JERK CHICKEN WITH ANDOUILLE AND VEGETABLES

Jerk Chicken with Andouille Sausage and Vegetables

Jerk seasoning is a wonderful way to spice up your life. Here, I use a prepared jerk seasoning readily available in the spice section of your grocery store. You can substitute cajun, creole, or blackening spice as you want. Liberally sprinkled on a bone-in, skin-on chicken breast you can blacken the skin in a cast-iron frying pan while you saute the andouille sausage and and vegetables- the whole meal will cook in one pan!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Bone-in, skinless chicken breasts (sub boneless skinless)

6 oz. andouille sausage, sliced

6 oz. small carrots, peeled &trimmed

1 medium onion, cut in 6 wedges

6 oz. peppers, hot or mild, cut in 3/4" strips

15-20 small okra, fresh, trimmed, cut in 1/2" slices

1 lb. tomatoes, peeled & cut in 1" chunks

4 cloves garlic

2 cups water or stock

Jerk seasoning to taste

salt to taste

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

Rub jerk seasoning on the chicken. Bring a cast-iron skillet to medium heat, add vegetable oil. and place chicken skin side down in pan. Cook 2-3 minutes to thoroughly brown ("Blacken" but don't burn it). Flip Chicken and add andouille and hard vegetables such as carrots, cook 2-3 minutes stirring frequently, add peppers and onions, cook 2-3 minutes, add okra and garlic, cook briefly and finally add tomatoes. Turn up the heat and add stock. bring to a boil and place the entire pan, covered, into a hot 425 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. This is very good with hearty bread or rolls.

You might also serve this over rice or grits.

Recipes From our Garden

So many people get caught-up in the minute details that they forget that cooking and eating are truly sensual experiences. If you apply your senses of touch, smell, sight and taste you can cook just about anything! The creative experience is best expressed by using products that are fresh from your garden. Some ingredients may be more easily acquired at your local grocery store or farmer's market while you get others that are unmatched in flavor and nutritional value from your own garden.

Part of the challenge is planning your garden so that you are always getting a variety of ingredients as the seasons roll along. Instead of planting 25 tomato plants and little else, try planting a variety of different vegetables in smaller quantities. Right now in our garden we have tomatoes, peppers, okra, cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash, carrots, pole beans, potatoes, turnips, beets, radishes, lettuce, collards, swiss chard, watermelons, banana melons, chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, basil, mint, and coriander growing in about 200 sq. ft. of garden. We keep the beds full and let no space remain unused.

The result is a tremendous variety of vegetables available at any given time, and we haven't put all of our eggs in one proverbial basket. Even if one or two varieties of vegetable are not successful there are always several others going strong! Variety is indeed the spice of life and critical to keeping our garden productive, our interest piqued and our diet healthy and varied.

To save money at the grocery store we shop carefully and maintain an open mind to the possibilities. The most expensive cuts of meat are not always affordable and I do love to braise a roast or a bird and to tell the truth, speaking as a true omnivore, there is an amazing variety of inexpensive cuts of meat if you look for opportunities. I do not buy meat in bulk, and it is possible to eat well and inexpensively especially because so many of our vegetables come right our of our garden.

So, live well by eating well! Let the currently available vegetables in your garden inform your food choices, and have fun cooking! I tell my wife, Laurie, that I let the food talk to me- I don't plan meals too far in advance because sometimes I've just got to have that one ingredient at its perfect best when I pick it from the garden for dinner tonight! Don't treat eating and cooking as drudgery, but as an opportunity!

Recipes are nice- as guides, sources of ideas or maybe as a starting point! Don't let yourself be a slave to someones idea of what is good. I let the ingredients speak to me, and cook using the best available vegetables from my garden. If a recipe calls for potatoes and you have turnips or parsnips or even winter squash, substitute to your heart's content.

Don't let "The Man" keep you down! Restaurants use recipes mostly for consistency, so that every time a customer comes in he or she gets the same thing.

Don't be fooled- the staff in most food centered restaurants are eating a variety and often experimenting with their own dinner! The really cool stuff is being served on the other side of the kitchen door, not necessarily in the dining room. When I go out to eat and find a chef who offers a "chef's table" or creative specials I go for it!

Next time you are confronted with a recipe that calls for something you don't have (or don't like) get inspired, take a small risk, use your God-given mind and create a meal that uses those amazing fresh vegetables straight out of your garden.