The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook (13 page)
Read The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook Online
Authors: Jinx Morgan
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Makes 6 Servings
Although we don't grow pears in the Caribbean, they travel well and are almost always available in our markets. We like to combine them with carrots for a lovely golden soup with the island kick of ginger.
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| 1 | cup diced onion |
| 2 | tablespoons butter |
| 1 | tablespoon minced peeled gingerroot |
| 2 | cups chicken broth |
| 1 | pound carrots, peeled and cut into chunks |
| 2 | large unpeeled pears, coarsely chopped |
| ½ | cup cooked rice |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| 1½ | cups cream or half-and-half |
| Salt and pepper to taste |
| Julienned carrot |
| Chopped fresh dillweed |
In a large saucepan, sauté the onion in the butter until the onion is translucent and tender. Add the ginger, and sauté another minute or two. Add the chicken broth, carrots, pears, rice, and bay leaf, and simmer, partly covered, until the carrots are tender.
Remove the bay leaf. Purée the mixture in a blender or food processor, blending in cream or half-and-half to thin the soup to your taste. Season with salt and pepper. Reheat the soup gently and serve it hot, or let it cool completely, chill it well, and serve it cold with a garnish of julienned carrot and fresh dill.
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Makes 4 servings
The spice we call ginger is the root of a perennial plant with large, vivid yellowish flowers born on a spike. Ginger was brought to England before the Norman Conquest, and by the time Queen Elizabeth I took the throne ginger was so popular that the queen employed a gifted baker whose sole occupation was to fashion portraits of members of the court in gingerbread.
The ginger plant reached the Caribbean shortly after the New World was discovered. Today it is one of the most popular flavors in island cooking, and it is also highly regarded as a digestive aid.
We like to have fresh gingeroot always on hand, and we've found it keeps very well in a jar filled with sherry. When we've used all the ginger, the sherry has taken on a wonderful flavor that we enjoy using in marinades and stir-fries.
All cooks who live near the sea develop their own interpretations of the ubiquitous fish chowder. We use our local lobster for this elegant rendition.
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| 1 | potato, peeled and diced |
| 1 | cup water |
| 2 | teaspoons butter |
| 1 | onion, minced |
| 1½ | teaspoons salt |
| ½ | teaspoon paprika |
| ¼ | teaspoon white pepper |
| 3 | cups milk |
| 1 | cup light cream |
| 1½ | cups flaked uncooked crab meat or chopped uncooked lobster meat |
| 3 | tablespoons cognac or dry sherry |
| Â | Finely minced parsley or snipped chives |
Put the potato, water, and ½ teaspoon salt into a small saucepan, and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer the potato until it is tender. Set the pan aside.
Heat the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion, and sauté it until it is translucent. Stir in the seasonings. Add the milk and cream. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the liquid is smooth.
Stir in the crab meat or lobster and the potato with its cooking liquid. Simmer the soup for 10 minutes more.
Stir in the cognac or sherry Garnish the soup with the parsley or chives, and serve.
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Makes 8 servings
A delightful soup with a celebratory splash of champagne, this is a cool inauguration for a special meal.
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| 4 | cups chopped honeydew melon, cantaloupe, or a combination |
| ½ | cup orange juice |
| 1 | tablespoon fresh lemon juice |
| 1 | tablespoon fresh lime juice |
| ½ | cup chilled champagne |
| Fresh mint leaves |
In a blender, purée 3½ cups of the melon. Blend in the juices and, just before serving, stir in the champagne. Garnish the soup with the remaining ½ cup chopped melon and the mint leaves, and serve.
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Makes 6 serving
Those who love Haiti find enchantment here that is difficult to describe. Perhaps it is the warmth and gentle spirit of the people or the rugged green beauty of the land. Some visitors may respond to the rich culture and art that the direst poverty and most difficult conditions have failed to obliterate.
Or maybe it's just the food. In Haiti, the robust flavors of the islands combine with subtle French refinements to create a special style of island cooking. Here fish is gently poached in Gallic fashion, then smothered in vegetables and hot peppers in a way that is distinctly Caribbean. Fish, pork, sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, and bananas, ingredients common to most Caribbean islands, often appear on Haitian plates, but local cooks seem to work some special alchemy on them, producing meals that linger in the memory. A juicy mango fresh from a nearby tree might find its way to the table in the company of chicken breasts poached with herbs.
Although the French influence is very strong in elegant Haitian restaurants, the local cuisine is as vivid and spicy as the country itself. Whereas almost all islands have their own special rice-and-bean dish, Haiti's is particularly distinctive. Rice
djon djon
is made nowhere else in the Caribbean because it requires an ingredient found only on Haitiâsmall black mushrooms with earthy-tasting caps and inedible stems that produce a deep-black dye. The stems are used to color the water in which the rice is cooked; then they are discarded. The rice is combined With lima beans and the mushroom caps.
Griot
(glazed pork), served with a spicy sauce called
ti-malice,
is a popular local dish.
Tassot is
an old recipe in which pork, beef, or poultry is dried in the burning sun on a hot tin roof before being marinated in spiced lime juice and then grilled. Food, always a measure of a nation's character, in Haiti easily juxtaposes the simplicity of the Caribbean with the
savoir faire
of France.
Haiti fetes the senses while it baffles the mind. How has its dark history and uncertain present failed to dim the spirit that pervades this singular country? For many visitors the lure of Haiti is simply magic, a voodoo spell that brings them back time and again to a place that is simply like no other on Earth.
Dipping a net into the water just outside ones doorstep is often the first step toward dinner in the Caribbean. A variety of reef fish, called "pot fish" on some islands, make this spicy soup a full meal.
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| ½ | cup olive oil |
| 2 | onions, chopped |
| 4 | green onions, chopped |
| 1 | thyme sprig |
| 10 | cups cold water |
| 3 | pounds firm white fish, cut into 1-inch cubes (reserve the trimmings) |
| 3 | garlic cloves, crushed |
| 2 | allspice berries |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| 2 | whole Scotch bonnet (or habanero) peppers, or other fresh hot peppers to taste |
| 1 | pound new potatoes, peeled and cubed |
| 1 | pound peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes |
| â
| teaspoon annatto oil (see [>] ) |
| 1 | tablespoon Pernod liqueur |
| 2 | tablespoons drained capers |
| ¼ | cup julienne slivers of fresh basil |
In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the onions, green onions, and thyme. Sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the fish trimmings, water, garlic, spices, and peppers, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Remove the peppers from the broth, and discard them. Strain the broth through a double layer of dampened cheesecloth, pressing lightly to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Return the broth to a clean pot, and add the potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the potatoes are almost cooked. Add the tomatoes and annatto oil to the soup. Add the fish cubes, and simmer for 8 minutes or until the fish is opaque. Add the Pernod and capers, and simmer for 5 minutes more. Serve the soup immediately, sprinkled with the julienned basil.
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Makes 6 to 8 servings
A quenelle is an ethereal pleasure that appears on your plate for a fleeting moment and then dissolves like a cloud on your tongue. It's difficult to find words to describe perfectly made quenelles, but they are certainly much more than dumplings.
Until recently quenelles were part of that rarefied cuisine that emerges only from restaurants with the most ambitious kitchens. All that changed with the advent of the food processor. Where once the making of a quenelle was an exhausting project, too daunting for any moderately sane cook to attempt, today almost all of the work can be accomplished easily with the flick of a switch.
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| ½ | cup milk |
| ¼ | cup butter |
| ½ | teaspoon salt |
| â
| teaspoon ground white pepper |
| ½ | cup flour |
| 3 | eggs |
| 2 | egg yolks |
| ½ | pound boned raw grouper, puréed in a flood processor |
| ¾ | cup cold butter |
| 1 | tablespoon heavy cream |
| Salt and white pepper to taste | |
| Fresh or dried dillweed |
| 4 | pounds fish trimmings |
| 2 | onions, chopped |
| 3 | celery ribs, chopped |
| 3 | carrots, chopped |
| 2 | teaspoons dried thyme |
| 1 | bay leaf |
| 12 | black peppercorns |
| 6 | parsley sprigs |
| 2 | cups white wine |
| Fresh dillweed |
To make the quenelles, put the milk, butter, salt, and pepper into a small, heavy saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the flour all at once, stirring rapidly, and continue stirring over high heat until the mixture forms a ball. Put the mixture into a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the whole eggs and egg yolks, and process until mixture is smooth. Add the grouper, and process again. Blend in the butter, cream, salt, white pepper, and dill, and chill the mixture for 2 hours.
To make the broth, put the ingredients into a large stockpot, and cover them with cold water. Bring the mixture to a boil, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Skim the stock, and continue to simmer it gently for 20 to 30 minutes. Strain the stock, let it cool, and refrigerate it.
When you are ready to serve, heat the broth to a simmer. Use a wet teaspoon to dip out a rounded mass of the quenelle mixture and another spoon to slip the quenelle into the simmering broth. Form the rest of the mixture into quenelles this way, and poach them for about 10 minutes. The quenelles are done when they have approximately doubled in size and they roll over easily. Fill each soup plate with broth and a portion of the quenelles, and serve the soup with a sprinkling of dill.
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Makes 8 to 10 servings
