Tag: FoodieTuesday

Jerk Roast Turkey for Thanksgiving

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

For many Jamaican families in the U.S., the traditional baked turkey will not take center stage at this week’s Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, it will be replaced by jerk roasted turkey.

It started a few years ago. I suspect, because somebody got bored with the traditionally baked turkey and decided to add little kick to it. When you think about it, jerking a turkey makes sense. If you can jerk a chicken, why not jerk a turkey?

Well, that idea has caught on. Several Jamaican restaurants now prepare and sell jerk roasted turkeys on order.

Type ‘jerk turkey’ or ‘jerk roast turkey’ on your computer and the search will return several pages with recipes, how-to information, and videos. You can even buy a jerk roast turkey from Nieman Marcus and jerk turkey from Boars Head.

I’ve never had jerk turkey, mainly because I don’t like turkey.  I’d curious to give it a try but it won’t be this Thanksgiving. I’ve been invited to join a family for dinner and I expect the turkey will be baked and accompanied by the normal Jamaican fare  – curried goat, jerk chicken or pork, escoveitch fish, rice and peas, etc.

If you’d like to try making jerk turkey for your Thanksgiving this year, here’s a recipe I found at Saveur.com.

Jerk Roast Turkey


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Ingredients
  1. ¾ cup olive oil
  2. ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  3. ½ cup chopped scallions
  4. ¼ cup freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
  5. 2½ tbsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste
  6. ½ tbsp. dried thyme
  7. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  8. ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  9. ½ tsp. ground cloves
  10. ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, plus wedges for serving
  11. 1½ tbsp. soy sauce
  12. 6 cloves garlic
  13. 2 Scotch bonnet or habanero chiles, stemmed and chopped
  14. 2" piece ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
  15. 8 tbsp. unsalted butter
  16. 1 (12-lb.) turkey
Instructions
  1. 1. Heat oven to 500˚. Combine ¼ cup oil, sugar, scallions, ¼ cup pepper, 2½ tbsp. salt, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg cloves, juice, sauce, garlic, chiles, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor; puree until smooth and set aside. Melt butter and mix with remaining oil; set aside. Rinse turkey and pat dry with paper towels. Season turkey inside and out with salt and pepper and let come to room temperature.
  2. 2. Transfer turkey to a rack set inside a roasting pan, tuck wings behind turkey and tie legs together with kitchen twine. Brush turkey all over with butter, reserving some for basting. Pour 2 cups water into roasting pan and roast turkey, brushing once with more of the butter, for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350˚ and continue roasting, brushing occasionally with butter, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into a thigh, without touching the bone, reads 150˚, about 2 hours. Remove turkey from oven and baste completely with reserved sauce. Place back in oven and continue to cook until internal temperature reaches 165°, about 20 to 25 minutes more. Transfer turkey to a cutting board, and let sit for 30 minutes before carving; serve with lime wedges if you like.
Adapted from Saveur
Adapted from Saveur
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Nigel Spence, one of my favorite Jamaican chefs, does a deep fry jerk turkey and has created this video demonstration for how to make it. Chef Nigel owns a restaurant, Ripe, in Mount Vernon, where he makes and sells his jerk turkey. Deep frying a turkey is best left to professionals or cooks with a lot of experience.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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5 Ingredients That Fire up Jamaican Cuisine

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Jamaican cuisine draws heavily on the culinary traditions of the people who have called it home – the Tainos, the original people, Africans, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Indian, Chinese, and our own Rastafarians.

However, almost everyone associates our cuisine with pepper, specifically Scotch bonnet. But you’d be wrong to believe that we rely solely on Scotch bonnet to fire up our food.  Here are five ingredients that you’re guaranteed to find in every Jamaican pantry.

Scotch Bonnet pepper – One of the hottest peppers in the world, Scotch bonnet got its name because it resembles the tam (bonnet) a Scott wears. The mature pepper can be green, red, orange or yellow. You’ll find Scotch bonnet in just about every dish, from soups to stews. Along with several other spices, it gives jerk its heat.

Pimento – Pimento is the dried fruit of the pimento tree. Jamaica is one of the main producers of pimento. In 1693, it was introduced to the market as a “sweet scented Jamaican pepper” but you might know as “allspice” because it has the combined flavor of cloves, nutmeg, pepper and cinnamon. We not only use the dried fruit, which we use mostly whole, we also use the wood. It is what gives jerk its distinctive, smoky flavor which you won’t get in packaged jerk sauce. We also use pimento to make a delicious liqueur.

Thyme – Another ingredient that revs up the flavor in just about every dish we prepare, from rice and peas to stews, soups and meats. Thyme is typically used fresh, sometimes dried but rarely ever bottled. You’ll find it in local markets bundled with a bunch of scallions, or you can buy it on its own. Let it dry naturally, away from sunlight, and store it in a glass container.

Curry – Curry here refers to the mixture of spices that is used to make curried goat, chicken, etc. Indian indentured servants, who came to island to work on plantations following the abolition of slavery, added curry, as well as roti, to our cuisine. However, the type of curry that is popular in Jamaica is a powdered blend that pales in comparison to the rich, textured curries that India is known for. The Jamaican curry powder has pimento, turmeric, cumin, coriander, fenugreek and anise.

Jerk sauce/seasoning/rub – Like curry, jerk refers to the sauce/seasoning as well as a way of cooking. To jerk is to slow-cooking meat, traditionally pork, over a fire made of pimento wood. The fire releases the oil from the wood, which give the meat its distinctive flavor. In addition to the pimento flavor, the meat is also seasoned with a mixture of spices. That mixture, was until a few years ago, a closely guarded secret. After almost disappearing from local cuisine, jerk made an explosive return around the 1970s with an expanded menu which included chicken, fish and sausage. For many years, Boston Bay in Portland, was the place to go for authentic jerk. Now, jerk stands are as common as patty shops. The main ingredients in jerk sauce/seasoning/rub are thyme, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, and Scotch bonnet peppers.

Homemade Jerk Seasoning


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Ingredients
  1. 1 onion, finely chopped
  2. ½ cup finely chopped scallions, including green parts
  3. 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
  4. 2 teaspoons salt
  5. 1 teaspoon ground pimento (Jamaican allspice)
  6. ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  7. ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  8. 4-6 Scotch Bonnet or habanero peppers, seeded and deveined, minced fine
  9. 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Using a mortar and pestle or a food processor, combine all the ingredients and grind to a paste. Store leftover paste in the refrigerator in a tightly closed jar for about 1 month.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Other ingredients you’ll find:

Nutmeg – The dry seed is used primarily in baking, while its outer shell is dried and ground to produce mace, another spice. Nutmeg is indispensable in Jamaican baking.

5 Ingredients that fire up Jamaican cuisine
Nutmeg

Coconut /Coconut Milk – In our house, we never made rice and peas without coconut milk, and it wasn’t the processed kind either. Whether you use the milk that has been extracted from shredded coconut or the packaged version, coconut milk is a must have in Jamaican cuisine.

Vinegar – Typically made from cane sugar, vinegar is a key ingredient in escoveitch fish. Vinegar, like lime, is also used to wash meats and fish prior to cooking. It is also used to pickle Scotch bonnet peppers.

Ginger – Introduced into Jamaica around 1525. By 1547, Jamaica was exporting ginger and was one of the three largest producers of ginger in the world between the 1930s and 1960s. The variety of ginger we have in Jamaica is thinner and several times more potent than that in the U.S. We use it in cooking and baking, and also to make homemade ginger beer and sorrel – two drinks that are popular around Christmas.

5 Ingredients that Fire up Jamaican Cuisine
Limes

Browning – Most Jamaicans use browning, which is really burnt sugar, in their Christmas or fruit cakes to give it that rich brown color. Some people also use it in oxtail. Use sparingly. Too much and foods will come out with a bitter taste.

Limes – used to wash fish and meats prior to cooking, to make lemonade, rum punch and sorrel.

 

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Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

A few years ago, my extended family started a monthly gathering to cook the meals that we grew up on, the dishes that we don’t have as often because we no longer have the luxury of someone else to prepare them for us.

Each gathering was an all-day affair with reminiscences about growing up, side-splitting, tears-running-down-the-face laughter about who did what when, and plenty to eat and drink. The best part was you never knew which old favorite the hostess (the women usually did most of the cooking) would surprise us with.  

One of my cousins is married to a vegan. When it was my turn to host, I scratched my head for weeks trying to think of something that I could make that’s different from his regular fare. Turning to my cookbooks, I found this recipe for Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk* Tofu.

Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu
Chopped Vegetables for Stir Fry

The cookbook, Jerk From Jamaica, is from Walkerswood, a local company that makes spices, sauces, preserves and canned vegetables. Walkerswood takes its name from the community in St. Ann where it has its operations. The company sources its produce from local farmers and from its own farms in St. Ann and St. Elizabeth, processes them at the factory in Walkerswood, and distributes them in North America, the UK, New Zealand and other countries. The recipes in the cookbook are all made in their kitchen using their products.

Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu
Serves 4


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Prep Time
5 hr

Cook Time
45 min

Prep Time
5 hr

Cook Time
45 min

Ingredients
  1. 1 tbsp Walkerswood Jerk Seasoning or Marinade
  2. 2 tbsp Palm, sesame or soya oil
  3. 1 lb Firm tofu, or Quorn, cubed
  4. 1 Onion, sliced
  5. 2 cloves Garlic, chopped
  6. Oil for frying
  7. 1kg/2lb (total of any combination)
  8. Vegetables - carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, green cabbage, pak choy, sweet peppers or broccoli
  9. 2 stalks scallion (optional)
  10. Salt to taste
Instructions
  1. Mix together jerk seasoning and oil, add to tofu and marinate for at least an hour.
  2. Heat the frying oil in wok or suitable skillet.
  3. Deep fry the tofu cubes for 3-5 minutes and reserve.
  4. Pour out most of the oil and stir fry the onion and garlic, then begin to add the other vegetables, hardest first.
  5. Cook very lightly, add the tofu and stir in gently until hot. Serve immediately.
Adapted from Jerk from Jamaica
Adapted from Jerk from Jamaica
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu is a simple dish that goes over well with most people. It’s light and flavorful and pretty easy to make. Once you prepare the tofu and chop the vegetables, the most time-consuming part is frying the tofu. Since we have to fry it, I usually let the tofu drain overnight to remove as much of the water as possible.

The next morning, I cut it into cubes no more than a quarter of an inch thick and smear on the jerk seasoning. Use a light touch here as tofu breaks easily.

Jerk seasoning can be either wet or dry. If you have dry seasoning, mix it with oil, as the recipe suggests, so it will be easier to spread. Whether wet or dry, spread the seasoning evenly and turn the tofu over to coat the other side. Once that’s done, set aside the tofu to marinate for about four hours.

The recipe calls for carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, green cabbage, pak choy, sweet peppers or broccoli but don’t panic if you don’t have them. I use what I have, which is usually broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and red and yellow peppers. The most important thing, I think, is to have a mix of firm and soft, colorful vegetables to give the dish variety in texture and color.

Wash and chop the vegetables and scallion and set them aside. I prefer to cut the onion into wedges instead of slices.

Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu
Stir Fry Vegetables

Most of your work will be in frying the tofu. Once that is done, all you have to do is stir fry the vegetables. When I made this dish recently, cooking time was about 30 minutes. 

Stir Fry Vegetables with Jerk Tofu is a great one-pot meal that’s a hit on any occasion.  I’ve made it for Thanksgiving, Christmas and many gatherings. Hope you’ll give it a try.

What’s jerk?
Jerk is a way of cooking that originated in Jamaica. It involves rubbing meat (back then it was only pork) with a mixture of spices and cooking it over a pimento fire. The pimento wood adds a distinct smoky flavor. Jerk also refers to the spices that are used to marinate the meat.
These days, jerk sauce is bottled and sold widely and can be used to jerk fish, chicken, sausages, even vegetables.

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Stewed Peas (Meatless)

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I love legumes and turn to them whenever I feel like taking a break from meat. Mostly, I make stewed peas, which is red kidney beans that’s cooked with spices and coconut milk.

Traditionally you make stewed peas with meat – pig’s tail, corned beef or pork, or chicken. But a few years ago, perhaps as a result of the popularity of the Rastafari’s ital way of cooking, which excludes meat, a meatless variation started cropping up on restaurant and cook shop menus.

Stewed Peas (meatless)
Stewed peas with brown rice and salad

But you don’t have to be vegetarian to like meatless stewed peas. Red kidney beans are so flavorful, you can enjoy it as a meatless stew or soup without much loss of flavor.

Making stewed peas

Soaking the peas overnight reduces cooking time. But if you’re unable to and have a pressure cooker, you can have them cooked in about twenty minutes. I love having a pressure cooker handy precisely for this reason.

The main ingredient in stewed peas is red kidney beans. As I explained in a previous post, what we call peas are really beans so I apologize for any confusion. Sometimes, I add carrots and spinners or potatoes, other times just carrots, especially when I’m watching my sugar intake as spinners (long dumplings) and potatoes raise blood sugar. Carrots can too, so keep that in mind if you’re diabetic.

For seasonings, I use scallion, thyme, Scotch bonnet peppers, pimento berries, garlic and a few thinly sliced strips of ginger. I love slightly sweet taste that coconut milk adds to any dish but you can leave this out if you prefer.

Stewed Peas (Meatless)


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Ingredients
  1. 1 or 2 cups peas
  2. 1 or 2 medium carrots (chopped)
  3. 1 sprig of thyme
  4. 1 stalk of scallion
  5. 1 Scotch Bonnet pepper
  6. 1 tbsp. Pimento Berries
  7. 2 cloves garlic
  8. 1 small Irish potato (optional)
  9. 1 can coconut milk (optional)
  10. 2 Bay leaves (optional)
  11. Water – enough to cook peas
  12. Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  13. Spinners (long, thin dumplings - optional)
Instructions
  1. Pick out defective or broken peas and wash. Soak overnight. The next day, drain off the water, pour peas into a pot, cover with cold water, add garlic and salt to taste and put to boil. (If you’re unable to soak peas overnight, wash, add enough cold water to cover and put to boil.)
  2. Cook for about an hour or until peas are soft.
  3. Add seasonings – pimento, scallion, Scotch Bonnet, black pepper, and coconut milk.
  4. Peel, chop and add potato and carrots.
  5. Add thyme, and Bay leaves (tie together with kitchen twine or put in cheesecloth). Cover and let simmer for about an hour or until you have a nice, thick stew.
  6. Remove Bay leaves, thyme and pimento berries before serving.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

Stewed peas is really an abbreviated version of red pea soup. It is always served with white rice but it’s just as great with brown rice, and greens – steamed callaloo, spinach or broccoli, or a garden salad.

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Simple, Tasty Bully Beef (Corned Beef)

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Last weekend, I had such a craving for bully beef and rice that I decided to make it for dinner. As I was chopping up the onions, scallions and tomato, I began thinking. Why is it called bully beef? Why is it red? How did it get to Jamaica? And why do we love it so much?

Bully beef is how we English speakers say beouf bouilli, which is French for boiled beef. It’s the brisket cut that is cooked in brine, shredded, and canned (think Spam) with a coat of gelatin or crystallized oil that melts when you cook the beef.

Bully beef was, until 2009, part of the rations that British soldiers received. I suspect the reason for its popularity in Jamaica and the Caribbean might be that the men who fought during the war brought it with them when they returned home. 

Bully beef and rice
Bully beef and rice

Bully beef is the name that was popular back in high school, when we made and sold bully beef sandwiches to raise money for our graduation. Corned beef is what almost everyone calls it now. But it’s not the same corned beef that’s a favorite of Irish and Jewish diners.

Once in a while we’d have bully beef for breakfast and sometimes, with white rice for dinner but it wasn’t a staple in our home. I can’t remember how my graduating class agreed to use it to raise money and considering how popular patties and coco bread were, I’m surprised we made money. But we didn’t have enough hands to sell those tasty little rolls that we stuffed with bully beef mashed with chopped onions, black pepper and mayonnaise.

Simple Bully Beef (Corned Beef)
Serves 4


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Ingredients
  1. 1 Can bully beef (look for corned beef)
  2. 1 medium onion (chopped)
  3. 1/2 small Scotch bonnet pepper (chopped, seeded)
  4. 1 small tomato (chopped)
  5. 1 sprig thyme
  6. ½ sweet pepper
  7. Dash black pepper
  8. 1 can mixed vegetables or 1 cup shredded cabbage (optional)
Instructions
  1. Saute onions and Scotch bonnet until they become soft.
  2. Add chopped tomatoes, let cook.
  3. Open can of bully beef, stir it into the tomato, onion
  4. Add sweet pepper and other vegetables
  5. Season with thyme, and black pepper to taste
  6. Let cook for about 3-4 minutes.
  7. Serve with brown or white rice and your choice of vegetables.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

I had another memorable bully beef meal when five of my aunts and uncles turned up in the same city at the same time. The next morning for breakfast, my uncle’s wife fried up green plantains, which she masked with a fork, and bully beef.

That breakfast took my aunts back to their youth and that all started chattering not only about breakfast, which was a hit, but also about their mother and the women in their community used to make the best cakes, the best sweets. It was the first time I was having green plantains and was delighted how well it complimented the slight saltiness of the bully beef. Weeks after I returned home, I ate nothing but plantain and bully beef.

Bully beef is like Ramen noodles – quick, tasty, filling and, at the time, inexpensive. It’s also very versatile. I ate a lot of it after I got my first apartment. I’d make bully beef with cabbage, green or ripe plantains, dumplings, green bananas, even pasta.

Much of the bully beef that is on the supermarket shelves comes from South America. About two years ago, a US Department of Agriculture recall took it off the market. 

When the ban was lifted, the price jumped from roughly $3-4 to almost $6 a can. (In Jamaica, you can buy smaller sized cans for about $2-3.) That’s when I swore off bully beef. It made better sense to buy a pound of fish or even chicken instead. Maybe that’s why last weekend the taste came back so strongly.

I found two pages dedicated to Rice and Bully Beef on Facebook. Between them, they have almost 2,000 likes. Who knew so many people liked this simple dish?

 

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Gizzada (Coconut Pastry)

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

I was out shopping with a friend a few weeks ago, when she stopped at a Jamaican restaurant in her neighborhood (more about that later) to pick up patties. A little take-away place, it had the standard Jamaican fare on the menu – rice and peas, curried chicken, brown stewed fish, etc.

I wasn’t very hungry but the pastries caught my attention, well one in particular: the gizzada, an open tart with a grated, spiced and sweetened coconut filling.

Gizzada
Pinch me round or gizzada

Also known as “pinch-me-round,” for the characteristic wavy look of the edges of the shell, the gizzada came to Jamaica from Portugal, where there’s a similar pastry, called guisada.

Portuguese Jews began arriving in Jamaica in 1530. They were fleeing religious persecution under the Inquisition, which ordered them to convert to Christianity. Jamaica became a refuge for Jews from Spain and Portugual, and by the mid to late 1880s, there were more than 2,000 Jews on the island. The gizzada is one of their contributions to Jamaican cuisine.

Gizzadas are pretty popular with Jamaicans. I remember eating them as a child, and there were always available at the cafeteria at school. They are also popular with Jamaicans abroad so I wasn’t surprised to see them at the restaurant.

I love gizzadas because of the combination of the textures and flavors – crunchy (shell) and soft (filling), the pungent taste of nutmeg and the spiciness vanilla, the sweetness of the filling against the plain tasting shell. Some recipes also use ginger.

Gizzada


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Crust
  1. 1 cup baking flour
  2. 1/4 tsp salt
  3. 1 1/4 oz. butter or margarine
  4. 1/4 cup ice water
Filling
  1. 1 small coconut, grated
  2. 1/2 cup brown sugar
  3. 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
  4. 1/2 vanilla
  5. 1/2 tbsp water
  6. 1/2 tbsp butter
Crust
  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Mix together flour and salt then cut in butter and shortening.
  2. Add ice water to form dough.
  3. Use fingers to blend mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
  4. Shape into a ball before wrapping in waxed paper and refrigerate for half an hour.
  5. Divide crust into 4 balls.
  6. Use a rolling pin to flatten balls into 3" circles of 1/4" thickness.
  7. Pinch edges to form a ridge to hold in coconut and sugar mixture.
  8. Put on greased cookie sheets and partly bake crust.
Filling
  1. Combine all ingredients except butter and cook over a low flame for about 20 minutes.
  2. Add butter then fill shells with coconut mixture and bake for a further 15-20 minutes.
  3. Makes 4 gizzadas.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

 

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Nov 10, 2013 – Linking up with Monika Fuchs’ foodie carnival at Travel World Online.

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Rundown or Dip and Fall Back

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Cooking is as much about skill as it is about passion. Either of these on their own can produce a satisfactory dish; bring them together and you have a delicious meal.

My first attempt at making Rundown, or Rundung in our Jamaican dialect, was for a dinner party I gave. I approached the making of this mildly complicated dish armed only with an inflated sense of confidence. I’m sure I thought to myself, how difficult can it be to?

While I scored on the passion, I bombed on the skill. Fortunately, for me, my guests thought my Rundown was a hit.

Rundown is grated or shredded coconut that is boiled until it reduces to a thick, custard-looking consistency. At that stage, onions, pepper, tomatoes, garlic, thyme are added and allowed to cook before adding the fish, typically salted mackerel, cod or shad. Lobster or shrimp work perfectly as well.

Rundown – I haven’t been able to find out why it’s called that – also goes by an even more interesting name, Dip and Fall Back. According to the National Library of Jamaica’s website, Rundown was served traditionally in a bowl that was placed in the middle of the table. Each person at the table would dip something starchy, like boiled green bananas or dumpling, into the bowl then fall back to allow someone else to dip.

Communal eating, which might have been holdover from slavery, was likely brought back into play during the war when foods and other items were rationed and Jamaicans had to create other ways to feed their families.

Another explanation is that you dip and allow your head to fall back so that the sauce doesn’t drip. Whatever the reason, Rundown or Dip and Fall Back is a Jamaican classic. There’s even song, Dip and Fall Back, celebrating the dish. Listen to a mento version by The Spinners, a group that’s new to me, and a lively folk version by the Cari-Folk singers.

My mistake on my first try was that I didn’t let the coconut reduce enough before I added the seasonings. I didn’t have annatto seeds either, for that yellowish-red color but it didn’t matter because the meal was delicious. (Annatto is the food coloring that gives Chedder and other cheeses their characteristic reddish-yellow color.) Honestly, there really is no way to fail with anything cooked in coconut since it gives foods such a rich flavor.

I never tried Rundown until several years later. That time, I got it halfway right but I was careful not to say it was Rundown.

A few weeks ago, when I was cooking with my aunt, I asked her to help me make it. She didn’t have salted mackerel so we used saltfish instead. Above is how it looked. For the record, it was delicious.

Rundown or Dip and Fall Back
Serves 4
A traditional Jamaican dish


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Prep Time
3 hr

Cook Time
20 min

Total Time
3 hr 20 min

Prep Time
3 hr

Cook Time
20 min

Total Time
3 hr 20 min

Ingredients
  1. 2 whole coconuts, grated or 2 cans coconut milk
  2. 1 clove garlic, chopped
  3. 2 -3 sprigs of thyme
  4. 6 cups water
  5. 3 stalks scallion, chopped
  6. 2 onions, chopped
  7. 2 lbs. pickled mackerel, saltfish or shad
  8. 3 tomatoes, chopped
  9. 1 hot pepper, Scotch bonnet, chopped and seeds removed
  10. 5-6 annatto seeds or a dash of turmeric (optional)
Instructions
  1. Soak the mackerel or shad in water for at least 3 hours to remove excess salt. You can also bring it to boil 2 or three times, throwing off the water and letting it boil again. Remove as many bones as possible and set this aside.
  2. If you're using shrimp or lobster, clean and set aside.
  3. If you’re using grated coconut, add water and press the liquid through a sieve, cheesecloth or muslin bag. This is the coconut milk.
  4. Boil the coconut milk rapidly in a heavy frying pan until it is reduced to something resembling curdled custard oil.
  5. Stir in the annatto or turmeric then add onion, garlic, scallion, tomatoes, hot pepper and thyme. Lower the heat and simmer for ten minutes.
  6. Add the fish and stir.
  7. Cover and cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat.
Notes
  1. This dish is traditionally served with boiled green bananas and dumplings. Sometimes the green bananas are cooked with it.
Adapted from National Library of Jamaica
Adapted from National Library of Jamaica
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

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Escoveitch Fish, Red Snapper

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

There are certain meals that every self-respecting Jamaican cook must know how to prepare, with his or her eyes closed, if need be. One such meal is escoveitch. Typically, escoveitch fish is reserved for fish but chicken can be used as well. I prefer fish – red snapper or king, but porgies or any type of fish that is suitable for frying can be used.

Escoveitch refers to a way of cooking, or more specifically marinating fish in a vinegar sauce. Also known as escabeche, it likely came to Jamaica by way of the Spanish.

Escoveitch fish is one of my favorite meals. It is also the only meal my mother taught me to make. I had picked up how to cook everything else, by osmosis I guess but was insecure about my escoveitch fish-making skills. Once I realized how simple it was, I made it over and over.

Escoveitch Fish


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Ingredients
  1. 2 lbs. red snapper or king fish, cut is slices
  2. 2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  3. 1/2 tsp. whole black pepper
  4. 3 tsp. salt
  5. 1 medium Scotch bonnet pepper, cut in strips
  6. 2 large onions, sliced
  7. 1 tsp pimento berries
  8. 1/2 cup oil (for frying)
  9. 2 cups vinegar
  10. 2 limes or lemons
  11. 1 small chocho (chayote or christophene), cut in strips
  12. 1 small carrot, cut in strips
Instructions
  1. Clean fish and wash thoroughly in large bowl with water and lime juice mixture.
  2. Dry fish, place on paper towels to absorb any remaining liquid.
  3. Mix black pepper and salt.
  4. Rub the fish lightly on both sides and on inside with salt and black pepper mixture.
  5. Put on paper towels.
  6. Heat cooking oil in skillet and fry fish on both sides until crisp and golden brown, about 3-5 minutes.
  7. Place fried fish into a glass dish.
Marinade
  1. In a saucepan, add vinegar, onions, Scotch bonnet strips, pimento berries, chocho and carrot strips.
  2. Boil for 2-3 minutes then lower heat and let simmer until onions are soft.
  3. Remove and let cool.
  4. Pour marinade over fish and let cool overnight, or at least an hour. Marinating overnight allows the fish to absorb the flavors.
  5. Escoveitch fish can be served with a variety of starches - from rice to bammie (a cassava flat bread).
Notes
  1. Paper towels will keep the fish dry so that it doesn't pop when placed into the hot oil.
  2. Escoveitch fish can be made a day in advance.
InsideJourneys https://insidejourneys.com/

I’ve yet to try escoveitch chicken. I can’t imagine how chicken stands up to being marinated in vinegar, what the flavors will be like, but I’ll post a recipe once I give it a try.

 

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Foodie Tuesday: Otaheiti Apples

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Otaheiti apples came to Jamaica and the Caribbean from the Pacific islands. Bright red, sometimes pink in color, they have a texture that reminds me of cotton candy. Some varieties are pear-shaped, others are slightly round; some have a mild flavor, others are quite sweet.

Otaheiti apples are also called Jamaican apple and cocoplum here; pommerac and rose apple in parts of the Caribbean.

Otaheiti Apples
Otaheiti Apples

Otaheiti apples have about 100 grams of water. They are also excellent sources of Vitamin C, calcium, thiamine and riboflavin. Because of their high water content, they will last only a few days if they’re not refrigerated, slight more if they are.

Otaheiti Apples
Apples

During the season, which runs from about December/January until about May, trees laden with fruits are everywhere. They have to be picked quickly before the birds get to them, like they did in the photo above. They’re bagged and sold by street vendors or in the markets. Otaheiti apples can be used in salads, juices, preserves and to make wine.

How to Make Otaheiti Apples Juice

2 dozen otaheiti apples
4 thin slices ginger
1/4 cup sugar (optional)
4 tbsp lime juice

Directions

Place ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
Strain into iced glass or over ice cubes.
Decorate with otaheiti apple slices or mint leaves.
Serves 6.

Recipe from Norman Shirley via JamaicanEats.

 

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Foodie Tuesday: Grater Cake

Posted on by Marcia Mayne

Jamaica produces about 95 million coconuts each year – a large number of which is consumed locally. The mature fruit forms the basis for confectioneries such as grater cake, gizzada, and drops that are popular among Jamaicans. These coconut treats turn up in grocery shops, in the baskets of itinerant food sellers and on fancy tables.

Pink & White Grater Cake
Pink topping

A few weeks ago, I attended an event and was pleasantly surprised to see grater cakes among the sweets on the dessert table. Grater cakes are made primarily of sugar and grated or shredded coconut with a little almond essence. It’s relatively easy to make and perhaps because it’s mostly sugar, satisfies the sweet tooth.

Granny is
fried dumplin’ an’ run-dung,
coconut drops an’ grater cake,
fresh ground coffee smell in the mornin’
when we wake.
– From the poem, Granny is, by Valerie Bloom

In the old days, we made grater cake with wet sugar, which is raw or unrefined sugar, also called Muscovado sugar. Wet sugar isn’t as popular as it used to be so now we use granulated (white) sugar.

 

How to Make Grater Cake

Ingredients

3 cups dried or shredded coconut
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon almond essence
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red food colouring (optional)

Directions

Peel off the outer layer (brown portion) of the dried coconut, wash, grate and set aside.
Combine grated coconut, granulated sugar and water in a pot and put to boil. Reduce to medium flame, mix in the almond essence and the salt. Stir constantly until mixture thickens.
Remove a 1/3 of the mixture and add a small amount of red food colouring to give a delicate pink colour.
Scrape remaining coconut mixture into a greased casserole dish and spread evenly.
Spread the pink coloured coconut evenly over the white mixture.
Set aside for 25-30 minutes or until sufficiently cooled.
Cut into squares and serve.

Recipe from gracefoods.com

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