Ah, jerk chicken. There are as many different ways to cook it as there are ways to love it.

It’s sweet, its spicy, it has a sharp and refreshing bite to it while carrying deep bases of sweetness.

This is the end product of tinkering about with a base idea; my partner and I are in the habit of writing out a planned menu for each week. This particular day just said “jerk chicken”.

Planning a day for two ahead (as you do), I cut up three skinless chicken breasts (skinless was just what I had on hand; skin can play well in this recipe, so if you want it, give ‘er) and marinated them in a glass dish overnight.

Come game day, I heated up my trusty ol’ pan and gave it a shot of olive oil; sweated off the onions, garlic and lime zest until they started to caramelize and deglazed with some lime juice (rum or white wine would work as well, but in this case, lime won the coin toss; besides, I had already zested it, too why not finish it up right, right?).

Adding the chicken along with all that marinade, it ran laps around the pan until it was fully seared; in went the coconut milk and parsley.

Simmer and stir became the next few defining actions, adjusting the flavour with cumin and jerk spice until the coconut milk was reduced down and the chicken was poached perfectly and ready for the final herb touches.