Caribbean Jerk Wraps with Lime Mayo (Dressing)

Ingredients
1½ lb boneless pork, chicken or beef
      bone-in cuts work too, just account for the weight of
      the bones; you want 1½ lbs of meat
1½ T jerk seasoning
1 C water
juice of 1 lime (at least 2 T)
s & p
8  10" tortillas
2 C torn or shredded lettuce
1 red bell pepper, small diced
1 C diced mango, or pineapple
½ C mayonnaise or salad dressing (Miracle Whip)
¼ C minced shallot
½ t lime zest
1 clove garlic, minced

Directions
In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise (or salad dressing), minced shallot, lime zest, 1 T lime juice and minced garlic. Cover and refrigerate until ready to prepare wraps.

Sprinkle mean with jerk seasoning, massaging it with your fingertips. Place meat pieces in a 3 - 4 quart crock pot (slow-cooker); add water. Cover and cook on low-heat 8-10 hours, or high heat 4-5 hours until meat is tender enough to pull apart with forks (and falls off the bone easily, if bone-in cut is used).

Remove meat from crock pot; pull into shreds using forks. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with remaining lime juice (at least 1 T). Season to taste with salt and pepper, if needed.

Toast tortillas briefly on stovetop, if desired.

Prep each wrap: line with lettuce, add approximately ¼ lb shredded meat, diced pepper and mango (or pineapple), top with lime mayo. Roll up securely.

Delicious warm or cold.

Pholourie with Spicy Mango Chutney

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including Caribbean style rice & beans, Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and these pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Pholourie Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dried yellow split peas (soaked overnight and drained)

pinch of saffron threads

pinch of turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

½ Tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp active dry yeast

½ tsp baking powder

½ - ¾ cup hot water

Pholourie Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth and thick batter is formed. Drop the batter into a preheated deep-fryer by the teaspoon. Fry until golden brown and crispy-approx. 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place onto absorbent paper. Season with salt and serve with the spicy mango chutney.

Spicy Mango Chutney Ingredients

1 hard mango- peeled and diced

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 whole hot pepper

Spicy Mango Chutney Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and remove the chili pepper. Allow to cool and serve with pholourie.

Caribbean Rice & Beans

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including these Caribbean style rice & beans using a recipe from the Food Network. We also made Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Caribbean Jerk Marinade

I've made it often before and taken it to family dinners. So, at my brother's request, I'm posting it now. I could give you a 'from scratch' recipe (sugar, salt, onion, red pepper flakes, allspice, thyme, turmeric...) but there are good, premixed jerk seasonings available in the spice aisle at most supermarkets. There are also prepared jerk marinades (liquid, in jars/bottles). My favorite--and what I've brought to family dinners--is McCormick brand dry spice, but others will work too.  I mix it up like this:

Ingredients:

2 Tbls McCormick Caribbean Jerk Seasoning
1 Tbls oil
2 Tbls vinegar
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls soy sauce

1 to 2  lbs of chicken, pork, beef or seafood

1 or 2 15-oz cans of Dole Tropical Mixed Fruit

     (or fresh, diced tropical fruits of your choice)

Directions:

The meat can be diced or left to cook in whole portions. Place meat in a single layer in a 9x13 casserole dish. Combine all of the ingredients for the marinade. Pour over meat. This can be cooked immediately, but ideally it should marinate 2-4 hours before cooking.

Just before cooking, add tropical fruits. Adding the juice (optional) stretches the marinade, and dilutes and sweetens it. To include flavor without thinning, add 1 tablespoon of corn starch to the cold juice from each can of tropical fruit before pouring it over the meat.

Cover with foil; cook (350°) until the meat is cooked through. (45 min to an hour? depends on thickness of the meat). If marinade/juice is too thin – or there’s too much liquid – uncover for all or part of the cooking time.

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast (for my World Literature students, when we were in our Caribbean Literature unit)...including jerk chicken with tropical fruit. We diced the chicken -- it can serve more people in small pieces -- but I often leave the chicken as whole breasts, thighs, or tenders.

Sweet & Hot Caribbean Marinade

Makes enough for about 2 lbs meat.

1 C chopped green onions
¼ C lime juice
(I like a little extra lime!)
½ C olive oil
2 Tbls brown sugar
1 Tbls allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 minced chile*
1 tsp salt

* 1 habanero or other similar...or more if you like it hotter

Put all ingredients in a food processor and blend into a loose paste. Place meat in a glass baking dish; coat with marinade. Bake...

Cuban Roast Pork with Lime Sauce

6 lbs pork
12 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lg onion
½ C orange juice
juice of 2 limes
½ tsp salt
1 Tbls oregano
1 Tbls cumin
black pepper to taste

Tips: pork - pork shoulder country style ribs, or pork shoulder blade roast work well, 6 lbs boneless; garlic - I like garlic. The gal I got this recipe from loves garlic. Adjust the number of cloves to suit your own taste. :)

Cut onion into large pieces. Combine all ingredients; marinate pork for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

Remove pork from marinade. Place in a foil lined baking dish, fat facing up. Insert chunks of onion around the pork, and cover. Bake at 275° for 1½ - 2 hours until pork is slightly pink and still firm (not yet browned).

Open foil, increase oven heat to 375°; roast until brown (about 45 minutes). Pork should flake easily when done.

Remove pork from foil, reserving juice in a separate container for lime sauce. Wrap pork in new foil and place in slow cooker 2-3 hours.


Lime Sauce
juice of 3 limes
juice of 2 oranges
½ C juice from pork roast, strained
¼ tsp salt
pepper to taste
fresh ginger to taste
1 Tbls garlic paste (crushed garlic)
3 tsp sugar
1 Tbls corn starch

Dissolve cornstarch in 2 Tbls cold water; combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer. Serve over pork.