Recipe from Hazel and Jessica Craig
Adapted by Priya Krishna
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus simmering if using salt fish
- Rating
- 4(95)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Callaloo is a simple stewed dish of greens, tomatoes, onions and Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. The dish is eaten across the Caribbean, but this version comes from Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig of L’Artusi in Manhattan. Hazel makes the dish every Christmas exactly as she ate it in Jamaica: with saltfish, which adds heft and a pleasant funk. If you’re not able to get callaloo (which can be found in fresh or canned form at Caribbean markets and some international grocery stores), any sturdy green will do, like kale or Swiss chard. —Priya Krishna
Featured in: A Family’s Christmas, Filled With the Tastes of Jamaica
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 8ounces saltfish or bacalao (optional)
- ¼cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1medium white onion, halved and sliced
- 1medium tomato, chopped
- 1pound callaloo or other hearty leafy greens (such as kale or Swiss chard), stems removed and greens roughly chopped
- ½teaspoon Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
- ¼teaspoon black pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
159 calories; 14 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 8 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 431 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
If using saltfish, place it in a small pot and cover with water by 1 inch. Boil the saltfish over medium heat until softened, adding water as needed to cover, about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Strain, then let the saltfish cool. Break apart into small pieces.
Step
2
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high. Add the onion and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes.
Step
3
Add the callaloo and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, 5 to 10 minutes, adding the prepared saltfish halfway through, if using. Stir in the seasoned salt and pepper and serve.
Ratings
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Cooking Notes
Chris Ohrstrom
I frequently eat and cook callalloo in Jamaica. Several things to note:1. It almost always has stalks of fresh sage in it, a very common and cheap herb in Jamaica2. I often find it has garlic and a little Scocth Bonnet (Jabenero) pepper cooked with it as well. Personally I rarely see it with salt Codfish3. Technically it is the Amarynth plant. Easily grown and harvested before it goes to seed. Heirloom catalogues sell the seeds.
tamarque
Callaloo, or a variety of it, actually grows wild at least in NYS. It covers my garden every summer and gives me lots of greens which can be frozen for winter use. This recipe is very much like what I cook. Often add bone broth for extra flavor. Don't do bacalao even tho it is available. The green is betw kale and chard in tenderness.
Empress of Sandyground
Thyme is the herb to add when preparing callaloo and which is bound to bundles at the market. Add a tomato, onion and Scotch Bonnet with salt & pepper & some oil in a dutch oven with chopped callaloo to simmer down until tender. If you buy fresh bundles, peel the bitter outside layer off larger stalks before chopping. Easier to buy bags of chopped callaloo at the market and your thyme separately. Nah on boney saltfish.
Ryan L.
I used rainbow chard because I was unable to find callaloo. This was so easy and delicious. Everyone at my Caribbean themed dinner loved this dish.
Don Driscoll
Until yesterday I di not knwo that Amaranth which is a weed in my El Paso garden was Callaloo. I am so happy to have new ways to cook this.
jenny henderson
The Kallaloo I grew up making and eating in the Virgin Islands has hocks or pig tale, salt fish, and crab, okra, onion, sweet pepper, scotch bonnet, and greens. Never tomato. And always served with a ball of fungi.
Empress of Sandyground
Thyme is the herb to add when preparing callaloo and which is bound to bundles at the market. Add a tomato, onion and Scotch Bonnet with salt & pepper & some oil in a dutch oven with chopped callaloo to simmer down until tender. If you buy fresh bundles, peel the bitter outside layer off larger stalks before chopping. Easier to buy bags of chopped callaloo at the market and your thyme separately. Nah on boney saltfish.
boston cook
Bacalao was waaay too salty. Wish I’d followed directions on packet to soak overnight and change the water multiple times.
Faliron
This leafy green is grown extensively in Greece and you can find in the markets both the wild and cultivated kind .Usually it is prepared boiled with an olive oil and lemon dressing or cooked with zucchini and tomatoes and served with crumbled feta on top.In the island of Crete is also cooked withsnails and tomatoes.Here in the state of Maryland where I live I found it as a weed in a commercial farm where is used to go to pick tomatoes inthe summer.
Jori
Callaloo I found out is Amaranth. In San Diego where i live it is naturalizing in my yard for the last 2 years. Sturdy and most productive. Thrilling to me since now I can have something that I first tasted in Jamacia over 15 years ago. Now I just need an ackee tree so I can have ackee and saltfish!
Chris Ohrstrom
I frequently eat and cook callalloo in Jamaica. Several things to note:1. It almost always has stalks of fresh sage in it, a very common and cheap herb in Jamaica2. I often find it has garlic and a little Scocth Bonnet (Jabenero) pepper cooked with it as well. Personally I rarely see it with salt Codfish3. Technically it is the Amarynth plant. Easily grown and harvested before it goes to seed. Heirloom catalogues sell the seeds.
tamarque
Callaloo, or a variety of it, actually grows wild at least in NYS. It covers my garden every summer and gives me lots of greens which can be frozen for winter use. This recipe is very much like what I cook. Often add bone broth for extra flavor. Don't do bacalao even tho it is available. The green is betw kale and chard in tenderness.
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