Jamaican Stuffed Chicken

Ok so I'm going to try and get back into doing this. It really is something that I miss. Plus with my new position I'll be getting home early so I can actually COOK dinner. So let's see...just a little update: I'm loving working as an auto damage adjuster. It was definitely a good move on my part. I'm much happier than I was on the phones. I also just got a promotion, which is fantastic. I'll be running the office out of Moore Cadillac. So no more driving to Falls Church. I now have a nice 15 min, 3 road drive to work every morning. Other than that nothing else new. So todays recipe was inspired by one I found at Epicurious and tweaked for my tastes.

Jamaican Stuffed Chicken

1/2 cup peeled cubed sweet potato
1/3 cup peeled chopped plantain
5 chicken breasts
1 TBS butter
1TBS olive oil
flour
water
salt
pepper




1. Place the sweet potato and plantain in a small saucepan. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 8 min, or until soft. 

2. Drain. Return to pan and mash. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

3. Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness. Season both sides with salt and pepper.  place spoonful or sweet potato/plantain mash on one end of chicken. 

4. Roll up chicken to surround mash. Repeat with remaining. Cover stuffed breasts with flour. 

5. Melt butter and oil in large skillet. and chicken and brown all sides. 

6. Add 1/4 cup water to skillet and simmer covered for aprox. 15 min or until chicken cooked through. 

7. Plate chicken. Add a drop of lemon extract to drippings in skillet. Increase heat to high and thicken for 1 min. Drip lemon sauce over chicken and serve.

This was really tasty and incredibly easy to make. It will probably become a staple in my weeknight dinner rotation. Even Daniel said it was good, although he was a little bit hesitant to eat it at first since I wouldn't tell him what it was except for chicken. 

Jalapeno and Beer Baked Ribs and Sweet Potato Biscuits

Well it's been a great couple of weeks. I've been interviewing for a new job at GEICO. it was be a job as an AD trainee. Basically I would be training to be the person that looks at your car and assesses the damage after an accident. I really want this job because after 3 months of training in Va Beach I would be located in Falls Church, a much shorter commute than Fredericksburg. Also I wouldn't be tied to a desk, I'd be up moving around and actually interacting with people. Not to mention a pretty good pay raise. I"m supposed to find out if I got the job some time this coming week. So keep your fingers crosssed. Also this week I went back to school. I'm taking Federal and Colonial American Lit. It seems like it should be a pretty interesting class. I also discovered that they have done a LOT more building at GMU than I thought they had and I was breifly lost while on campus. And lastly the house hunt has been put on hold because there is no reason to pay rent in Fairfax for 3 months if I'm going to be living in VA Beach. This weeks recipies come to us from two different sources Cooks.com and Food and Wine Magazine.

Jalapeno and Beer Baked Ribs

~ Cooks.com

Beef Short Ribs, cut into 3 inch peices

2 c. canned tomato sauce

1/4 c. red wine vinegar

1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar

1 TBS dry mustard

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 large onion coarsly chopped

4 large jalapenos, chopped                                         TBS chopped green peppers

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 c. beer

1. Preheat oven to 425. Arange ribs in pan. Sprinkle onions around ribs.

2. Combine All remaining ingrediants except beer in a large saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until slightly thickened, stiring ocasionally, about 10 min. Cool slightly. I didn't have tomato sauce so I used 1 can Campbell's tomato soup.

3. Stir in beer. I used Dogfish Head 90 minute.

4. Pour mixture over ribs. Cover pan and bake aprox. 2 1/2 hours. I would make sure that the cover/foil does not touch the meat. Mine did and where it was touching it burned.

5. Remove ribs from pan and keep warm. Combine all pan juices in medium sauce pan. Skim fat from pan juice. Boil over medium heat until reduced to two cups.

6. Spoon sauce over ribs and serve.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

~ Food and Wine

1/2 lb sweet potato

1 3/4 cup flour

1 TBS brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

7 TBS butter

1/3 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375. Poke the sweet poato all over with a fork and bake for about 45 min until tender.

2. Peel and mash the potato. Set aside 3/4 cup and let cool completely. Reserve the rest for another use. Raise oven to 425.

3. In a food processor pusle the flour with the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Add butter and pulse until the misture resembles coarse meal. My blender started having trouble once I added the butter so I moved it to a bowl and cut it with kives.

5. Add the buttermilk and 3/4 cup mashed potato and pulse until dough comes together.

6. Turn the dough onto a heavily floured work surface and knead 2 or 3 times until smooth. Roll out the dough 1/2 inch thick and cute eight 4-inch rounds.

7. Arrange on parchment lines baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. I didn't have any parchment so I just greased the pan with a little crisco.

Overall I think that this was a delish dinner. I saved my leftover sauce, I'm planning on putting it on some chicken tomorrow night. And the biscuits were really good, though they were more muffiny than biscuits should be, but still really good!