Chicken with Mango Salsa over a Sweet Potato

A couple weeks ago, Dave's family came into town. We had a great time visiting with them! While they were here, we went out to eat at a local chain restaurant. I ordered Jamaican Jerk Chicken over a Sweet Potato. It was so good, that I couldn't wait to get home to make my own version of it. If the sweet potato scares you, (I'm finding out that a LOT of people don't like sweet potatoes!) you could always make this into chicken soft tacos with a mango salsa. That's what I did with my leftovers! (Even though I only made enough for two, Dave isn't a fan of sweet potatoes, hence the leftovers. Here you go. Enjoy!

PREP THE SWEET POTATOES

Preheat oven to 350. Scrub and poke the potatoes. (No explosions please!) Pop the potatoes in the MICROWAVE for 4 minutes, and then finish the potatoes off in the oven. I like to do it this way: it's quicker than baking them from start to finish, but I don't like fully microwaving them because I think they get a weird texture.

MAKE THE MARINADE FOR CHICKEN
I originally found this marinade in a Rachael Ray cookbook. She was making something else, I can't remember what! But I thought, "This would be a great go-to marinade for chicken!" and it turned out it was. Its so easy to make, but if using a food-processor or blender scares you, I'd look for some Jamaican jerk rub at your local market and use that.

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
zest and juice of one BIG lime
1 handful of cilantro
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/2 of a med-to-large jalapeno. If you don't like it spicy, make sure you remove the ribs and the seeds.(Cut 1/2 jalapeno into sizes similar to the size of garlic for easy processing. While you are already working with the jalapeno, dice the other half of the jalapeno up and reserve for mango salsa)
1 Tablespoon cumin
salt and pepper



Throw all ingredients into food processor, and pulse until it's nice and smooth. It should be like a dressing, but will like pesto from the cilantro. It seriously takes less than 5 minutes for this marinade and it's so worth it.

PREP THE CHICKEN

6 chicken tenderloins

Pour all over the chicken, and turn and coat the chicken. Make sure you get all the pieces good, you don't want any pieces of chicken feeling left out! Now at this point, you can either pop the chicken into the oven next to the sweet potatoes and cook, or you can grill them, too. I just to bake mine yesterday, mostly because I didn't feel like turning on the grill for such a little amount of food.




MAKE THE SALSA

1 large mango, or 2 small mangoes
1/4 cup of diced red onion
1/2 of a cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 of a jalapeno, diced
1 avocado, cut into small chunks
1 handful chopped cilantro
1 lime (just the juice) I usually microwave my limes for 30 seconds before I juice them. I get a lot more juice that way.
Salt and pepper to taste

I really liked this salsa! Next time I might throw in some red pepper, jicama and perhaps a peach.



Check on your potatoes and chicken! By now, they should be done, or at least really close.

To assemble cut potato in half, brush with butter, and a little bit of honey. Put chicken on top of potato, and salsa on top. If it's a little spicier than you want, serve with fresh lime juice and sour cream. Enjoy!