Jamaica Observer Eating Well: Open Up Your Life
Open up your life and experience fresh new influences. These need not be far reaching changes like a new job, a new car or a new husband. Little changes can be quite significant.
First, put a little spice in your life. Pimento is a good one to try because it is ours. Jamaica pepper, Columbus called it, when he took it back in triumph to Europe believing it to be black pepper. And the French call it ‘quatre epices’ because of its distinctive flavour, pungent and aromatic, delicate and fragrant, tastes like a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and mace which have been strongly spiced with cloves. The pimento is also called allspice.
Use it with a light hand to flavour delicate sauces for fish and eggs; use it generously whole for pickling, curing and corning meat; use it ground or whole in stews and sauces and gravies. Put a little in your baking – when you steam a dark pudding, when you make an otaheiti apple pie, or rush through a quick coffee cake. Let this wonderful spice influence your life.
Chicken Breasts in Honey & Pimento Butter: Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, minced garlic and a little hot pepper. Add some sherry, cover and marinate for at least 2 hours at room temperature. Meanwhile, combine honey and pimento in a small bowl: (½ teaspoon ground pimento to 1 tablespoon honey, and add some softened butter, whipping to make a paste. Bake the chicken in a moderately hot oven for about 40 minutes or until chicken is tender. During the last 10 minutes, spread the honeyed pimento butter over the chicken breasts and serve with parsley potatoes or rice and a tomato and lettuce salad. Add a glass of white wine.
© Elizabeth North 27/12/1994
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