chopped
  
• 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 25g butter

For the rice

• 2 cups long grain rice
• ½ red pepper
• ½ yellow pepper

Method

1. Take all the spices, chilli and garlic (not including butter) and whisk together with the oil. Pour the mixture onto the chicken making sure all pieces are fully covered, rub it all right into the chicken before covering and leaving in the fridge for 24 hours.

2. Heat the butter in a frying pan until frothing, then fry the chicken thighs for 7-8 minutes on both sides, or until golden-brown and cooked through. (The juices will run clear when the chicken is pierced in the thickest part with a skewer.)

3. For the rice cook as normal (see video earlier on blog) and add the chopped peppers 5 minutes before the rice is cooked.

4. serve the chicken on top of the rice and enjoy :)

Tips

Keep the Caribbean theme going and have a nice can of Red stripe Jamaican larger, good times.

Difficulty

Beef Steak

Serves: 1 steak per person

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

It's what you've all been waiting for, yes its time to reveal the secret to cooking a perfect steak. The secret is...there is no secret. Just stick to the guidelines and you'll be be enjoying a delicious juicy steak in no time. Where are these guidelines you're wondering? Just look below.

These are the cooking times for a steak approximately 2.5cm thick, thicker steaks will require a longer cooking time and less time for thinner steaks. The resting time is very important, leaving your steak to rest away from the pan allows the meat to become warm, moist and tender all the way through. Don't forget it is still continues to cook even if its not in the pan.

	Cooking time (per side)	Resting time
Rare	1-2 mins	6-8 mins
Medium rare	2-2.5 mins	5 mins
Medium	3 mins	4 mins
Well done	4.5 mins	1 min

If you've kept your steak in the fridge leave it out at room temperature for about 20 minutes before cooking. Cook the steaks in a hot pan, not too hot otherwise you will burn the outside (if its smoking its too hot.) Lightly brush the steaks with vegetable oil and put a splash in the pan and cook to your liking. Lightly season the steaks with salt and pepper serve on a hot plates with chips and salad. Enjoy :)

Tips

Use a griddle pan, it will give the steak the nice chargrilled lines across it.

Peppercorn sauce goes very well with any steak

It hasn't got 4 difficulty spoons for nothing, this can be a tricky dish to do, its all just a case of practice.

Difficulty

Salmon Curry

Serves: 2

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time 15 mins

When its time to impress your going to need something a little bit fancy to really make an impact well don't worry Chef Shamus has got you covered. Just make this delicious but simple salmon curry and your aims will be achieved, whether they be amicable or not ;)

There might be a couple of ingredients your going to have to buy especially for this dish, not everyone has masses of coconut milk laying around. My advice is if your going to be doing a lot of Thai/Indian cooking, buy a block of creamed coconut which lasts a lot longer and just add hot water to it to make it into a coconut milk.

Ingredients

• 200g salmon
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 clove of garlic
  
• 1 onion
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 4 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 200ml coconut milk

Method

1. Use a sharp knife and remove the scales from the fish (if any) sprinkle the salmon with salt and leave for 20 minutes

2. Chop the onion and crush the garlic, fry the onion on a medium heat until golden then add the garlic and fry for a further 30 seconds.

3. Add the coriander, chilli and turmeric, mix in and fry for another minute before adding the coconut milk then cook for another 2 minutes.

4. Place the salmon in the pan and bring the mixture to a boil before turning it back down and allowing to simmer.

5. Place a lid on the pan and cook for 5 minutes then turn the fish over and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve on a bed of basmati rice and enjoy :)

Tips

Don't overcook the salmon, a lot of people are nervous to cook fish but salmon really doesn't need much cooking

Difficulty

Cooking Rice

The amount of people who have claimed that they can cook rice and then serve a big sticky white blob or equally awful dried mess is unbelievable. So i have taken it on myself to create a step by step video guide on how not to balls up rice!

Tips

If your using basmati rice then only use one cup of water when cooking.

To give your rice a more exotic look add a bit of turmeric which will give it a yellow colour.

Difficulty

Chilli Burritos

Serves 3 (or two hungry people!)

preparation time: 10 minutes

cooking time: 1 hour

I will warn you now that this is not the best looking dish in the world as you might tell from the picture but trust me the taste more than makes up for it. With this one more a kind of 'feeding the lads' than impressing the girlfriend, they don't always appreciate the effects chilli can have on a mans bowels. Serve with a few nice cold beers (try not to drink them before you start cooking it can lead to great difficulties!).

So get the boys round, serve this and your certain to please. As they say in mexico 'permite comer y emborracharse!

Ingredients

• 250g beef mince
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• ½ a green pepper
• 2 birdseye chillis
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs
• 1 beef oxo cube
• ¼ pint of water
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 tin of red kidney beans
• 6 tortillas
• cheddar cheese

Method

1. Chop the onion and the green pepper into cube
2. Fry together mince, onion, garlic, herbs, pepper, green chilli and chilli powder in a large saucepan for about 5 mins or until the juices start to run from the meat
   
3. Add the chopped tomatoes, purée, oxo cube, kidney beans and water
4. Stir, bring to boil on a medium heat then turn down to simmer
5. Allow to cook for minimum 30 mins - longer is possible, adding water as required
6. After the chilli has cooked for a sufficient amount of time its time to place into the tortillas this is where it can messy! arrange all the tortillas in a large oven proof dish and pour a serving of chilli into each.
   
7. Seal them by folding over the edges and grate cheese all over the tortillas, if you like it cheesy then go nuts!
   
8. Put in the oven at 220°c for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has turned golden brown.
9. Now use whatever utensils you can get your hands on and and lift out the burritos trying to keep them intact, i have only ever succeeded twice in doing this but ont worry about it if all fails just get a good scoop and whack in on the plate. Enjoy :)

Difficulty

Chicken and Chorizo skewers

Serves: 2

Preparation time: (not including marination): 10 minutes

Cooking time:10 minutes





Since its winter and probably not the best time for a BBQ in the garden I thought I would bring it indoors and make some grilled skewers. I've seen a lot of skewer recipes but never a chicken and chorizo one so im going to take credit for this creation. Its very easy to do but looks quite impressive and a perfect recipe to be brought out again in the summer. It does take a bit of preparation as you have to marinade the chicken, the longer you do it the better it will be but make it at least a couple of hours.


Ingredients

• 2 Chicken breasts
• Chorizo sausage
• 1 Red pepper
• Bamboo skewers
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1½ teaspoon of all spice
• 1½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ tablespoon chilli sauce
  

Method

1. Cut the chicken into chunks and place in a bowl. Coat with the honey, all the spices and chilli sauce before leaving in the fridge to marinade for at least 2 hours. let the bamboo Skewers soak in water, this will ensure they don't burn during cooking.



2. Slice the chorizo and peppers into large-ish chunks remember the pepper will shrink when cooking so they need to be large enough to stay on the skewer.



3. Thread the chicken, Chorizo and peppers onto the skewers. It's best to have a slice of chorizo, then some chicken and then pepper and so on. There should be enough to make at least 4 skewers.



4. Place them under a hot grill for about 10 minutes but keep checking and turning them. Serve with salad or wedges. Enjoy :)

Tips

Use them on an outdoor BBQ, pre prepare them and then just throw them on the grill with everything else.

Feel free to add any other vegetables to the skewer cherry tomatoes work well, as does chunks of onion.

Difficulty

Chicken Fajitas and Crispy Wedges

Serves: 1

Preperation time: 10 mins

Cooking time: 25 mins


This has to be one of my all time favorite meals, it always reminds me of my days in school when every week a few of my friends would have 'fajita friday' over at my house. It's very easy to make for a big group of people expecially if you buy the pre made tortillas and spice mix. I tend to go with a rule of one chicken breast per person so just increase the ingredients in this recipe as is needed.


Ingredients




fajitas

• 1 chicken breast
• ½ green pepper
• ½ red pepper
• 2 tortillas
• 1 chilli
• pack of spice mix
• ½ teaspoon of all spice
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil

crispy wedges

• pack of frozen potato wedges
• spicy season all
• olive oil

Method


Wedges


1. place the frozen wedges on a baking tray and place them in the middle of a pre-heated oven at 220°C


2. After 5 minutes take the wedges out and sprinkle them with season all and a drizzling of olive oil, this will give them added flavour and ensure they come out crispy. Then place the wedges back in the oven for another 20 minutes.


Fajitas


1. Slice the chicken breast into thin strips (this will mean it cooks quicker) and coat with the all spice, cayenne pepper and paprika.

2. de-seed and wash the peppers before finely cutting them into strips also chop the chilli and leave to the side.

3. Heat the oil in a fryingpan on a medium- high heat and add the seasoned chicken. Cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken is just browning.

4. turn the heat down to meduim and add the peppers and chilli then mix all together.

5. Coat the entire mixture in the pan with the packet of spice, the more you put on the spicier the dish will be. Mix everything together and prepare to put into tortillas.

6. For the tortillas its a good idea to warm them first, the prefered way is in a dry frying pan by heating it up and putting the tortillas in for about 5 seconds on each side or a few seconds in the microwave will also do the job.

7. Place the filling into the warm torillas and serve with crispy wedges and salad. Enjoy :)


Tips


If your unsure on how to fold a tortilla correctly here's a great step by step guide


There are a thousand different things you could serve this dish with but most people seem to prefer either salsa, sour cream or guacomoli


Any Mexican food is best served with a ice cold corona :D

Difficulty