Mid-week Jerk Marinade Recipe
This Mid-week Jerk Marinade Recipe is versatile and easy to make. Each herb and spice plays its role in the symphony the taste will play in your mouth. I have marinated, aubergine, butternut, tofu, pork steaks and chicken in the jerk spice and they are all delicious.
Jerk screams summer, sunnier shores and fun food. I bet you can hear the calypso music in your head just by thinking of this vibrant Caribbean meal. I am, however, currently, writing under a grey and drizzly sky, but, whatever the weather this dish will bring happiness and warmth to the table.
I have made the recipe as written below with dried ground spices and no spring onions, on the days that I am time-poor and it was an impromptu make, both are good. The wet marinade is better for a midweek meal, the dried spices yielded a delicious dinner. So use what you have to hand and enjoy this recipe.
If you are working from home, you can take a few minutes before you are on the clock to get this marinating and your delicious dinner will be tasty and fried up in minutes.
Marinading Time:
Overnight marinating is always best for meat proteins. If you are using vegetables or tofu marinade for a maximum of 2 hours as the lime juice can break your tofu down and if you are marinading a piece of fish give it a maximum of 20 minutes..
- 4 pieces of protein See Notes*
- For the marinade
- 2 teaspoons ground allspice berries
- 1 teaspoon ground black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 2 level teaspoons of dried thyme leaves
- 3 spring onions, roughly chopped
- Chilli to taste ( I used 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes) you could use ½ teaspoon scotch bonnet pepper or to taste
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3 dried bay leaves
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- ¼ of a thumb-sized piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon demerara sugar
- ½ teaspoon honey
- ½ lime juiced
- ¼ teaspoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sunflower oil
- 4 tablespoons orange juice
- Let's release the oils from the spices which will make the marinade more aromatic.
- Add the dry herbs and spices to a frying pan and toast until the spices release a lovely aroma.
- Keep a watchful and constant eye as the spices burn easily.
- Add the toasted spices and the remaining marinade ingredients into a blender and pulse or grind using a pestle and motor, to a smooth paste consistency.
- Using a plastic food bag or a lidded tub, add the marinade followed by the veg, tofu or meat to the marinade and move and massage the marinade all over your chosen protein.
- The marinade will work its way over all the surfaces, it does look like a small amount but keep going, it does cover everything.
- Ideally overnight for meat and two hours for vegetables and tofu * see note.
- At this point you can freeze the meat in the marinade, ready for another day.
- Cook the meat, tofu or aubergine on the BBQ, indoor griddle or in a frying pan and for chicken on the bone pieces fry the meat to get a deep golden colour and then pop it into the oven to ensure it has been cooked through.
- Serve with rice and peas (black-eyed peas and long-grain rice) and collard greens or a green salad.
2 blocks of firm tofu cut into 4 pieces (one block sliced into 4 pieces lengthways)
4 pork steaks, chops or loin steaks
4 pieces of chicken skin on and bone-in
You can get creative and use butternut slices or chop a tray of roasting vegetables (aubergine, courgettes, peppers and sweet potato).
Marinating tip:
Overnight marinating is always best for meat proteins.
If you are using vegetables or tofu marinade for a maximum of 2 hours as the lemon juice can break the tofu or vegetables.
