Influenced by her Jamaican roots, Melissa Thompson shares exciting recipes for your summer barbecue on The Brendan O'Connor Show on RTÉ Radio 1.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 60g ginger, roughly chopped
- 4 spring onions, roughly chopped
- Half a red onion
- 3 tbsp pimento (allspice) berries
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tbsp sugar
- 1 bulb of garlic (peeled)
- 20 sprigs of thyme, roughly stripped, just remove the largest twigs
- 4 tbsp vinegar (white wine/cider)
- 2 tbsp black pepper
- 1-2 scotch bonnet chillies, according to taste. Remove seeds to make them less hot
- 1 chicken, quartered
- 10 bay thin bay branches/leaves
Method
- Blitz all ingredients apart from the chicken together.
- Lay the chicken pieces on a chopping board and using a sharp knife, stab holes in the pieces - about 3 per piece.
- Place in a bowl and pour over the marinade, rubbing it all over the chicken and use your fingers to push the marinade into the slits.
- Leave to marinade overnight.
- Set up your barbecue for indirect grilling with the coals pushed to one side or divided between the two sides with a clear channel down the middle.
- Lay the bay branches away from the coals and lay the chicken on top.
- Half-close both sets of vents and close the lid. Cook for 1.5 hours, checking intermittently.
- Once 1.5 hours has passed, turn the chicken over and cook for another 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the bay and fully open all vents and lay the chicken skin-side up.
- Cook for another 20 minutes until the chicken is a dark brown.
- Remove, rest and serve with rice & peas, jerk gravy and pepper (scotch bonnet pepper) sauce.
