031: Spice & Everything Nice

Hey Q-Crew!

Spatchcocking is one of my favorite cooking techniques! It significantly cuts poultry cooking time making it a great way to make a hearty meal on a weeknight. We’re starting this month’s series with Jamaican cuisine: Spatchcock Oven Baked Jerk Chicken with Escovitch Sauce. Escovitch sauce is a quick pickle of staple West Indian aromatics and spices typically served with fried fish. (But I’m allergic to fish so I make it with chicken and pork.)

This month we’re focusing on a particular technique, spatchcocking! Also known as butterflying, spatchcocking is a poultry cooking technique where you remove the spine and press it flat which makes it cook faster, more evenly, and increases surface area for seasoning. You can use this method on larger birds like turkeys and smaller birds like cornish hens, but this month we’re focused on chicken.

Spatchcock Oven Baked Jerk Chicken

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken (3-4 lbs)
• 1/4 cup green seasoning
• 1/4 cup jerk seasoning
• 1/2 stick room temperature butter
• 2 tsp salt

Step 2: Place the chicken breast down and use kitchen shears to cut along the back bone as close as possible and remove the spine. (You can keep, freeze, and use this for stock or flavoring gravies.)

Step 4: Rub the chicken with the seasoning then wrap in foil or put in a Ziploc bag and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Step 6: Mix the room temperature butter with the remaining jerk seasoning.

Step 8: Roast at 400° for another 25-30 minutes until the skin is browned and the juices run clear.

Step 10: Cut the chicken into pieces and serve!

Escovitch Sauce

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Yield: 64 oz.

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet onions sliced
• 1 red bell pepper julienned
• 1 green bell pepper julienned
• 1 orange bell pepper julienned
• 7 scotchbonnets sliced with seeds (optional)
• 2 carrots peeled & julienned
• 1 chocho (aka chayote) peeled & julienned
• 1 tsp whole pimentos
• 2 tsp Salt
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup oil

Step 2: Add onions and sautee for 2 minutes.

Step 4: Add bell peppers, scotchbonnets, carrots, and chocho and sautee for 5 minutes until just beginning to soften.

Step 6: Remove from heat and serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks.

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Sweet & Sticky E-Cookbook!

Who doesn’t like to indulge their sweet tooth every once in a while? We deserve a little treat! But just because we want something sweet doesn’t mean we have to stick to desserts. We’re exploring appetizers, mains, AND desserts to satisfy our craving!

P.S. A few of these recipes are my most popular on social media!

This PDF mobile cookbook is designed to be easily viewed on your phone so that you have all the recipes on hand exactly when you need them. If you’re a visual learner, the videos accompanying all of these recipes are posted at the end of the book!

Featured recipes:

• Baby Shower Meatballs
• Orange Pepper Chicken wings
• Henny Beef Bacon Jam Smash Burgers
• Sweet Chili Tiger Prawn Poboys
• General Tso’s Oxtail
• Candied Jerk Pork Chops
• Blueberry BBQ Poor Man’s Burnt Ends
• Leftover Pizza
• Honey Garlic Crispy Chicken Thighs
• Guava and Cream Cheese Pastelitos
• Jamaican Bread Pudding with Condensed Milk Sauce

P.S. You can find all my e-cookbooks and bonus recipes on Ko-fi!