RubberMug

Forgive the camphone pic. They’re just way more functional in a kitchen than a real camera.

This was my favorite dish at the latin fusion joint where we did our funky bottle sauces. It’s really pretty simple. This dish was tasty and looked good. Done and done. Best of all, i could ask top dollar for what was essentially chicken and rice. I named it after my long-time friend Jim Alexander, the best baker Orlando has ever had, and one helluva chef in his own right. Mad love, homey. You can’t front on this. He’s the one who showed me the Lime-Coconut Marmalade when we opened his groovy little cafe in Thornton Park, back when it was still seedy and full of character… before the bankers and lawyers moved in. Bastards.

Simply:

Black beans and rice, middle of the plate. Cuban black beans. Yellow rice. I’m sure you can handle that part.
Grilled, marinated chicken breast goes on top. I recommend recaito. Can’t beat it.
Around this, we glopped our bottle sauces and some mango salsa. Yum. So nineteen-nineties, but damn delicious.
Finish with lime-coconut marmalade and a single fried plantain chip. I also garnished with washed and split pineapple leaves. My Second, Justin, used to mock me for this as pineapple leaves are inedible, but i didn’t care. I loved their visual texture and color.

The coup-de-grace, of course, is the marmalade. Sweet yet sour, chunky and smooth; it was a garnish of intriguing contrast. It was utterly fantastic, and it only takes a little more than a tablespoon of it to finish off the dish.

Straight from my cookbook:

Coconut-Lime Marinade
For Pollo Alejandro and Scallops Tapa

12 limes, washed well
2 cups water

Zest and skin the limes, removing the white pith. Add zest and lime segments to sauce pan and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer until zest is soft and water is reduced. Puree lime in robot coup with:

4 C. sugar
With processor running, add:
3 cups coconut flake
3T. Lime juice
1t. ginger, minced
1t. white pepper

I’m told that the morons cooks who followed after me couldn’t get this recipe right. They had to take the Pollo Alejandro off the menu since nobody could figure out how to pull this off. Surely, you aren’t that stupid.
The trick, of course, is in the sugar. You’re essentially making a soft ball mass and whipping air into it. It takes a little finesse to judge the amount of water correctly, and to keep the water at a high temperature (near boiling) as you process it into the sugar. After a couple tries, you should have it.

If not, i feel sorry for you.