Jamaican Patties

My husband brought Wingless Angels home last night. It was recorded at Keith Richards' home in Jamaica and is him and these amazing Rastafarian drummers from Steer Town. With only shutters on the windows of his house there, the sound of crickets chirping can be heard throughout this album -I love it! The music is so genuine and true with a predominately African sound. I'm not much of a traveler, but I do like to explore other cultures' music and of course, foods! Over the weekend (and completely unrelated to why he bought this album), I made these Jamaican Patties, a popular street food and the 'hamburger' of Jamaica.



Jamaican Patties
Adapted from Lucinda's Jamaican Kitchen by Lucinda Scala Quinn
To insure success, make both the pastry and the filling separately well ahead of when you want to assemble them, allowing time for the pastry to chill (I made the pastry first) and the filling to cool completely. It takes a bit of planning, but both pastry and filling can be made hours to days ahead, and otherwise these are very easy to make. And, here's my favorite part -they freeze well. I had planned to freeze half of these, but my people insisted on me baking them all that night, instead. Makes 16 patties, 2-3 patties per serving.

Filling
Mix: 1 lb ground goat or beef
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2-4 hot peppers -Jamaicans use 2 Scotch bonnet peppers, I used 4 jalapenos from the freezer!
1 t. each dried thyme, curry powder and salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Heat 2 T. canola oil in a large skillet and add meat mix. Stir and cook until the moisture evaporates and the meat browns and forms a bit of a crust (10 minutes or so).



Add 2 cups water, stirring up the browned crust from the bottom of the pan. Stir in 1/2 c. bread crumbs to make a stew-like consistency. Reduce heat to low and cover. Cover and cook 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so. Remove lid and allow to cool completely.



Pastry
Mix:
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. curry powder

Cut in:
1/4 c. vegetable shortening or lard (or all butter)
1/4 c. butter (or all vegetable shortening or lard)
Add 3/4 c. cold water, mix in and knead to hold together, but work as little as possible. Form two disks, wrap each in cling wrap, and chill 1 hour to 5 days.



To prepare patties, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each disk into eighths, form 8 balls, and make patties one at a time. Roll each into an elongated circle. Spoon cooled filling onto one side, leaving room to fold over and seal edge. Moisten edge and crimp with a fork to seal.

Brush patties with 1 egg beaten with 1 t. water before freezing or baking. Oops! -I forgot to do this step! Ours were great without, but I think they would brown a bit better with an egg wash and will try and remember next time.

Place on a cookie sheet, eight fit nicely on one of my sheets, and then repeat with the second disk. OR cover with plastic wrap to freeze filled patties at this point, and then simply cook the frozen patties without defrosting. Bake patties at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. I served these with Jamaican Red Stripe beer and a large fruit salad, but red beans and rice would also be very good.

Apricot-Pineapple Jam

Apricots are a very soft fruit that is difficult to transport to markets, and they are not as popular as many other fruits available this time of year. As a result, many growers have stopped producing and selling them. I watch for the brief period when they show up at our Farmer's Market and when they do, I immediately buy some to make Apricot-Pineapple Jam.



We made this jam every year on the ranch when I was growing up there. The Farm Journal describes it as 'pure gold' and in the gray darkness of our winters here in the Pacific Northwest, we welcome this bright sunshine-gold jam on toast -or jam on pancakes and waffles European-style, rather than North American-style with maple syrup.



Despite anxieties and intimidating directions surrounding the process, making jam is really easy: Chop up the fruit, add sugar and cook it until its jam. "What they don't tell you is that when it has turned into jam, it looks like jam. It is thick and has the consistency of cold molasses" points out the immortal and always amusing Laurie Colwin in her essay 'Jam Anxiety.' It really is that easy.



Apricot-Pineapple Jam
Adapted from Farm Journal's Freezing and Canning Cookbook

Mix in heavy bottomed preserving pot:
8 c. (about 4 lbs) diced apricots
8 c. sugar
Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.

Add:
2-20 oz cans crushed pineapple, drained
Bring to a boil again. I often don't actually read these incredibly simple directions and then of course, forget and dump the undrained pineapple in with the apricots and sugar. I just cook it all for 30 minutes or "until it looks like jam" and it works out just fine.

Put jam in jars and seal. Leave undisturbed overnight. Label and store. Makes 6 pints.

Note: Use some slightly under ripe fruit. If all the apricots are dead ripe, the jam will have a softer set -not a bad thing if serving it on pancakes and waffles.



Apricot-Pineapple Jam mixed with an equal amount of soy sauce and a bit of white wine or rice vinegar makes a really great glaze to baste on grilled or roasted meats, and pork tenderloin and duck breast are especially good with this glaze. This is roasted goat I made last night for dinner.



Yesterday after I'd made this jam, we harvested our potatoes, and I was making pickled carrots and dill pickles and packaging goat meat. For dinner I put these vegetables in the roasting pan with a bit of water before adding the meat. Bake 350 for 1 1/2-2 hours covered, and add glaze last 15 minutes of cooking, without the cover. So easy and so good.