Jerk Chicken

This month for our Freezer Meal Group, I decided to do something on the grill! But for this dish, the grill is only for the smoke flavor, adding wood chips to give it that "um, um, good", "finger-lickin", "lip-smackin" kick! I found the chicken on sale (rather, my hubby found the chicken on sale...he is MUCH more dedicated and better at couponing and finding deals than I am!) As I determine what to do for my meals each month, I ask my hubby whats on sale and then we decide what would be best to cook! So, chicken sales=chicken meals!! I SHOULD have gotten a picture while it was on the weber, but it had the lid on....and I forgot!

Jerk Marinade:

• 2 teaspoons allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 onion
• 8 cloves garlic or 1 whole head
• 1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, sliced
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 3 limes, juiced
• Splash low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1 serano pepper, halved (only use half)
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 whole free-range chicken (about 5 pounds), cut into 10 pieces
• Limes, for garnish
• Parsley, for garnish
• Smoking chips, soaked in water for 15 minutes
• * Liquid smoke (if you don't have a grill, you can certainly skip the grilling part with the smoke chips, add a touch of liquid smoke, a little goes a long way, and go straight to the oven!)

Directions

Begin by making the jerk marinade. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a blender and process until you have a smooth puree. **FREEZER MEAL TIP: I doubled the recipe each time so I only had to make the marinade 5 times to end up with  10 meals.

Add chicken pieces into a large resealable plastic bag and pour in the marinade. Put the bag into a baking dish and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight. **FREEZER MEAL TIP:  Pour half the marinade from the blender in, squeeze the air out, lay flat, label it and stick the other 9 meals in the freezer! How's that for swimming in the yummy jerk marinade?

When you are ready to cook, and your jerk chicken is completely thawed:

Preheat grill to high.

Prepare a table-top smoker or take a roasting tray, line it with foil and add some soaked wood chips to the bottom. Place a wire rack over the top, upside down, and lay chicken pieces over the chips on the rack. Cover with foil and grill over high heat. Smoke for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Transfer the chicken pieces to a baking sheet and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Bake in the oven "low and slow" until chicken is tender, about 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the baking sheet to a serving platter and garnish with limes and parsley before serving. Since it was just my little family, I skipped the serving platter to save on dishes! And yes, we ate this on paper plates...hey, anything is better than doing dishes after dinner!

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