We were connected with Jean through a Caribbean society where she’s known for her wonderful food. She is also known for her culinary skill at church on Saturdays, and spends a lot of the week busily preparing for various events, so we were very lucky to get a whole afternoon with her.
As the date approached, we rang a couple of times to check that we were still on, which seemed to miff her – that we might assume she’d forget. This is very Jean; calm, cool and patient with a serious wit and no time for fuss or idle gossip. She just likes to get things done. She was incredibly wise and considered in all she shared with us.
We fiddled around photographing the food in her living room, as it had the best light. She left us undisturbed, which is unusual, as often the concept of ‘food styling’ seems ridiculous to our grandmothers, plus they worry it’s going to go cold.
She called us ‘babes’ as we left her house and we responded with a loud, ‘Bye babes!’ in unison. We all promptly cracked up at the relaxed conviviality of it all.
Feeds 4
Takes 35 minutes
Ingredients
400g cassava, peeled and chopped into large chunks (see method)
500g piece yellow yam, peeled and chopped into large chunks
1 sweet potato (about 400g), peeled and chopped into large chunks
400g pumpkin, skin on and chopped into large chunks
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and diced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 vegetable stock cube, crumbled
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 x 540g tin callaloo
1 x 540g tin ackee
Method
Set up a large steamer pan on the hob in preparation. Peel the skin off the cassava by using a sharp knife to chop it into 15cm rounds, then take each piece and lay the flat side onto the chopping board and slice downwards along the edges to remove the skin. Once peeled, chop into large chunks.
Add the peeled and chopped cassava, yam and sweet potato to the steamer pan for around 20 minutes, until tender. After 5 minutes of steaming, add the pumpkin.
Meanwhile, heat a lidded sauté pan with the oil, add the onion and soften for 8 minutes before stirring in the tomato for a minute or two.
Next add the stock cube and cayenne pepper, stir, and add the callaloo; cook for 5 minutes with the lid on.
Next add the ackee. Jean carefully stirs hers with a fork rather than a spoon from now on, so as not to break up the ackee. Cover and let it simmer for 5–10 minutes.
Check the steamed vegetables and if a knife goes through them easily, stop cooking – you don’t want them to disintegrate.
When everything is done, serve the steamed vegetables with the ackee and callaloo.
TIP: You can use finely chopped fresh spinach or tender spring greens as a substitute for callaloo, or for a non-vegan version swap it for saltfish.
Jean also added one tbsp of annatto paste (spooned from a mysterious unlabelled jar in her fridge!) for colour and for its many health benefits. Annatto (also called achiote) is a seed that grows in Jamaica and can be found as a powder or paste. Add if you can track it down!
