Jammin Jerk Chicken, Mango Salsa & Cilantro Lime Rice

It may look like winter outside; but, it was all about summer in our home this week.  I had an orange from the fruit that my in-laws brought over and thought it would be great in a jerk marinade. 

I used a recipe that I found on McCormick's website for a jerk seasoning paste. 

1 tablespoon McCormick Perfect Pinch Mediterranean Herb Seasoning

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

1 tablespoon Orange Juice

 


A tablespoon of Orange Juice wasn't very much, I thought, with the amount of powdered seasonings. I went ahead and used all of the juice of the halved orange.   



 Sometimes you just have to get your hands dirty...
 

Once the marinade is all rubbed into the chicken tenders, I covered them and refrigerated them for 24 hours.  You don't have to marinate them that long if you don't have that kind of time.  The recipe doesn't actually say that you have to marinate them at all.  This worked for me.

Prior to grilling the chicken, I prepared the Mango Salsa and refrigerated it to allow the flavors to blend together.  I like to use Ellie Krieger's recipe for the salsa. 

Mango Salsa

1 mango, peeled and diced  

1/2 cup peeled, diced cucumber

1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno

1/3 cup diced red onion

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves

Salt and pepper

Combine the mango, cucumber, jalapeno, red onion, lime juice and cilantro leaves and mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

I have used this basic recipe with both fresh mango and fresh pineapple and love each one of them so much.  She uses cucumber in her recipe and I generally leave that out of mine.  This salsa is good on grilled meat or on tortilla chips.   We have it a lot in the summer.

I thought the jerk chicken and the mango salsa would be perfect with a recipe for Cilantro-Lime Rice that I recently discovered on one of my favorite blogs, MEATLESS MEALS for MEAT EATERS.  You can find the recipe here.

I used brown basmati rice for my version of this dish and added some grated lime zest to kick up the citrus flavor even more.  This recipe was absolutely wonderful with the Grilled Chicken and Mango Salsa.  I will be making this again and again, I'm sure, to go with other meals too.  Thanks Miriam!

This meal was a healthy taste of summer for us in the middle of winter and I don't think we could have enjoyed it any more than we did.   

 

Isn't it pretty?

I'm linking these dishes up with Miz Helen

for her FULL PLATE THURSDAY. 

Won't you join me?

 

Thanks so much for stopping by,