Don't be a jerk, make some jerk!

This jerk marinade recipe from Moosewood Restaurant is so simple, as you would expect a marinade to be. But there are SO many ingredients (all good and all-natural, though).

Basically, mash all of these up together. You’re supposed to puree them in a blender, but we’re at the beach for the summer with limited supplies, so we just finely chopped the ingredients and put them in a gallon-sized Ziploc with some chicken (or tofu, or whatever you want to use). We did make a couple of substitutions because of course, I made a run to the store thinking we had soy sauce (and just plain forgot about the molasses!) Rather than go back, we subbed brown sugar for molasses and left out the soy sauce, which probably toned down the thai/Asian flare a bit. This was an interesting twist on the traditional jerk sauce.

Let it marinate for 30-60 minutes in the fridge and throw it on the grill. Mmm, mmm! This recipe would go great over some saffron rice, and it is very savory and rich when sauteed in a pan rather than grilled, which is what we did. By the way, any leftover marinade will keep for two weeks!

Ingredients:

Yields 1 cup

1 tbs. grated fresh ginger root
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup chopped red onions
1-2 red or green chiles, seeded
1 ½ tsp. dried thyme
1 ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. cloves
3 tbs. vegetable oil
2 tbs. molasses
1 tbs. red wine vinegar
1 tbs. soy saue
½ tsp. salt