Cook-up rice is a one pot dish which is traditionally made on Old Year’s Night (New Year’s Eve).  Meat such as pork, lamb or beef is used in the dish as well as a range of vegetables.

This recipe is a vegetarian option.

Ingredients

• 300g long grain rice.
• 1 tbsp vegetable or rapeseed oil.
• 1 tbsp dark brown sugar.
• 2–3 garlic cloves.
• 1 onion finely chopped.
• 1 tsp grated ginger. 
• 1 x 400g/14oz tin of cooked pigeon peas aka gungo peas, (black-eyed peas) or red kidney beans), drained.
• 200g/7oz pumpkin or seasonal squash, peeled and chopped into chunks.
• 2 carrots peeled and cubed.
• 2 okras, sliced.
• 150g/5½oz baby spinach.
• 1 tin of coconut milk.
• A few sprigs thyme.
• 1 chilli scotch bonnet finely chopped.
• 2 tsp salt.
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper.
• 15g/½oz coriander, roughly chopped.

Method

1. Wash the rice. Tip the rice into a bowl and rinse with cold water repeat two- or three-times unclear water is clear. Drain, then set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat and add the sugar. Keep the heat on low and wait for the sugar to caramelise. Once the sugar starts to bubble, stir in the garlic, onion, and ginger.
3. Add the drained peas, pumpkin, carrots, okra, and baby spinach. Mix well to make sure the vegetables don’t stick to the pan.
4. Before the spinach starts to wilt, add 250ml/9fl oz water with the coconut milk, thyme sprigs and Scotch bonnet. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer.
5. Season with the salt and pepper, then add the rice. Stir until everything is mixed and the veg is evenly distributed throughout the rice. Reduce the heat to low, cover and leave to simmer for 20 minutes or until all the liquid has evaporated.
6. Turn off the heat and leave the pan covered for a further 20 minutes. The steam will finish cooking the rice.
7. Scatter over the roughly chopped coriander and serve.

Stuffing is a side dish to the “beloved” Sunday roast dinner. In England traditionally sage and onion stuffing was originally used. Today there are many variants of stuffing mixtures. Here is one using ripe plantain, a staple food which originates from south Asia and is used in many African and West Indian dishes.

Ingredients.

• I packet of stuffing mixture. For this recipe a cranberry, chestnut and orange stuffing mixture was used but feel free to use a stuffing mixture of your choice.
• 2 overripe plantains
• Boiling water according to packet instructions. The packet instructions for this recipe were 180ml
• The water is to combine the plantains and stuffing mixture

Method

1. Pre heat oven at 200c Fan / 180c for gas oven
2. Peel and cut the plantains. Place in a bowl and mash together.
3. Add the stuffing contents from the packet to the mashed plantains and mix
4. Boil water and add to the mix. Allow mixture to stand for 15 minutes
5. Place in a rectangle cake tin and bake in oven according to the instructions on the packet (For this recipe the stuffing mixture was baked for 20min)

Alternative Options

• Instead of placing the plantain mixture in a cake pan shape into small round balls and placed on a baking tray coated with oil. Bake in the oven according to the packet instructions.

• If cooking chicken or turkey the stuffing mixture can be placed in the cavity of the bird to cook while the meat is cooking. NB: The amount of ingredients needed will depend on the size of the chicken or turkey. 

A Sunday roast is eaten on a Sunday in many English households, it can however be eaten throughout the week. Traditionally it was eaten by families having a sit-down meal after church on a Sunday.  A roast consists of a roasted meat of choice e.g., chicken, beef or lamb accompanied by roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, gravy, and condiments such as mint sauce, apple sauce or redcurrant sauce.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil, 3 or 4 Sprigs of rosemary, plus sprigs for garnish, 8 cloves garlic finely chopped, 1 tsp salt, 1 medium roasting chicken (6-7 pounds), 1lemon. Optional 1tablespoon All purpose seasoning.

Method

1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. Combine rosemary, garlic, olive oil and salt in a bowl. (Optional) add all-purpose seasoning)
3. Remove giblets and neck from chicken and trim off all visible fat.
4. “Wash” chicken in lemon, lime, or vinegar.
5. Place chicken breast side up in a roasting pan.
6. Rub the rosemary mixture over the chicken.
7. Roast in the oven, basting the chicken with pan juices during the cooking process.
8. Garnish with rosemary sprigs and lemon slices, if desired, and serve.

The chicken can be served with roast potatoes accompanied with a side of vegetables and gravy.

Glazed ham is made across the Caribbean and served traditionally at Christmas. This is a Barbadian recipe.

Ingredients

½ cup brown sugar
1 cup pineapple juice
¼ cup whole cloves
1 tablespoon mustard
1 medium joint of smoked ham or unsmoked ham.
1 can of pineapple rings

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Mix pineapple juice, brown sugar, and mustard in a bowl (pineapple juice glaze)
3. Place ham in a baking dish with cut side down and arrange pineapple rings onto the ham; secure with toothpicks if needed. Push cloves into ham and baste ham and pineapple rings with pineapple juice glaze.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until glaze has baked onto ham, 1 1/2 to 2 hours; baste with glaze every 30 minutes.
5. Optional during the cooking process the ham can be covered in foil. This method will lock in moisture.
6. Approximately 10 minutes before the end of the cooking process remove foil and allow ham to form a glaze before ending the cooking process.