Jerk Chicken

Jerk chicken is a signature dish of Jamaica and has a well-deserved reputation as a classic dish of the Caribbean. Like many Caribbean dishes, there are as many recipes as there are families for this fiery, delicious meat dish. 

Ingredients:

6 chicken thighs and 6 drumsticks, skinned and slashed to absorb the marinade.

Marinade:

1 medium onion, roughly chopped.

4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped.

4 limes: Juice, peal and flesh – all in!

2 tablespoons of pineapple juice.

8 allspice berries, roughly ground.

2 or more teaspoons of West Indian hot pepper sauce (caution!).

1 teaspoon of salt.

Generous tot of dark rum.

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and marinade the meat for at least 8 hours before either barbequing or hot-roasting until thoroughly cooked, but still juicy and succulent.

Serving:

This dish is great served with ‘rice & peas’, fried plantain chips, BBQ sweetcorn and spare hot pepper sauce (for the hardy). Oven roasting produces a delicious liquor-gravy too. Make sure there is plenty of strong lager beer and rum punch to hand.

Notes:

Thighs and drumsticks are the best chicken joints for this dish due to their moist texture. Breast meat, although lean and tasty, is better reserved for stir fries and curries. 

You may substitute the meat with equal weight of pork chops, goat meat (on the bone), whole fish, split raw lobsters or raw jumbo prawns – adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Hog Belly n Beans

Variations of this delicious, simple dish are found throughout western and eastern Europe and the USA. Dried haricot beans and salt pork or bacon were winter staples in pre-freezer days and a must for sailors, trappers, cowboys and pioneers alike. 

My recipe is in the modern, mid-western USA style; but options for an original Polish recipe are added below. I use the superb boiled, smoked bacon from Polish/Eastern European delicatessens - better and cheaper than supermarket fare. 

This recipe feeds 4 hungry cowpokes!

Ingredients:

1 kg Salt Pork/Speck/Pancetta/Boiled Bacon, cut into bite sized chunks. 

1 large onion, roughly chopped.

2 cloves of garlic, mashed.

2 cans of good quality baked beans, including their tomato sauce.

2 small cans of butter beans, drained (optionally, replace with 1 can baked beans, drained of sauce).

1 tbsp sweet red paprika powder

1 tsp smoked paprika powder (back to the Polish deli…)

2 tbsp honey

Dash of tabasco to taste (optional).

Method:

Fry the bacon, and onion over a fierce heat, allowing the bacon to sweat some of its fat. You may need to add a little cooking oil if the bacon is really lean. Do not worry about a little caramelisation of the onions and bacon, as this adds a nice dark flavour and colour to the beans. You may wish to drain some of the fat off at the end of this stage.

Reduce the heat to a simmer, add the garlic and fry gently for a few seconds to flavour the fat. Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan and add half a can of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes and stir. Adjust for taste and simmer for a further 10 minutes, stir and serve. 

For a fuller flavour, decant to a baking dish and bake open, in a medium-hot oven, for 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on the liquidity of the beans if you decide to bake them - adding water (or good bacon stock if you have some) as necessary.

Polish Option:

The Polish recipe uses only butter beans (pro rata by volume, of course), adding about 3 tbsps of tomato paste and another half can of water to replace the sauce you get in baked beans. Poles prefer it to be less sweet and less sticky, so omit the honey altogether and add more stock/water.

Summary:

This dish is either a hearty meal in itself or as a breakfast item, excellent with a fried egg. Always serve the beans with crusty bread to mop up the delicious sauce.

Garbanzos

(Pron: Gar-BAN-thos)

This is a Spanish stew of chick peas, potatoes, pork and sausage which is native to Catalonia, but versions can be found all over Spain and the Spanish-speaking world. Garbanzos is very cheap to make, but is at least as tasty as dishes costing ten times as much to prepare. Many Barcelona tapas bars offer a version of Garbanzos. Cook plenty because this dish is very popular – especially with kids! This recipe serves about 4 generous helpings.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil.

1 large Spanish onion, coarsley chopped.

2 cloves garlic, crushed.

200g salt pork/uncooked bacon/pork shoulder, cut into bite-sized chunks.

100g chorizo (Pron: Cho-REE-tho), cut into bite-sized chunks.

1 tbsp sweet paprika powder.

1 tsp dried chilli flakes.

1 cup of tomato passata (or 1 cup of water and 2 tbsp tomato paste).

1 cup of vegetable stock.

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized chunks.

2 cans chick peas, drained.

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan until hot. Add the onions, garlic, pork and chorizo then stir and fry for 2 miunutes or so, until the meat starts to brown and the onion relaxes. Add the paprika and chilli flakes and stir. Add the passata, stock, potatoes and chick peas and stir well. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for half an hour, or until the potatoes are cooked. Mash a few chick peas and some potato against the inside of the saucepan with your stirring spoon; this will help to thicken the sauce slightly - so continue until you have the desired consistency. 

Serving: 

Garbanzos is best served with huge chunks of fresh crusty bread. There are no hard and fast rules in the Spanish eating culture, and most dishes can be eaten at any time of the day or night. Garbanzos, like many Spanish dishes, are good to eat when served just warm or even cold. Leftovers can be served as a snack in a warm pitta bread pocket with fresh tomato and grated cheese.

Variations:

Due to its peasant heritage, this dish is also cooked with rabbit, goat, wild boar and other game. Honey may also be added to adjust the sweetness - especially where the dish is intended to be eaten cold. Chorizo is almost always used - whatever meat is added. Pig cheek and tongue are also used, but most other offal is avoided. Leaving out the meat entirely makes for a tasty vegetarian stew.

Eton Mess

This delicious mix of meringue, fresh seasonal fruit and whipped cream is simple to prepare and is always a hit at dinner parties. It's basically a smashed-up pavlova!

Ingredients:

Six small meringues

1 small punnet of raspberries or strawberries

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar or  castor sugar

300 ml double cream

Method:

Break the meringues into small pieces and set aside. 

Wash the fruit. If using raspberries, simply toss them in the sugar for a couple of turns and set aside. If using strawberries, either half or quarter them, depending on their size. Toss the strawberries in the sugar to macerate them. Treated in this way, the sugar will help to draw some of the juice from the fruit, and add some sweetness to the dish.

Whip the cream until fairly stiff; too loose and it spoils the finished texture of the dish.

Just before serving, add all the ingredients to a large bowl and fold together gently.

Serve immediately. 

Note: 

You have an excellent excuse to finish it all off, because this dish spoils quickly once it has been combined.