CSA week five - Braised callaloo

So, like I said yesterday, I set out this afternoon to follow Jennifer's advice and sauté the callaloo but upon closer examination I found the particular sort we've got is a bit too tough for a straight sauté so a braise was called for.

It's a pretty straightforward procedure but I figured I'd give it a post since I misled you in the last post. I started by browning some pre-desalinified salt cod and some ham in bacon fat in a dutch oven.



After a couple minutes I removed them, turned down the heat a bit, and added in my aromatics. I used a typical Caribbean combination of red pepper, hot peppers (sliced jalepeños instead of a pricked scotch bonnet), scallions, garlic and thyme, plus some Caribbean-style curry powder to try to cut through my cold.



I sweated them for a couple minutes and then added the callaloo leaves. Some recipes include the stems but they didn't strike me as particularly edible. Have any of you tried them? It only took a minute to wilt the leaves down. Then I added a cup of water (or you could use chicken stock of coconut milk), turned down the heat and covered the pot.

A lot of recipes call for up to forty minutes cooking time at this point, and if you're using dasheen that's probably a good idea. But for what we've got fifteen minutes was plenty. I added the salt cod and ham back in at around ten. A lot of those same recipes add okra at this point too. Fifteen minutes probably isn't enough for okra so I'd leave it out.

I served it all over a bowl of rice with a squeeze of lime and a dash of hot sauce to finish it off. Not bad at all and a lot less of a pain than the callaloo soup I made last time I had some. I don't think this sort of callaloo is so distinctive you're stuck using Caribbean accompaniments. This method is really a pretty generic mess of greens preparation so the flavors are adjustable any which way you'd like.