Fun At Ethnic Markets

Let's face it, America doesn't have much (if any) culture that hasn't been “borrowed” from somewhere else (even hot dogs and hamburgers came from Europe). But, living in America, we can expose ourselves to foods from dozens, even hundreds of other cultures – English, German, Spanish, Italian, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, Russian, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Lebanon, and Poland, just to name a few.

Wake up your tastebuds!! Visit an ethnic market near you and explore the foods and spices of another culture. So what if you can't read the labels! Look at the pictures on the cans and boxes, and if something looks interesting ask another store patron what it is. Usually folks are glad to share their national cuisine with other interested cooks.

Not all Latin or Indian or Asian dishes are “rip yer face off” hot. When you are the cook (instead of the diner at an ethnic restaurant, you can control the amount of heat that a dish has.

My latest ethnic market trip was to a little Indian market not too far from Lady Sally's. I've been to other Indian markets, of course, and attended India Fest in several cities, so I have a passing familiarity with the intricacies of “curry” and other dishes. We eat Indian fairly frequently from the Happy Healthiness Cafe, a great Indian fast food takeaway place here in Fort Myers.

Sally and I were having dinner guests who are vegetarians, and I had decided to make a Navratan Vegetable Korma. Navratan means “Nine Gems” and the dish has 9 major ingredients including paneer soft cheese and/or nuts. But since our guests don't “do” cheese I decide to use just almonds.

I stopped at the Indian market to see what they had vegetable curry spice blends. Sure, I could have gone to my spice cubboard and come up with something vaguely “Indian” flavored; but I wanted something special for our guests. In this one little store there are hundreds of different packets of spices, each good for preparing one or two meals, for specific applications – chicken, beef, vegetables etc. I chose the Shantm brand Spice For Vegetable Curry. With ingredients lists in four languages (including English) I was able to determine that this blend of spices would be tasty with the Nine Gems.

Navratan “Nine Gem” Korma

Nine major ingredients and Indian spices combine to make a delectable vegetarian dinner that isn't overly spicy. Serve it with spiced dal and jasmine rice. The nine “gems” can, and do, vary from cook to cook, household to household. Be creative!  Here's a combination we find very tasty:

8 oz Broccoli florettes

8 oz Cauliflower florettes

2 Red Bell Peppers, chopped large

3 Roma Tomatoes, chopped large

6 oz Baby Carrots

1 large Sweet Onion, chopped large

½ – ¾ cup Golden Raisins

2 Granny Smith Apples, chopped large

½ – ¾ cup whole Almonds

3 large cloves Garlic, sliced

½ tsp Black Cardamon seed

1 cup Almond Milk

½ packet Vegetable Curry spice blend

Start by putting the onions in a large (4-5 qt) pot on medium heat (350F), with a splash of oil. Add the cardamon, nuts and garlic. While you cut up other things let the onion mixture cook until the onion starts to turn translucent.

Add the other vegetables in turn, layering a bit of the spice blend between additions; and finish with the broccoli and cauliflower. Pour the soy milk and a couple cups of water over all. Cover and bring to a hard boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the veggies are tender-- 20-30 minutes. You want “some” gravy, but this is not a “curry soup” so you don't want things swimming in liquid.

Arhar Dal

Lentils are nutritious, but not often used by Western cooks, probably because they are pretty bland unless you “kick them up a notch” as Emeril used to say. Arhar Dal Masala can add a whole new world of flavor to your next (or maybe first) batch of lentils. In Hindi, “dal” means 'lentils', and “masala” means 'spice blend'. “Arhar” translates as 'pigeon peas'. Arhar Dal masala works as well with ordinary green/brown lentils as it does with pigeon peas. I like my pigeon peas Bajan style as we talked about previously.

Add ½ cup of dry green/brown lentils to 1½ cups of water and 1 Tbsp of Arhar Dal masala. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 10-15 minutes until the lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain and serve like any other vegetable. Want more spice? Add some after the cooking and stir to combine.

Cumin Rice

Add a tablespoon of cracked cumin seeds (not powder) to your pot of jasmine rice as it cooks, for a special rice treat.

Mango-Banana Smoothie

For this 'out of season' dessert, I used frozen mango harvested from Lady Sally's tree last year. Fresh mango is even better!  Rather than my usual yogurt addition, for our vegetarian guests I used Almond Milk.

1 quart Mango pulp and juice

2 Bananas

1 cup Almond Milk

fresh grated Nutmeg to taste

Put everything in a blender and pulse to combine and puree. Pour into elegant glasses and dust the tops with additional nutmeg. A mint leaf or two for garnish also looks pretty here.  Freeze this stuff, and you have what in Hindi is called Kulfi.

May Miscellany

It's been "one of those weeks".  A couple weeks back I responded to a lead generated by one of the party-planning sites to which I subscribe.  Person was planning a Sweet Sixteen party to be held this coming May 24th.

So I send off my "here's who I am and what I can do for your event" email.  No response.  I call the listed phone and leave a message.  No response.  Another email.  Nothing.  Finally I get a call... long story short, the person who generated the lead is the party girl, not her parents (Mom lives in Orlando, Dad here in Ft. Myers).  After several poor communications from her we finally meet this last Saturday -- 7 days before the event was supposed to take place.  She had no location (Dad's condo could never hold 50-60 teenagers!!).  No guest list (but she did tell people she was going to have a party).  No idea of food ("I like to eat at Olive Gardentm.").  And a maximum budget of $500.  For dinner for 50-60 people plus site rental, plus decorations!   In short  a typical teenager -- NOT A CLUE as to the way The World really works!

Please... please...  If you are planning a party and want me (or anyone else) to cater the event for you:
1.  Pick a place.
2.  Pick a date.
3.  Start a guest list.
4.  Have some idea of the kinds of food you want

Then contact your Personal Chef/caterer.    Realize, up front, that a catered event is NOT cheaper than going to a restaurant, and that you will NOT get a catered event for $10-$12 per person (you'd be surprised how many people think they can get a party of 40 catered for $400 or less!!).  If you do get a quote for that kind of money, realize that you're going to get what you pay for -- not particularly good food, not food prepared by caring professionals  -- not Good Eats.

If that's all you can afford, may I suggest two viable options:
1.  "Costco catering" - pay for the membership if you don't have one, and then buy frozen megapacks of this and that. Heat and eat.
2. Call out for delivery pizza or subs.

Enough rant!


Welsh Skillet Scones
For breakfast this past weekend I made Lady Sally some scones.  These scones don't even need the oven (an important factor as we head into summer);  they are prepared and "skillet baked" in 20 minutes or less.  This is perfect if you have an electric skillet, but they are also suitable for a large skillet or griddle pan on the stovetop.  You can change out the fruit, of course.  Chopped apricots or plums, raisins, currents or any dried fruit will go well.  These are not the overly sweet scones you typically find in America, they are a bit more traditional, but tasty with a schmear of butter.

Welsh Skillet Scones

2 cups AP flour

½ cup Dark Brown Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Black Cardamon seed

6 whole Allspice berries

1 stick cold Butter, cut into pieces

¼ cup Zante Currants

¼ cup dried Blueberries

Start heating the skillet to 325F. Put the dried fruit in a cup of hot tapwater to soften. Grind the cardamon and allspice in a mortar & pestle or coffee grinder.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices into a largish bowl. Cut the butter into the flour until it looks like granules. The best, but messiest, way to cut in the butter is rubbing the flour mixture into it between your fingers. Drain the fruit and add them to the flour, tossing to distribute evenly.

Beat the egg and milk together then pour it over the flour-fruit mixture. Stir the liquid in with a fork until it forms a soft dough. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead it 10 or 12 times. Divide into thirds. Pat each third into a 3/4” thick disk; then cut each disk into quarters or halves. Cook the scones 3-5 minutes per side until nicely browned. Then put on a cooling rack and cover with a tea towel for a couple minutes. Serve hot with a schmear of butter.

Papaya in Paradise
The other day we harvested what is hopefully the first of several large papayas from a tree that Lady Sally's daughter started from seed about 3 years ago.  The tree is about 7 ft tall now, and has yielded at least one large (16" long) papaya per year for the last 3 years.

I have to admit to not being particularly fond of fresh papaya -- until the other day.  I have for a long time liked dried diced papaya in my signature Trail Mix.  But to me, fresh papaya always had a sort of funky, nose wrinkling, taste/scent.  Lady Sally set me straight with slices of lemon.  Yep.  Lemon.

Fresh papaya from The Tree

If you haven't, you owe it to yourself to try fresh diced papaya with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  The suddenly enhanced flavor reaches out and grabs you!  Folks rave about papaya smoothies and such, but honestly the fruit is rather bland and tasteless -- until you grace it with lemon.

Last year, Lady Sally was out of town when the papaya came ripe.  So I peeled, seeded and sliced it and tossed it in the freezer for her.  One thing led to another and that fruit was not eaten until the other day. Sally expressed the opinion that it wouldn't be "that good" compared to fresh, if thawed.  So I thawed some to test the idea.

                                                                       Thawed papaya from last year

There was a textural difference, it's true.  And the taste, even augmented with lemon, was not quite as good.  But combined with other fruit and Greek yogurt, frozen/thawed papaya will make a passable (and pretty) smoothie or custard.

My Signature Trail Mix
Equal parts by weight, available from your local store that sells "bulk goods":

Diced Papaya
Plain M&Mtm Candies
Raw, Unsalted Peanuts
Blueberry Granola

Bison en Croute and other Adventures

Bison En Croute

A couple weeks ago Lady Sally and her Mum returned from one of their Costco forays and asked me  "Have you ever had bison, or buffalo?"

"Sure." I said.  When I lived out West one of the local grocery stores had an annual Buffalo Week sale and carried roasts, chops, ribs and more.    When I lived on Kwajalein, once a month there was a Bison Burger lunch special that even food service there didn't mess up.

"Here, see what you can make us for a special Mother's Day luncheon with this."   This was a 20oz package of beautiful ground bison meat.

So I tossed around, and tossed out, several ideas -- buffalo chili, bison cottage pie, buffalo lasagna, bison burgers -- this had to be special.  I wanted the rich flavor of the meat to shine, not be buried in a bunch of tomato sauce or other flavors.   That's when I came up with Bison En Croute.   For side dishes I chose corn on the cob and roasted new potatoes with mushroom gravy.  Dessert would be a Mango Crumble.

"En Croute, of course means "in pastry".  The most famous meaty example is Beef Wellington, where a steak or roast is coated with pate and a duxelle of mushrooms, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked until GBD --- Golden, Brown and Delicious.

Duxelle?  That's minced mushrooms sauteed in butter than nearly pureed into a paste.

Bison is the quintessential American meat and is readily available these days in ground form at your local megamart grocery. Naturally 97% fat-free, it is arguably the healthiest red meat you can eat. Because it is so lean you normally don't want to cook bison to more than about medium rare (that's an internal temperature of about 140F). Because I added onion, mushrooms and BBQ sauce; and cooked this "en croute", I was able to cook it a bit more and still keep the meat moist, not a dried out hockey puck. 

20 oz pkg Ground Bison

½ cup Crimini mushrooms, chopped

¼ cup Panko

1/3 cup Diced Sweet White Onion

½ tsp Liquid Smoke (hickory)

½ tsp Worcheshire Sauce

¼ cup Bourbon Peach Barbecue Sauce

1 Egg, whipped, for the meat mixture

1 sheet Puff Pastry

1 Egg, whipped, for egg wash

Preheat oven to 400F. Set puff pastry aside to thaw.

In a large bowl, bring together the ground meat and other ingredients except the puff pastry and egg wash. Mix well (hands are always best for this). Form the mixture into a log.

Roll the thawed puff pastry out thin enough to cover the meat. Carefully place the mixture on the pastry, and pull the pastry up around and over the meat.  Trim away excess pastry, and seal the overlapping edges with a brush of egg wash. Carefully place the wrapped meat, seam side down, on a lined baking sheet, and pierce the top of the pastry with a knife 3 times. Egg wash the top of the pastry to help get that golden hue.

Bake at 400F for 30-40 minutes and check for done-ness with a meat thermometer. When the interior temperature is 140-150F, remove the roll from the oven and allow it to rest 15 minutes and re-absorb the juices.  Slice the roll into 1” rounds and serve with a dollop of mushroom gravy.

Mushroom Gravy?  Make your own with Bisto, hot water and sauteed mushrooms.  Bisto is a great British product -- granules to be dissolved in boiling water -- that has been around since 1908.  Find it in the Imported Foods section of your local megamart.

Mango-Blueberry Crumble

Dessert was a simple mango-blueberry crumble.    The mangos came from Lady Sally's tree last year.  I froze, if I remember right, 20 quarts of  golden deliciousness.  We have mango-banana dessert smoothies, mango upside-down gingerbread cake and other delights all year 'round.

Filling

3 large sweet Mangos, sliced (about 1 quart of cubes and pulp)

6-8 oz fresh Blueberries

¼ to ½ cup Brown Sugar, depending on sweetness of your mangos

Fresh grated Nutmeg to taste

Topping

1/2 cup Butter

1 cup Brown Sugar

3/4 cup Flour

3/4 cup Quick Oatmeal

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Salt

Preheat the oven to 350. Put the mango in a saucepan with brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Cook on low-medium low, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and rub the butter in with your fingertips. You want the ingredients to hold together, but still break apart. Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt, then the oats, and mix again.

Put the mango mixture into a buttered ovenproof dish and sprinkle over the crumble topping.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Bonus Dessert

The Crumble recipe above makes enough for a 9x13 dessert and I was only making a 9x9.  So I had a lot of crumble leftover.  Not being one to waste potentially Good Eats, I grabbed my silicon loaf pan and spread the leftover crumble in it about 1/4" thick, and put it in the oven with everything else.  Voila!  Chewy and sugary and GB&D!  Sally says this is pretty close to what the Brits call a Flapjack – a simple candy/snack made from oats, treacle and butter.  

You could always skip the mangos and just make a big batch of Crumble.  Spread it out on a lined baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes at 35-400.  Let it cool a bit, then slice and serve with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Four Bajan Classics

When we started researching things to see and do (in addition to the wedding we attended) on our trip to Barbados, the names of several restaurants came up repeatedly in the guidebooks.  Of course I researched Bajan cuisine as well, so I knew what we should look for the in the Good Eats department.

This week I'm talking about the luncheon buffet at the Brown Sugar restaurant in the Garrison District a few miles from the center of Bridgetown,  and a luncheon delight at the Waterfront Cafe downtown in the Careenage.

The Barbados Garrison was largest military post in the British Colonies during the 18th and 19th centuries.  It was established in 1780 as the military headquarters for the Imperial forces stationed on the island until 1905.  However, it began with St. Ann’s Fort, on its present site, in 1705.  The Brown Sugar restaurant and other tourist amenities are to be found in the area around the historic and present Garrison.

The Brown Sugar offers a lunch buffet that features a number of classic Bajan dishes, four of which can be seen here:

Souse

On the left side of the plate is Souse -- a uniquely island version of “pickled pork”. Originally made from “features” like pigs feet, snouts, and cheeks, you can also make this using pork sirloin, which appeals more to Americans.

1-2 lb Pork Sirloin, cubed

1 Bay leaf

4 Allspice berries

1-2 English Cucumbers

½ Sweet Onion

4 Limes

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

¼ cup Parsley for garnish

Optional – if you want some heat, add half a Scotch Bonnet or Habanero pepper, seeded and veined and minced fine.

Put the cubed pork, bay leaf and allspice berries in a pot of water and boil until the pork is tender. Drain and cool.

Meanwhile, seed and finely shred the cucumber, thinly slice and chop the onion and juice the limes. Combine those ingredients with the Kosher salt, cooled pork and a cup or so of water to make a pickling solution which will cover the meat. With the pork added, allow the pickle to “work” overnight overnight on the countertop, in a glass bowl covered with a tea towel. Chill before serving. Garnish with chopped parsley.

I enjoyed the Souse which I had at the Brown Sugar restaurant in the Garrison District of Bridgetown, but I must say I'm not fond of the texture of boiled pork, which I found rather insipid and chewy.

Pickled Cucumber & Banana

Opposite the souse, on the right side of the buffet plate is Pickled Cucumber.  The same “pickle” used to make Souse is also be used to pickle banana and/or breadfruit and make a sort of island slaw.

2 large English Cucumbers

½ Sweet Onion

4 Limes

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

2 cups firm Cooking Banana (or green eating banana) slices and/or Breadfruit cubes

¼ cup Parsley for garnish

Optional – if you want some heat, add half a Scotch Bonnet or Habanero pepper, seeded and veined and minced fine.

Seed and shred the cucumber, thinly slice and chop the onion and juice the limes. Combine with the Kosher salt, banana, and additional water to make a pickle.  With the fruit added, allow the pickle to “work” overnight on the countertop, in a glass bowl covered with a tea towel. Chill before serving. Drain away most of the liquid and serve as a side salad instead of mundane old coleslaw. Garnish with chopped parsley.

.

Although this uses the same pickle (cucumber, onion, lime, salt) I much preferred this dish to Souse.

Pepperpot

At the bottom of the plate is my favorite dish of all those we experienced on the island.  Bajan Pepperpot can be thought of as a somewhat spicy Caribbean version of Osso Bucco, the classic Italian dish of braised veal shanks. The original Bajan recipe also used “marginal” meats – the off-cuts left after the wealthy folks got their steaks and chops. Cuts like oxtail, beef neck bones, pork hocks... 

You can still make it that way today, of course (and it would be more traditional and a bit richer tasting). But if those sorts of things bother you, or they aren't readily available, you can simply use the styrofoam packet labelled “Beef for Stew”. That's what I've done here; simply because my mega-mart didn't have oxtail on hand the day I went shopping (they would order it though).

This is not a quick recipe, but it's worth the time. Cook this in your electric skillet, like I did, or use a slow cooker. It can be done in the oven, but that takes a lot of electricity and heats up your house more than you want in summer.

1-½ lbs Beef For Stew (not the leaner steak trimmings)

1 Tbsp whole Allspice Berries

1 Teaspoon whole Black Peppercorns

2 Bay leaves

4 oz Tomato Sauce

1 red Jalapeño or other spicy chili pepper, veined and seeded, to taste

1 large Sweet or White Onion, sliced

½ Red Onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar

1 Lime, juiced

1 large Red Bell Pepper, diced large

1 tsp Bajan Seasoning

Traditional optional ingredient – 1 cup Butternut Squash or Yam cubes

My personal optional ingredient – 8 oz sliced Crimini mushrooms – not traditional but darn tasty.

Set your electric skillet to 350F. Crush the allspice and pepper in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder, but don't powder it. Use half the spice while you brown the meat in a splash of oil. Remove meat from the pan and reserve. Add the onions, garlic, and bell pepper and cook until the onions are half caramelized. Add the spicy chilies and sugar. Return the meat to the pan and add the bay leaves, Bajan seasoning and the remaining allspice/pepper mix. Add about 4 cups of water and the tomato sauce, and cook, covered, for 2 hours. If adding squash or yams, add them now. Reduce heat to 200F and cook for an additional 30-45 minutes. Reduce the cooking liquid to a pretty thick gravy (see below). You want the meat “falling apart” done.

Here's a bowl of Pepperpot that I prepared after we got home, using the recipe above.  Makes me hungry again just looking at it!

Fish Cakes

At the top of the buffet plate are Bajan Fish Cakes.  Simple and yet oh so tasty.  Toss up for my second favorite Bajan dish, along with Flying Fish.  I won't torture you with flying fish recipes since you simple can't find them for sale in the States. 

Dried, salted cod, as a fishing industry product, goes back at least 500 years. Prior to electric or gas-powered refrigeration, salting was the easiest and least expensive way to preserve fish caught far from home. Salt cod,  goes by a myriad of other names including bacalhau (Portuguese), bacalao (Spanish), bakaiļao (Basque), bacallà (Catalan), bakaliáros (Greek), baccalà (Italian), and bakalar (Croatian), . Other names include tørfisk (Scandinavian), stokvis (Dutch), saltfiskur (Icelandic), morue (French),  toe rag (UK), and saltfish (Caribbean). Salt cod is available in almost every mega-mart today, under on or more of those names ('bacalao' is very common).

This is another time consuming recipe, but well worth the wait.   The problem with salt cod is that it is EXTREMELY salty.  The salt (at least 99.8% of it) needs to be soaked and then cooked out of the fish to make it palatable. 

Bajan Fish Cakes are not your usual bland American style breaded fish sticks or patties made from pulverized fish parts, but rather they are delicate, tasty balls filled with air, moisture, flaky fish and Bajan seasoning. I've had a variety of “fish cakes” around the world, and these are about the best I've every tasted.

½ lb salted cod

1 cup finely diced Sweet Onion

1 egg lightly beaten

2 tbsp oil
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup milk
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp Bajan Seasoning
Salt to taste

Additional oil for frying the cakes

Optional – minced hot peppers to taste

Soak the salt cod overnight in a large bowl of water, changing the water several times. You want the fish to be slightly salty, not overpowering. Rinse the cod a final time and then boil it in fresh water for 10-15 minutes until flaky.  Drain and cool.

In a frying pan, heat 2 Tbsp of oil and sauté the onions until they are just wilted.  While they're cooking, put the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg, melted butter and milk. Mix together lightly.  When the onion is cooked and cooled, add it to the batter along with the Bajan Seasoning, cooked cod and pepper. Stir well.

Add at least ½” of oil to the skillet and bring it to 350F. An electric skillet will do, or use a shallow pot and a candy thermometer to make sure of the temperature. Don't cook at any less than 350 or more than 375. Too cool and the batter won't seal quickly and the cakes will be greasy. Too hot and the outside will be crisp before the inside is properly cooked.

Drop the fishcake batter by tablespoon fulls into hot oil, but do not crowd them in the pan. Turn as necessary to cook all around. When golden brown, transfer cakes with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Serve hot with Bajan Hot Sauce or a nice remoulade on the side.  Here's a Fishcake appetizer from the iconic Waterfront Cafe at the Careenage a old wharf area in the center of Bridgetown where the Constitution river meets Carlisle Bay.

In this chef's mind, a nearly perfect dish would be to combine the Bajan Fish Cake with the  ubiquitous Southern Hushpuppy.   Hmmmmm.  Stay tuned for further developments....

Next week we'll get away from Barbados for awhile, and I'll show and tell you what I made for Lady Sally and her Mum for Mother's Day dinner.

PS - my apologies for the crappy line spacing and changing fonts which appear in this post, in spite of my best efforsts to repair things.  Guess that's what I get for composing in a real Wordprocessor and then pasting my purple prose he in Blogger.  Next time I stick to composing in Blogger....

Legumes & Grass Seed

Red, white, black, green, pink, pinto, cranberry, azuki, navy, black-eyed, fava, great northern, chick, pigeon...

Long, medium or short grain, brown, white, jasmine, Japanese black, Thai sticky, Bhutanese red, purple, basmati...

Rice has been cultivated for some 12,000 years. Beans a mere 4000 years. Inevitably these two nutritional powerhouses came together to form a multitude of variations on a theme. Rice is rich in starch, an excellent source of energy. Rice also contains iron, vitamin B, and protein. Beans also have a good amount of iron, and an even more protein than rice. Together they make a “complete protein” that contains adequate proportions of all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot make for itself.

Wild rice is not a true rice. Rather it's the grain of a North American marsh grass unrelated to Asian/Indian rices.

Nearly every culture has some version of Legumes & Grass Seed. Usually these are dishes “of the people”, not haute cuisine -- inexpensive and filling. Some cultures serve the two side by side, others combine them near the end, with or without other ingredients, for a one-pot dish. Rice and beans are common and affordable ingredients, available even in the most in difficult of times. With sack of dried beans, a sack of rice, and a handful of spices, you can make delicious, nutritious, healthy dishes in nearly infinite variety.

So this week I thought I'd share an old favorite and a new favorite take on Legumes & Grass Seed.  The first is a Latin American dish of uncertain origin but certainly popular in Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Arroz Amarillo con Habichuelas Negras

In English it would be Yellow Rice with Black Beans. In the mid-West where I grew up they call this Spanish Rice, and ignore the beans. An alternative Latin name is Moros y Christianos (Moors and Christians) with the beans representing the Moors.  The name of the dish even appears in a Latin inspired hip hop piece called What's That, by the artist Mos Def:

You know my stilo, cigarrillo con tamarindo
Habichuelas negras, arroz amarillo
Yo soy suave viejito, campeَn nacional como Tito

1 to 1½ cups dried Black Beans

½ cup diced Sweet Onion

1 Tbsp dried Thyme

1 cup uncooked Rice of choice (I like Jasmine)

1 Sazon Tropicale spice packet “para aroz amarillo”(I prefer Badia brand)

1 tsp Cumin

4 sq inches Red Bell Pepper, diced

Thyme goes with beans – any kind of beans – like peanut butter goes with jelly.  One of those quintessential flavor combinations that simply can't be ignored.  If you don't add thyme to your beans as they cook, you're really missing something.

Urban Myth has it that you must soak dried beans overnight, changing the water several times. Bologna (and I don't mean the good kind)!! That, and the so-called benefits from doing so, have been disproven any number of times by “scientist chefs” like Alton Brown. Cooking times between soaked and unsoaked are nearly identical, and any anti-gas benefits simply cannot be measured.

So. Rinse the beans, checking visually to make sure you don't have any black bean-sized rocks in there. Place in a pot well covered with water, according to package directions. Add the thyme, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer and cook until tender but not mushy. Drain and reserve. When cool, toss with the diced onion.

Meanwhile, put the cup of rice and two cups of water in another pot, along with the Sazon Tropicale spice and the cumin. Stir to dissolve the spices. Bring that to a boil, covered, reduce heat to low and cook for 20-25 minutes until the water is absorbed. Remove from the heat, fluffy the rice with a fork and toss with the diced red bell pepper.

Plate any way you choose. Some like to keep the elements separate on the plate. Some put down a bed of rice and ladle beans on top. I had some at a restaurant the other day that were other way around -- pureed beans on the bottom and the rice on top.  Some like to pack the rice into one side of a bowl and spoon the beans in along side.

Here's my photo of my version of the recipe. All the other food bloggers who talk about the dish seem to be using the same photo from one person's blog. Don't just talk about dishes, you guys, cook them and photograph them!!

Bajan Peas & Rice

Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic also love their Pigeon Peas and Rice. But since last week we made a batch of Bajan Seasoning from the recipe I provided, this week we're making the Bajan version which used Pigeon Peas.

Here in the States you'll probably only find canned pigeon peas except at an ethnic Caribbean market. Canned pigeon peas come in two varieties – green and dry. The canned dry peas aren't really dry... more like 'reconstituted'. They're canned in water, and ready to eat. This recipe is really simple (but you do need to be able to boil water). It's the seasoning that really makes this recipe great!

1 can (15 oz) “dry” Pigeon Peas (or green ones if you can't find the other)

1-½ cups dry White Rice of choice

2 Tbsp Bajan Seasoning, or more, to taste

½ tsp Cumin

Cook up the rice as usual, adding the Bajan seasoning and cumin before things come to a boil. Drain and rinse the pigeon peas. Microwave the pigeon peas to bring them up to eating temperature (call it 2 minutes).  If you use a rice cooker you can add them to the rice just as cooking finishes and allow them to warm through while the rest of your meal finishes cooking.

Combine the rice and the peas. Serve with a ramekin of Bajan seasoning on the table to take the spice level to your comfort level.

  

Here's a dish of Rice & Peas made by a Bajan chef, which Lady Sally and I sampled at a post-wedding party at a rental house on Barbados.  This chef uses just a pinch of turmeric to color the rice.

Sunset view from a rental property east of Holetown, Barbados

Bunny Salad & Bajan Seasoning

Bunny Salad
So we got back from Barbados on Wednesday and Lady Sally goes off to work on Thursday. Mid-day, I get an email from her “There's an Easter-themed lunch tomorrow, can you fix something?”

Well, of course I can fix something. But I want something special, right? So after bit of data-mining, I found a recipe for an Easter Bunny Pear Salad. Shades of Watership Down!  Pear halves decorated to look like browsing rabbits on a bed of greens. Perfect! 

Don't do what I did! Do not go out and buy two large cans of Pear Halves. The cans lie! They do not contain complete halves, but rather the 'neck' parts are chopped off and stuffed in with the rest. You simply can't make bunny-looking goodies with canned pears. Go buy fresh, whole pears and poach them yourself in a covered skillet. It's easy, fast, and fun.

Peel the pears and halve them lengthwise. Place cut side down in a deep skillet with a lid. Add water to cover the pears. 

Now doctor that 'courtbouillion'.  Start with a cup of sugar. Now add fresh grated nutmeg, whole cloves, whole allspice berries, star anise, cardamon – whatever you like to flavor the sugar water. Bring the liquid to a bare boil. 

Cut a disk of parchment paper and lay it on top the pears to help keep them submerged (un-submerged parts will turn color).  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the pears are soft-but-firm, if you know what I mean. 

Speaking of colors... If I'd thought about it, I'd have used red or blue berry juice, or grape juice, or red wine instead of water. The pear bunnies would have soaked up the flavor and color as they poached! Remove pears from the liquid and let them cool, drain, and dry for say an hour before proceeding.

Other things you'll need – whole cloves for noses, slivered almonds for ears, dried currants or very small raisins for eyes, and either small curd cottage cheese (my preference), Greek yogurt, or something similar for the fluffy tails. A bag of Spring Mix lettuces, chopped, for a bed. I also used tiny snack carrots and parsley bits to make bunny-sized nibbles.

Lay down the chopped lettuce, then arrange the pear halves. Add ears, eyes, and noses, using a small knife and/or skewer tip to prepare slits and holes for the detail bits Add dollops of cottage cheese or whatever for the tails. Decorate with tiny snack carrots, if desired.  I also like dusting the bunnies with freshly grated nutmeg.

The keys, IMHO, to making these look like rabbits rather than mice, are that the ears have to face sideways, not forward; and the tails have to be white and fluffy rather than a string of limp spagetti or something curled around!

Watership Down Salad

Bajan Delights

“Bah-zhan” or Bay-zhan” – the pronunciation seems to vary with age.  The older natives abbreviating the formal term “Barbadian” to “Bay-zhan”.

Funny -- the one thing we didn't see there were Barbados Cherry bushes, fruit or products. 

Lovely island, fantastically blue seas. Wonderous “caverns measureless to man...” and collapsed caves which have formed steep-sided jungle-filled Gullies including feral-native green monkeys, nutmeg forests, and giant bamboo. The stone carved lion memorial at Gun Hill Station is worth the trip both for the statue and the views from the top of the island. If you ever get the chance to visit this tropical paradise, be sure to schedule time away from the beaches for a visit to Harrison's Cave and Welshman's Gully.

View across the island from from Gun Hill Station.

See what happens when you're in a foreign place with too much time on your hands?

The food is pretty darn good, too! In a week I managed to sample many of the island's traditional dishes including cou-cous, flying fish prepared several ways, tamarind balls, souse and pepperpot. I also managed to taste cassava pone, pickled cucumber, breadfruit and banana salad, fish cakes, coconut bread and a 'black cake' wedding cake covered in Bajan blue fondant.  Inside was traditional black cake (similar to a fruit cake but with minced, not diced or chopped fruit).  If you get the chance to go, do not miss the Brown Sugar Restaurant in Bridgetown.  They have a daily lunch buffet that features a lot of classic Bajan dishes:

Top:  Fish Cakes.  Left: Souse.  Right: Pickled Cucumber with breadfruit & banana.  Bottom: Pepperpot beef.

Many of the Bajan dishes border on bland. It's the endemic Bajan Seasoning and Bajan Hot Sauce that give dishes like Pigeon Peas & Rice their distinctive flavors. If you're very lucky your local megamart or Caribbean ethnic market will carry Delish(tm) brand Bajan Seasoning. Chances aren't too good in that department though. So before I take you any further on this Bajan Food Odyssey, you'll need to make a batch of Bajan Seasoning.

This stuff is a lot like a pesto. Everybody's grandmother has her own family secret recipe. A dollop is added to many many dishes as an all around seasoning. That dollop can range from mild to 'rip yer face off' hot depending on how much of what kind of peppers you include. Here's a recipe for a mild version:

Bajan Seasoning

3 bunches of green onions/shallots, coarsely chopped

1 scallion, sliced

1 garlic clove

1/2 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped. Use more jalapeno or a Scotch Bonnet for hotter flavor.

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon fresh marjoram leaves

1 pinch ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1-2 tablespoons cider or mild white vinegar

Fresh basil, parsley and a tiny bit of fresh dill are optional additions. If you use them, add a bit more vinegar.  For "sissy mild" substitute about 3 square inches of minced green bell pepper or cubano pepper.  For "very mild" use the same amount of green poblano pepper.

In a food processor, combine shallots, scallion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, thyme, marjoram, cloves, salt, and pepper. Pulse to mince. Add vinegar and pulse until all ingredients are finely minced and vinegar is well distributed. Bajan seasoning should have a paste-like consistency.

A little data-mining may garner you on-line sources for both Bajan Seasoning (get Delish or other pesto-like product, not dried spices) and Bajan Hot Sauce (an intense Scotch Bonnet pepper concoction).

When Is A Cherry Not A Cherry?

When it's a Barbados Cherry (Malpighia emarginata) otherwise known as Acerola, West Indian Cherry, or wild Crepe Myrtle.

 Actual size of fruit about 3/4".

 Sure looks like a cherry, doesn't it?  Doesn't quite taste like a cherry though.  Barbados Cherry has its own unique tart flavor.

Barbados Cherry is an evergreen  bush/small tree native to Central and South America and southern Mexico, and is grown as far north as Texas, and of course here in Florida as far north as Cape Canaveral.  It's also grown in sundry parts of Asia and India.

The fruit can get as large as 1" in diameter, but is generally half that.  They are juicy, but the "pulp to pit" ratio is lower than a real cherry -- that is more pip and less pulp.  Each fruit has two or three pips or seeds.  Barbados is very high in Vitamin C -- each berry contains an entire day's dose of C, as well as a variety of antioxidant. Tart, not sweet, this is one healthy-for-you fruit!  

If you live in the growing area, you owe it to yourself to plant one of these neat bushes.  A 3 year old tree will cost $25-$30 and will start bearing fruit shortly after you plant it out.  Lady Sally and I planted one a couple years ago, and started getting fruit within a couple months.  Give them lots of sun and water.  Barbados Cherry are also popular as bonsai specimens because of the small leaves, pretty pink flowers, and of course the fruit.

Elsewhere Barbados Cherry fruit is made into juices, jams, pulps, Vit. C concentrates and even baby food.  Here in the States you don't often see recipes for them, simply because Barbados Cherry aren't commercially grown for their fruit.  But they are a beautiful ornamental that fruits nearly year-around, and deserve better treatment than letting the fruit go to waste.  

Lady Sally and I keep a zip-top bag in the freezer, and as berries come ripe, we just pop them in the bag with the others.  When there's enough fruit to make something yummy, I thaw out the entire bag full.

Virtually every Barbados Cherry recipe begins with "simmer the fruit in a sugar and water solution..."   You've got to get those pips out, and that's the first stage.  I simmer them until they start to soften or 'pop' -- similar to making cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.    Orange, clove and allspice go well with Barbados cherries as well as cranberries. How much sugar and water?  Start with two cups of water and a cup of sugar per two cups of whole fruit.  How long?  Call it fifteen minutes to start.

Once the berries are softened, the next step is removing the pips.  Rubber gloves aren't necessary, but they do help.  Put the cooked, cooled fruit in a large bowl, and have a ramekin or something to put the pips in.  Just start picking up the fruit and squeezing them, breaking the skins and separating the pips from the flesh. 

Sometime later... you'll have a couple quarts of cleaned fruit to work with.  At this point you can freeze the fruit for later use.  Or, taste them, add more sugar if needed, then serve warm over a nice vanilla ice cream or homemade short cake with cream.   

Or, you can bring some to a boil, add a packet of pectin, and make jam.

Or, best of all, IMHO, you can make a Barbados Cherry Pie.  Here's my recipe:

3 cups pitted Barbados Cherries, drained (save the liquid as a fabulous simple syrup)
1 cup sugar (you can use sugar substitutes as well)
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon each ground Allspice and Cloves
Butter

Combine the sugar, flour and spices, then fold in the fruit. Place  in a 9-inch unbaked pie crust. Dot with butter and put on a top crust (solid or lattice). Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake another 30 minutes until browned.

I actually prefer tarts to pies - that is no top crust.  You get more fruity goodness and less pastry.  Use 4 or more cups of fruit to fill up the crust, with proportionally more flour and a bit more spice, to taste.

This is a 4 cup tart in a 9" crust.  I hate to waste things, so I re-rolled the crust trimmings and made the central mini-top.

This week's post is the perfect segue, as Lady Sally and I are off to the island of Barbados on Thursday, to attend a destination wedding.  So for the next couple weeks I'll regale you with recipes for real Bajan (not Barbadoan) cuisine.   I've been doing my homework.  The national dish is  cou-cou and flying fish.  Cou-cou is a sort of molded polenta -- cornmeal "mush" with fried okra -- served with fried or steamed fish.   That, and lots more to come!

Black Cardamon

So Lady Sally was up in Washington DC last weekend, visiting her daughter, and my phone rings: "We're at this Indian spice shop... what spice was it you're out of?"   "Cardamon."  "OK, thanks."

A couple days later she hands me a bag containing Black Cardamon seeds, and another of Black Cardamon pods.  That was my introduction to Black Cardamon as distinct from the more common Green Cardamon often used in cookies, coffee, and in my signature Butternut Squash soup.

Since I had to do some data-mining to figure out how to use it, I thought I'd pass on to you the results of my searches.

Interestingly, Cardamon is recognized as the third most expensive spice, by weight, in the world -- right behind #2 Vanilla and #1 Saffron.  Two different genera and several species give us the Green or "true" Cardamon and the Black or Java Cardamon.  Both are members of the Ginger family of plants.  Suprisingly, Guatamala is the largest exporter of Cardamon, ahead even of India where it's native.  Gautamala has only been growing Cardamon since about 1914....

Photo from FoodBloggers of Canada

Both types of Cardamon have a similar unique flavor, but the Black pods and seeds have distinct, but not unpleasant, overtones of smokiness from being dried over smoky fires.  Personally I like smoky.   Some folks claim Black is stronger or more intense than Green.  I don't think so.  Different, yes, but not stronger.   Get some of each and do your own taste test.

I'll say it again, as I've said it before -  buy and use whole spices when you can, not ground/powdered/processed stuff.  They last longer and taste so much better.   Particularly Ginger, Nutmeg, Horseradish, Garlic, Cloves, Allspice, Cardamon, Peppercorns, Caraway, Cumin, Celery, Vanilla and Mustard.

So last night for dinner I found a recipe for Black Cardamon Chicken Curry and gave this new-to-me spice variation a try.  As always, this is my version of a recipe you might find elsewhere.  Forgot to bring the camera to the table, so there's no picture -- sorry.

Black Cardamon Chicken Curry
2 Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless
6 whole Black Cardamon Pods (Yep, 6.  Trust me on this)
1/2 Red Onion, chopped
1/2 White Onion, chopped
3 whole large Carrots, sliced into thin rounds
3 sticks of Celery, cut into 1" pieces, tops and all
6 large Crimini mushrooms or one Portabello, chopped
1 large Tomato, chopped
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt

I prepared this in my SaladMaster tm MP5 - think electric skillet with really, really deep sides - 5 quarts worth of side!  If you haven't switched to SaladMaster tm cookware yet, you can use any 3-5 quart "stock pot".

Saute the chicken in a splash of oil to get a nice sear on the surface.  Remove from pot.  Add the onion, celery and carrots and saute until until the onions start to get translucent.  Cut the chicken into 1" pieces and return  to the pot, add the cardamon pods, mushrooms,  tomato, and a cup or four of water.  Reduce heat, cover and cook on low for 20-30 minutes.  Add the Garam Masala and yogurt and simmer again for 20-30 minutes or until the liquid/gravy gets to the 'curry thickness' that you like.  Remove the cardamon pods before serving.  Serve with cumin rice or spicy dal.  Yuuummmm!



Chef Ken's Butternut Squash Soup
I make this at least once a month for Lady Sally's work lunches.  A batch lasts her all week long.

1 medium Butternut Squash (about 2 pounds)
1 large sweet red Apple, diced.  Not a tasteless Red Delicious or green Granny Smith
1/2 Red onion, diced
1/2 Sweet Onion, diced
Chef Ken's Five Spice mix:

• 5 Black Cardamon pods or 1/2 tsp of dried seeds in a bouquet garne cheesecloth packet
• 1 whole Star Anise pod
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 5 whole cloves
• 5 whole Allspice berries

 Cut the squash into 1" rings and discard the seeds.  Use your chef knife to slice the skin off the rings and cut the meat into 1" pieces or smaller.  Par-cook the squash for 10 minutes in the microwave.
. 
Combine everything in a 5 quart pot with 5-6 cups of water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer about 45 minutes on medium-low.   

Transfer half mix to a blender or food processor and take it for a whirrrr to puree.  Mash the remaining large chunks in the pot as best you can (potato masher or Pampered Chef tm 5 Blade Mix n' Chop).    If you have a stick blender, even better and safer!  Skip the blender and go straight to the pot.  

Return the puree to the pot.  Simmer again for an additional 30-45 minutes.  Then remove the spices and bouquet garne before serving.  Serve with nice crusty garlic bread, and a dollop of yogurt for garnish.

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Throughout this blog I'm going to be mentioning cookware products and tools that I have found to be exemplary, such as the Saladmaster tm line of cookware and the Pampered Chef tm Mix n' Chop tool.  If, along the way, I miss anyone's trademark, I apologize up front.

Oops!

Foods that aren't what you think they are...

A cook friend (who refuses to be called a chef, even though she creates fabulous dishes) asked me the other day if I'd heard of Oopsie Bread or Oopsie Rolls.  Nope.  Nary a word. She suggested that I check them out.   So I fired up the netbook and started datamining the 'Net to see what I could find. 

Seems like 'back in the day' (the mid-60s day, that is), the Atkins Diet folks (Dr. Robert Atkins and his associates) discovered that folks on a low/no carb diet craved, of all things, bread.  So they set out to try and come up with a substitute.  The result was called the Atkins Diet Revolution Roll.  The original recipe contained eggs, cream of tartar, salt, a couple tablespoons of cottage cheese, and a packet of sugar substitute. 

What???

Fast forward a couple decades.  One day an enterprising dieter discovered s/he didn't have any cottage cheese or sugar substitute handy.  Oops!  But s/he did have some cream cheese.  The result was the Oopsie Roll or Oopsie bread.

Dead simple.  Quick and pretty easy to make.  Tasty (sorta).   BUT IT STILL ISN'T BREAD!  No way Jose!  Not even close.  If I were really craving bread, I'd eat a styrofoam packing peanut first, then have this as a snack.

Don't get me wrong.  They are pretty tasty in an eggy sort of way, and certainly, as advertised, no-carb. 

But to call them a bread substitute is an insult to breads everywhere!  In spite of the photos I've seen, I can't imagine trying to eat a juicy hamburger between two of these.  They'd fall apart right after the first bite. 

Here's the recipe.  Try 'em and see what you think.

Preheat oven to 300F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with nonstick spray.

Separate the eggs.   With an electric beater, whip the egg whites and the cream of tartar until very stiff.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the yolks, cream cheese and salt, until smooth.

Fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, in batches.

Spoon 6 large mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheet.  Bake 30-40 minutes, until GB&D.

I made these with an added half teaspoon of Italian Seasoning in the batter:



Cool a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a slightly open zip top bag in the fridge for a couple of days.

They're light and airy and delicate.  And taste sorta like clafouti without any fruit.  Similar to pate choux but not sweet.  Stack a couple up and make a different kind of strawberry shortcake.  Put a couple slices of bacon between a couple for a different bacon & egg sandwich.  They could be interesting as mini muffins, split open and topped with fruit or a fruit couli -- that's what I'm going to do with the second batch.

JUST DON'T CALL THEM BREAD or ROLLS or BREAD SUBSTITUTE!!!!!!!!