Time to Make Jamaican Coffee & Rum Cake with your Coffee Gift

Have you ever wished that you could savour a holiday and recreate that relaxed feeling in the morning when everything tastes better, even it seems the coffee.  A holiday in Jamaica with Mocking Bird Hill guarantees that your coffee will always taste better, as we only stock locally sourced Blue Mountain coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world, direct from the Old Tavern Coffee Estate.

“The quintessential balanced, classic Caribbean cup. Richly low-toned acidity with suggestions of wine and spice; medium bodied but resonant and deeply dimensioned. Complex without distraction.” – Kenneth Davids, The Coffee Review

To help all our guests ease back into the real world we are gifting a Blue Mountain Coffee bag which should last a week .  Hopefully it will stir you up in the morning.  If you really want to recapture the Hotel Mocking Bird Hill experience then here’s our legendary coffee cake recipe for you to recreate at home

COFFEE AND RUM CAKE

4 tbsp Raisins and chopped dry fruits
4 cl Golden Rum
5 tbsp strong espresso style coffee
180g Butter
180g Sugar
3 eggs
110g Flour
¼ litre Strong coffee
2 tbsp. Rum
1 tbsp Sugar
¼ l Cream
Vanilla Hundreds and Thousands
1 tbsp Chocolate grated

Method:

Soak raisins and dried fruit in rum.  Cream sugar and butter.   Add eggs, flour and coffee.   Add soaked dried fruit and raisins.

Pour the mixture into a greased tin and baked in a preheated oven. 150 C – for approx. 45-50 minutes until inserted skewer comes out clean

Stir in sugar and rum to the coffee.

Cool cake on a wire tray. Prick cake generously all over. Gradually pour coffee/rum mixture by the spoon full. Let it soak in overnight at room temperature

Beat cream stiff.  Serve with cream sprinkled with grated chocolate.

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Great Gazpacho Recipes with a Jamaican Twist

With a heat wave in Europe, Carnival mayhem imminent in London and hurricanes threatening the east coast of the US we decided it was time to share our Caribbean variants on the ultimate chill-out soup, Gazpacho, for those who may be in need of it this weekend.

It’s thought Gazpacho originated in the Middle East before making its way up to Spain with the Moors from where it became so famous; perhaps it is the Spanish who brought it to Jamaica initially in 1494 with their conquest of our native Arawaks.  However it ended up in Jamaica, we adore the endless possibilities that can be used to make it, and it is particularly welcome after a thirsty morning’s work in the gardens, when it’s not just refreshing but the perfect way to use up veggies.  It’s particularly useful for those in colder climes who have stubborn green tomatoes: try them in chilled soup!  If you are on a raw diet or are in need of a tasty immune-boosting soup that is piled high in antioxidants, these could just be … your cup of soup!

Mango Gazpacho

2 mangoes peeled and pitted (just under 1 kg total)
2 cucumbers, de-seeded
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice or to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Finely chop 1 mango and 1 cucumber and set aside. Coarsely chop remaining mange and cucumber and puree with ¼ cup of water in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and stir in finely chopped mango, cucumber, onion and lime juice and 2 cups of cold water. Chill in the refrigerator for about two hours. Stir in cilantro just before serving along with 1 teaspoon of salt.

Mango Gazpacho with Pickled Shrimps

2 ½ cups water                                                            
½ cup vinegar
1 ½ tbs pickling spice ( we use our own homemade jerk spice)
1 tbs minced lemongrass
1 ½ tbs salt
Boil ingredients together. Remove from heat.

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley   
¼ cup chopped green salad onions                                                
1 ½ tsp minced jalapeño chili (bird peppers)   
12 uncooked medium shrimp, peeled, deveined

Stir into the chilled water the parsley, onions and pepper and shrimp, chill and then cover overnight in glass container.

2 large ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted                             
1 small green apple, peeled, chopped
1 small celery stalk, chopped
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/2 cup chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1 tbs fresh lime juice
2 tsp chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 large jalapeño chili, seeded, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Puree all these ingredients together. Chill for at least 2 hours.
Ladle soup into 4 bowls and top with 3 shrimp each and garnish with parsley.

Gazpacho with Avocado Puree

5 lbs. peeled tomatoes                                                                                
Puree tomatoes and strain. Combine tomato puree with other ingredients (veg. stock, onions, garlic & herbs).  Season to taste and chill.
3 cups vegetable stock
¾ cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 med Avocados (about 1 lb),peeled, seeded and diced       
Blend avocados, bird peppers and fresh lime juice and water until smooth. 
4 bird pepper stemmed and minced
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 tbsp cold water
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil       
Ladle gazpacho into bowls and then top with avocado puree and drizzle with oil
Water Melon and Cucumber Gazpacho
4 cups diced, seedless watermelon                                      
Puree until smooth. Transfer to large bowl.  
1 cup diced, seedless watermelon
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced (about 1 cup)  
1 medium-size red bell pepper, seeded, diced (about 1 cup)
1 medium-size yellow bell pepper, seeded, diced (about 1 cup)
1 small jalapeño chili, seeded, minced
3 pale green inner celery stalks, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 small red onion, diced (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup crème fraîche or sour cream                                    

Mix remaining ingredients and add to puree
Stir to combine. Chill for 1-2 hours.
Serve in bowls topped with a spoonful of sour cream or crème fraîche

Watermelon Gazpacho with Feta Cheese

1 large tomato, pureed
1/2 serrano chili
1 cup cubed fresh watermelon

Puree tomato, watermelon and chili in a food processor together.

1 tsp red wine vinegar                                           
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Pour in the vinegar and olive oil into a food processor and pulse.
2 tablespoons minced red onion                         
1/2 cucumber, seeded and minced
2 tbs minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Add other ingredients and puree until smooth.
Pour into chilled bowls and sprinkle with
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, chopped dill and chopped watermelon

Chilled Cucumber and Avocado Soup with Smoked Marlin

1 ½ tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onions
4 cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded and chopped 
225 gm potatoes, peeled and cut into ½ “pieces
3 ½ cups vegetable stock
3 large fresh dill sprigs and 6 tbsp. minced fresh dill
1 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream
100 gm. smoked marlin cut into thin strips

Melt butter in heavy pan over med. Heat. Add onions and sauté until slightly softened, about 3 min. Add cucumbers and potatoes. Stir for a minute.
Add stock, dill sprigs and salt. Simmer gently until cucumbers and potatoes are tender. Puree soup until smooth.
Cool. Whisk in ½ cup of cream and 4 tbsp. minced dill. Cover and chill until cold. Put soup into bowls, place sour cream in centre of each bowl and sprinkle with finely sliced strips of smoked Marlin and remaining minced dill.

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Quench the Thirst with Jamaican Summer Drinks

For those looking for something cooler to quench your thirst on a hot summer afternoon or evening, our Jamaican summer drinks will all add a little fizz & sparkle as well as being so easy to make.  All are good enough to use if you are entertaining at a summer party or barbecue, and we’ve listed our favourite non-alcoholic summer cocktails too for those guests not partaking of a tipple.  We do recommend using Jamaican white rum if you can, as its aromatic qualities add that extra hint of summer.

Watermelon Sangria
MAKE-AHEAD
2 pounds seedless watermelon, peeled & cubed, plus 1/2 pound watermelon cut into balls with a melon baller (if available) and skewered on picks
1 bottle dry white wine
6 cl Genesis (light white rum) – not the overproof version! Use vodka instead if you can’t get the light white rum
4 cl Mille Fleurs Wild Orange Liqueur (o/w Cointreau or Triple sec)
4 cl citrus syrup
Ice
In a blender, puree the watermelon cubes. Pour through a fine strainer into a pitcher. Add the white wine, light white rum, Wild Orange Liqueur and Citrus Syrup. Stir and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Stir again, then pour the sangria into ice-filled white wine glasses and garnish with the skewered watermelon balls.

De Mocking Bird Ting
2 cl Mille Fleurs Wild Orange Liqueur (o/w Cointreau or Triple sec)
2 cl Campari
10 cl grapefruit juice
Ting    (Ting is a popular Jamaican bottled drink made from grapefruit juice – Americans would call it a Grapefruit soda) 
Pour all ingredients into a highball glass with ice and fill the glass up with ting and stir.

Super Cooler
4cl passion fruit juice
2cl dry light white rum (Genesis)  (Not the overproof!)
2 cl Mille Fleurs Wild Orange Liqueur (o/w Cointreau or Triple sec)
2 cl lime juice
Prosecco
Shake all liquids, minus the Prosecco, with ice and pour them into a wine glass and fill it up with Prosecco.

Mocking Bird Fizz
4cl light white rum (Genesis)
2cl Mille Fleurs Wild Orange Liqueur (o/w Cointreau or Triple sec)
8cl pineapple juice
4cl orange juice
1cl lime juice
1cl simple syrup
dash Angostura Bitters
soda water
Put Genesis, orange liqueur, pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup, angostura bitters and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake well. Pour into a tulip glass and top up with soda water. Garnish with an orange peg.

Mocking Bird Super Fizz
4cl Light White Rum (Genesis)
2cl Wild Orange Liqueur
8cl pineapple juice
4cl orange juice
1cl lime juice
1cl simple syrup
dash Angostura Bitters
Prosecco
Put Genesis, orange liqueur, pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup, angostura bitters and ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake well. Pour into a tulip glass and top up with Prosecco. Garnish with an orange peg.

Mocking Bird Fizzle
8cl pineapple juice
4cl orange juice
1cl lime juice
1cl simple syrup
dash Angostura Bitters
Put pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, simple syrup, angostura bitters and ice in a tulip glass and top up with soda water. Garnish with orange peg.

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Love Chocolate, Adore Fudge

As Jamaicans we love chocolate but oh so adore fudge. I am sure you can imagine just how happy we and the team are we are when we make creamy chocolate fudge! “The ultimate organic treat” is how some of our guests have described this tasty indulgence.

With Easter fast approaching we thought we’d share our traditional Jamaican fudge recipe given to us by Crum Cottage that we will be serving at our Easter-Time Fayre on 23rd April:

Recipe

2 tbls. butter

2 cups sugar

pinch of salt

3/4 cup single cream

3 tbls. Cocoa

1 tsp. Vanilla Essence

Method

Cook sugar, salt, milk and cocoa slowly until melted.

Cook without stirring to 234 degrees F or until mixture forms soft ball in cold water.

Remove from heat, add butter and vanilla.

Beat with spoon until starts to cool and thicken.

Pour into buttered pan and cut into squares when cooled.

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Solomon Grundy – A Spicy Sustainable Fish Pate

Herrings have been used salted and used  for over a millennium in Europe and as Europeans arrived in Jamaica so their popularity in the Caribbean grew too, as well as the creation of  one of Jamaica’s most famous fish dishes, Solomon Grundy.

Solomon Grundy makes use of the herring’s small flakes of meat;this creamy fleshworks beautifully in a pâté blended with key Jamaican flavours such as bird peppers, and served on crackers.   We particularly like this pâté in that it is not just healthy but follows our policy of only using fish that is from sustainable fish stocks.

The term Solomon Grundy comes from the English word salmagundi which refers to a salad that uses lots of things, subsequently phonetically evolving into the Solomon Grundy of nursery rhyme fame as the rhyme grew in popularity.

It makes a wonderful lunch snack served with slices of cooling avocado and sweet roasted breadfruit and our guests really enjoy it as part of their Afternoon Tea.  If you are giving a Thanksgiving party next week we recommend serving this as canapés whilst waiting for everyone to arrive; for those that aren’t too keen on ‘spicy’, serve the crackers with a layer of cream cheese.

Solomon Grundy Recipe

Ingredients

1 kg. Smoked Herring
4 onions, finely chopped
4 stalks scallion, finely chopped.
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp of finely chopped Bird Chilli according to taste

Method

Clean and remove bones and rinse in water to remove excess salt; flake the fish.

Blend all ingredients together. Flavour and season to taste.

Store and keep in the fridge.

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Foodie Christmas Spice in Jamaica

If you are a serious foodie, then you’ll adore the fusion of world flavours that make up a Jamaican Christmas. At Mocking Bird Hill we combine traditional Jamaican spice from some wonderful old family recipes and serve them with a modern heady twist that is a real feast for all the senses.

Our ingredients are organic wherever possible from an island life, and rather than import cheap mass-produced products, we keep our food miles to a minimum from sustainably sourcing from independent local farmers, fishermen & artisan producers.
 
Spending a relaxed Christmas in Port Antonio Jamaica, flooded with Caribbean sunshine and the fine dining provided by Mocking Bird’s Mille Fleurs Restaurant, guarantees Christmas cheer when 2010 has brought so little. Beyond good food, there is nothing better for recharging the spirit than quiet, world-class beaches and lush tropical
countryside explorations, where the Blue Mountains run down into the sea. 

How does your Christmas menu compare?

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Spicy Lady’s Fingers for UN World Food Day

October is such an important month on the food calendar.  Not only is it World Vegetarian Month, but the 16th is UN World Food Day and this year’s theme is “improved governance of global food security”.  This means protecting and nurturing bio-diverse eco-systems.

At Hotel Mocking Bird Hill, everything is made daily on site using only the freshest ingredients which are whenever possible organic .   It does involve a little time but ensures that everyone involved in food production are fairly compensated, food miles are cut down, and excess packaging associated with mass-produced foods is reduced. 

Okra or Lady’s Fingers is one of our favourite vegetables that is not just delicious, but is nutritious and will easily grow in northern hemisphere countries in the summer as well as tropical countries like Jamaica throughout the year, making it a staple crop here.  Even if you live in an apartment block you can try cultivating it as it grows particularly well in pots!  We’d like to nominate this as our vegetable of the month at Mille Fleurs and for the UN to promote on the 16th October

Spicy Lady's Fingers Recipe

Ingredients
 
450 gm. okra
2 chopped tomatoes
6 tbsp. veg. oil
2 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. garam masala
½ tsp. chili powder
1 cup yoghurt (optional)
Chopped coriander leaves

Method

Trim the okra and fry till golden brown. Remove. Fry onion and garlic till the onion begins to brown. Add salt, turmeric, garam masala and chili. Fry for a few minutes.  Add a cup of hot water and simmer to make a sauce. Add the fried Okra and warm thoroughly. Add yoghurt if desired.  Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice.

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Preserve & Pickle Jamaican Zest

Autumn is when the world looks to pickling & preserving to store flavours for a rainy depressing day when a hint of spice harkens back to summers of sun & seasonal tastiness…  Jamaica is famous for it fairly hot and fiery preserves, some such as Jerk Sauce now world-famous.  Many use both chilli and sweet bell peppers that are supposed to be great aphrodisiacs and good for the digestion.  We think it is actually the combination of the various ingredients that have these positive effects, including onions, garlic and Jamaican ginger which is supposed to be best in terms of its strength and flavour.

At the moment Jamaican bird peppers are in season so we are busy picking and sun-drying them. We finish the drying process by leaving them overnight in the Mille Fleurs oven after we have finished dinner service. The warmth of a turned-off oven is just right and once the peppers are really dry we just store them in clean dry bottles or make pepper sherry with them. For the latter we just insert some garlic cloves, sprigs of thyme and some bird peppers and then let it stand for a while to draw the flavours. A few drops of this will spice up any soup or sauce.

The mango season is sadly over, but we luckily have some bottles of our Jamaican Mango Chutney to remind us during the winter season of the delicious tangy mango taste. A dollop of this is great with homemade burgers or added to homemade mayonnaise for a lovely tropical Chicken Salad with bits of tropical fruit such as Pineapple and Papaya. Next week we will be sharing our Chef Junior’s recipes for Solomon Gundy & Escoveitch Pickle Sauce, Pickled Beetroot & Banana Chutney.

Mango Chutney Recipe

Ingredients

12 mangoes, halved, stoned and sliced
250 gm ripe tamarind (or tamarind paste)
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
150 gm. seedless raisins
125 gm. Dates, stoned and chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 tbsp. finely minced fresh ginger
1 tsp. finely chopped bird pepper
1 tbsp. salt
1 onion, sliced
3 stalks Scallion, finely chopped
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. ground mustard seeds
2 tsp. each black peppercorns and pimento berries (allspice)
½ ltr. cider vinegar or malt vinegar

Method
Combine the raisins, dates, sweet pepper and half of the vinegar and let stand for 24 hours.
Mix the tamarind paste with the rest of the vinegar. 
Mix all the ingredients and boil gently for about 45 minutes in a heavy saucepan, stirring occasionally in between until the mixture is thick.
Bottle in sterilized bottles and seal immediately. If you do not wish to seal then place in a refrigerator…

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The Raw Delight of Veg

With the arrival of summer came not just the welcome new addition of ‘raw’ pleasure to our Mille Fleurs menu but also the expansion of our vegetable garden.

Reap What you Sow

Such a phrase abounds or at least occurs in most world religions in some form or another; in 2010 we’re applying it strictly to our newly expanded organic vegetable garden.  When it seems prices are shooting up all around us, our means of ensuring that our prices don’t creep up for our guests is getting stuck into what is actually one of our favourite hobbies – gardening.  So far this season we have planted cucumber, squash, pumpkin & courgettes, tomatoes, radicchio & rocket, broccoli, green beans & carrots, and on the herb front coriander, sage, parsley, basil & rosemary. Not only will you be able to taste the difference but be safe in the knowledge that vitamin rich home-grown veggies aren’t costing either the earth or your holiday budget!

Going Raw

Summer in Jamaica is hot & humid, this is part of why things grow so well here and nothing shrivels up.  However sometimes that summer sun can bring with it a wish for dishes using tasty ingredients that don’t strip your energy whilst trying to digest them, and which are lower in sodium and high in potassium, magnesium.  It is vital that you stock up on these 2 minerals as these are lost via perspiration so do sample our zingy Raw Menu that’s already been so well received:

* Spicy Watermelon Soup
* Two Potato and Beetroot Pate on Green Goddess Sauce
* Fruit Salad

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The Chinese & Indian Fusion in Jamaican Cuisine

With the convergence of so many peoples into ONE on the island, Jamaica has seen the cuisine of the island assimilate the very best of traditional cooking styles from other continents into a multi-fusional bounty of delights. 

One example is the empanada that the Spanish brought to the islands with their colonisation, it was “modified” by the British and then souped- up with a combination of East Indian and Chinese/Hakka influences to become the world-famous Jamaican Pattie.

1843 saw the first of the 36,000 East Indians that would arrive in Jamaica and whose influence spread so that by the time of the first Jamaican Cookbook in 1893 there were recipes for curry and a coconut jelly.  Jamaica’s most famous Curry Goat became a favoured  dish across the country, embraced by newly emancipated slaves who were used to slow-cooking foods in an effort to make them soft and palatable whilst they were forced to  work on the plantation all day. Today, curried dishes grace nearly every Jamaican menu, using local meats such as goat, chicken and seafood.  

Also from India came Pilaf, to become “Rice N Peas" in its Jamaican incarnation.  It was Indians who had finally managed to successfully grow rice on the island and in time this group people became known as the best vegetable farmers in Jamaica.  Roti wraps became a mainstream dish in Jamaica as did dhaal, that became a spicy lentil/mung or red bean soup in Jamaica.  The chutneys, relishes, hot sauces with a backbone of the tamarind that had been introduced into the island in the C16th are an integral part of island cuisine, all adopted & modified from Indian cuisine.

The first Chinese indentured labourers arrived in 1849 to undertake the work in the plantation fields that the newly emancipated slaves had left.   After their indenture, normally 3 years, many remained in Jamaica, and a common career choice afterwards was in setting up small food stores.  Many historians have remarked that it is due to their import skills that rice, saltfish, saltmeats, flour and cornmeal became staples of the Jamaican diet.  Jamaica’s most famous sauce, Jerk Sauce, now features Soya Sauce in many recipes including our own and it is the Hakka fondness for sweet & sour flavours combined together that provides the key to so many classic Jamaican fish dishes today.

Our Favourite Indian & Chinese Fusion Jamaican Soup recipe:

Coconut and Lemongrass Soup with Tandoori Chicken Won Ton

1 Carrot in julienne
2 onions in julienne
7 garlic cloves
4 strings lemongrass (only the white part) finely choped
1 finger ginger  garlic, ginger tumeric finely choped
1 finger tumeric
2 cup corn nibbets
6 spring onions finely cut
2 birdpeppers finely chopped
2 bay leaves
Salt & Black pepper to personal taste
4 tbsp lemon juice
2 litres coconut milk
1 litre chicken stock
2 tandoori spiced chicken breast cut in small cubes
10 won ton skins
1 egg

Method: for the soup
Cut up all the vegetables and spices.
In a large pan fry the ginger and the tumeric with the onions, the lemon grass and the garlic for 2 minutes than the spring onions and the half of the chicken cubes.
Add up the stock and the coconut milk bring to boil and add the corn and the bay leaves
Simmer gently for 30 min than taste with salt black pepper,lemon juice
Add if neccesary some brown sugar to balance.

Method: for the won tons
The filling: the other half of the cubed chicken …

Spread the won ton skins on a floured working counter put the filling in the middle (1 teaspoon of filling) and brush the edges with egg then fold together.

Boil the won tons in salted water for 5 min and warm in the soup to order. Garnish with spring onion julienne and chopped coriander.

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