NICE FLEX This version of the popular dish is entirely plant-based.
Photo: Celeste Noche for The Wall Street JournalON ZEREGA AVENUE in the Kips Bay neighborhood of the Bronx, in the shadow of a DMV road-test site, two black drum-pan grills, spilling smoke and the smell of chargrilled meat into the air, signal the location of Kingston Food Truck. There’s no seating, so customers line up along a chain-link fence, waiting to hear their names before taking their white bags to go, eating in their cars or heading elsewhere.
Chef-owner Paul Smooth offers all the options you’d expect from a casual Jamaican takeout operation: rich brown stewed chicken; stewed oxtail; smoky drum-pan chicken, chopped up with extra sauce on top. Each protein comes with the choice of a side dish, none more popular than a hefty portion of creamy, slightly spicy Rasta pasta. Mr. Smooth says about 70% of orders include it. “If I don’t have Rasta pasta, I can’t open,” he said with a smile on a recent weekday afternoon.
“ The richness of the heavy cream tempers the bite of Scotch bonnet peppers, ginger, garlic and scallions. ”
Rasta pasta, a creamy penne dish, packs a hit of spice from jerk paste and a bit of crunch thanks to al dente vegetables; the richness of the heavy cream tempers the bite of Scotch bonnet peppers, ginger, garlic and scallions. It’s a deeply satisfying side but can also be a meal on its own. There’s really nothing Rasta about it, apart from the tri-colored bell peppers often used, which evoke the red, gold and green of the flag of Ethiopia adopted by Rastafari. The Rastafarian Ital diet focuses on vegetables native to Jamaica and avoids animal products; a dairy-heavy pasta would definitely not be part of a Rasta meal. Still, this dish is popular at second-generation Jamaican restaurants stateside and on food blogs, where recipes often include a topping of jerk chicken or shrimp.
Origin stories vary, as do versions of the dish. In 2012, chef Lorraine Washington told the Jamaica Gleaner she created the dish later known as Rasta pasta in 1985, on the fly, when she topped fresh fettuccine with tomato sauce and ackee—the mild, custardy national fruit of Jamaica—while working at Paradise Yard in Negril, Jamaica. The heavy-cream-drenched recipe more commonly found today was popularized by chef Basil Anthony Jones at Footprints Cafe in Brooklyn.
At a resort in Ocho Rios, on Jamaica’s north coast, Mr. Jones learned to make fresh pasta before studying the “mother sauces” of French cuisine in culinary school. After moving to New York City in the ’90s he worked at an Italian restaurant. One day the chef asked him to “make something Caribbean” as a special, and he created a spicy Alfredo-style dish. “Rasta pasta is a combination of my culinary background: a little French, a little Italian and a little Jamaican,” he said. He took the recipe with him when he became the chef at the first Footprints Cafe on Clarendon Road in Brooklyn when it opened in 2001.
“I knew it was going to be a big seller—but maybe not to this magnitude,” he said. The Clarendon location now goes through 15 cases of penne a day. While he’s happy it’s gained wide popularity in Jamaican restaurants, he wishes he had been more possessive of the recipe. “I don’t get residuals,” he said. The Footprints restaurant group now has two additional Brooklyn locations, with two more on the way, and bills itself as “the home of the Rasta pasta.”
Mr. Jones may not own the recipe, but he does have strong feelings about the proper preparation. “That pasta must be al dente and that sauce should have some spice,” he said. “The rich, creamy flavor should be there, and it should not be too runny or too thick.” If it coats the back of a spoon it’s the right consistency, he instructed. When asked about Ms. Washington’s vegan version from 1985, he said, “I cannot dispute those things. It could be true, but the most famous Rasta pasta is the one I made.”
Mr. Smooth acknowledged that the first time he had Rasta pasta was at the Footprints on Clarendon: “I was like, ‘What the hell is Rasta pasta?’ ” Now that he makes it on his truck, he recognizes the Italian and French influences but ultimately claims it for Jamaicans. “When we do something we do it over-the-top,” he said. “And the Rasta pasta has over-the-top flavor.”
Vegan Rasta Pasta
This recipe is close to the one chef Lorraine Washington created at Paradise Yard Restaurant in Negril, Jamaica. Ms. Washington’s version was simply a bed of homemade fettuccine topped with tomato sauce and ackee fruit, similar in texture and color to scrambled eggs. Canned ackee is widely available at grocery stores, but if you don’t have it, simply up the amount of vegetables or wilt spinach leaves in the coconut sauce. If you’d like it less spicy, leave out the Scotch bonnet pepper.
Total Time: 45 minutes
serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 pound fettuccine
- 2 tablespoons organic coconut oil
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- ½ cup diced onions
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 1 Scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and sliced (optional)
- 1 Roma tomato, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to season
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, plus more to season
- 2 tablespoons jerk seasoning paste, such as Grace brand
- 1 (19-ounce) can ackee in brine, drained
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 2 scallions, chopped
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente, then drain.
- Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat coconut oil over medium heat until lightly smoking. Add bell peppers, onions, salt and Scotch bonnet, if using. Sauté, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until peppers soften, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic, tomatoes and jerk paste. Sauté, stirring to coat vegetables, 2 minutes. Add drained ackee and toss to combine. Add coconut milk and use a wooden spoon to loosen caramelized bits of jerk paste on bottom of pan. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
- Top with chopped scallions and serve on a bed of cooked fettuccine.
Rasta Pasta American-Style
Rasta pasta recipes abound, in vegetarian, vegan, seafood and meat variations. This is the Americanized version, rich with heavy cream. You can make your own jerk paste or buy Grace Jerk Seasoning, a favorite in the Caribbean and across the Caribbean diaspora, sold in two versions: mild or the more traditional hot option, infused with the heat of Scotch bonnet peppers. This recipe doesn’t include meat, but jerk-seasoned grilled or sautéed shrimp or chicken would make a great addition.
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
serves: 4
Ingredients
- 8 ounces penne or fusilli (half a typical package)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 1 orange bell pepper, sliced into strips
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ cup diced onions
- 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to season
- 1 teaspoon pepper, plus more to season
- 1½ tablespoons jerk seasoning paste
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Roma tomato, chopped
- ¼ cup Grana Padano cheese
- ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup chopped scallions, for garnish
Directions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup pasta water.
- Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan, heat oil over medium heat until it shimmers. Add peppers, onions, garlic, salt and pepper, and sauté, stirring frequently to avoid burning, until peppers soften, about 10 minutes.
- Add jerk paste and sauté, stirring to coat vegetables, 2 minutes. Deglaze pan with chicken stock and simmer to reduce liquid, 5 minutes.
- Add heavy cream, Grana Padano and tomatoes, and simmer 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. If you’d like it spicier, add more jerk paste.
- Toss in pasta. Cook until sauce thickens and clings to pasta, 5 minutes. If pasta seems dry, add some reserved pasta water.
- Top with remaining cheese and chopped scallions. Serve immediately.
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