Traveling Tuesdays...Jamaica!

So this post is random in the fact that we were in England last week and then Jamaica this week...however, there is a method to my madness. It's called cleaning out your cabinets before you move. This recipe literally helped me do that because there was a lot of yummy stuff that went into the marinade!

JAMAICAN SPICED CHICKEN THIGHS (I used breasts!)
Serves 4

Ingredients

1/4 cup red onion*
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped, seeded jalapeno*
2 teaspoons cider vinegar*
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground all spice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs*
Cooking spray

Added:
~1 tablespoon garlic chili sauce
3-4 cloves of garlic

What I did differently:
1. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs, just because I had them.
2. I used a whole big momma of a shallot. It was left over from another recipe (the summer one I will tell you about soon). It's got the same great oniony flavor.
3. I used about 2 fairly large jalapenos. Seeded them and made sure the ribs were out.
4. I used red wine vinegar. Didn't notice any change in flavor and actually saw that you could leave it out.
5. I doubled everything listed above for the most part. The marinade before doubling would not have covered the chicken!!

Let's cook!! First thing I did was get my good 'ol chicken breasts into their little cozy Pyrex. I then whipped up the marinade, combining all ingredients except the chicken (since I'd pour it over the chicken) and the cooking spray. Also including the "added" things listed above.

The marinade in the picture kind of looks gross. But the all spice...mmmmm sooooo good!!! It's a very prominent flavor! Don't skimp on it! It won't hurt you.

Sexy jalapenos

After combining all ingredients, I poured the luscious deliciousness all over the chicken, leaving about 1/4 cup to the side for marinade later. Remember the cross contamination! I took tongs and wiggled the chicken around in the Pyrex. Gotta have it coated! I put the lid on it and stuck it into the frig for about ohhh 3 hours. Not required. I just was bored and decided what the heck! I'll marinate it. Some people on the comments were marinating it for a full 24 hours! In any case, it looked lovely when I peeked at it once it was time to cook. Doesn't it look yummy!!

mmmm!!!

Okay, grillin' time!!! Yay! So all I did was coat my grill pan with cooking spray, set the heat to about medium high and then grilled the chicken for about 4-5 minutes on each side. I tented each side as well with foil to keep the chicken moist and tender. It worked very nice!



While the chicken was cooking I made a salad and also made some couscous! I wanted to try something different than regular rice as usual. So I found some Wild Mushroom and Herb couscous to experiment with. I actually really loved it! It's light and fluffy and has great flavors. I chopped up about 1/4 cup of onion and popped it into the couscous once it was cooked to just let the onions steam and cook without dirtying another pan.



Once the chicken was done, I pulled it off the grill pan and let it sit, covered in a bowl. And that was about it! I served it, like I said, with salad and couscous, as well as the reserved marinade. It was super yummy and at about 187-200 calories per serving...totally worth it! Here's the link and I hope you try it out: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/jamaican-spiced-chicken-thighs-10000001734339/

Finished product on my plate!