Jerk chicken has blend of Caribbean flavors

The saucy seasoning mixture that adds spark to Jamaican-style “jerk” meats and poultry is a uniquely Caribbean blend of spicy, sweet and hot, the editors of Reader’s Digest “Cooking Smart for a Healthy Heart” (2005, $29.95) explain.

To make this jerk chicken recipe a healthfully varied dish, they added bell peppers, pineapple and scallions. And to spare tender palates, they substituted a pickled jalapeno for the more traditional and extremely hot Scotch Bonnet chilies.

The cookbook offers a variety of about 150 other recipes that the editors say are designed to delight the palate while protecting the heart: They are relatively low-fat and low-calorie but not low-flavor. Recipes include breakfast dishes, main meals and sides, bread, pizzas and desserts.

To round out this chicken dish, serve it with basmati and wild rice pilaf, and sliced mango for dessert.

Grilled Jamaican Jerk Chicken

1 tablespoon ground allspice

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 large pickled jalapeno pepper, minced

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/4 teaspoons black pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)

8 scallions

2 large red bell peppers, seeded and cut into 32 chunks

24 canned pineapple chunks (about 1 1/2 cups)

Combine allspice, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, vinegar, brown sugar, oil, black pepper and salt in large bowl. Measure out 2 tablespoons of mixture and set aside. Add chicken to mixture remaining in bowl and turn to coat on all sides. Refrigerate for 1 hour. (Don’t leave chicken longer than 1 hour or ginger and vinegar will start to break down the chicken’s fiber.)

Trim scallions, leaving just a small portion of tender green. Cut each scallion into 3 pieces.

Preheat grill to medium. On each of 8 long skewers, alternately thread 3 pieces of scallion, 4 pieces of bell pepper, and 3 pieces of pineapple.

Lift chicken from marinade and place chicken on grill. Brush reserved 2 tablespoons spice mixture over skewers and place on grill. Grill, turning chicken and skewers once, until chicken is cooked through and vegetables are crisp-tender, 5 to 10 minutes for the skewers, 10 to 15 minutes for the chicken.

Cook’s tip: To cut and seed peppers, use a paring knife to cut around the stem and remove it, then cut the pepper lengthwise in half, and clean out the core and seeds. With the skin side down on the cutting board, cut desired size or shape.

Health hint: Learning to cook with spices is a heart-smart way of reducing the need for oil and salt in many recipes, the cookbook points out. Some spices, such as ginger and garlic, also contain cardioprotective antioxidants that provide addition health benefits.

Yield: 4 servings

Nutrition information per serving: 302 calories, 7.5 grams fat (1.5 grams saturated, 22 percent fat calories), 35 grams protein, 25 grams carbohydrate, 82 milligrams cholesterol, 4 gram dietary fiber, 558 milligrams sodium.