With trying to keep with the theme of quick meals for the brothers and sisters (cant forget the sisters out there) that find cooking a challenge, either because they are intimidated by the kitchen or they feel they just don’t have enough time, I’ve decided to share another quick recipe that I think is bursting with taste and flavor. This is a recipe I decided to try one day because I wanted some jerk chicken but I only had turkey thighs in the freezer. So I figured, why not jerk some turkey. I’ve had jerk snapper, lobster, pork (back in my days of eating pork), and chicken. I recommend to everyone that if you really want some good jerk, head to Boston Bay Beach, Jamaica. It’s the jerk capital of the world. They have a jerk festival every year around the 4th of July.
Anyway, back to the jerk turkey thigh recipe. It’s really easy to make. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s really simple to prepare. The preparation time is about 5 to 10 minutes (not including the time for the meat to marinate in the jerk season). You see, jerk is best when the seasoning has time to soak into the crevices of the meat, whether it is chicken, fish (I know it is not technically a meat, but you know what I mean), beef (never had jerk beef before), or pork. The first thing is to get the ingredients.
Ingredients:
· Two table spoons of Jerk Seasoning (I prefer Walkerwoods traditional jerk seasoning)
· Two Turkey Thighs
Wow, can you believe that’s all the ingredients you will need. If you would like to make your own jerk seasoning (yea right) be my guest. But why reinvent the wheel when there are plenty of off the shelf jerk seasonings that are very good. I told you it would be very simple and quick. Stick with the KISS method. Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS).
Materials:
· 1 baking/roasting pan (A pan w/ a roasting grill would be great but if you don’t have one, any roasting pan will do)
· 1 Medium sized mixing bowl
Preparation Steps:
1. Wash the turkey off w/ some vinegar and water. (I like to wash anything I am planning to cook). Note: You can either leave or take the skin off. Turkey usually has less fat that chicken, so I tend to leave the skin on, but you can take the skin off and it will still turn out great.
2. Using your hands (make sure your hands are clean), yes your hands, slowly massage the two teaspoons of jerk seasoning into every nook, cranny and crevice of the turkey thighs. Food tastes so much better when you personally bond with it. Become one with the turkey.
3. Let the turkey marinate in the seasoning in the refrigerator for about an hour. Note: the longer the turkey marinates the better it will taste. I usually like to let the turkey marinate overnight.
4. Preheat the oven to 375°
5. Place the turkey in roasting pan (Skin side up) and then cover the roasting pan with foil.
6. Let the turkey roast for 30 minutes then flip and let the it roast for another 30 minutes.
7. Uncover the roasting pan and flip again. Let the turkey roast for another 10 – 15 minutes uncovered.
8. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and check to make sure the turkey is fully cooked.
That’s all to it folks. Simple isn’t it. I recommend serving this with a baked sweet potato, which can be baked the same time as the turkey, and sautéed spinach (recipe coming soon) or sautéed cabbage.
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