Tag: Caribbean
Johnny Cakes
Johnny Cakes
Unlike the cornmeal pancake version that you may be familiar with, Belizean-style johnny cakes are dense baking powder biscuits with a slight coconut taste. They contain flour and no cornmeal. Johnny cakes are typically served for breakfast with eggs, sausage, and fried beans. They also go great with Belizean stewed chicken, soaking up all of the red recado sauce.
Ingredients
- 5 tbsp butter melted
- 2 cups flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- milk for brushing
Instructions
- Mix together the dry ingredients.
- Mix in the wet ingredients.
- Knead for a minute.
- Line a baking pan with parchment paper. Portion the dough out to 6 equal dough balls. Slightly flatten.
- Using a fork, gently prick several sets of holes on the top side.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush the top side with milk.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
Pork Griot
Pork Griot
Griot de porc is the pinnacle of pork dishes in Haitian cuisine. Cubed pieces of pork shoulder are marinated in sour orange juice and herbs, then slow roasted for a couple hours. The juices are strained from the pork and reduced down. The pork is then broiled and drenched in the sour orange sauce. You most likely won’t be able to find sour oranges in the U.S. You can substitute the juice of 3 limes and 2 oranges.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder cut into 1” cubes
- 3 limes juiced
- 2 oranges juiced
- 1/2 medium onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 jalapeños sliced
- 2 green onions chopped
- 3 tbsp parsley chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix all of the marinade ingredients together.
- Marinate the pork in a gallon sized storage bag for 8 hours, preferably overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the pork with all of the marinade in a Dutch oven.
- Roast for 2 hours.
- Strain the juices from the meat.
- Pour the juices in a pot over high heat.
- Reduce the juices down for 7 minutes.
- Turn on the broiler. Position the oven’s rack 6” from it. Line a baking pan with foil. Place the pork in a single layer on the pan. Try to make sure and remove any extra herbs and veggies from the pork. Spoon a couple tbsp of the juices over the pork.
- Broil the pork for 5 minutes. Spoon the rest of the juices over the pork.
Sofrito Pasta
Sofrito Pasta
Have a bunch of extra sofrito and don’t know what to do with it? It is great as a light sauce tossed with pasta. I recommend using pasta that isn’t spaghetti noodle shaped. Something that has some type of ridge to catch the sauce like penne rigatta, gemelli, bowtie, etc. You can also add chicken, shrimp, or pork to the pasta and eat it as a main course.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups sofrito
- 1 lb dry pasta cooked according to directions
- 2-3 tsp creole seasoning
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
Garnish
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- Heat up olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add in the sofrito. Cook for 5 minutes to get the raw flavor out.
- Add in the cooked pasta and toss in the sofrito. Season with the creole seasoning. Cook for 5 more minutes.
Sofrito
Sofrito is used as a base for soups, stews, beans, and rice in many Spanish speaking countries such as Cuba and Puerto Rico. It is typically made out of a lot of green ingredients such as green bell pepper, cilantro, green onions, and culantro; similar to green seasoning used in African/Caribbean cuisine. Sofrito adds aromatics to whatever you add it to.Sofrito can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a month. I like to freeze it in ice cube trays and store in gallon sized freezer bags. You can then keep your sofrito for up to a year.
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 2 small green bell pepper seeded and chopped
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 1/2 cup culantro
- 1 head garlic
- 1 medium white onion
- 4 green onions chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 2 tbsp oregano
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender or food processor.
- Purée until smooth. Store in the refrigerator for up to a month or in the freezer for put to a year.
