Memory Lane

I cooked Jamaican food tonight, taking us back 40 odd years when we spent a year in the West Indies. Young, naïve, used to homely Yorkshire food, we were amazed and delighted by exotic foods and even though it wasn’t fashionable among ex-pats, we went a bit native and cooked and ate all we could lay our hands on. This was one of our favourites ~ Saltfish and Ackee, with Curried Chicken (they were all out of goat at Tesco’s) and Rice n Peas. The Rice n Peas dish is really red kidney beans, cooked with coconut rice, a staple in Jamaica in the 1970’s, cheap and nutritious. Not being able to get saltfish here, I used smoked cod to go with the ackee, just as tasty and less tough.

Ackee, Latin name Blighia Sapida after Captain Bligh of Bounty fame, came to the West Indies from West Africa. It's related to the Lychee. We had a tree in our garden, rather striking with its scarlet pear shaped fruits. When ripe, they split open to reveal a black seed and yellow flesh resembling nothing more exotic than scrambled egg. When we were there, a few people died every year as a result of eating unripe ackee. They are poisonous if eaten before the fruit splits open naturally. Simply cooked with fish and onions, (peppers and tomatoes if desired) black pepper and thyme, and sprinkled with crumbled crispy bacon, delicious.

Ackees available in the tin at Tesco’s. You can see how they look Here