Fire-roasted Breadfruit with Lobster and Saltfish

► by Chef / Co-owner Damian Leach of Cocktail Kitchen

Meet the breadfruit. It’s a starchy staple in Bajan cuisine that can be roasted, baked, boiled, dried, fried, or ground into flour. 

^{— Photography Kenneth Theysen}

But if you talk to Chef Damian Leach—he’ll passionately advocate for the traditional treatment of this versatile ingredient: tossing the entire fruit (skin and all) into an open fire until the outside is blackened. You can trust him on this. If you’re going to take advice from anyone on how to cook breadfruit, take it from the man with the fruit tattooed on his right hand. The key to cooking delicious breadfruit, Leach says, is butter.

The roasted breadfruit dish currently on the Cocktail Kitchen menu is a play on meals Leach ate as a child in Barbados. Roasted breadfruit topped “with the cheap stuff”, he says. Corn beef, tuna, mackerel. So he took the concept and elevated it slightly with saltfish and lobster. “This is by far the most popular thing we have on the menu”, Leach says. “We actually took it off and tried to do a variation of it two years ago and people were vexed.”

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Breadfruit with Lobster and Saltfish
Serves 4

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Ingredients     

Breadfruit

1 breadfruit
4 oz melted butter
1 red onion
Fresh thyme

Saltfish and
Lobster Topping

½ lb saltfish
(cod or pollock)
2 lobster tails
(crab works as well)
4 oz butter
1 red onion
¼ lb cilantro
¼ tsp Scotch bonnet

Bajan Pepper Sauce Aïoli

110g Scotch bonnet
110g chopped onion
55g fresh turmeric
2 tbsp mustard
120ml white vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 cups mayonnaise

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Breadfruit

1. Carve an X in the top of the breadfruit. Dice red onion and set aside.

2. Place the whole breadfruit in an open fire or directly on stove top or grill (see tips below for cooking methods).

3. Turn the breadfruit every 5 mins for approximately 25 minutes or until completely charred and steam starts to come out of the X in the top of the fruit.

4. Let cool and cut the breadfruit into quarters. Scoop the flesh from the skin and cut into small pieces.

5. In a medium pan, sauté onions until translucent. Toss the breadfruit flesh with melted butter and fresh thyme in the same pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

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Saltfish and Lobster Topping

1. In a medium pot, with enough water to cover the salted fish, boil for 15 minutes. Strain, remove any bones. Repeat the process for a second time. Let cool and shred.

2. Dice the red onion and Scotch bonnet. Finely chop the cilantro and set aside.

3. Remove lobster from tail and cut into small chunks. In a medium pan, sauté the lobster in butter.

4. Add diced red onion, saltfish, chopped cilantro, and Scotch bonnet to the hot pan. Once warmed through, top the breadfruit with the mixture.

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Bajan Pepper Sauce Aïoli

1. Add Scotch bonnet, chopped onion, fresh turmeric, mustard, white vinegar, and brown sugar to a food processor or blender and mix until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

2. Add 3 tbsp of pepper sauce mixture to the mayonnaise. Mix until fully incorporated.

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To Serve

1. Place the breadfruit flesh back into the charred skin.

2. Top the roasted breadfruit with the saltfish and lobster mixture.

3. Drizzle the pepper sauce aïoli.

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TIPS     

If you can’t build a fire to cook in your backyard, try one of these cooking methods to achieve a similar cook and flavour to an open flame.

1. Place a whole breadfruit on the burner of a gas stove element. Leach says to let the breadfruit sit on the element until charred. Rotate the fruit until all sides are charred evenly.

2. You can use a barbecue to cook breadfruit and achieve the smoky flavour Leach looks for to complete his signature dish. Again, make sure to rotate the fruit until all sides are charred evenly.

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