Blue Mountain High Stuffing – This Christmas It’s All About Your Stuffing!

If the economic crunch is biting hard this year and this Christmas won’t see you winding down and welcoming in the New Year under a Caribbean sun, how about bringing a bit of alternative rum, spice and sunshine to your Christmas lunch courtesy of Hotel Mockingbird Hill, the Caribbean’s No.1 eco-friendly boutique hotel in Port Antonio Jamaica.

Anthony Reid, the hotel’s Jamaican Head Chef whose cooking style is fusion and who believes that you can’t beat ‘organic’ for taste has bought together the traditional flavours of a Jamaican Christmas: pimento, sorrel, rum, ginger & lime and combined them with a meat that does exceptionally well in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains – lamb, to create a Christmas stuffing ‘Blue Mountain High’ that will beat away any lingering 2008 blues. 

Anthony’s stuffing recipe will not only help moisten your turkey during cooking, but in addition if you are considering downsizing to chicken this year, we can guarantee it will add an underlying richness to a meat that will make all the family sparkle and ask for seconds.

‘Blue Mountain High’ Stuffing
(This recipe is intended for a 3.5kg turkey and will serve 6)

Ingredients for the stuffing:
10 jerk lamb sausages
4 onions chopped
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
2 tbsp. chopped thyme
6 tbsp. chopped scallion
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
4 tbsp. jerk seasoning
2 tbsp. rum

Method :
Sauté chopped garlic and onion until golden brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Remove the covering from the sausages and mince finely in a food processor. (If you cannot source locally or online lamb Jerk sausages substitute finely ground lamb mince & add 1 extra tbsp of Jerk seasoning.)

Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Let it stand for ½ hour before stuffing the turkey or chicken.

Sorrel Glaze

Ingredients:

236 ml sorrel juice
4 tbsp. sorrel jam (or chutney )
1 tbsp. lime juice
Crushed black pepper
Pinch of salt
1 chopped onion
1 glove garlic and a small piece of ginger finely chopped

Method:

Sauté onion until golden brown.. When lightly glazed add garlic and ginger.  Continue sautéing until golden brown. Add Sorrel juice, jam or chutney, lime juice. Cover and allow to simmer until the liquid has thickened.  Season with salt and pepper.

Seasoning for Turkey

1/2 scotch bonnet or haberno chili halved and seeded
5 small scallions
2 tsp. chopped thyme
1 tsp. finely chopped garlic
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp. dark rum
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. jerk seasoning (either powder or paste)
1 tbsp. cooking oil
½ tsp. ground pimento powder
1 tbsp. salt
Freshly ground pepper

Method:

Blend all ingredients together.

Season the turkey by pricking it and then rubbing the outside with the spice mixture.
Stuff the turkey and leave for about 2-3 hours so that the bird absorbs the flavor.

Roast the turkey basting regularly with the sorrel glaze until cooked through but still firm.  Finish off by caramelizing the Sorrel Glaze by giving it a quick burst under the grill turning the bird as you do so as not to burn the glaze.