Pulled Jerk Pork with Mango Salsa

Rachel and I absolutely LOVE chillis and our favourite type is the gradually increasing heat provided by the super spicy, Caribbean scotch bonnet pepper, especially when it is used to make a lovely jerk marinade.

Tucking into a generous portion of irresistible jerked meat leaves us both sucking in air to cool the fire building in our mouths, but it is just too good we cannot stop.... Even when we're bloated, sweaty, crying messes, rolling around the floor in a hazy mixture of pleasure and intolerable pain we will still rub one last finger through the remaining fiery sauce left on the plate, incapable in our delirious state of making the sensible and necessary decision to simply stop eating....

If you are a chilli lover too you're probably getting excited reading this as our spicy little friends are addictive in the same way as drugs. People crave the release of endorphins caused by eating chili in the same way as speed was craved by 1950s American housewives or Meow Meow is by the young revellers of today. And like all addicts the fix to truly satisfy your itch needs to be stronger and stronger the longer you have been trapped by your own particular vice. Anything too weak will leave you feeling dissatisfied and angry. This is why this recipe is so good, even for the most ardent chili addict the scotch bonnet jerk paste seasoning will give you the hit you're craving and the addition of the jalapeno and mango salsa will top it off and leave you sinking into the drooling ecstatic state that you dream of.

The jerk paste can be used to marinate anything you like, for a quicker meal use chicken or go veggie with peppers and onions. Serve your delicious spicy jerk meat with a refreshing salad, the sweet mango salsa and a good dollop of cooling soured cream.

For the Jerk Paste:

Ingredients -

2 - 3 Scotch Bonnet Chilis, deseeded and chopped

3 Tsp All Spice

2 Bundles of Spring Onions

2 Tbsp Fresh Chopped Thyme

Tsp Cinammon

Tsp Nutmeg

Approx 1 and half inch piece of Ginger, peeled and chopped

7 Garlic Cloves

2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce

• To make the paste put all the above ingredients into a mini blender and blend until smooth.
• Unused paste can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks 

For the Pulled Jerk Pork:

Ingredients -

Approx 750g Pork Shoulder Steaks

Splash of Water

Jerk paste from above (or bought paste) 

BBQ Sauce

• Rub a generous amount of the jerk paste over the pork and leave to marinate for a few hours
• Preheat your oven to 150c
• Place the marinated meat in a casserole dish, add a splash of water
• Cook in the oven with lid on for approx 3 hours, take the lid off for the last 30 mins
• Skim the fat off the top towards the end
• Remove the dish from the oven and shred the pork with a couple of forks, allow to cool a little before doing this
• Add a tbsp or 2 of your favourite bbq sauce and stir
• Turn the oven up to 190c and cook for approx another 30 mins to reduce and crisp up a bit.

For the Mango Salsa:

Ingredients -

1 Mango, peeled and diced
1/2 peeled and diced Cucumber
2 Tbsp finely chopped Jalapenos
1/2 Large Red Onion, diced
Good squeeze of Lime Juice
Handful of roughly chopped Coriander
Salt and Pepper

• Combine all the ingredients above in a bowl
• Squeeze over the lime juice
• Top with the coriander
• Season with salt and pepper
• Toss everything to combine

Pea & Mint Soup with Crumbled Feta

For years i hated peas.

As a child i despised the taste, the look, the feel and the smell of them. They were probably my least favourite food especially when poorly teamed with their little yellow twins sweet corn. Like a Brazilian themed mini child's ball pool at the edge of the dinner plate, but no where near as much fun. Their other problem is they roll around the plate and are completely unsuited to the cutlery used for the dinner course, meaning you look like some anorexic girl eating your meal one tiny pea morsel at a time with your comparatively giant fork, it'd be like eating meatballs with a garden rake...

Anyway.

As i grew older i tried more of the foods i thought i didn't like and found that either initially i had been wrong or that my taste buds had matured (or numbed...) and i now enjoyed the taste. Thinking about it, it was possibly down to them being poorly prepared, like school dinners with cheap ingredients and cooked badly, or most commonly to death.

The first time i remember liking peas was New Years Day, probably around 1998. We all used to head down to our local lacrosse club the day after New Years Eve to catch up with friends and celebrate further the year to come. Another tradition was for an older Scottish gentleman from the club, John Marr - a living legend in lacrosse circles, to make a huge batch of his special split pea and ham soup and force everyone to eat some along with a generous glass of scotch whisky! I had been reluctant for years and had managed to avoid either in the most part but then i found myself cornered by the huge Scottish beast and forced to take a bowl of his soup and what must have been half a pint of scotch. Taking a big mouthful of the soup, there was no way in my fragile state i was going to risk the scotch, i found myself pleasantly surprised, not only was i enjoying the pea taste but also i could feel my body responding to the nutritional benefits that the soup was reaping on my hungover body. I liked peas... I then  thought 'what the heck' and had a swig of the scotch too and nearly vomited...

Unfortunately a year later on the way to our lacrosse club get together i was told a rumour about a batch of John's split pea and ham soup from a few years back. Apparently John's flat had been broken into one new years eve and the pesky burglars had not only stolen electronic equipment among other valuable items but had also spotted the soup and one of them had decided to ruin an old man's good work by weeing in the pot. John apparently coming back and finding this had not let it beat him and had given the soup a bloody good stir, warmed it through, added a little extra salt and pepper and served it up the next day anyway... I need not confirm, however absurd the story may sound, that with my new year hungover stomach, the story ruined my desire to eat any pea soup that day and for a good while after.

More recently, over the last few years, i have learnt to love all food and am now comfortable with the taste of pea. I've experienced delicious pea puree smudged across my plate in a posh vegetarian restaurant and devoured large pots of mushy peas with traditional fish and chips by the sea side. I had however still not cooked with them myself, until a friend brought some around as part of a dinner party we were having and we forgot to use them leaving them waiting for me in the bottom of the freezer. The peas had already come in handy once to reduce a badly swollen knee but were again put to good use following an inspiring episode of Saturday Kitchen for this delicious soup, served hot or cold it's just pea....rfect!
 

Ingredients -

700 g Frozen Peas

1.2l Chicken Stock

Onions - i used - Half an onion, 2 shallots, 4 spring onions as that's what i had in, chopped

3 Sticks of Celery, chopped

3 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped

Salt and Pepper

Large handful of fresh Mint Leaves

Lemon Juice, approx 2 tbsp, freshly squeezed

Feta Cheese, however much you fancy

• Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pan
• Add onions, garlic, celery, pepper
• Fry for approx 8 mins until soft
• Add hot chicken stock and pea
• Bring to boil and simmer for 10 mins until peas are soft
• Blend
• Stir through mint and lemon juice and blend again for a short time to leave mint leaf speckles, pretty!
• Serve with a generous amount of crumbled feta over the top and a little more freshly ground black pepper