Read The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook Online
Authors: Jinx Morgan
The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook (21 page)
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| 1½ | cups half-and-half |
| 1 | cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices |
| 1 | tablespoon minced dillweed |
| 1 | tablespoon cornstarch combined with ¼ cup water |
| 12 | ounces linguine, cooked with a good glug of olive oil and drained |
| ¾ | pound smoked tuna, sliced and cut into strips |
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| 2 | ounces red caviar |
| Â | Chopped green onions |
| Â | Minced parsley |
In a saucepan, bring the half-and-half to a simmer with the cucumber and dill. Cook 3 minutes over medium-high heat. Drizzle and stir in the cornstarch mixture, and heat the sauce for another 2 minutes to cook out any starchy flavor. Add the tuna to the cream mixture, and spoon the tuna sauce over the hot pasta. Garnish with the caviar, green onions, and parsley, and serve.
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Makes 4 servings
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Communications in the Sugar Mill kitchen can be amusing, since the workers come from all over the island chain, and their English, Spanish, or French is often frosted with a Creole patois. This recipe is a happy accident that occurred when one of our cooks, a wonderful woman from Santo Domingo, misread the recipe for lemon pasta and used lime instead. We loved the result and never looked back at lemons again.
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| 1½ | cups heavy cream |
| 2 | tablespoons chopped parsley |
| 2 | tablespoons grated lime zest |
| Â | Salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | pound plain or spinach fettuccine, cooked and drained |
| 3 | tablespoons butter |
| Â | Grated parmesan cheese |
| Red caviar |
Pour the cream into a large skillet, and cook it over medium-high heat until til it thickens slightly and big, shiny bubbles form. Add the chopped parsley, grated lime zest, and salt and pepper.
Toss the hot pasta with the butter, cheese, and lime-cream sauce. Garnish with red caviar, and serve.
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Makes 6 servings
Whelks, known elsewhere as sea snails, are fun to catch, difficulty to clean, and delicious to eat. They live in tidal pools or on rocks or ledges. The two rock jetties that protect the Sugar Mill beach are usually covered with whelks. To prepare whelks, boil them for 30 to 45 minutes in salted water, and then extract the meat from the shells using a needle or safety pin. Remove the operculum, or the "door," and all the innards, leaving only the small bit of tasty white meat. Clams are a tasty substitute.
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| 2 | tablespoons olive oil |
| 3 | tablespoons butter |
| 1 | large onion, chopped |
| 2 | garlic cloves, minced |
| ¾ | pound minced fresh spinach leaves, or 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed, chopped, drained, and squeezed dry |
| ¼ | cup minced fresh parsley |
| 1 | pound pasta, cooked and drained |
| 1 | pound cooked and shelled whelks or baby clams, drained |
| Salt and pepper to taste | |
| Grated parmesan cheese |
Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet. Add the onion and garlic, and sauté them over low heat until the onion is translucent. Stir in the spinach. Cover the skillet, and cook the mixture 15 minutes over low heat.
Toss the hot pasta with the remaining butter. Add the whelks or clams and salt and pepper to the spinach mixture, and spoon the sauce over the pasta. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and serve.
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Makes 6 servings
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The Rastafarians on Tortola are gentle folk who are gifted farmers. This red, yellow, and green pasta honors their vegetarian tradition.
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| 4 | tablespoons olive oil |
| 2 | garlic cloves, minced |
| 1 | large onion, sliced |
| 2 | yellow or red bell peppers (or 1 of each), cut into julienne strips |
| 1 | pound fettuccine, cooked and drained |
| 2 | cups cooked and drained black beans |
| Â | Salt and pepper to taste |
| 2 | cups cooked broccoli flowerets, without stems |
| ¼ | cup minced fresh basil, or 1 teaspoon dried basil |
| 2 | teaspoons minced fresh oregano, or ½ teaspoon dried oregano |
| Grated parmesan cheese |
Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet, and sauté the garlic, onion, and peppers just until they are limp. Stir in the black beans, and season the mixture with salt and pepper.
Cook the broccoli in rapidly boiling salted water for about 7 minutes, or until it is just tender. Drain it.
Toss the hot fettuccine with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the bean-and-pepper mixture, the broccoli, and the herbs, and toss again. Sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Serve the pasta at room temperature as a salad or main dish.
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Makes 4 to 6 servings
Alas, neither sugar snap peas nor asparagus grows in the Caribbean, but they are available from time to time for about the price you might expect to pay for one of the crown jewels. Budget considerations aside, we love both vegetables and indulge ourselves and our guests occasionally. One of our favorite treats is this delicious pasta, which is great in small portions as a first course and steps in with equal aplomb as a quick, easy, healthful, and elegant main course. Who could ask for anything more?
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| 2 | pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1½-inch pieces |
| 1 | pound sugar snap peas or snow peas, trimmed |
| 3 | tablespoons olive oil |
| ½ | teaspoon minced garlic |
| Â | Salt and pepper to taste |
| 1 | pound bow-tie or shell pasta, cooked and drained |
| ½ | cup grated parmesan cheese |
Cook the asparagus in boiling water until it is tender but still crisp. Drain it, and put it into a bowl of ice water. Cook the peas in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Drain them, and put them in cold water, too.
In a skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Briefly heat the garlic in it, then drain and add the cooked asparagus and peas, and toss the mixture. Season it with salt and pepper.
Toss the hot pasta with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the vegetable mixture, and toss again. Garnish with parmesan cheese, and serve.
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Makes 6 servings
This is one of those recipes that require flaming to burn off the alcohol. No need to be frightened, but do take reasonable precautions. Roll up your sleeves, and use a long match. Do not shake the panâthat could intensify the flames. If you need to quench the flames in a hurry, just put the lid on the pan.
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| 6 | tablespoons butter |
| 1 | large onion, minced |
| ½ | cup vodka |
| 1 | Scotch bonnet (or habanero) pepper, or other hot pepper to taste, seeded and minced |
| ½ | pound prosciutto or smoked ham, slivered |
| 1½ | cups heavy cream |
| ¾ | cup grated parmesan cheese |
| Salt and pepper to taste | |
| 1½ | pounds penne, cooked and drained |
Heat the butter in a large skillet, and sauté the onion until it is limp and translucent. Warm the vodka in a small saucepan. Add the hot pepper and ham to the onion, pour on the heated vodka, and ignite the vodka. When the flame burns out, add the cream, and simmer the sauce until it is thickened. Add the cheese, and stir until the ingredients are well combined. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Toss the hot pasta with the sauce, and serve.
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Makes 6 servings
Columbus's discovery in 1493 of what are now called the U.S. Virgin Islands began a long diplomatic minuet over their fate and future among European powers as well as the Knights of Malta. Like three lovely sisters, St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John became the focus for many lustful suitors. The Danes held sway over these islands from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, a time of pirates and privateers, sugar plantations, slave revolts, and liberation. The United States purchased the islands in 1917.
Today the sister islands have grown up, each in her own way. St. Thomas is the bustling, bawdy one with an eye for the main chance. Patrician St. Croix is more sedate, with picturesque Christiansted a visual reminder of her Danish heritage. St. John is the natural beauty, protected, as any great beauty should be, by a sympathetic patron. Laurance Rockefeller bought more than five thousand acres of undeveloped land on St. John during the fifties, and gave it to the U.S. as a national park. Since then more land has been acquired, and eventually the park will encompass two-thirds of the island, securing its wild loveliness for the future.
Because of their proximity to the mainland and the endless stream of vacationers, these islands have had their Caribbean patina rubbed down and sanitized for stateside consumption. You'll find Colonel Sanders's fried chicken here, although you'll also find local restaurants serving stewed chicken and rice.
On St. Thomas, new restaurants have proliferated. Many have hip young chefs who use local ingredients in entirely new ways. Others feature Chinese, Indian, French, or Italian food, or even Texas barbecue. Even West Indian food can be found if you know where to go.
St. Croix's Whim Great House, a beautifully restored mansion, is a visual reminder of this island's plantation days. The legions of servants are gone, but echoes of the balls and the splendid dinners linger. Separated from the main house in case of fire, the kitchen was then as now the heart of the plantation. Simple but effective equipment included brick ovens, iron pots, and a mortar and pestle for grinding spices. One of the mixtures the cooks might have ground is still popular: thyme, parsley, chives, black pepper, and sea salt. Cruzan seasoning, as this mixture is known, is used to spice up everything from salad to roast chicken or fried fish.
St. John has few restaurants but a wealth of unusual tropical fruits. Genip trees produce small green fruit with apricot-colored flesh and one large stone. Beloved for after-school snacks, genips also make a lovely jelly. The pink-orange flesh of the mammee apple is good either raw or stewed, and it makes excellent chutney. Passion fruit, which grows on a vine and resembles a thick-skinned plum, has yellow or orange translucent flesh with a tart, citrus-like flavor that is wonderful in sorbets, jams, and exotic drinks. The twisted, gnarled trunks of seagrape trees line most beaches on St. John. When the bunches of grape-like fruits ripen, cooks on St. John gather the grapes to make jelly with a flavor similar to that of true grapes.
The three U.S. Virgins, although yoked together by proximity, history, and government, have managed to retain their individuality. Even at table you can recognize subtle differences that mark each island's unique personality.