Daphne Oz’s Jerk Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

Editor’s note: Daphne Oz first captured our hearts with her inspiring cookbook, Relish, but it wasn’t until we featured her as part of our “Entertaining With” series that we officially wanted to sign up to be besties with the award-winning TV personality and chef. So when we got wind that Daphne’s new cookbook, The Happy Cook, was hitting shelves last month, we raced to get ourselves a copy. Not surprisingly, the book features 125 recipes that we can’t get enough of; her Chocolate Almond Breakfast Bars are a weekday morning life-saver, her Thai Nicoise Salad was an instant favorite, and her Outlaw Carrot Cake with Brown Sugar Buttercream is high up there on my must-bake list. Love healthy and easy recipes as much as we do? Scroll down for an exclusive from Daphne’s book. We promise you’ll want to make and remake her Jerk Chicken and Sweet Potatoes over and over…

From Daphne: My senior year in college, a bunch of friends and I visited Jamaica. On the drive home after a trip we’d taken to hike up the side of a breathtaking waterfall, we discovered a little locals-only restaurant serving up the most insane jerk chicken and stinging cold beers. I’ve been trying to replicate the experience ever since.

Now, I don’t have an outdoor pit, or the local wood that creates just the right smoke, or the expert hands of the Jamaican masters who make this stuff day in and day out. But I do have a good mouth for replicating meals that I love. Jerk seasoning is heady with flavors you typically find in pumpkin pie—allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and brown sugar—but tempered with cumin, thyme, and garlic. You can take the spiciness up or down a notch, depending on what you love—the hellfire-hot Scotch bonnet pepper is traditional, but that is for expert heat-eaters only. Any leftovers make for delicious chicken salad if you’re going light, or stuffed into incredible empanadas if you want to fry up a golden delight as a party appetizer or just to treat yourself.