Breadfruit chips, jerk shrimp, mandarin and avocado

Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad

 

  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
    Simon, Benjamin, Diorama with Video Projector. Installation View. Ghetto Biennale, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
    Simon, Benjamin, Diorama with Video Projector, view inside the peephole. Ghetto Biennale, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.
  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
    Video Projection, Gold Paint on Drywall Joint Compound, White Marl Stone.
  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
    FORUM IV, Video Projection, Gold Paint on Drywall Joint Compound, White Marl Stone. Dimensions Variable. Two Channel Audio.
  • Simon Benjamin’s Jerk Shrimp and Breadfruit Salad
    FORUM IV, Video Projection, Gold Paint on Drywall Joint Compound, White Marl Stone. Dimensions Variable. Two Channel Audio.

NOTES

If there is one thing you take away from this recipe, it’s that you need to be eating more breadfruit. Breadfruit is a starchy, mildly sweet fruit beloved by Jamaicans. The big debate is “roast or fry?” It can be charred in an open fire and roasted until soft, or, sliced thinly as we did here, and fried until it makes a delicious chip. You can find breadfruit at most Caribbean markets. The jerk shrimp was simply tossed with Simon’s favorite jerk seasoning — Walkerswood. It comes in mild and spicy, and the mixture of the two was the perfect heat.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the raw breadfruit in half. Bring a medium pot of water to boil, and cook the breadfruit for 30-45min until fork-tender. Remove from the water and dry completely. When the breadfruit has cooled, peel the skin and slice into 1/4″ thick slices.

Prepare a plate with one layer of paper towel or newsprint. Set a cast iron pan over a high flame, and add 1/2 inch of vegetable oil. Fry until brown and crispy. Remove to the plate using a slotted spoon, season immediately with salt, and continue frying with remaining breadfruit. When finished, discard oil, and wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Add shrimp to a bowl with jerk seasoning, oil, and a pinch of salt. Place the cast iron pan on high heat. When hot, add the shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes, just until browned. Remove from the pan to cool to room temp.

Combine salad dressing ingredients in a small jar. Fasten the lid and shake.

Add greens to a salad bowl. Add one tablespoon of the dressing to the salad at a time, toss to coat (do not overdress). Peel mandarin orange, and either segment, or slice into rounds, and add to the salad. Slice avocado into 1/4″ thick slices and squeeze lemon over top. Add breadfruit chips, shrimp and avocado, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

RECIPE

DIFFICULTY

EASY

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SERVES

3

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PREP TIME

60 MINS

Breadfruit Chips

  • 1 
     
    breadfruit
  •  
     
    vegetable oil
  •  
     
    sea salt

Jerk Shrimp

  • .75 
    lb 
    wild shrimp, peeled
  • 1 
    tsp 
    Walkerswood Mild Jerk Seasoning
  • 1 
    tsp 
    Walkerswood Spicy Jerk Seasoning
  • 1 
    tbs 
    olive oil
  • 1 
    pinch 
    Kosher salt

Salad

  • 2 
    cups 
    mixed greens
  • 1 
     
    mandarin orange, peeled and sliced in rounds
  • 1/2 
    hass 
    avocado

Scallion Vinaigrette

  • 1/4 
    cup 
    olive oil
  • 3 
    tbs 
    lemon juice
  • 1 
    lemon 
    zested
  • 1 
    tsp 
    honey
  • 3 
    scallions 
    tops trimmed, thinly sliced
  • 1 
    tbs 
    chopped cilantro
  • 1 
    tsp 
    kosher salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Cut the raw breadfruit in half. Bring a medium pot of water to boil, and cook the breadfruit for 30-45min until fork-tender. Remove from the water and dry completely. When the breadfruit has cooled, peel the skin and slice into 1/4″ thick slices.

Prepare a plate with one layer of paper towel or newsprint. Set a cast iron pan over a high flame, and add 1/2 inch of vegetable oil. Fry until brown and crispy. Remove to the plate using a slotted spoon, season immediately with salt, and continue frying with remaining breadfruit. When finished, discard oil, and wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.

Add shrimp to a bowl with jerk seasoning, oil, and a pinch of salt. Place the cast iron pan on high heat. When hot, add the shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes, just until browned. Remove from the pan to cool to room temp.

Combine salad dressing ingredients in a small jar. Fasten the lid and shake.

Add greens to a salad bowl. Add one tablespoon of the dressing to the salad at a time, toss to coat (do not overdress). Peel mandarin orange, and either segment, or slice into rounds, and add to the salad. Slice avocado into 1/4″ thick slices and squeeze lemon over top. Add breadfruit chips, shrimp and avocado, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Jamaican born artist Simon Benjamin wanted to prepare something specific to Jamaica for our salad. The only hitch? “Jamaicans don’t eat much salad. We like our greens cooked.” In Simon’s native Kingston, there isn’t much of an affinity for light meals, or snacking. Historically, Jamaican cuisine developed hearty meals to be eaten at the onset of the day, fuel for various kinds of manual labor. Simon tells me not to be surprised if I eat at a Jamaican restaurant, and the question arises, “do you want rice, or food?” “Food,” is Jamaican slang for boiled yams, green bananas, and sweet potatoes, the starchy anchor to every meal that powers you through the day.

In the realm of super-filling, beloved starchy produce, there is the breadfruit — a fruit that ranges in size from a grapefruit to a soccer ball, and grows on a flowering tree. It is related to the Southeast Asian jackfruit, and holds a sacred place in Jamaican cuisine. The breadfruit is a source of constant debate of whether to eat it roasted, or fried (please do watch the Chi Ching Ching video on the preceding page, it’s the best thing I’ve seen in years). It’s subtly floral and sweet, softening in the fire, and crisping when fried in oil. A single tree produces up to 200 or more fruits per season, making this the manna of the island, cooked every which way.

Now living in Brooklyn, Simon spends much of his time traveling back to his native Jamaica, not only for the food, but in an effort to answer one burning question: why don’t most Jamaicans and people of the African diaspora in the Caribbean swim, despite living by the sea? It is hard to imagine that island life for most Jamaicans excludes the ocean, but the coastline has become a pleasure reserved for tourists, settled by resorts with high walls and a lack of legislation to guarantee beach access for locals. But Simon thinks there’s more to it than that. He traces a widespread fear of the ocean back to oral histories of crossing on slave ships, a communal trauma that has instilled more fear than wonder in a community surrounded by water.

Simon, an avid surfer, was the exception to the rule growing up in Kingston. His father, a military helicopter pilot, would discover secluded beaches overhead while flying for work, then toss this kids in his Jeep and find them by land. As a result, Simon grew up swimming and enjoying the beach in a very unusual way. Simon is now an artist and a commercial director, and the water is a central theme in his stunning video installations. Making work about the ocean up until now, Simon tells me, “it’s my goal to get Jamaicans to actually engage with the water. I want to find a way to use my art to make positive change in the way Jamaicans relate to their own landscape.”