Jamaican Jerk Marinade

Countless people told Jake and I that we'd never have another vacation like our honeymoon. Well, after  spending a week at the all-inclusive Wild Orchid Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica, I completely agree. We had a fantastic time here. Every day was filled with sunshine, delicious food, and countless adult beverages. Amazing! I honestly don't think Jake and I will ever have a vacation like this again. I mean, I HOPE we have a vacation like this again, but it's going to be tough to top this one. 

Some of the best food on the island!

One of the MANY highlights of our vacation involved sampling some of the authentic eats Jamaica has to offer. Every day, our noses would tell us it was noon - the Jamaican Jerk Chicken cart would park itself just upwind of where we were sunbathing, and we would scurry off the beach to go find it. Sometimes we'd find it twice a day. I legitimately gained 5 pounds on our honeymoon. I'm not even ashamed, it was worth all of that delicious spicy Jerk Chicken (which was always washed down with a high calorie and equally delicious frozen beverage). 

Delicious Jerk Chicken! Accompanied by
delicious alcoholic beverages

Upon arriving back in Maryland, I took it upon myself to duplicate the delicious marinade these Jamaicans have clearly perfected. While my recipe for Jamaican Jerk Marinade is delicious, it's not exactly reminiscent of what Jake and I gorged ourselves on in Jamaica. I anticipate this will be my of my many attempts at perfecting this marinade!

Ingredients:

• 3 scallions, chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4-5 habanero peppers, stemmed and seeded*
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbs soy sauce
• 3 Tbs olive oil
• 1 Tbs kosher salt
• 1 Tbs packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbs fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tsp ground allspice
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

How to:

• Blend all ingredients together until smooth.
• Marinade pretty much anything - from chicken, to pork, to veggies. We marinated some chicken breasts overnight before grilling them.
• Grill & enjoy!

*Traditionally, Jamaican Jerk seasoning is made with Scotch Bonnet peppers. My local grocery store didn't have any of these, so I used habaneros as a substitute. The first time I made this, I used 4 habaneros and left some seeds in before adding the peppers to the blender. The marinade was ridiculously hot, but ridiculously good. The 2nd time around, I didn't leave any seeds in, and I felt like the marinade could have used a little more heat. I think I'll search for Scotch Bonnets next time I'm in the mood for some Jamaican Jerk!

Jake and I grilled up some chicken that had been marinated overnight. It tasted great! We made some  Jerk Chicken sandwiches and reminisced about our amazing honeymoon. I'd love to hear your take on this marinade!

Enjoy!

The original recipe can be found here.

Penne alla Vodka

Believe it or not, Baltimore's Little Italy has some seriously delicious Italian food. My absolute favorite restaurant in all of Baltimore is La Scala. OK, I'm gonna say it - this is my favorite Italian restaurant ever. EVER. And that's saying a lot, considering I grew up frequenting the North End in Boston. Even my mom, who introduced me to the fabulous North End at a young age, said the best cannoli she's ever had was from La Scala. Seriously, if you live near Baltimore and you haven't been here, GO.

Anyway, La Scala introduced me to Penne alla Vodka. Their recipe for this dish has the perfect amount of richness and heat. I've been wanting to duplicate their version for some time now, and I think I've finally found a recipe that comes close. So I'm sharing it with all of you. You can thank me later.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz package of sliced pancetta, cubed
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 28 oz. can of tomato puree
• 1 can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 box penne pasta
• fresh basil, if desired
• Parmesan cheese, if desired

How to:

• Over medium heat, cook pancetta until brown and crispy in a large skillet. Reserve the fat and transfer the pancetta to a paper towel-lined plate.
• Add the olive oil to the skillet with pancetta fat. Saute onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper until onion is soft and fragrant. 
• Add the vodka and cook until the alcohol has evaporated, stirring occasionally (about 5-6 minutes).
• Add the tomato puree and the diced tomatoes, and simmer for about 15 minutes to thicken the sauce.
• In the meantime, cook and drain pasta according to the package directions.
• Add the pancetta back to the sauce and mix. Add the whipping cream, stirring constantly. Make sure you're cooking over a relatively low temperature so you don't scorch the sauce.
• Add the drained pasta to the sauce and mix until evenly coated.
• Add basil and Parmesan cheese before serving, if desired.

You can find pancetta in the fancy cheese section of your local grocery store, if you don't feel like going to see a butcher. I bought a pre-sliced package and used about 3 slices, but I recommend using the whole thing. You can never have enough pancetta, if you ask me. I no longer purchase vodka in 1.75 L plastic bottles that costs ~$10 like I did in college (don't judge, you did it too). I used Smirnoff for this recipe. - It's a small step up from Rubinoff. I also used 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 cup light whipping cream, because I still haven't recovered from the richness of this recipe.

I modified this recipe quite a bit to come up with my delicious version of Penne alla vodka. Actually, it's very different from this recipe, but I did 'work' from this one, so I felt like I should include it.

Enjoy!

Spicy Marinara Sauce

A few Christmas's ago, Jake gave me some cookbooks. Honestly, I didn't know whether I should be offended (WTH Jake, am I a bad cook?) or super pumped (um, helloooo CLEARLY I love to cook). He assured me he got them for me because I love to cook. I decided to believe him. 

One of the recipe books he bought me was from good old Betty Crocker, entitled "Easy Italian." Because I love love LOVE all things spicy, I knew I wanted to try the recipe "Penne with Spicy Sauce." So that was one of my first endeavors. Here's my version of this delicious marinara sauce. 

Ingredients:

• 1 can (28 oz.) diced or plum (Roma) tomatoes with garlic, oregano, and basil, undrained
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 Tbs fresh chopped parsley
• 1 Tbs tomato paste
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

How to:

• Place tomatoes with juice in a food processor or blender and process until coarsely chopped. Set aside.
• In a 12-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook garlic, red pepper, and parsley in oil about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until garlic begins to turn golden.
• Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened.
• Add cheese and stir to mix. Cook an additional 3 minutes.

This recipe makes enough sauce for 1 package (16 oz) of pasta. In fact, the original recipe recommends cooking the box of pasta and then tossing it all together with the sauce until the pasta is evenly coated. When I don't make a double (or triple...) batch of this sauce, this is normally what I do. 

The original recipe calls for an entire tsp of crushed red pepper. Honestly, a little bit goes a long way, so I highly recommend only using 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper. I used a full 1 tsp of red pepper the first time I made this, and the sauce was almost impossible to eat. And that's saying a lot, because I seriously love me some spicy foodstuffs. Trust me, this sauce packs a lot of heat.

If you find this recipe is just a little too spicy for you, try mixing some goat cheese in with your sauce (see picture above - I love to top my pasta and Spicy Marinara Sauce with goat cheese!). Fun science fact for you: the casein protein in cheese (and all dairy, for that matter) interacts with the molecule that makes food spicy - capsaicin - and effectively 'washes it away.' Yep, I'm a nerd. 

Enjoy!

Sweet and Sour Dipping Sauce

Looking for a quick and easy dipping sauce? Look no further - this recipe takes all of 5 minutes to prepare, and it's delicious. I usually throw it together when I prepare my Crab Wontons, but you can use this Sweet and Sour Dipping sauce for anything from chicken nuggets to french fries!

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 4 Tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with 4 tsp water

How to:

• Combine vinegar, brown sugar, ketchup, and soy sauce in a small saucepan.
• Heat to a boil.
• Add cornstarch/water mixture while stirring. 

And that's all there is to it! The original recipe can be found here.