Donal Skehan's Juicy BBQ jerk chicken

Juicy BBQ jerk chicken

This jerk chicken marinade is quite quirky and has lots of interesting flavours like lime juice, cinnamon, honey and ginger. It sounds like an odd combination but makes for many layers of flavours, and served straight from the BBQ with this mango salsa, it's total sunshine food.

Serves 4-6

You will need

For the chicken: 1 large free-range chicken, cut into breasts, wings and legs

2 scotch bonnet chillies, finely minced

3 limes

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, minced

3 tsp of allspice

1 tsp of ground nutmeg

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

1 tsp of dried oregano

6 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp of honey

6 tbsp of tomato ketchup

For the salsa: 2 ripe mangos, peeled, stone removed and roughly chopped in chunks

½ cucumber, centre removed and diced

4 spring onions, finely chopped

1 small chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp of olive oil

Sea salt and ground black pepper

A good handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped

Method

Place the chicken in a large resealable bag and add in the rest of the chicken ingredients. Seal the bag and give it a good shake until everything is completely combined and the chicken is evenly coated. Leave in the fridge to marinate for at least two hours, or overnight if you have the time.

Combine all the ingredients for the salsa (except the coriander) in a mixing bowl and season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Mix through the coriander when you're ready to serve.

Remove the chicken from the fridge 30 minutes before you are ready to cook. Get the BBQ to a medium-high heat and cook the chicken pieces for 15 minutes, turning only once during the cooking time, until the chicken is completely cooked through.

The different pieces will take slightly different cooking times, so a good way to check if they are cooked is to insert a meat thermometer at the thickest part and check that it registers 82.2˚C for drumsticks and thighs and 73.9˚C for breasts. Serve the chicken with the mango salsa and some couscous if you need a bit more sustenance!

Cool Beans

Irish business partners Sarah and Isolde have given beans on toast a whole new meaning with their delicious range of Cool Beans. Their range of bean pots include flavours like original tomato, hot chilli and smokey paprika, and are free from added sugar and nasty additives. These handy pots make for a quick and healthy meal on their own, but are fantastic on baked potatoes, burritos or as a tasty side at a BBQ.

See: coolbeans.ie

Farmers To Market Chickens

When I cook a whole chicken, my go-to producer is, without a doubt, Farmers To Market. The chickens are reared by a collection of 12 dedicated free-range farmers from across the north east of Ireland. Each farmer brings their own expertise to the brand and this has resulted in some of the best-quality, free-range chickens on the market. Available in SuperValu & Avoca.

See: chicken.ie