The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook (12 page)
Read The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook Online
Authors: Jinx Morgan
During Carnival in the islands, you're likely to hear revelers saying, "Bambooshay!" which means "Enjoy yourself, have a great time!" That's what you and your guests will be doing as you nibble these nuts.
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| ½ | cup vegetable oil |
| 8 | cups whole dry-roasted peanuts |
| 1¼ | cups sugar |
| 2 | tablespoons ground cumin |
| 1 | tablespoon hot red pepper flakes |
| ¼ | cup sugar |
Heat the oil in a large skillet (if you don't have a large skillet, divide the oil, nuts, and sugar, and cook in two batches). Add the peanuts and 1 cup sugar, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the nuts are gold en brown and the sugar has carmelized, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Remove the nuts to a large bowl, and add the cumin and hot pepper flakes. Toss to distribute the seasonings. Let the nuts cool, then toss them with the remaining sugar. Serve them immediately, or let them cool, and store them in a tightly covered tin.
Caribbean Bouillabaisse
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Mango Soup with Raspberry Purée
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Peanut Pumpkin Soup
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Curried Zucchini Soup
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Chilled Spinach and Oyster Bisque
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Gingered Carrot and Pear Bisque
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Crab or Lobster Chowder
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Chilled Melon and Champagne Soup
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Guadeloupe Seaside Chowder
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Grouper Quenelles in Seafood Broth
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Roasted Corn Soup
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Tropical Gazpacho with Cilantro Croutons
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Wild Mushroom Bisque
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Caribbean Black Bean Soup
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Sugar Mill Curried Banana Soup
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Tomato and Ginger Wine Soup
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Callaloo
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Breadfruit Vichyssoise
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Scallop Soup
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Chilled Cucumber Soup
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Conch Chowder
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Creole Peanut Soup
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This special soup takes a French idea and gives it an island spin. With some bread and a big green salad, this soup makes a very satisfying meal.
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| 1½ | cups minced onions |
| ¾ | cup chopped leeks |
| ½ | cup olive oil |
| 5 | garlic cloves, mashed |
| 2 | cups peeled and seeded tomatoes |
| 12 | cups water |
| ¼ | cup minced parsley |
| 2 | tablespoons minced basil |
| ¼ | teaspoon fennel seeds |
| 1 | tablespoon Sazón seasoning (see [>] ) |
| 2 | tablespoons grated orange zest |
| Â | Salt and pepper to taste |
| 4 | pounds fish (whatever is available), cut into chunks |
| 1 to 2 | pounds shellfish (small crabs, shrimp, Caribbean lobster, whelks, etc.) |
| 1½ | pounds mussels |
| ½ | cup chopped red bell pepper, simmered for several minutes in salted water and drained, or ½ cup chopped pimiento |
| 2 | jalapeño peppers, chopped, or Tabasco sauce to taste |
| 2 | medium potatoes, cooked and peeled |
| 8 | garlic cloves, mashed |
| 1 | tablespoon minced basil |
| ½ | cup olive oil |
| 10 | slices garlic toast |
In a large pot, sauté the onions and leeks slowly in the olive oil. Stir in the garlic and tomatoes, and cook 5 minutes. Add the water, herbs, and seasonings. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes.
To make the
rouille,
put all the ingredients but the olive oil in a food processor or blender, and whirl until they form a very sticky paste. Add the olive oil very slowly, with the machine running. Set the mixture aside. At this point you can let the soup cool and then refrigerate it, if you'd like to serve it later.
About 20 minutes before serving time, bring the soup to a boil, and add the fish, shellfish, and mussels. Bring the soup back to the boil, and simmer it about 10 minutes. Beat 4 to 6 tablespoons of hot broth into the
rouille
. Place a piece of garlic toast in the bottom of each soup plate, and ladle in soup. Be sure each serving has plenty of fish, and mussels in the shells. Serve the
rouille
sauce in separate bowls.
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Makes about 10 servings
Aluscious fruit soup looks beautiful with a fragile spiderweb of raspberry purée on top. Chilled soups are one way we like to take advantage of our bounty of tropical fruits.
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| 3 | cups chopped ripe mango flesh |
| Â | Juice of 1 lemon |
| ¼ | cup dry sherry |
| ¼ | cup dry white wine |
| 1 | pinch ground cloves |
| ½ | teaspoon ground ginger |
| ½ | teaspoon ground cinnamon |
| 1 | cup heavy cream |
| 1 | cup fresh or frozen raspberries |
| 2 | tablespoons rum |
Put the chopped mango and lemon juice into a saucepan. Add the sherry and white wine, and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat, and simmer until the fruit is soft. Let the mixture cool.
Pour the cooked fruit and liquid into a blender. Add the spices, and blend at low speed until the mixture is smooth. (You may have to do this in two batches.) Transfer the purée to a bowl, and stir in the heavy cream. Chill the soup well.
Purée the raspberries and rum in a blender, and strain the purée to remove the seeds.
When you are ready to serve, spoon the soup into chilled bowls. Put the raspberry purée into a pastry bag with a small round tip, or into a plastic bottle with a small tip (such as a bottle used for ketchup or mustard). Squeeze concentric circles of purée on top of the soup. With a knife, cut back and forth across the circles to create a spider-web effect.
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Makes 4 servings
When the mango trees in Tortola are heavy with ripening fruit, there's a little madness in the summer air. Each year the first taste of this sensual fruit seems even better than memory recalls.
But eating a mango can be messy. One of our most treasured mango memories is of the summer afternoon a neighbor invited us for a swim in her pool. She passed around champagne in silver goblets and mangoes fresh from her trees. We paddled around the pool, mango juice dripping from our chins, and thought that we had, indeed, found paradise.
With their green skins and rather lumpy complexions, Caribbean pumpkins don't make world-class jack-o'-lanterns, but they do make great soup. Sometimes we have our own Caribbean pumpkin patch growing right at the hotel, and guests are often curious to know the name of the peculiar-looking green fruit growing on the vines. When we tell them it's pumpkin, they sometimes give us one of those incredulous looks that implies we may have been in the tropical sun too long.
The flesh from common orange pumpkins, either fresh or canned, works just fine in this recipe.
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| ¼ | cup butter |
| 4 | cups cooked and puréed pumpkin |
| 2 | cups cooked and puréed sweet potatoes |
| 1 | cup smooth peanut butter |
| 6 | cups chicken broth |
| Â | Salt and pepper to taste |
| Sour cream |
| Snipped chives |
| Chopped peanuts |
Heat the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and peanut butter. Add the broth, and season with salt and pepper. Stir until the soup is smooth. Reduce the heat, and simmer the soup for 20 minutes.
Before serving, garnish the soup with sour cream, chopped peanuts, and chives.
A
soupçon
of Caribbean curry enhances this soup, which is equally good served hot or cold.
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| 5 | tablespoons butter |
| 2 | onions, coarsely chopped |
| 3 | tablespoons curry powder |
| 6 | cups chicken broth |
| 2 | potatoes, peeled and cubed |
| Salt and pepper to taste | |
| 6 | small zucchini (about 1 pound) |
| 1½ | cups heavy cream |
| Snipped fresh chives |
Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter in a heavy pot. Add the onions and curry powder, and sauté the onions until they are soft, about 15 minutes. Add thebroth and potatoes, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Season the soup with salt and pepper. Slice five of the zucchini, add them to the soup pot, and simmer the soup 10 minutes more. Purée the soup in batches in a food processor or blender. While the machine is running, add the cream in a steady stream. Return the soup to the pot, and heat it gently (do not let it boil).
Cut the remaining zucchini into julienne strips. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a skillet, and add the julienned zucchini. Sauté the zucchini over medium heat until it is just wilted, about 1 minute. Add the zucchini to the soup.
Serve the soup hot or chilled, garnished with the minced chives.
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Makes 8 servings
When fresh callaloo leaves are available, we often use them in this soup for a slightly different flavor.
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| 1 | cup minced mushrooms |
| 1 | garlic clove, minced |
| 2 | tablespoons butter |
| 1 | tablespoon flour |
| 2 | cups milk |
| 1 | pound shucked oysters and their liquor |
| 1 | cup cooked, well-drained, and chopped spinach |
| 2 | cups milk |
| 1 | cup heavy cream |
| 2 | teaspoons Worcestershire sauce |
| ½ | teaspoon ground thyme |
| Salt and pepper to taste |
| Lemon slices |
In a saucepan, sauté the mushrooms and garlic in the butter until the mushrooms are soft. Sprinkle them with flour, and cook them, stirring, 3 minutes. Gradually add the milk, and cook the mixture until it is smooth and slightly thickened. In a blender or food processor, purée the mixture in batches with the oysters, their liquor, and the spinach.
Return the purée to the saucepan. Stir in the cream and seasonings, and heat the soup gently.
Remove the hot soup from the heat, and let it cool. Chill the soup, then adjust the seasonings to your taste. Serve the chilled soup garnished with lemon slices.