August 6th is the anniversary of Jamaica’s independence from the UK, and the first Monday in August is their National Day holiday. So this seems like a great excuse to cook Jamaican.

Jerk from Jamaica actually has a recipe for Independence Day Grilled Red Snapper (p67), which is just whole red snapper coated in homemade dry jerk seasoning and grilled. So I’ll pop down to the fishmongers in Catford and pick up fresh red snappers and ripe plantains to grill on the barbecue.

So they get marinated before grilling.

I’m also going to try making our own festival, which are Jamaican deep-fried bread dumplings. The recipe is again from Jerk from Jamaica, p114. In the book, and in many online pictures, they’re sort of baguette shaped, but the ones we know from local take-aways are done as knots, so that’s what we’ll be doing.

So after grilling of fish and plantain, and adding of leftover potato salad, we very quickly have dinner.

There was a distinct lack of chilli and garlic. Don’t get me wrong: it was very tasty. But next time I’ll add the normal amounts of chilli and garlic that all food needs :)