Ackee and saltfish patty in a callaloo crust

Juici...and if you don't know, now you know!

Just leave it to someone on instagram to inspire a month of recipes. Inspiration comes in many forms and by chance I came across @mrcuttersnyc image of a restaurant kitchen work table lined off with what seemed like hundreds of patties in the making. I was so intrigued, intrigued enough to come up with eight patty recipes, four weeks of awesomeness. And this first one is super Jamaican!

I decided to start things off with a patty that’s not so common. I think I’ve had an ackee and saltfish patty maybe once. It’s not something you see too often, especially not in a callaloo crust. This recipe was pure experiment. I have made patties and patty crusts before but I never tried adding a vegetable to the crust. It came out quite well the crust was sweet and had the callaloo undertones. It reminded me of the royal Caribbean bakeries in NY with their thicker crusts, but just a bit more tender due to the added moisture from the callaloo. 

Yes I know this recipe is “doing the most” because you have to prepare both ackee and saltfish and callaloo. I had initially wanted a Garlic kale crust (which is much easier to prepare than callaloo) However  this weekend everyone decided to be out of stock. And the one place I did find it wanted to charge almost $900 ($8usd) for two little “fluxy” pieces that had already began to wilt. My usual grocer gives me a huge bunch for less than $400 ($3.50usd) So I had to revamp the recipe to use another green I had on hand. If you want a recipe for traditional crust click here, over all it’s a great start to the month. 

Ingredients (printable recipe)

Crust only (Printable recipe)

Ackee

3-4 cups Ackee cooked

1 cup Salt fish (dried salted cod)

1 Onion

1 Tomato

½ Sweet pepper

½ Scotch bonnet pepper

4 tablespoons Oil

1 ½  teaspoon Seasoning salt

½ teaspoon Black pepper

1 tablespoon ketchup (optional)

Callaloo crust

Saute callaloo:

1 large bunch of fresh callaloo chopped (about 8 cups)

1 large tomato

1 medium onion

2 tablespoon  oil

½ teaspoon scotch bonnet pepper

1 clove garlic

Seasoning mix:

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon onion powder

6 table spoons water

Dry:

3 cup flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

3 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

½ cup cold butter

Wet:

1 cup cold sauté callaloo

1/3 cup ice cold water

½ teaspoon vinegar

1 egg

Instructions

For the filling

• Boil the raw ackee in salted water until they are cooked, for the pre-cooked canned ackee just rinse in some boiling water for a few minutes and strain excess water thoroughly.
• Wash off the excess salt from the cod and bring to boil in a pot for about 10 to 15 minutes. Strain and flake the salt fish to remove the bones
•  If it’s still too salty you can boil again for another 5 minutes (optional)
• Chop the onions, tomatoes, and peppers
• Heat the oil in a wide pan and sauté the onions tomatoes, peppers and ketchup.
• Add the salted cod and allow it to simmer for 2 minutes
• Add the ackee, seasoning salt and black pepper, stir to incorporate all the ingredients and cover on low for another 1-2 minutes
• Set aside to completely cool

For the crust

• Finley chop onions, tomatoes, pepper and shred garlic
• In a hot pan add the oil and sauté the chopped veggies
• Add the chopped callaloo stir and cover
• In a dish mix the water, sugar, salt, black pepper and onion powder
• Pour the seasoning mix over the callaloo stir and cover on low heat let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes
• Once it’s cooked set aside 1 cup in the freezer to get cold.
• Combine the dry ingredients, cut the fat into the flour mixture with a fork or dough cutter until the butter and flour form little balls coated with flour (almost resembling medium sized breadcrumbs)
• In a blender mix all the sauté callaloo, water, vinegar and egg until smooth
• Pour the wet onto the dry and stir with a spoon until the dough has come together (do not use hands)
• Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
• Roll out the dough on a floured work surface, fold in thirds and roll again place in the freezer for 5 minutes
• Repeat the process two more times until the dough is smooth and cold, (may have butter streaks in it)
• Wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready for use. 

Patty assembly

• The dough makes eight patties
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
• Cut the dough in half and roll into a rectangular shape (about 10” by 22”)
• Spoon two to three tablespoons of filling equidistant from each other on one half of the dough
• Fold over the other half of the dough and gently press down removing any trapped air
• Seal the edges and cut into four
• Cut away any excess dough of each to form a patty shape and crimp the edges with a fork
• Poke a hole on top with a fork for steam to escape while cooking
• Place on a lined baking sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes

Greedy tips:

• Try to keep the dough as cold as possible and limit contact with your hands. You don't want to melt the butter.
• You can make the dough, and the ackee the day before to ensure they are cold when assembling the patty
• If you make them the same day use the freezer to get things colder faster. 
• if you feel your dough is too sticky sprinkle more flour. the dough should be slightly sticky, very soft pliable and easy to work with, not firm hard and stiff. 

Xoxo Greedygirl