Jamaica Jerk

The treetops in the field shone like faded gold. It had been a good weekend. There had been late night adventures on Friday and a meal to celebrate my mum's 65th birthday in a top drawer public house on Saturday Night. Plus I was feeling a way I had not for a very long time. As I wandered through the woods memories came flooding back of the times I'd come there as an A-Level Student and a university graduate to find inspiration. I encountered ragged man with a white beard who was ubiquitous in the wood in my youth. His dog wore a strange bell that jingled as it walked.

A few hours after the dog and I had drifted home, two of my oldest friends arrived and their surprise visit was a very enjoyable way of rounding off the weekend.

Then thoughts turned to a recipe for tea. I had long been an admirer of Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipes. I sampled a splendid one near Stratford in London back in May 2010. However I am not a massive fan of Chicken. That said I decided to make a Jerk Recipe that utilized Quorn Chicken Pieces in place of  "real" Chicken.

On the player was Paul Simon's 1986 masterpiece "Graceland". I had vague memory of the record on its release. I also remember that my Dad, a science teacher at the school I attended, found a cassette of the album stuffed behind a fume cupboard in a room in which he used to teach. This discovery happened at start of the new millennium and I remember thinking that perhaps, years previously, some callous child had taken their classmate's beloved cassette and stuffed it behind the cupboard as a cheap joke. The album passed me by at the time as a close friend told me Paul Simon was uncool. I took him at his word and avoided the record.

A listen of the record today reveals I was wrong to overlook it, as there is not a weak track on the album and it remains innovative and wonderful. Opening track "The Boy in the Bubble" cracks and pops with gusto. Its lyrics about looking at a  distant constellation in a far off corner of the universe reminded me of many post-pub, semi-inebriated and insightful talks I have had over the years with with one of my friends who had  popped round that afternoon.

The Ingredients of the dish were as follows:

1 teaspoon of All Spice.
1 teaspoon of  Jerk Seasoning.
1 teaspoon of Nutmeg.
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon.
1 heaped teaspoon of Brown Sugar.

1 diced clove of Garlic.
2 diced and de-seeded Red Chili
1 diced and de-seeded Green Chili
10 ounces of Root Ginger peeled and sliced finely.
1 diced White Onion.

Juice of 2 Limes.
Juice of 1 White Grapefruit.

First I put some olive oil into the bottom of my Le Cresceut dish and added, the Garlic, Chillies, Root Ginger and White Onion. Then I added the Lime Juice and the Grapefruit Juice. I warmed all this through for five minutes and then added all the Spices and the Brown Sugar. After stirring these together I simmered them all in the Le Cresceut dish on a medium heat with the lid on for twenty minutes.

Then I added 10 ounces of Quorn Chicken Pieces and simmered in the Le Cresceut, with the lid off this time, the food for another thirty minutes.

During the last spell of the cooking of the dish I boiled up some White Rice for fifteen minutes. I then drained it and returned it to the saucepan I'd boiled it in. I took the opportunity to add a can of Red Kidney Beans and heated them through on a medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.

I put the Rice and Kidney Beans on the plate and used them as a bed to lay the Quorn Jerk on top. I'm a bloke who likes my spicy food and this recipe certainly was, despite the presence of the Brown Sugar. The spices gave it the taste of a strong Rum and it was a dish that was tasty and flavoursome. It was also a dish that was spicy enough to mean I needed to drink two pints of water to get through it. It has certainly inspired me to seek out more Jamaican Recipes for future blog posts.

Mountain of Fire- a pile of the Quorn and Jerk sits atop of the bed of Rice and Kidney Beans.