Today, I’m taking one of the most versatile seafoods -
shrimp – and going with a Caribbean-inspired
meal, full of bold flavors and colors. I’m seasoning succulent
shrimp and then blackening it, adding a zesty pineapple mango salsa, a drizzle
of creamy guacamole dressing , and pairing it all with a sweet, almost floral
jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk. You’ve got vibrant colors and flavors,
blending sweet, spicy, hot, and tangy – and it all balances out into a
completely satisfying, refreshing, and indulgent meal.
Before I start on the recipes for you, I need to get something out of my system. And that would be the "Jerk" part. Here goes:
I hesitate to call this preparation “jerk.”
I always feel that I need to apologize whenever I utilize a
method or attempt a particular cuisine from another culture about which I am
basically clueless. Such was the case previously when I presented my
“Hoke Poke” which was my bastardization of a Hawaiian
classic and such is the case now when I am messing around with Jamaican Jerk seasoning.
What exactly is Jamaican Jerk? It’s more than a flavor. It’s more than a seasoning. It’s a cultural legacy originating from the
fusion of the Taíno and African cultures in Jamaica. The Taíno people were the
Caribbean’s indigenous population – members of the Bahamas and the Greater
Antilles – Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rica, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica. They
were first encountered by Columbus in the 1490s and they were the first to call
the island Xaymaca, meaning “land of wood and water.” The Spanish contact proved deadly for the
Taínos, as the enslaved natives succumbed to mistreatment and disease, namely
smallpox. It is believed that nearly 3 million Taíno people were killed or died
of disease over a 20 year period.
Originally, it was thought that the Taíno population was completely
ravaged by the Spanish colonists, but anthropological finds suggest that some
of the indigenous people escaped doom, surviving the trauma of “discovery” by
fleeing to the island’s mountainous interior.
Spanish colonialists then imported African slaves to the island to work the
maize fields and perform other physical labors needed in the conquered island. In the mid 1600s, during the war between
England and Spain, the British invaded Jamaica. The enslaved Africans fled to
the mountains of Jamaica and became known as the “Maroons,” derived from the
Spanish ward “cimarrones,” meaning mountaineers. There, the Maroons encountered the original
Taínos and settled among them and formed alliances, eking out a living hunting and cultivating crops
and sharing culinary traditions, one of which was “jerk.”
Jerk refers to the manner in which meat was seasoned,
smoked, and grilled, and it is a remnant from the era of slavery. The word “jerk” itself comes from the Spanish “char qui,” meaning dried or cured meat. The Taínos taught the Maroons how to preserve
meats with available spices and leaves, developing an underground cooking
method to evade discovery by their enemies. The
Maroons and Taíno escapees traditionally hunted wild boar, seasoning the meat
with allspice berries, salt, and bird peppers, wrapping it in pepper elder
leaves, and cooking it in underground smokeless pits, roasting it over dying
embers to avoid detection by the Spanish.
“To feed themselves in the face of adversity, the Maroons
had to hunt, prepare, preserve, transport, nourish, and sustain while always on
the move… Jerk is freedom manifested in
food.”
It is a blending of cultures in a unique culinary identity that sustained them in a history of defiance, survival, and freedom.
Jamaican Jerk is a cuisine born of necessity, independence,
and escapism. It is a testament to
tenacity, ingenuity, and survivorship.
It is, in essence, a way of life.
Instead of white-washing a significant part of Jamaican
culture and calling this cultural appropriation “Jerk,” offering it as
authentic, and thereby insulting an entire ethnic group, I try to show respect
for the culture, hopefully not being offensive, instead calling it “Caribbean-style” or “my
take on Jamaican jerk” or “jerk-like” or as I prefer, "Island-Inspired."
Here’s an outline of what I’m making so you can get an
idea of the process and timeline for what’s involved:
1)
Make the pineapple
mango salsa first. Cover and
refrigerate so all the flavors have time to swirl around and get friendly with
each other.
2)
Make the guacamole dressing. Cover and refrigerate. This is made in a blender or food processor
and you want the consistency to be drizzle-able. If you need to thin it out after it’s been
sitting for a while, add a little more lime juice or a neutral flavored olive
oil to it. (My go-to neutral olive oil is Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil.)
3)
Prepare the shrimp. Peel and de-tract a pound of large
shrimp. Yes, I say “de-tract” not
“de-vein,” because that black line running down the back of the shrimp is the
intestinal tract. You may call it a vein if it makes you feel better. Refrigerate until ready to season and
blacken.
Now, more about that shrimp: I prefer large shrimp, but my bag of frozen shrimp had all sizes of shrimp in it since Mr. Hawthorne had bought this batch of shrimp, de-headed them, and bagged them for freezing. When I mentioned to him his lack of sizing the shrimp, I received some half-assed suggestion to do it myself. And then, of course, I had to mention that I had, for years, done it myself, 25 pounds of shrimp at a time, sized into small, medium, large, and jumbo, all the while fixing dinner for five and helping two out of three children with their homework, but I digest. (And yes. I had 2 boys and 1 girl, in case there was any question.)
And of course, do NOT throw those shrimp shells
away.
Place in a freezer bag and save
for later use.
If you’re not going to
use them in a day or two, freeze the shells.
When you get in the mood for a lovely
shrimp bisque, use those shells to
make a perfect shrimp stock.
From everything I’ve researched about making shrimp stock, it is quick. As in 20 minutes quick. The essential flavors in shrimp stock basically peak at the 20-minutes mark and you can’t coax anything else out of them. (Unlike beef or chicken stocks where you’re simmering bones and aromatic vegetables for hours to extract maximum flavor.)
4)
Prepare the coconut rice.
5)
Make the shrimp seasoning.
6)
Season and blacken the shrimp.
7)
Assemble the dish.
Now, let’s get started on the
meal.
Pineapple Mango Salsa
1 fresh pineapple, prepared
1 mango
1 small red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper (I’m all
about the colors.)
½ red onion
1 jalapeño
Zest and juice of 1 lime
¼+ cup chopped cilantro
2 TB honey
Pinch or two kosher salt
To prepare the pineapple, cut off top and bottom, stand it upright, and
slice off skin and any remaining “eyes.”
Remove fibrous core, then chop fruit into small chunks.
Dice peeled mango, peppers, and
onion. Mince jalapeño. Chop cilantro. Combine all.
Whisk together honey, lime juice and zest. Pour over pineapple mixture. Toss to coat.
Season with salt to taste. Cover
and refrigerate at least an hour so the flavors can get happy together.
Guacamole Dressing
1 avocado
2 TB lime juice
2 TB neutral flavored olive oil (My go-to oil here is Bertolli Extra Light.)
1 garlic clove, minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
More lime juice or olive oil to thin, if needed
Combine avocado, lime juice, olive oil, and garlic clove
in mini-processor. Blend until
smooth. Add salt and pepper to
taste. Add more lime juice or olive oil, if needed, to achieve a drizzling consistency.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Coconut Rice
1 cup jasmine rice
1 can coconut milk
¼ - ½ cup water (as needed)
½ tsp salt
2 TB unsalted butter
In medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, water,
and salt. Bring to a boil over medium
high heat, reduce heat to low, cover, and barely simmer for about 15 minutes,
or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Add more liquid if needed. Fluff the rice with a fork, plop in the butter, remove from heat, cover,
and keep warm until serving.
While the rice is cooking, assemble the seasoning ingredients.
Seasoning
2 TB dark brown sugar
1 TB garlic powder
1 TB ground ginger
1 TB onion powder
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp ground cloves
Mix all ingredients.
For the shrimp
1 pound shrimp, peeled and cleaned
2 TB olive oil (I used a neutral oil – Bertolli Extra
Light Olive Oil.)
2 TB Lime juice
2 TB seasoning mixture
Toss the shrimp with olive oil, lime juice, and seasoning mixture.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, add in a bare film of oil and let it get hot, and then cook the
shrimp about 2 minutes, or until just opaque.
Remove from heat.
Assembly
Divide coconut rice between plates, Top with cooked shrimp and a generous helping
of the salsa. Drizzle with guacamole
dressing and garnish with fresh cilantro, lime wedges, and/or avocado slices.
Enjoy.
