The versatility of breadfruit makes cooking and baking with it, whether sweet or savoury, an engaging and rewarding experience. You can make the same dish, fiddle with the ingredients or cooking technique and be pleasantly surprised by the results. For example, Breadfruit Pie.
Back in 2015, I wrote about making a Breadfruit Pie. It was more like Shepherd’s Pie meets Breadfruit Pie as I replaced the mashed English potatoes with cheesy, herby mashed breadfruit and sandwiched the meat filling between two generous layers of the mashed breadfruit. It was a favourite among readers. That was my experiment. However, over the years, I have seen many other takes on Breadfruit Pie from around the region; all very inviting and appealing. Before I go on, let me confess something about me and breadfruit.
While I like cooking, baking and generally experimenting with breadfruit, there are only certain ways I like to eat breadfruit, and that is mainly fried – as crisp chips, twice fried as tostones or boiled, sliced, and then fried creating a crust on the exterior. Or, if fire-roasted, sliced and then fried. I do not mean boiled and then fried as we do a boil ‘n fry in Guyana. Nah. Breadfruit in soup, Metem-gee, Oil Down, Run Down, boiled and sliced etc is not my cup of tea. I’ve tried, can’t eat breadfruit like that; just don’t like it so. On occasion, I can eat it when made like cornmeal Cou-cou, but only a little bit. Whenever I make Breadfruit Pie, it is always to give away as a treat and gift to friends.
Last week, I bought a big, lovely yellow-meat (meaning the flesh is yellow) breadfruit. I went in search of green plantains to make chips but there was only breadfruit available. I used a part of it to make chips for snacking while watching the European Football Championship (Euros), and the rest I made as a pie for friends who are crazy about breadfruit and can eat it every day, any which way. I wanted it to be all breadfruit, no meat, or vegetables as part of the pie. I had seen other pies with the breadfruit chopped finely and baked raw mixed with tomato or dairy based sauces. There is another version with the breadfruit boiled, mashed, and then baked, again, with either a tomato or dairy based sauce. I consider-ed slicing the breadfruit lengthways and baking it layered like a lasagna but that didn’t seem appealing to me, so I opted to approach it as if I were making macaroni pie. The finished dish was like macaroni pie meets potato salad. It was hearty and filling. The addition of a whole head of roasted garlic to the cheese sauce enhanced the flavour of the pie. It turned out so well I wanted to share it with you because we are always looking for things to add to the Sunday lunch table.
BREADFRUIT PIE
This recipe is for an 8 x 8” round or square pie dish
INGREDIENTS
● 1 medium-sized full breadfruit
● 2 tablespoons butter, salted or unsalted
● 1 whole head of roasted garlic, mashed to a paste
● 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
● 1 heaped teaspoon pepper flakes or ½ teaspoon chili powder
● 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
● 2 ½ cups whole milk
● Salt and pepper to taste
● 3 heaped cups grated cheddar cheese
DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, when the pot comes to a boil, add salt to taste. While the water is heating, peel, core, and chop breadfruit into 1-inch chunks.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking dish with oil or butter and set on a baking sheet lined with foil – this is to catch any spillover from the pie when baking. Set aside.
3. Add the breadfruit to the salted boiling water and cook for 6 minutes only. Drain well in a colander, add back to pot and cover with lid to keep hot. Mean-while, make the sauce.
4. In a cold saucepan, add the butter, garlic, thyme, and place over medium heat to melt the butter. When the butter is melted and starts to froth or have little bubbles around the edges, reduce heat to low and stir well and cook for 2 minutes then add the flour and pepper flakes/chili powder and mix well; cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Raise the heat to medium and pour in the milk, stirring with a whisk to incor-porate the mixture and remove any lumps.
6. Bring the pot to a simmer and keep stirring intermittently to prevent scorching at the bottom of the pot and until the sauce thickens (reduce the heat to low if you find the milk easily coming to a boil). Season with salt and black pepper to taste. The sauce is ready when it coats the back of a spoon, and when you run your finger along it, it does not join back.
7. Add 2 heaped cups of cheese to the sauce, shut off the heat and mix well until the cheese melts in the sauce. Taste for seasoning – salt and pepper – and adjust if needed.
8. Remove the lid from the pot with the breadfruit and pour the sauce over the breadfruit and toss well to mix. Transfer to the baking dish ensuring that you get every bit of sauce from the pot. Make an even layer of the sauced breadfruit in the dish.
9. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the breadfruit and transfer to oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is lightly brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for 30 minutes before serving.
NOTES
● Using the roasted garlic and other flavour ingredients is optional,
make it your own and use what you have available.
● The breadfruit will not be fully cooked after 6 minutes; however, it
will finish cooking while baking.
● Use whatever combination of cheese you prefer for the sauce.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
