jerk chicken wings, pasta with pesto, easy rice and beans, fried maduros, and ras el hanout chicken

Let's breakdown the dinners I made for my brother while he visited me in Spain.

All of these dinners were huge hits.

Jerk Chicken Wings:

This is by no means a traditional jamaican jerk-chicken recipe, rather it’s just very simple way to flavor wings with jerk seasoning. The key here is to get yourself a quality seasoning blend. This is best made as an overnight marinade, but a few hours is fine too.

First, sprinkle the wings with salt. If you’re using diamond crystal kosher salt, you can be pretty liberal with it, since it’s less salty than other types.

Next, generously coat the wings with jerk chicken seasoning.

Squeeze 1-2 limes over the meat, and sprinkle in a few tablespoons of brown sugar, about 2 tbsp per pound.

Add as much freshly chopped garlic as you like… 5-10 cloves is pretty reasonable. If you like spicy, you could also add in a minced jalapeño, habanero or scotch bonnet pepper.

Drizzle neutral oil to get all the wings lightly covered and enough so that the seasonings will dissolve into the liquids.

When you’re ready to cook:

Preheat the oven to 400°F (375° if using convection) and line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil. Put the marinated wings on the prepared pan, leaving space between each one. Cook for 15 minutes on each side or until nicely browned and slightly crispy. Good hot or at room temperature.

I topped my wings with a bit of homemade salsa verde. I hard some green bell peppers I needed to use up, so I blended them with some lime juice, a jalapeño, cilantro, salt, garlic, and a bit of neutral oil.

I served this with rice and garlicky carrots.

For the carrots, I just sautéed carrot rounds in butter and garlic until they were soft. It doesn’t need to be complicated! Just season well with salt and pepper.

Pasta with Pesto:

My traditional pesto recipe goes as follows, but I also like to riff on it.

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