A quick update all my foodie friends back home (ahem... Jenn) will be sure to appreciate...
Having long desired to but never having the courage to delve into the art-form that is cokking ackee and saltfish, I was struck by a wave of creativity earlier today and decided to try something completely new and entirely me... Ackee and veggie chunks! Well, not entirely me, but that isn't really the point. The chunks substituted nicely for the saltfish, and now that I am comfortable with the process I will be trying the "ackee and [fill in the blank]" dish with a number of different spins on the original. Next up? Ackee and bacon. Yum. Anyways, take a look at my dinner...
Preparation as follows.
Clean ackee by removing the 3 fruits from the reddish pod. Cut off the seed from each piece of fruit. Clean out red inner lining. Repeat x a million (at least it seems like that). People visiting me will surely see what I mean.
Boil ackee with black pepper, scotchbonnet pepper, whole garlic cloves. Boil until tender, but not until it turns into mush. Remove from heat, strain from water, set aside.
Rehydrate veggie chunks by boiling with thyme, paprika, various seasonings to taste. Takes about 5-7 minutes. Strain out water, set aside.
In a frying pan, put about 2 tbsp of oil and heat. Cut up one onion, tomato, a few cloves of garlic (I used 4), 2 scotchbonnet pepper, 1-2 stocks of scallion. Add all of the above to the oil and sautée until delicious looking/smelling. Season to taste. Add chunks, mix, continue to make delicious. Finally, add ackee. Cook till warm, and not so long as to turn ackee into mush (as above). Turn off heat. Enjoy! I ate it with rice.
Yeah. Success stories come in many shapes and forms, and this one I felt was particularly noteworthy.
Other than that, not much new.
Studying studying studying away… testing March 28th in NYC. In NYC March 23 – April 3. Give me a shout out if you want to catch up!
-TG
1 comment:
great culinary success!
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