It’s Independence Day here in Barbados on Monday, the island’s 54th. Fish Cakes, Conkies, Mauby, Coconut (sweet bread), and the usual weekend Pudding and Souse, Cornmeal Cou-cou with Salt Fish Stew/gravy will abound. Many will also be making something with breadfruit; typically, it would be Pickled breadfruit, Breadfruit Cou-cou, or Fire-roasted breadfruit. This year, I wanted to try making something different with breadfruit for some of my friends, so I decided to bake breadfruit.
In the past, I have baked breadfruit in the style of a stuffed pie – stewed ground beef sandwiched between two thick layers of seasoned, cheesy, mashed breadfruit with a sprinkling of extra cheese on top. That dish is a huge hit every time I make it. This time around, I wanted to try something slightly different, and it had more to do with the way I was going to cook and present the breadfruit.
For a while now I have had this idea of baking boil and mashed breadfruit in the style of a flatbread or pizza crust and then topping it with some of different things one can top any type of flatbread with – cured meats, tomato sauce, grilled vegetables, flavoured oils – so that is what I set out to do.
I made baked mashed breadfruit topped with Brazilian Calabresa sausage garnished with baby spinach leaves. I had extra mashed
breadfruit left back and decided to simply bake them into bite-size bits that could work as an appetizer. Using two different types of pans yielded different presentations, both equally appealing. The taste testers, all breadfruit lovers, and even the 2 in the group who tend to be picky about only wanting to eat breadfruit in a particular way – pickled – ate twice, remarked about the taste and said they never thought that breadfruit could be prepared that way. Their response reminded me of two things I always say to people about food and certain ingredients: – don’t knock it ‘till you try it and be open minded to eating something with which you are familiar, prepared in a different way, whether it is by a cooking technique, the spicing, the pairing of the ingredient with another or having it prepared by someone else.
In the spirit of trying something familiar in a different way and ideas for the upcoming holidays, I share with you my breadfruit baking experiments. There are no specific measurements for any of these things, use what you have and make it to suit your taste. The only thing I would be specific about is the baking time.
Before we get to the ‘recipe’ a couple of things to note.
- Use a cast iron skillet if you have one or any oven proof skillet. If not, use a baking pan – round or square of even a flat baking sheet.
- Depending on the size of the breadfruit, you can make 2 or 3 large bakes and top each one with a different topping.
Ingredients
For the base:
- Breadfruit
- Butter
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Oil
For the topping:
Use whatever you like or have on hand and make the dish your own. For this recipe, I used Calabresa sausage.
Directions
- Cut and peel the breadfruit, add it to a pot with water, cover and bring to a boil. When the pot comes to a boil, season generously with salt to taste. Cook until the breadfruit is tender, and a knife inserts easily.
- Drain the breadfruit well and add to a large bowl with pats of butter, grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Mash until smooth; it is okay if there are tiny bits of breadfruit; a little texture is good. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the sausage into thick slices (about 1/4-inch)
- Brush the pan(s) you are using with oil and equally distribute the mashed breadfruit in each pan, pressing the mixture evenly into the pan.
- Brush the top of the breadfruit with a little oil and transfer the oven and bake for 18 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and top with sausages or whatever toppings you are using then return to oven and cook for 10 minutes.
Remove pan from the oven and let sit until cool enough to handle, then remove, divide into portions and serve.
To make the appetizer bites:
Scoop equal mounds of the mashed breadfruit and place 2 – 3 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet or into mini muffin pans. If available, dot with chopped toppings like the sausages. Brush lightly with oil and bake in 400 degree oven for 15 – 18 minutes until golden.
Cool in pan on wire rack; serve warm or at room temperature.
Note
I pan-roasted garlic with oil and used the flavoured oil to brush my pans and the mixture before baking. I also mashed the roasted garlic and spread it over the baked breadfruit just before adding the sausages.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org