Back From England! BBQ Pulled Jackfruit, Butternut Wellington

Well, we took a well earned nearly-3-week vacation to England to visit some of Sally's former (not 'old' mind you) schoolmates and her sister and B-I-L.   Stopped overnight in Dublin and stayed in an Airbnb next door to the Jameson Distillery!  Took a double-decker bus tour of the city highlights. Had a decent dinner, and a Full Irish breakfast the next day before flying to Birmingham.  A fabulous time all in all!!!

Anyway...  on to food.

BBQ Pulled Jackfruit
I've known about jackfruit for years.  Part of the reason for the mutiny on the HMS Bounty.   Had it in the Pacific when I lived out there.  Tasty sweet chewy treat...

When we visited The Swan pub, in Lewes, which is owned by Sally's second cousin, they served her a Jackfruit Wellington, if you will, as one of their Sunday Roast options.  They used the cooked green fruit and vegetables in a puff pastry crust.  Really tasty.   Got me to thinking... we grow jackfruit around here in SW Florida.

Jackfruit have the world's largest, heaviest 'hanging from a branch' fruit -- as much as 80 or 100 lbs!! The local ones are 30-50 lbs.

Annie Ryu, The Jackfruit Company, photo from The Denver Post

Sure enough, when we get home, the Southwest Florida  Produce Co-op had both ripe and green jackfruit available.  I got a pound of the yummy ripe yellow fruit for eating out of hand, and a 10 lb chunk of skin-on green jackfruit.  When cooked, the green jackfruit meat is savory-sweet, not cloyingly sweet like the ripe fruits.

Here's how you go about making BBQ Pulled Jackfruit for taco filling, sandwich and slider filling, puff pastry or pie filling, etc.

1.  Slice the fruit, skin-on, into not more than 1/2" thick disks or wedges.  Use a serrated bread knife.  Make sure you heavily oil your hands and knife because jackfruit exude a sticky latex 'juice' that you really don't want to be involved with!  

1a.  Remove and save any of the large seeds you'll find.  They're edible (see below).

2.  Boil the wedges in a pot of water for about 30 minutes.  I did mine in two batches using the electric 'soup pot'.

3.  Drain and cool the wedges.

4.  Slice the meat away from the thick, still-sharp skin.  Easy now that things are cooked.

5.  Shred and chop the cooked meat, just as you would a pork shoulder.  

I got better than 5 lbs of cooked meat from my 10 lb slice; that's a lot of meals!

Now it's time to BBQ the jackfruit.  Some recipes call for you to roast the boiled fruit first, I supposed in an effort to reduce the water content.  I didn't, and I think the result was just fine!

6.  Dice and saute a good-sized onion and a couple cloves of garlic, until soft.  Now add "some" of the pulled jack to the pan and start to cook it; stirring frequently to prevent sticking.   You can at this time pull/shred/chop the jack even further.  

When the meat is heated through, add "some"  BBQ sauce of your choice.  I like Sweet Baby Ray'stm Original recipe as it is not as sweet as many commercial Q sauces.  You could also add curry spices and make curried jackfruit.

I used about half a bottle for about 2 lbs of pulled jack, you may want more or less.  Cook for another few minutes to marry the flavors and serve.

I made BBQ Pulled Jack tacos with the usual toppings.  

You can also make filled pitas, Q on a Bun, savory pastry filling, and anything else where you would use pulled pork.  Be creative!!


Cooked Jackfruit Seeds

You just know people aren't going to just toss away these edible seeds!  They're actually kind of like small boiled red potatoes.

Put the seeds in a pot and cover by an inch with water.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes. or until fork tender.

Alternatively, roast them in  400F oven for about 20 minutes.

Peel off the outer translucent husk.  The brown inner skin is edible.  You could toss the seeds with spices and roast them like chickpeas, or just serve them 'as is'.  The taste is similar to cooked potato.

Butternut Wellington
Here's a simple dish I made awhile back that is absolutely delicious, and simple as anything.

1 Butternut Squash, peeled and halved lengthwise.
Slices of Portobello Mushroom -- big ones, not Crimini
Spice blend of choice (I used a generic Italian seasoning).
1 sheet puff pastry
1 Egg beaten for eggwash/sealer

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Microwave or bake the squash halves until fork tender.  Cool.  Saute slices of Portobello in a bit of butter and drain and cool them also.

Roll out the puff pastry to package directions.  Assemble the mushrooms and squash as shown, 

and roll the assembly in the pastry, sealing it with beaten egg.   Roast the Wellington for 30-40 minutes until GB&D (golden, brown and delicious).  Slice and serve with side veg like peas or cauliflower mash.  Add a bit of HP sauce or Lizano salsa.