Round Hill Hotel & Villas executive chef and multi-award-winning Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards recipient Martin Maginley so wowed New York visiting guest and New York Times’ A Good Appetite contributor Melissa Clark with his “Caribbean authenticity on the dinner menu” that she dedicated an entire column to ‘A Lamb Curry That Conjures Jamaica’.

Clark was pleasantly surprised. “I didn’t go to a resort in Jamaica expecting much Caribbean authenticity on the dinner menu,” she noted.

“Maybe jerk chicken, but not cow tripe and beans or the goat curry I had been reading about in various travelogues… I was wrong.

At the Round Hill resort I loved the smokiness of the chicken and the brawny rich flavour of the tripe. But it was the ‘goat curry’ that stayed with me when I returned to blustery Brooklyn.”

Thursday Life congratulates Martin Maginley for tantalising the palates of his guests with authentic Jamaican fare, proving once again that what’s uniquely Jamaican can pass muster anywhere in the world.

Thanks, Melissa Clark, for helping to spread the word! We share Maginley’s recipe.

CURRIED LAMB

Ingredients:

5 lbs boneless lamb meat (cut in cubes)

2 tbsp curry powder

A

2 large onions

3 stalks escallion

6 cloves garlic

1/2 oz ginger

6 pimento seeds

3 sprigs thyme

2 oz olive oil

B

2 oz olive oil

1 tbsp curry powder

1 Scotch bonnet pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Water (enough to cover meat)

1 cup of diced carrots

2 cups of diced Irish potatoes

Method:

• Mix (A) together until all the meat is coated in the curry powder.

• Place (B) in a blender and blend together until smooth.

• Pour (B) over (A) and mix until evenly distributed.

• Add salt and pepper to taste.

• Allow to marinate in refrigerator overnight.

• Heat 2 oz olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

• Mix in 1 tablespoon of the curry powder and heat until fragrant.

• Add the meat to the pot and stir until curried oil coats the meat.

• Allow meat to sear (brown) until liquid evaporates.

• Cover meat with water, bring to a boil, and simmer until meat is about 90 % cooked.

• Add carrots, Irish potatoes and Scotch bonnet pepper.

• Continue simmering until vegetables are fork-tender and meat is thoroughly cooked.

• Serve with coconut rice and home-made chutney.