AMERICAN PRESSURE COOKER CANNER

Fiona Lim from George

Jerk Boulette with Diri et Pois Coles
(Beef Meatballs with Rice & Red Beans)

Original Jerk Marinade – this is fire itself!
Yield: ? litre

1 wholewhite onion, small dice
? cscallions, chopped
5 scotch bonnets, whole
2 Tbsppicked thyme
5 tspground allspice
? tspnutmeg
? tspcinnamon
1 tspblack pepper
2 Tbspwhite vinegar
2 tspsugar/turbinado
4 tspminced ginger
2 Tbspoil

1.Blend everything together. Please be very careful. This is VERY SPICY!

Jerk Marinade – medium high fire ?
Yield: 1? litres

? Loriginal jerk marinade
4 white onions, roughly chopped
1 bunchthyme
1? tspsalt
3 tsp allspice
3 tspturbinado
400mlolive oil

1.Buzz onions in robocoupe first, then add everything else EXCEPT the oil. You’re looking for a ‘lumpy’ texture.

2.Remove from robo and transfer to a mixing bowl and just mix in the olive oil. I find this consistency good for the meatballs and also for something that you might roast. However, if you are looking for a rub to apply on protein that is to be pan fried/grilled, I would recommend getting the marinade to a finer paste. You can do that by putting all the ingredients into a blender as opposed to a robocoupe. Go easy!!! Its spicy!!

3.Depending on personal preference, marinate your beef accordingly, ideally 24hrs. We are using 5 lbs of lean ground beef and about ? L of jerk.

Jerk Boulette


5 lbs ground beef
10 Tbsptomato paste
3 cups panko breadcrumbs
1 cup milk
1? litres jerk marinade (depending
on spiciness)
to tastesalt


Diri et Pois Coles

Yield: full shallow hotel pan

Ingredients:

2 litresjasmine rice
2 litrescooked red kidney beans (Soak about 2 litres dried kidney beans the night
before. The next day, cover beans with about 2-3 inches of water and cook gently with a lid. Do not salt the beans until they are almost done. They take about 2 hours to cook. Let them cool in the liquid. Strain beans but RESERVE the liquid.)
4 cupsred onion, small dice
2 cupsshaved garlic
12-16 ozsmoked sausage/cured ham (optional)
8bay leaves
2 cupsflat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tspsalt

Method:

1.With some canola oil, saute the onions until they are lightly caramelized. Add garlic and sausage. Turn up the heat and roast them somewhat until you get some good colour.

2.Add the jasmine rice. Toss to coat well and ‘pat down’ to form a level surface. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

3.Add your reserved bean liquid (NOT the beans, just the liquid). Top up with water. In total, you need to add 3L of liquid (made up of bean liquid and water).

4.Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over medium heat. You don’t want to scorch the bottom but the liquid should come up to a boil fairly quickly.

5.As soon as I see steam escaping, I check my rice (DONT STIR). Carefully check the bottom by moving aside some rice to see how much liquid is at the bottom. As soon as you don’t see any liquid, remove the pot from the heat, KEEP THE LID ON and let the rice steam the rest of the way to doneness.

6.DO NOT stir the rice because it allows the steam to escape. Once the rice is cooled slightly (done steaming), fold in your cooked kidney beans, chopped parsley and adjust salt.

7.Personally, I have a desire to add raisins to this concoction, although not particularly Haitian. Enjoy!

In the food-o-sphere there has been of late a grand revelry of meaty events and porcine prose waxing poetical about organic grass-fed meat and a pig’s life from birthing pen to banquet table. The truth is we need to stop focusing on meat and gristle and figure out more ways to eat our vegetables. Ones that don’t take 115 gallons of water per day (one cow) and don’t give off toxic wastes into our air, water and ecosystems.

I am not vegetation, vegan or an environmentalist even (why do they all have V’s in them?), I'm just cheap and meat is expensive. I love bacon, leaf lard and pork ribs to no end, but we don’t eat like that every day. I am all about eating locally raised meats and poultry, and locally caught fish. But we go for days on end eating only vegetables (delicious and filling Brussels sprouts and roasted beets and their fried greens last night) and then maybe have one ham hock stew where meat morsels are fished out to become the stars of tacos, then the remnants become a sumptuous chili and then the next day a flavourful soup with the scrapings of the pot. Sure, there is meat in there, but not much. How about one measly piece of bacon to add flavor to white wine risotto or Chinese stir-fried Swiss Chard. Which brings me to my mission this month: 10 ways to prepare “insert sustainable easy to grow vegetable”.

Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach (use it in any spinach recipe), Crab Beet, Seakale Beet or Mangold which ever you want to call it. Chard is a stalky vegetable and grows well during the winter months in a wonderful array of rainbow colors.

Ten ways to cook Chard, I wont give you the recipes, you can look those up or create your own concoctions. I was able to make five of these meals out of one bunch of 2 euro Chard.

1.Baby chard leaves in a mixed salad

2.Sauteed with bacon and vinegar

3.Chard pesto with walnuts and garlic

4.Green Lasagne

5.Omelette with wilted chard and garlic labneh

6.Borscht chard

7.Baked with white beans and caramelized onions

8.Chard stuffed with last nights leftovers

9.Greek egg, chard and lemon soup

10. Chard with roasted parsnips, bechamel sauce, morsels of cheese and one tiny piece of fried bacon, topped with garlic toasts