J … Jamaica

Jamaica

 

Jamaican food reflects the history of settlement, combining influences from Spanish settlers, African slaves, Asian and East Indian labourers, British colonialism and Rastafarian vegetarianism with indigenous influences, to produce a diverse cuisine.

Our Jamaica day was held at Joan’s.  We only had a small group for this event but there was a good mix of tasty food covering a range of styles.

Nadine’s Jamaican Run Down was a tasty fish stew with coconut milk, onion, garlic and various seasonings.  

 

 

 

 

Laura prepared Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings. Jerk is a Jamaican style of cooking where meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a hot spice mixture producing a very tasty product.

 

 

 

 

Chris made Jamaican Beef Patties filled with a savoury mince.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline made a Jamaican-style Potato Salad  

 

 

 

 

 

Wendy prepared Sweet Potato Pone, a very moist cake made with yellow sweet potato.This dish is also well known in the southern states of USA, dating back to the 19th Century.

Sweet Potato Pone

 

 

 

 

 

 

Banana Bread

Joan made “We Be Jammin’ Jamaican Banana Bread” that used a tasty combination of banana, rum and citrus, topped with nuts.

 

 

 

 

Credits:

Nadine’s Jamaican Run Down was from Immaculate Bites

Laura Laura’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings were from reciperecap.com.

Chris’s Jamaican Beef Patties were from foodnetwork.com 

Pauline’s Jamaican-style Potato Salad is on youtube, from Mesha’s Corner.

Wendy’s Sweet Potato Pone  was from real-jamaica-vacations.com

Joan’s Jamaican Banana Bread was from allrecipes.com  

 

See our Recipes page for more recipes.

H … Hawaii

  Hawaii

It may not be a country, though some would like it to be, but our rescheduled H day in mid-summer at Beatrice’s was best suited for a more tropical cuisine.  She greeted everyone with “Aloha” and a Lei.  She and Chris, our grass-skirted host, had decorated the table with hibiscus and frangipani and everyone came in appropriate, colourful dress.

Chris provided refreshing Mint and Pineapple nibbles to welcome us.

Hawaiian Nibbles

 

 

 

 

 

We started with Julie’s Spam Musubi, a popular snack in Hawaii, made with marinated Spam and served like Sushi.  Apparently Hawaii loves Spam, consuming more of the meat than any other state in the USA.

Spam Musubi

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline prepared Taro rolls to accompany many of the dishes. As Taro was not available at the time, she substituted Parsnip as suggested in the recipe and she used much less sugar than requested but they were still sweet and tasty.

Taro Rolls

 

 

 

 

 

Nadine prepared Hawaiian Brie with Pineapple and Nuts.This was accompanied by water crackers, though it also went well with the rolls.

Baked Camembert

 

 

 

 

 

Joan’s Hawaiian Barbecue-style Chicken Salad was next; a light but tasty dish.

Chicken Salad

 

 

 

 

 

Jeanne made Fried Rice with Spam, another example of how the Hawaiians make good use of the tinned meat.

Spam Fried Rice

 

 

 

 

 

Pauline’s Watermelon Salad with Rocket and Feta provided a refreshing variation.

Melon Feta Salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris created a Pineapple and Banana tart.

Banana Pineapple Tart

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished with Wendy’s Hawaiian Wedding Cake, a dense cake based on crushed pineapple.

Hawaiian Wedding Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

Wendy’s Hawaiian Wedding cake was from food.com but she used macadamias instead of cashews, lime juice instead of vanilla and self-raising flour.

Pauline’s Taro rolls were from Polynesian Cultural Centre.  Her Watermelon and Rocket Salad was from Gold River Orchards but she used only 1/4 cup of sugar and the salad was sweet enough for everyone’s taste.

Nadine’s Hawaiian Brie was from food.com

See our Recipes page for more recipes.

C…Colombia

Colombia

For our Colombia day we met at Pauline’s.  It was April Fool’s day so Jeanne tricked everyone with a dish of kitchen scraps destined for her chickens, which produced some bemused responses until we realised what day it was.

We started with Laura’s Bolitas de Yuca y Queso – Yuca Balls stuffed with cheese.  She had thought it would be fairly bland and was tempted to add to the recipe, but decided to keep it authentic.  The result was surprisingly tasty.

Yuca Balls

 

 

 

 

 

Julie prepared Sopa de Frijoles Negros (Black Bean Soup), a soup of black beans accompanied by side-dishes of chopped ham, rice and onion which could be added to suit individual tastes.

Sopa de Frijoles Negros

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeanne also presented a soup, but this was a chunky combination of Lentils and Chorizo, with accompaniment of tomato, rice, avocado and yoghurt.

Lentil Chorizo Soup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nadine made Carne Afanada, a self-saucing meatloaf.  A unique feature of this was that she used Green Banana Flour from Natural Evolution, a gluten-free product, in the recipe.

Carne Afanada

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris made Colombian Empanadas, with beef and potatoes, served with creamy yellow mashed potatoes, Naca de Papas.

Empanadas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joan prepared a Banana-Pecan and Dulce de Leche Upside-Down Cake.

Banana Pecan Cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished with Pauline’s dessert of Dulce de Brevas – Figs in Syrup served with a fresh white cheese.  Instead of panela Pauline used brown sugar, and to substitute for queso fresco she blended equal quantities of ricotta and feta cheese.

Figs in Syrup

 

 

 

 

 

Credits:

Laura’s Yuca Balls was from My Colombian Recipes.

Pauline’s Dulce de Brevas also was adapted from My Colombian Recipes.

Joan’s Banana-Pecan and Dulce de Leche Upside-Down cake was also from My Colombian Recipes, with the Dulce de Leche from Epicurious.

See our Recipes page for more recipes.