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Pimento Hill

Pimento Hill

Thursday, 16 June 2011

Breakfast

Its the most important meal of the day. Not so much by content, but also who you share it with. Certainly from my experience if you share it with family, you are set up for a great day..one that leaves you ready for anything. Share it with a husband/lover it can make your day more lighthearted. With a business partner, that sets you up for taking on the world with both hands..and beating the hell out of it!
This morning, I shared with a business friend and all I have to say is 'bring it on world'
Top photo: Fried dumplings
Bottom photo: Saltfish fritters

Saturday, 11 June 2011

Saturday soup

What is the most popular meal in most Jamaican homes on a Saturday???
Soup..rich thick yellow beef soup. One filled with ground provisions like, yam,
coco, dasheen, dumplings and chunks of beef. Yum!

Recipe:

11/2 lb beef 
1/4 lb turnip 
1/3 lb carrot 
1/3 lb cho cho 
1/3 lb carrot 
1 lb yellow yam 
1 lb coco 
1 lb Irish potato 
1/2 lb pumpkin 
1 package beef noodles 
1 tsp salt 
2 stalks scallion
Directions:
Boil beef shank in boiling water until meat is tender
Add cut up vegetable to pot
Add seasoning to pot
Add dumpling to pot (optional)
Let cook until soup is medium bodied

Curry goat...not Goat Curry!!!

Mention 'Curry goat' in this country and some people either lick their lips in delight or screw their faces up in disgust. Some will even 'tear up' as they recall the fun and antics they had as kids playing with their pet goat until it went missing.....Back home in Jamaica, that's what happened to goats.
On a Saturday morning the meat would be 'prepared' and by early afternoon it would have been placed in a huge 'zinc pan' with all the various seasonings put in it. Amidst all of that there would be arguments about who made the best curry goat, secret recipes, and how much rum should be had and added to the goat while cooking!
And always, as best as I can recall the goat cooking would be left to one 'specialist'. This man would normally be of an East Indian heritage who would have earned his reputation as being 'a curry goat man', and would be a prolific rum drinker.
These goat cooking ceremonies went on forever, no rushing that masterpiece! Sometimes it would rain, they would cover it with a bit of zinc or banana leaf, but the process wasn't shortened in any way.
Finally after hours of waiting, the great reveal! Served on a bed of buttery white rice with a bit of green banana on the side...
Those were the days![Image]