Getting Back: Deconstruction & Tex-Mex Brekki

Took quite the break, yes? Because of life. It got rough and I strayed, but here I am thanks to feature on the travel channel about Cornish Pasties.

No, not Past[r]ies. Pasties. The way the man describes the flakiness of the crust, I was reminded of patties. So I took a stab at it. Made one for Friday night dinner, then one for Saturday "Brekki" after a long swim at the stadium.

So the in the 1st round the dough wasn't great: too much water. I read 3 cups instead of 3/4 cup.  *Slaps own forehead*. In the second round, the dough was perfect: a nice, crisp crunch. I made the dinner pasty with the concept of a Deconstructed, Beef-Bean Chili.

With the left over dough and a growling stomach,  I made Tex-Mex & Avocado Pasty!

Both are so easy to make and were so extremely delicious!

Pasty Prep:
Dough Recipe:

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup shortening or 1 cup lard
3/4 cup ice water (the colder the better!)

Mix dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add ice water a little at a time, tossing with a fork to make a pastry-like dough.
Add a bit more water if it seems dry and won't hold together when squeezed lightly.
Gather into a ball, press firmly now, then wrap with plastic wrap and chill while preparing the pasty ingredients.

Deconstructed Beef-Bean Chili Pasty

For the Deconstructed Chili:

1/2lb Minced Beef

1 Can of Baked Beans

Fresh, Home made salsa

1 cup of grated mild cheddar cheese (or Harvati or Smoked Gouda)

Tex-Mex Breakfast Pasty

For the Tex-Mex:

2 Eggs

1 cup of grated mild cheddar cheese (or Harvati or Pepper Jack)
 Salsa, Diced Avocado, Baked Beans (from the leftovers)

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (or on top of a piece of plastic wrap which can easily be folded over and then peeled off once the pasty ingredients are loaded).
Edges of pasty should be brushed with a smidgen of water and then crimped VERY firmly with a fork (and I fold them and crimp again -- so none of the liquid seeps out).
Brush tops of finished pasties with milk to enhance the crust (it will bake to a beautiful golden brown).
NOTE: Like pastry dough, pasty dough should be handled as LITTLE as possible to ensure flakiness. So, *handle with care* !

Please don't get carried away and put the avocado in at the baking process: Heat makes it insipid!

The Tex-Mex made for a heavy breakfast, but I indulged and it was So. Damn. Good! The crusts on both pasties were nice and flaky and the fillings melted while they melted my tummy. Mmmmmm.

I hope it does the same for you!

Eat well, til another time!

Gillian M.
 

Ghetto Steak Gone Sophis?

Jack Mackerel Spaghetti

1 tin of Jack Mackerel (Foreigners: look in the Caribbean section of the international aisle in your grocery store)
20 strings of Spaghetti
1 c of diced cucumber
1 pinch brown sugar
3 sprigs of thyme
Julienne: 1 yellow onion, 1/2 of a red pepper, 1 Roma tomato
3 Romaine lettuce leaves
S&P to taste

Directions:
Put your pasta to boil,
Saute your aromatics in butter, not oil (so you'll use less salt),
Sprinkle the brown sugar over the cucumber and let them breathe,
When the pasta is al dente, drained and wash, and mackerel is hot, turn off the burners and clean up your kitchen,
Get your clean plate, assemble as much as your eyes think you can manage and Enjoy!


I met a girl last summer and everyday moment together a new adventure. You know when you think you have an option to do something, take on a new post, keep yourself doing some form of activity til something better comes along? Last summer camp was it. Of course, the factual question was: "What else you really going do?"
     
        I learned alot that summer. About me, people, children/little people (the fact that I don't want any of my own!). I took the bus to country for the 1st time ever, contributed to the purchase of cooking gas, started looking for places to live, opened an insurance account. Eventhough I thought I'd be doing much with my life at this age, I don't give a shit, I'm proud - clearly I move more slowly than others.
     
        I'm over it.

         Anyway, the summer. I met a girl who was my age, working with a staff of teens and less mature people, and we bonded over not giving a shit. How nice?! Yes. I told about my adventures in food and how I like weird food and eat bacon. She doesn't like bacon; very good for me seeing that I got the bacon from her BK breakfast sandwich. I made "brownies" and Thyme-Cheese Egg Sandwiches for us. [I forgot to make that an entry. Next time.]

         So one of the pieces of from her came over one of our bbm conversations where she told me she was eating Ghetto Steak. What? What can this be now? I'd heard of ghetto steak in the US where "urbanites" but ground beef together in a pot and pretend it's steak, but she doesn't eat beef, suh what?None other can canned Mackerel. Not quite sure why it's called Ghetto Steak here, but it's funny. I never question funny. And, at the time, she was having it with rice.

       Fast-forward a month or two (time is meshing and life is becoming a blur), and her suggestion to dinner is Mackerel and Spaghetti. "What di raas?" How she come up with that? This is one of the very few times that I've been reluctant to try something new - Who woulda thunk it?

        Anyway, we went through the simple steps and made a similar plate to the one seen above. It was amazing. The only other disagreement we had was with Monk-like need to plate with elements not touching. What does it matter? Everything is going to be touching in your stomach and tastes amazing no matter how you plate it - Geezth!

Try it and let me know,

Eat well til Lata,
Gillian.

P.S. Hockey, thank you so much for an amazing summer!




        

Sweetened Coconut-Nutmeg Milk

It begins here, I guess!

Ingredients

2/3 cup of Brown Sugar    1 packet of Coconut Milk powder   2 1/2 cup boiled Water    1/4 tsp Nutmeg

- Wisk all the ingredients, strain into a jug, and put in the fridge to chill. 

- Serves 3

We are in our very heated Harbour View home with my poor fan on the verge of failing. I want something to drink, but I refuse to drink another glass of water lest I become transparent. Tang wasn't gonna cut it and I felt the urge to resist going on my 3rd cup of french vanilla tea. I could go to the supermarket!

         "Not a backside! Out deh too hot!" I was about to give into the Tang when I saw the packet of coconut milk powder next to it. I had tried the boxed coconut milk and thought, "Why the cuss not!" I followed my self -created recipe and out came this small glass of neatness:

Sweetened Coconut-Nutmeg Milk

         That lovely refreshing feel of the milk comes through and hugs you while the sugar allows the freshness linger #toogood. Take that milk producers! Cheers Vegetarians!And It's cheaper than buying the box; just buy the 6 packets at wholesale price and you're set for at least two weeks. Try it let me know!

I paired with my Spinach-Avocado Sandwich at later at lunch today!

Ok, I'm all ready to go coach these busy-bodies!

Eat well,

Til lata,

Gillian M.

Dear Conch

                In the beginning... yeah, no, that's not working. 

                The first time I saw conch was its shell being blown into by Windies supporters on JBC during a cricket test series. Another time, I saw it being used as a door stop. The next time was one Friday after a swim meet, me and my hungry belly self requested a small conch soup, 4 festivals, and a quarter pan chicken: meal of an athlete? You tell me.

Friday Conch – Amazing Tradition

                Take an opinion poll on Harbour View residents regarding sentiments toward our beloved home, we’ll say “it far and it boring, but we born and grow yah.” I actually like that it takes 10 minutes to get from even the Stadium to the first Total (Daddy’s speed). Why? No traffic, close proximity to the airport and Port Royal fish, and Conch soup and/or stew at the roundabout on a Friday night.

                “A big conch soup and 3 festival deh!” Honestly, I could eat conch soup every other day or night, but the cooks make me wait. It’s worth it. Yes, it’s a sea snail and the meat is rubbery, but it does so well with potato, carrot, curry, salt and festival. As such, I wanted to see what else my Friday love goes well with.

                Initially, my plan was plantain-wrapped conch with a watermelon garlic sauce, as inspired by plantain-wrapped crab cakes with avocado aioli. But, I am still in search of the perfect plantain that will behave itself and not rip. So, kabobs were my next option.

Watermelon & Garlic Wash

1 slice Red Watermelon                                                           1 slice Yellow Watermelon

4 cloves Garlic – crushed and diced                                         2 tbsp vegetable/coconut oil

1 pinch salt                                                                              1 tbsp brown sugar

Wash your hands then crush the melon pieces in a bowl. Throw in the oil, garlic, salt and sugar; mix, cover, and leave on the counter. 

Before: The conch & plantain adventure on the grill!

Conch & Plantain Kabobs

5 Bamboo skewers                 ¼ yellow onion                    ¼ of a green pepper         ½ cup plantain (diced)        

¼ of a yellow pepper              ¼ of a red pepper                ¼ lb conch                       ¼ cup salt & pepper 

Coarsely cut the conch and season in the salt and pepper mix for 1 hour. 

Arrange the conch, peppers, onion, and plantain cubes on the skewers.     

Coat the skewers with the wash and put them on the grill (or flat stove surface, like mine, because my grill was misbehaving).

Turn the skewers every 3 minutes and coat the skewers each time, til the conch is slightly charred. 

  

M.I.: Done! Skewers plated with tossed salad and squeeze of lime

This experiment went well; the plantain caramelized amazingly! Pree the combination and let me know what you think.

Eat well.

Til lata,

Gillian M. 

Readers' Choice

Ladies & Gents,

This version of writer's doesn't come from having nothing to write about, but rather too much to write about. This coming Saturday will make 3 weeks that I have been home in Jamaica, and the influx of ingredients and the culinary progression of our culture is not done justice with the use of 'overwhelming'. #Iloveit.

So ingredients:
Peppermint from my friend's backyard                                            Pak choi
Very ripe plantain                                                                           Conch
Mackerel                                                                                       Gungo Peas
Coconut Milk, Meat, Oil                                                                Lemon (Fever) Grass
Jackfruit                                                                                         Passion Fruit
Sour sop

The Beyond-Possible Potential Combinations:
Gungo Peas Hummus on Steamed Pak Choi
Coconut Oil Vinaigrettes using the Sour sop/Passion Fruit/Jackfruit
Plantain-wrapped Conch with a Tomato Aioli
Sour sop-Peppermint Rum Custard
Lemongrass-steamed Parrot Fish over Coconut-Vegetable rice

Feedback people, Feedback: Which one do you want to see first?

Respond by next Wednesday (29/6), Thanks!

Til lata,
Eat well,
Gillian M.

Thinking Forward, For Tam Tam!

                So far I’ve entered plated dishes, an ode to juice, and lots of looking back. And, as I’m going home in a few weeks and already applied for an internship in Brasil, I thought, “Why not write an entry with some forward thinking.”

                Looking back at it now, the last entry, being of the Hors d’Ouevre genre, served as a precursor to this forward writing and is testament to my trust in the power of hindsight. Oh hindsight, the fuel for this blog, of course, but further manifests itself as an impetus to do new stuff – in the words of the hilarious Katt Williams “to keep it pushin’!”

                And, in that spirit, I looked at Kidney Beans… oops! I mean Red Peas.

The following ingredients are usually combined to make three (3) dishes:

                ¾ c red peas (kidney beans for non-Caribbean citizens)

                2 sprigs of thyme

                1 tsp Allspice

                2 pinches of S&P (not the stock index)

                 Traditionally, we use Red Peas in the soup, stew with pigtail, and as the staple portion of a plate as Rice & Peas. Well, this week, I was on a hummus kick. I went into work on Monday and made Black Bean Hummus, which served for lunch again on Tuesday. Wednesday, my co-worker got the aching for garlic and herb Hummus – and off I went to combine chick peas, dill, thyme, garlic, lime juice, S&P, ginger, cayenne and olive oil.

                My first encounter with Hummus was sophomore year – I’m sorry, I couldn’t avoid the college influence. Darn it! Anyway, the vegetarian co-op wrote countless comment cards to engender the addition of Red Pepper Hummus to the salad bar. I had yet to give spices and herbs the respect they soooo deserve, and could not grasp any probability of puréed chick peas being tasty. The only explanation I was given for trying it was the health benefits –fine…gosh…uuuugghh! I refuse to care for healthy food that doesn’t taste good. And here, is where we get to this week’s Hummus kick!

                So with eating Hummus for 4 days straight (we have some of the packaged to-go cups at the house, but I’m a sucker for making it fresh), I decided to end the work week the way it started Peas-fully. Feel free to comment if you didn’t find that as chuckle-worthy as I did. So on the Thursday night I boiled some red peas in coconut milk and put in a Ziploc with the traditional 3-dish accompaniments, along with green pepper, cooking wine, other spices, garlic, olive oil, and, dig this, honey – Don’t screw up yuh face, try it!

Red Pea Hummus

Full list of Ingredients:

1 c red peas (kidney beans for non-Caribbeans)

2 sprigs of thyme

1 tsp Allspice

2 pinches of S&P (not the stock index)

4 cloves roasted garlic

¼ green pepper – julienned

Ginger, cumin, cayenne, paprika – 1 dash each

3 caps-ful of Marsala or any sweet cooking wine¹

1 tsp olive/canola oil²

1 tsp of honey³

Process:

 Throw the peas and spices in a blender or food processor and purée. Add the liquids in the order on the ingredients list.

Cut your Roti, or pita bread, into triangles and cover your plate with them.

Spoon hummus into centre.

Dice ½ a Roma tomato and fried plantain and sprinkle over hummus and Roti.

Garnish with thyme leaves!

          Plain triscuits, sun chips or toast serve as crunchy substitute. Also, you can switch your dippers to sliced (or baby) carrots, cucumber ovals, as well as with crackers and corn salsa – options in abundance. As you can see this has now incorporated the beloved red peas in snack form to go with lunch and dinner. 

Go ahead; give yourself a break from Rice & Red Peas, or Rice & Black Beans, like I did. Enjoy the amazingness!

Eat well til lata,

Gillian M.

P.S.¹ I had ¼ cup of boiled peas and fried plantain left over so threw them in a bowl with diced tomatoes, chopped scallion, diced green pepper, marsala wine, allspice, and s&p to make a Red Pea salsa. I brought into work for lunch the next day: Bangin’! Had it with some bread – simple stuff.

P.S.² Tam Tam is a really good friend of mine; She been asking for a party dish for a while now. “Ee! Seet deh!” Much love dear. 

Tamarind in all Its Tangy-ness

Seeing whole Tamarind for the first time in about six, seven years felt like a shock. This is after being comfortable with buying Tamarind balls and spicy Tamarind lollipops.

          So naturally, on seeing them on the bottom – because, I guess, the fresh version is not as popular as, say, the bottled sauce or the candy – I grabbed them up. In the process of cleaning them to make syrup and a sauce, I also learned that the fine people at the Tamarind-Ball-Making factory tricked me: “dem sowa nuh pussfoot!”

           Mind you, I wasn’t expecting to be sweet at all, but this was one dose of sourness you feel in your toes - send your minds to your first “cry baby”… bring it back. The second thing I was reminded of was the amount of work it took to de-seed the fruit and how messy it was – probable reasoning for it being unpopular. It took more work than a dry coconut and gungo peas put together. But the end result was amazing.

            In tribute to my reminiscing on driving home from Mum’s in the Air Jamaica building with a bag of tamarind balls and another of Busta sweetie, the initial plan was to tackle making my own tamarind balls – or misshapen version. But that wouldn’t in keeping with the theme here, would it? And I refuse to disappoint. So, I employed the fruit in a mission to the sweet and savory.

Ingredients:

12 whole tamarind – removed from shell

1 tbsp butter

¾ cup of water

¼ Savignon blanc

4 tbsp of brown sugar

5 mint leaves - chiffonade

1 dry coconut – opened, grate the flesh, strain the water

4 egg whites

Sweet sweet Meringue

 Throw all ingredients into a sauce pan to reduce. Cover it for the first 5 minutes or until it boils, then take the over off and leave to reduce to jam thickness.

Next come the cookies because they take longer: Tamarind Meringue Cookies.

Garnished with cleaned seeds & mint leaves

Preheat the oven to 350⁰F or 180⁰C.  

Wisk egg whites stiff. (Curly peaks will be the result of this forearm workout.)

Continue to Wisk and gradually add brown sugar, salt, and syrup.

Scoop spoonfuls onto a sheet of aluminum foil or baking sheet.

Put in oven for 10-12 minutes.

Turn the heat off and leave cookies in the oven overnight.

Happy Easter!

Lastly, Tamarind-Coconut-Cheesecake dip – that tastes like Bun & Cheese: cream cheese, for which I praise that Normandy Cremerie.

½ rectangle of Philadelphia cream cheese

1 pinch of salt
¾ cup of tamarind reduction

1 cup of coconut water

1 tsp of brown sugar

Throw the above in a mixing bowl. Set the mixer on medium speed and let it work to a smooth consistency.

Grated coconut for topping

Triscuits – choice for dipping

Garnish with cooled, cooked tamarind, mint leaves, and grated coconut

(Bring as an hors d'oeuvre to your next pot luck!)

I gave the rest of the coconut to a friend to make an attempt at Busta – God and im bredren help wi!

So try those two and melt.

Eat well, til lata (hopefully not as late as next year)

Gillian M.