JERK CHICKEN

Reheating time: 7-12 minutes

Our good friends over at Channel 5 came in to shoot a segment on us for Chronicle- which is always a very stressful time for me… Rachel does great for the media, but I just feel like some weird noodle person in front of the camera. We usually let the food do the talking- and boy, I wish there was smell-a-vision, because this jerk chicken is AMAZING. Chef Theo turned snowy Acton into a Carribean cookout, complete with the tunes to match. I was considering having a truck fill the parking lot with sand and getting some beach chairs, but we just didn’t have time for that. Sorry. Tonight’s dinner will take you to warmer places. My favorite part is the slaw- smoky cabbage and a sweet, tangy dressing, with just the right amount of heat. Goes so well with the chicken. It’s all just so good. One of our best yet. You’ll see! Get in there 🙂

For the chicken:

Even though I know exactly what ingredients Theo used for this marinade, I have absolutely no idea how he made it taste so good. You’ll have to ask him. To reheat, broil or bake the chicken breasts until they are heated through. I would broil them, but I like charred skin- if you don’t want any more color than they already have, just bake them at 375F for 5-8 minutes until they are nice and hot. Once heated, slice into chunks and plate it up next to the rice + peas! 

For the rice + peas:

By peas, we mean beans- red beans, stewed in coconut milk. IMO the best way to cook beans. To reheat, toss the rice + peas in a nonstick saute pan with a bit of oil over high heat. In the words of Mr. Marley, Stir it up. I find refrying rice is the best way to not only get it hot, but to bloom and release flavor. When there’s lots of big pungent aromatics and spices, the heat really brings them out- so don’t microwave this. It won’t have the same effect. 

For the cabbage slaw:

Smokey pickled cabbage! We were all very pleased with this. Fun to try new things, and have them work out. It’s so good. Perfect balance of smoky and fresh, sweet and hot, salty and acidic. I love this. Just dress it up in a large mixing bowl with the aji amarillo vinaigrette- it should be seasoned but give it a taste for salt and pepper, and adjust as necessary.

For the mango + pepper salad (more of a salsa now):

We wanted to do a fresh veggie salad, but somewhere along the way I think we decided that this was more of a salsa than anything else. Which is totally fine. Instead of slicing the cucumbers and peppers, we diced them- and I love the textures in here. Kalamansi is a cool little citrus, and its brightness and floral notes go really nicely with the mango and aji amarillo here. Mint, cilantro, and lime juice (duh)- the whole thing is a perfect contrast to some of the deeper flavors here. I’d use this as a condiment on everything- just scatter it all over the plate!

That’s it!

We hope you enjoy tonight’s dinner, and thanks again for ordering 🙂

Dinner is served, and solved.

BEET + QUINOA BOWL

Thanks for ordering!

When I say beets, you say quinoa! Beets! … … … Beets! … … … Ok, we tried. Probably would have been a lot more fun in person. The whole point of this cheer is to celebrate the perfect pairing of quinoa and beets. Since the 90’s, everyone has been doing roasted beets and some sort of quinoa. I had never eaten either of those things till the late 2000’s (picky eater for my entire life), but at my first restaurant gig I was forced to expand my palate and try the combo. Not really for me, but I get it. I especially like it when paired up with some fennel, the anise/licorice flavor goes really well with the sweetness of the beets. Veggie candy. Definitely needs some roasty nutty action in there- and that’s where the almonds come in, with a bright punch of floral sumac, and the roasted sesame + mint dressing, which is just absolutely killer. Throw some spicy greens on top, and you got a salad. Get ready for the big surprise here ( not really, you probably saw this one coming…), but I would *gasp* eat this cold! Cool flavors and textures are at work here, and we don’t want to mute the delicacy by applying too much heat. By all means, nuke it if you’d like- but to me, this is a salad, and if my understanding is correct, salads are cold things 🙂 Drizzle the roasted sesame dressing all over everything, and jump in to the classic combo of quinoa and beets. With our usual WECO spin, hopefully we can take something you know well and make it pop. We try!