Ackee? What's that?

Ackee and Saltfish. Well ackee and anything really , it's one of my favourite dishes.

Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica.

You likely won't find it fresh here but you can find them in cans in the grocery store.

I just love the texture of it, if anyone is wondering, it taste like scrambled eggs. In fact, it is a vegan substitute for scrambled eggs.

I love creating my own ackee recipes, though a colleague at work was appalled when she found out I did not add codfish to the dish.

It took me a while to locate salted codfish, so for a while I used smoked salted herring instead. One might say it's completely different.

One of my friends shared the secret ingredient of his grandmother's recipe, bacon.

I still put in my own twist to it :) I am never an avid recipe follower, so don't expect to find exact measurements here (a taboo to my food service background!). So most of the time, what I have leftover in my fridge goes in it, as long as it mixes well, like a good cocktail ;) .

Here's what I add to mine:

2-3 pieces of cod

1 can of ackee (Grace's is probably my favourite)

Olive oil

1 shallot, thinly sliced

3-4 slices of bacon

1/2 red pepper diced

A couple of smoked dried oysters (definitely not traditional) but like I said, what I have in the fridge, I do tend to have smoked dried oysters sitting around (often used for flavour enhancing!)

A pinch of thyme

Tomatoes (fresh, leftover tomato sauce, salsa) - whatever I have

Big spoonful of jerk sauce (A good friend has made me a jar of it, a spoonful of that, and a spoonful of commercially made jerk sauce) - mmm it's so good.

1. Rinse, boil the cod, rinse and drain. I like to chop it up , so its flaked and shredded.

2. In a pan on medium heat, add in olive oil (just a bit!) , add in sliced shallots. Let it brown.

3. I like to add in the bacon while it's browning. Let that fat melt.

4. I add in the red peppers, let them roast

5. Add in thyme to season.

6. Perhaps stir in the oysters, tomatoes, cod fish and jerk sauce (beware if your hot sauce is as hot as mine, those pepper fumes are deadly)

7. Stir in ackee. Let it simmer, perhaps around 5-10 mins. Don't over stir the ackee or you risk breaking it.

Makes about ummmm 4-6 portions. Depends on how hungry I am or if I am willing to share :)