Rice & Peas, Jerk Chicken ... and Breakfast

I'm experimenting with occasional meals that include legumes, just a small, select few: so, Puy lentils, green lentils, red lentils, black beans and gungo beans.

Tonight, it's that Jamaican classic: Rice & Peas with Jerk Chicken ...

Jerk Chicken

My jerk sauce is simple: crushed up Scotch Bonnet peppers, spring onions, sea salt, fresh thyme and olive oil. Massage into the chicken (I went with some drumsticks), slashed ... and commit to the oven for about an hour at 200C (400F?), turning over once during the cooking.

... which leaves us perfectly sufficient time to cook the Rice & Peas.

Rice & Peas

Rice & Peas should not be rushed. Personally, I think of it like a Pilaf but with coconut milk in place of the stock, and if you keep that in mind your Rice & Peas will come out perfect!

Take a large skillet and soften some finely chopped onion in butter.

Add the rice (remember, rice will swell up during cooking, so have a sufficient sized skillet) for which I go with a ramekin amount per person, which will make plenty for a dinner and plenty left over. Just allow the rice to get coated in the remaining butter.

Add a pint of chicken stock and boil hard and fast for about five minutes after which the liquid will be slightly reduced and the rice well on its way.

Add in a 400g can of coconut milk and a 400g can of gungo beans. That's the peas.

Low heat and very gently simmer for the remainder of the time it takes to cook the chicken through. If your rice is fully cooked, just add as splash of water to keep it going until you're ready.

Serve

Serve out a mound of Rice & Peas and lay the chicken alongside.

Drink? Guinness, of course, in my case a pack of Foreign Extra from the Nigerian brewery. Awesome!

Anyone else experimenting with legumes in their primal paradigm?

Breakfast

Leftovers. Breakfast is leftovers ... and something easy enough to come by, say some eggs or a fish.

Sprats for me! I love 'em! Whole, heads, guts in, the lot ... so does my mog, especially the crunchy heads.

Herring? What a jerk!

It's Sunday morning, I've got a herring and a hankering for something spicy ...

Clean, scale and gut your fish, washing out the cavity, slash the skin, rubbing in jerk seasoning and fill the cavity with lemons.

Place into an ovenproof dish, scatter over some onion rings, courgette, mushrooms, perhaps capers and commit to the oven for about 15 minutes before flipping over for another 10 to finish off. 200C (400F?) will do nicely.

The jerk seasoning? Take a few scallions, top tail and shred, a handful of fresh thyme, a couple of Scotch Bonnet peppers and some salt. Mash the lot together. That's your seasoning.

Retrieve, plate up and enjoy ...

Oily, fatty protein. What a way to start the day!

Have a great Sunday!

Brown Chicken Stew

Following on from my lunchtime Jerk Chicken, I rather fancied some more. So, about five o'clock, I put more chicken pieces together with some jerk seasoning and set it aside to marinate ...

Well, when it came to seven o'clock it looked a bit meagre so I set about something else ...

I'm sure this is actually called Fricassee, or something French, but given the spicing it's Brown Chicken.

Ingredients

Jerked Chicken
Palm Oil
Large Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Allspice
Tomato Purée
Green Pepper
Tomato
Dried Thyme
Palm Sugar*

Method

In a large skillet, melt some red palm oil and soften a shredded onion. Once starting to caramelise, add in the garlic and ginger, the allspice and the chicken.

Fry off until the chicken has taken on a little colour, add a good squirt of tomato purée and top up with water.

Bring to the boil and add in a chopped green pepper, sliced tomato, a sprinkle of palm sugar and a good sprinkle of dried thyme.

Set to reduce over a medium flame and when it's reduced, it's ready.

Yeah, you could serve with coconut rice, or something, but it's best just to have a huge bowl of the stuff as is ...

*You spotted it. Sugar.

Well, palm sugar is the sweet sap of the palm tree, crystallised. It is largely sucrose based, so low in fructose and scores relatively lowly on the GI index. Used in strict moderation, it's one of those "primal" sweeteners, like honey ... and in this dish brought a real roundness, which allowed the full flavour of the chillies to be tasted without overly burning.

Check out Mark Sissons' article on sugar.

Jerk Chicken

I'm all for simplicity ...

I'm all for authenticity ...

I'm of the belief that all these "authentic" recipes are actually simple rustic, low-brow food cooked simply, over simple flame by regular people for regular people.

Recipe lists as long as you arm, methods which read like a Haynes manual, nah ... not for me.

I stumbled over a simple preparation which happens to be quite simply, Jerk Chicken ...

I have a glut of chicken wings, so chopped into mini-drumstick, wing and tip, I simply marinated it in my jerk seasoning for a couple of hours.

Jerk Seasoning

Scotch Bonnet Peppers
Scallions/Spring Onions
Fresh Thyme
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Allspice

Amounts, I'm unsure, but blend a bunch of spring onions with a couple of Scotch Bonnet peppers, a handful of fresh thyme, then add in the salt, pepper and Allspice.

Done.

Yes, done.

... as in that's all, folks.

Jerk Chicken

So, we have chicken and we have the seasoning, so slop a load of the seasoning into a bowl with the chicken pieces and massage together.

Leave it a couple of hours, then pop into an oven spread out on a tray at, say, 180C and let it go for 30-40 minutes.

Here's fun ...

Leave the tips in for another hour!

The tips will dry out and you can eat them whole, bones and all ... it'll just crunch away. Easy. The rest, of course, you eat after 30-40 minutes.

Yum! I wolfed it down without any thought for you guys, so sorry ... no picture.

Jamaican Mutton Curry

Throw aside all notions of time! Mutton Curry is not to be rushed ...

 

Make up a big batch so that you have leftovers, but the general measurements I used were:

For the marinade:
600g Chopped/Diced Lamb, Mutton or Goat (Bones and all)
Spice Rub*
Sea Salt & Black Pepper
Scotch Bonnet Pepper
Ginger - Couple of slices
Garlic - Couple of cloves
Fresh Thyme
Cider Vinegar

For cooking:
Large Onion
Garlic - More cloves
Large Plum Tomato
400ml Coconut Milk
Potatoes

Put all the meat into a large bowl and pour over your spice mix (*turmeric, ground coriander and allspice, for me), enough to coat the meat. Use a little more if there are uncovered patches. Sea salt and black pepper now, give it a good massage.

Take a Scotch Bonnet pepper, cut in half and very carefully de-seed. Drop into the meat, along with a couple of cloves of garlic sliced in half, a couple of slices of fresh ginger and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Fold in together.

Slosh over some cider vinegar. Enough to get the meat wet, but not swimming.

Leave for 24 hours ...

Retrieve the Scotch bonnet pepper, the garlic, the ginger and the thyme.

Brown the meat in batches, transferring the meat to a large lidded ovenproof dish.

Chop the onion and blend with the retrieved garlic, ginger, a couple more cloves of garlic, perhaps a little more ginger, half of the Scotch Bonnet pepper and a chopped up plum tomato.

Fry off this mixture to take the rawness of it and pour in the can of coconut milk. Cook through for a few minutes and pour over the meat, rinsing out with water. Add further water to the bowl if necessary just to cover the meat.

Lid on and settle into an oven set on low for the day, say 125C for something like 6 hours.

About an hour before you want to eat, remove the lid, add a touch more allspice and some peeled and chopped potatoes in good sized chunks. Test for heat and drop the other half of the retrieved Scotch Bonnet pepper if so desired.

Raise the temperature to 180C and let it reduce for the hour, turning in the darkened top ever quarter of an hour, or so until well reduced and concentrated in flavour. Test for seasoning, adding sea salt to taste.

Ready to eat?

Serve out into a bowl and enjoy, perhaps with some Rice & Peas if you're so inclined.

Ackees, Callaloo & Smoked Haddock

Native to tropical Western Africa consumption of ackee fruit takes place mainly in Jamaica and is a staple of Jamaican cuisine, their national fruit and the key component of their national dish - Ackee & Saltfish.

Notice the order of the words? Ackees are the attraction, saltfish is the sideshow.

Ackee is related to the lychee and produces a pear-shaped fruit. Green unripened fruit can lead to poisoning. When ripe, the fruit bursts open to reveal a bright orange/yellow flesh, perfectly edible with the consistency of lightly scrambled egg.

Callaloo, again Jamaican, traditionally uses amaranth leaves as the main constituent ingredient.

Amaranth is a superb source of vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin B6, vitamin C, riboflavin and folate; dietary minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese. Paleo superfood!

I can get both of these ingredients canned and keep them in as store cupboard staples for times just like these - when I want a quick and tasty dinner with minimal fuss and preparation.

Ingredients

Smoked haddock, ackees and callaloo.

Butter, cooking fat, carrot, Scotch Bonnet pepper, garlic, scallions, tomato, egg, rice, black pepper and sea salt.

Lemon and parsley.

Smoked Haddock

Wrap your smoked haddock in kitchen foil with a little butter and commit to the oven set to 180C (350F?) for 20 minutes.

Egg

Boil an egg per person.

Rice

Boil your rice, press into a greased ramekin and place upside down in the corner on a waiting plate. The rice will keep warm while you cook the rest of the dish and once the ramekin is removed will leave a pleasant mound of rice on your plate.

If rice is not within your ancestral template, don't worry ...

Traditionally, Ackee & Saltfish would be eaten with some plantain, breadfruit, yam, fried dumplings or hard dough bread. Plantain, breadfruit or yam would work out really well, as would these bread balls. That, or there's always cauliflower rice.

Callaloo

Meanwhile, warm the callaloo through in a pan and just keep warm while you cook the rest of the dish. Add a generous knob of butter just before serving.

Ackees

Drain the ackees. Slice up some carrot into long matchsticks. Dice tomatoes and shred scallions - that's spring onions. Finely shred a Scotch Bonnet pepper.

Melt your favourite paleo cooking fat in a heavy-based pan. I went with goose fat, but coconut oil would be really good. Toss the carrot through a few times - you want the carrot warm, but not sogged. Just a little cooking is perfect.

Add in the ackees. Toss well and warm through.

Now the Scotch Bonnet pepper, shredded. Use it all if you like it hot, just a bit if you only like a likkle tickle. Garlic, too - skinned and sliced thinly.

Finally, the scallions and tomato just to toss through and serve out. Salt and pepper to taste. Remember, the smoked haddock might be salty, so go easy there.

Serve

Serve this lot in the middle of the plate, pushing a bowl of callaloo onto the plate and lay a couple of egg halves on top. Callaloo and eggs are just lovely together - in fact, a sort of Eggs Florentine could be put together using callaloo.

What a lovely spread of colour! If the callaloo was not alongside, I'd wilt some spinach into the ackees.

Retrieve the haddock from the oven and lay over the ackees, butter poured over and wedge of lemon with a sprig of parsley to garnish. Eat.

Coley Escovitch

Most likely Spanish in origin, Escovitch is a Jamaican preparation for fish. You'll notice the similarity in sound to Escabeche, similar in process.

Escovitch is a curing method.

Take a couple of fillets of fish - Red Snapper would be the obvious one, but I had coley. Lay them in a tray.

Add some flavour: ground coriander, perhaps cumin, cayenne pepper (Jamaicans would use Scotch Bonnet ... again, I didn't have any in), black pepper, some sea salt and then cover with shredded onion.

Now the curing liquid: lime juice. Lemon juice is also fine, or a mix. One large lime covered two large coley fillets. Vinegar is also used; cane vinegar, keeping close to the Jamaican process, although any will do - I used a capful of cider vinegar.

Now leave it for at least a couple of hours, overnight is better.

Unlike Escabeche, Escovitch is cooked. Usually fried.

When you're ready to eat, simply place the tray into a pre-heated oven set to 180C for about 20 minutes.

Serve out and accompany with something like avocado and shredded peppers.

Cod & Ackees

Fusion ... my take on the classic Jamaican Saltfish & Ackees with a fragrant Oriental twist!

The rationale? PIRATES! You know ... of the Caribbean, especially part four was it where they went to China?

If you've not heard of ackees before it's a fruit, related to the lychee and produces a pear-shaped fruit. Green unripened fruit can lead to poisoning. When ripe, the fruit bursts open to reveal a bright orange/yellow flesh with the consistency of lightly scrambled egg.

First, get your "Yaaaarrr!" on ... which reminds me of a joke:

Why are Pirates called Pirates?
Because theyarrrrrh!

This is a stir-fry of onion, carrot, daikon and mushroom; the daikon and carrot cut into matchsticks and the mushrooms thinly sliced.

Prep the veg.

Make up a sauce from chilli sauce, some Worcestershire Sauce or coconut aminos, lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, coriander ... basically, something sloppy, pungent and spicy. We'll be pouring this over later.

Get some filleted cod steaming to cook through. Cover with lemon slices and ginger to perfume the fish.

Ackees come canned, so open and drain a can.

Get your wok fired up and stir-fry the veggies in some coconut oil. At the last minute, pour the sauce in, drop the pieces of flaked fish in and the ackees. Gently fold together and serve out, garnished with fresh coriander leaves.

Creamed Callaloo

Creamed Callaloo is a Jamaican favourite.

Callaloo, traditionally, uses amaranth leaves as the main constituent ingredient.

Amaranth is a superb source of vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin B6, vitamin C, riboflavin, and folate, and dietary minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese. Paleo superfood!

You could use spinach, kale or any combination of these deep greens as the base, but amaranth is the more authentic.

Begin by boiling the greens. I boiled in some crab juice poured off from another meal I was making - Callaloo with flavours of the sea seems to work out really well.

Once soft, chop in some other ingredients - shallot, garlic (I used wild garlic, which is seasonal), okra, Scotch Bonnet pepper, thyme and black pepper, adding a little chicken stock. Simmer for a few minutes, then blend together roughly - you still want some structure, not a purée.

The aim is to get enough liquid evaporated off so that this is not technically soup, yet not too much that it turns dry. Okra helps hold a thickened soup balance here.

Once achieved, pour in some cream. Traditionally, coconut milk would be used and should - I was out of coconut milk, but did have some cream. Lacto-paleos, feel free to try either; more purist paleos, carry on with coconut milk.

Meanwhile slice some scallops and flash fry in a little butter and fold into the soup.

Finally, garnish.

I had some chopped egg white and some shaved truffle, which is very seasonal at the moment. Garnish with whatever you have to hand - simple fresh herbs would do just fine.

You get a warming glow from the Scotch Bonnet, but the fattiness of the cream offsets it just enough that you can taste all these fine flavours.

Ackee and Saltfish

Native to tropical Western Africa consumption of ackee fruit takes place mainly in Jamaica and is a staple of Jamaican cuisine, their national fruit and the key component of their national dish - Ackee and Saltfish.

Ackee is related to the lychee and produces a pear-shaped fruit. Green unripened fruit can lead to poisoning. When ripe, the fruit bursts open to reveal a bright orange/yellow flesh with the consistency of lightly scrambled egg.

Saltfish is dried and salted cod.

It is important and to read the name of this national dish - Ackee and Saltfish. This is not fish with fruit, but fruit and fish. Ackee and fish should be balanced as equal quantities.

Pass the dutchie ... we've got fish to fry ...

This dish takes some preparation - 24 hours, to be exact, or thereabouts.

First, soak the fish in water, pouring out and replacing a few times. After that, boil the fish for about half an hour and then set aside to cool.

Cooling is important since we're going to be shredding the flesh off the skin which turns gelatinous and can be lava hot!

Flake the flesh off the skin and set aside.

Drain a can of ackees and set aside.

Prepare the other ingredients ...

Slice some streaky bacon into small slices around half a centimetre, cube some red or green pepper, dice some tomatoes and spring onions (scallions, in Jamaican), and rough chop some flat leaf parsley and some thyme.

Finally, finely slice one Scotch Bonnet pepper for a likkle tikkle.

Making the dish is simply a case of putting those ingredients into a frying pan ... in the right order.

Start out with frying off the bacon to release some of its fat content. Once coloured and the fat has rendered out, toss in the fish and sautee until warm.

Add the scallions and fry for a few more minutes, tossing through the fish and bacon.

Add the peppers, tomato, chilli and thyme. Warm through, tossing through thoroughly.

Finally, add the ackees and parsley, gently tossing through to ensure all the ingredients are well mixed while retaining the structure of the delicate fruit and aromatics of the herbs.

Serve out onto a plate and enjoy.

Traditionally, Ackee and Saltfish would be eaten with some plantain, breadfruit, yam, fried dumplings or hard dough bread. Making it paleo, I like strong green vegetables alongside - kale or tenderstem broccoli are great. If you're looking for more carbohydrate, rice might be something you are happy with and makes a good accompaniment.

Certainly, a bottle of Guinness, Dragon Stout or Red Stripe is a must!

Boom! Dat a shot!