Sunday, Jan 16th - Leftover Ackee and Saltfish with Bagel or Eggs

Leftover Ackee and Saltfish on Toasted Bagel

 It's a good deal that though D likes Ackee and Saltfish, he prefers to Saltcod to the Ackee and I love the Ackee.  How to describe Ackee?  Hmmm, someone on the DDD show on Food the other night described it as tasting like Artichokes.  I can't entirely agree or disagree.  I would maybe put it somewhere as a combination of steamed Articoke, Asparagus and mild Squash.  The texture is quite often described as being similar to Scrambled Egg.  I would agree that it looks like Scrambled Egg but I would say that though it's quite delicate, the lobes have more 'structure' than Scrambled Egg, like the white of a Soft Boiled Egg.  YUMMMMMMO!

So we had about a dinner portion to a portion and a half left over.  I heated some up and served it on a toasted Bagel.  It was delicious!  I picked out as much Ackee as I could in D's half and left him slightly more Saltcod.  He had Fried Eggs, Sunny-Side Up and Saltcod on a Bagel.  It is quite versatile and the basic Vegetables are similar to a Western Omelette.

When I was living in Kingston, Jamaica as an Engineering Student Intern, our cleaning lady used to make us Ackee for Breakfast.  Though, I think she did it because I seemed so genuinely facinated by Ackee.  She actually only made us breakfast as part of her routine and promised to make it if I bought it for her.  So I would buy it from a sidewalk vendor on the way home from work.  I used my Taxi allowance (for safety) bought Ackee and took the bus home.  Our local supermarket never stocked it. 


One time I had bought so much that she steamed the whole lot in case I wanted to cook a second batch on my own.  When it is picked, it looks like the picture on the tin; like a tri-lobal Peach that has split open.  Each piece or lobe of flesh has a large black pit, about the shape of a chestnut.  The flesh is quite firm, like plastic.  You need to boil or steam it too cook with it.  Outside Jamaica and out of season, in Jamaica, use the tinned variety that just need draining.