Foodie Recipe Request 2
This weeks recipe request comes from Oreana Valenzuela and Kimberly Mathews, both from the North East.
You both requested it, and were giving you all the details.
Tonight you're learning how to make: Honey Jerk Salmmon!
First lets talk about the sauce. Jerk Sauce is one of those things that you taste and wonder, what kind of wonderfulness did they put in here to make it so good. Jerk Sauce is essentially a complex blend of earthy, sweet, tangy, dry, and wet ingredients. Here at Gourmet Soirée, we order our jerk sauce freshly made from an up and coming company, First Ladys Kitchen. Their jerk sauce is like none other. It can be used as a marinade or a multipurpose condiment for any dish. We highly recommend them if youre looking for a true authentic Jamaican Jerk Sauce.
Whatever the recipe used, Jamaicans have a fierce passion for this native dish that's as treasured for its historical significance as it is for its sheer tastiness. You will never get a Jamaican to share what their jerk sauce actually consists of, but here are some of the essential ingredients:
Allspice berries: The fruit of the pimento tree used for grilling jerk chicken. Allspice berries are dried and resemble peppercorns. They have a sweet, spicy, floral flavor, and got their name when English settlers of the Caribbean tasted them and thought they combined the flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The berries are ground to release their essential oils.
Thyme: Fresh is preferable, but dried is also used.
Scotch Bonnet Pepper: Native to the Caribbean, Scotch bonnet peppers are extremely spicy, about 40 times hotter than jalapeños. The peppers are chopped or blended for use in the marinade, and the seeds can be left in or removed for less heat.
Scallions or Green Onions
Fresh Ginger: The ginger plant flourishes in the Caribbean, and is used in many regional specialties such as ginger beer and sorrel, a drink that's brewed from hibiscus flowers.
Heres a recipe for a quick and easy jerk rub (without the scotch bonett):
2 tablespoons ground coriander 2 tablespoons ground ginger 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon garlic powder 1 tablespoon kosher salt 1 tablespoon cayenne powder 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper 2 teaspoons dry thyme 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon allspice 1 teaspoon ground cloves
In addition to the rub or sauce you will need 1-2 lbs skinless salmon filets, lemon slices, butter, and honey.
Preheat your oven to 375°. Coat the salmon filets in the jerk rub or sauce and let it marinate for 10-15 minutes. Place them on a lightly oiled non stick baking sheet and top with the lemon slices. Bake for 10-12 minutes then remove from the oven. Now you can brush the salmon with a half teaspoon of honey for each filet and add a half teaspoon of butter on top of each filet. Broil the salmon filets on medium to high heat until the top is golden brown. Once browned, remove from the oven and let it rest for 3-5 minutes to let the juices reabsorb back into the fish.
This recipe is excellent with asparagus and roasted potatoes. Or if youre trying this recipe on poultry it can be paired with sweet plantain and rice & peas to a create a true Jamaican meal!
Thanks for stopping by. Dont forget to take pics and share! If you have any other requests just let us know. We'd love to share.
Later Loves xoxo
