Savory: Solomon Gundy and Johnny Cakes
1 Comments Published by WBLL on Sunday, April 4, 2010 at 5:25 PM.
I love the taste of pickled fish--as does half the world, I suspect--and even more if it is worked into a spread. My sister always buys Solomon Gundy, but I know it is not always available overseas so I decided to try to make it. After scouring the internet trying to find a good recipe, I found one on www.jamaicanrecipes.com , but wasn’t quite the herring spread I was used to. So, I tweaked the recipe, and voila, I got the stuff I was used to buying, minus all the preservatives.
Ingredients:
1 lb. Smoked Herring
½ doz. Allspice balls (pimentos)
½ cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 Large Onion (chopped)
1 Scotch Bonnet Pepper or Habernero Pepper
1 Stalk Scallion
½ tsp. Thyme
4 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying.
1 tsp. Sugar
In a sauce pan, bring some water to a boil BEFORE adding the smoked herring. Like salted cod, this is to remove the majority of the salt from the fish. After about 10-15 minutes drain the fish and taste it. If it is too salty, you might have to redo this process. Once drained, try to take as many of the bones out of the fish, even as many of the smaller bones, as possible.
In another small sauce pan add the red wine vinegar, the sugar and the pimento balls. Warm the liquid until the sugar is dissolved, but do not boil—this should take only a couple of minutes. In the meantime add the onions, thyme, scallion, and oil into the blender and puree until white and pasty. Then, add the deboned fish and the vinegar MINUS the pimento balls—trust me you are done with the balls for this portion of the recipe. Blend until the fish is broken apart and well mixed with the onions.
In a large frying pan, heat up the vegetable oil. Add the blended mixture and cook until the bits of onions are translucent, and the mixture looks dry, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and refrigerate until cool, then it is ready to serve.
Johnny Cakes
When in doubt, I always make fried dumplings called Johnny cakes--not to be confused with the Jamaican fried dumplings, which are spherical balls. Yes, Johnny cakes have gotten me out of many a afternoon snack, Sunday brunch, dinner-time-and-where-are-the-rolls, fixes. So here is the quick recipe:
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup plain white flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
In a bowl mix together the whole wheat and white fours with the baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix until well blended. Then knife in the butter, chopping it in until the mixture is little balls the size of peas. Then, add your water and kneed it, forming a large dough ball. The mixture, once well combined, should not stick to your floured fingers, if it does, then add a little more whole wheat flour. Form little balls about 2 inches in diameter, and then press them flat starting from the middle of the ball leaving the edges thicker. Prick with a fork in the middle, this will help them cook.
On a medium flame, heat up the vegetable oil in a frying pan, the oil should come up about 1/8” in the pot. Once you get the rippled effect on the bottom of the pan, add the pieces of dough. Fry until golden brown around the edges, and then flip to fry the other side. Should take about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Remove from the oil when golden brown, and rest aside on a paper toweled plate. Should make about 12 Johnny cakes.
Wow looks YUMMY!