Beef jerky is one of those foods that’s fairly high on the ‘manly’ scale. It’s up there with steak and bacon and whiskey and sausage and beer. Though beef jerky is a little different, almost isolated in it’s own category. I think part of this is because it’s generally always consumed by itself; never part of a larger creation. Until now.

This is still a work in progress, but I felt I had to share this current iteration, plus I finally remembered to take photos of this wonderful creation. I got the basic idea from Men in Apron’s Unholy Chicken, chicken roll wrapped in bacon with cheesy filling. However the idea of integrating beef jerky into the piece was my own. I’m calling it Jack’s Chicken because of the use of Jack’s Links beef jerky as well as colby-jack cheese. In the future I think it may be appropriate to also integrate some Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey into the spice rub for the chicken. Though I did not do that for this version.

What you’ll need:
• one large chicken breast
• 3-4 slices of bacon
• one vacuum sealed strip of Jack’s Links beef jerky, Get the kind that’s vacuum sealed as these tend to be a bit juicier, I got the peppered steak flavor
• 1-2 jalapeno peppers
• a bit of diced garlic
• shredded cheese, I used colby jack, pepper jack would also be appropriate
• spices:
  • cumin
  • ground chipotle
  • paprika
  • ground rosemary
  • oregano
  • basil

You may want to light your charcoal grill before starting, if you’re using gas then no worries.

Start by dicing the beef jerky and the jalapeno peppers. Fry the beef jerky in a good amount of oil and butter over high heat for a few minutes before adding the peppers. You want to make sure the jerky is fairly well cooked and has absorbed some of the butter and oil and softened up a bit. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add in the garlic and peppers. Fry them until they’re fairly tender.

Either while your jerky is cooking or right after, take your chicken breast, layer it between two sheets of plastic wrap and hammer it out flat, try to avoid creating holes if possible. Then remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the chicken with the spices listed above (eventually this will become the Jack Daniel’s spice rub). Place your jerky and jalapenos on one side and sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Get ready to roll. I use toothpicks to hold things in place. Roll the chicken up with the jerky, peppers and cheese inside. You can see in the previous photo that a portion of my chicken broke away, I ended up using that piece to seal a hole that developed during the roll-up. Once you have your chicken rolled up you can wrap it in bacon. I use the same toothpicks that are holding the chicken to hold the bacon, adding extras if necessary.

Now grill it! Grill it over hot coals turning it often for 10 to 15 minutes. Some of the cheese may leak out and you’ll get flare ups from the bacon grease. The constant turning helps it from becoming too blackened on a particular side. You also want to be absolutely sure that the chicken is cooked all the way through. Use a meat thermometer if you’re unsure: 170°F is when chicken is done.

Now eat and enjoy. Check back for a better spice rub that incorporates Jack Daniel’s. Additionally, I don’t think this will be the last time I experiment with using beef jerky as an ingredient.

Harvest time is coming, or maybe it’s upon us, either way, our tomato growing experiment this year yielded so many tomatoes it is overwhelming. Well, what better way to use up tons of tomatoes than to make tomato sauce? This weekend we did just that. Even though this is the lazy man’s recipe, it still requires a lot of cutting up of the ingredients, if you’re feeling especially lazy, a food processor should serve you well.

What you’ll need:
• 2 lbs or so worth of tomatoes
• 1 onion diced; we used white but yellow or vidalia would also be good
• 2 cloves chopped garlic; we used pre-chopped stuff
• a hot pepper or two diced (optional); remove the pith if you’re weak
• a bunch of fresh herbs (dried is okay) chopped; we used basil, rosemary, thyme, and oregano
• some olive oil and butter

Dump the onion, garlic and hot pepper(s) into a large sauce pan with some butter and olive oil and sauteé over high heat stirring often until the onion begins to caramelize. We used a somewhat ripe Anaheim pepper from the garden and when that was deemed not nearly hot enough we also added an unripe Cayenne to balance it out.

Most instructions for tomato sauce will tell you to peel and de-seed the tomatoes. However, since this is the Lazy Man’s Marinara recipe, don’t bother with that. We didn’t. Just cut the tomatoes up and add them to the sauce pan once the onions are ready. You should add the herbs now as well.

Stir it all up and bring your sauce to a low boil.

Simmer over medium-low heat stirring occasionally until the sauce thickens; 10 – 20 minutes.

Once the sauce has thickened to your liking remove it from the heat. Let it sit and cool, partially covered for 20 minutes.

Send your sauce through a food processor or blender. This will take care of those pesky skins and seeds we didn’t bother with earlier.

Season to taste with salt and pepper and you’re done.

This makes a decent sauce that’s great on pasta. Or add it to more involved recipes.