The Sugar Mill Caribbean Cookbook (8 page)

These spicy turnovers are inspired by Jamaican patties, plump pastries with a peppery beef filling.

 

To make the pastry, sift together the flour, curry powder, and salt, then cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Sprinkle in enough ice water, tossing with a fork, to hold the dough together. Wrap the dough, and refrigerate it for several hours.

To make the filling, peel and dice the eggplants. Sprinkle them with salt, and allow them to drain in a colander for about 30 minutes. In a large, heavy pan, heat the oil, and add the garlic and spices. Cook the mixture 1 to 2 minutes to bring out the flavors. Add the eggplant, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, and hot pepper. Add the ½ cupwater, cover the pan, and cook the mixture over medium heat 20 minutes. Add the parsley and cashews, and let the mixture cool.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator 15 minutes before you're ready to use it.

Roll the dough out ¼ inch thick on a lightly floured board. Using a saucer as a guide, cut the dough into 4-inch circles. Sprinkle a little flour on each circle, stack the circles, and cover them with a damp cloth.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Place one-twelfth of the filling on half of the first circle. Fold the other half over, and seal the edges by pressing down with a fork. Repeat with the remaining filling and pastry circles. Place the patties on baking sheets, and bake them for 30 minutes or until they are golden brown. Serve them hot.

 

Makes about 12 patties

Another take on the patty, this time using Caribbean lobster. You can substitute crab or firm fresh fish.

 

Prepare the pastry as directed for Curried Vegetable and Cashew-nut Patties.

For the filling, heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add the tomato, onions, and curry powder, and sauté for 5 minutes. Slowly pour in the water, and stir.

When the liquid starts to bubble, add the lobster meat. Cover the pan, reduce the heat, and simmer the mixture gently for 15 minutes.

Add salt and pepper. Stir in the butter, and immediately remove the skillet from the heat. Let the mixture cool.

Roll out the pastry, and fill and bake the patties as described for Curried Vegetable and Cashew-nut Patties. Serve the patties hot.

 

Makes about 12 patties

The luscious perfumed fruit of the mango makes a dazzling partnership with tissue-thin slices of delicately salty prosciutto.

 

Sauté the onion in the butter until the onion is limp. Add the diced mango and white wine. Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes over moderate heat, then purée it in a blender or food processor. Add hot pepper sauce to taste. Let the pepper–mango sauce cool, then chill it.

Wrap the prosciutto around the mango slices. Spoon the sauce onto plates, and place the prosciutto-wrapped mango slices on top, or serve the sauce separately.

 

Makes 4 servings

If we lived near the Caroni Swamp in Trinidad, we'd be able to take a boat into the swamp and find tree oysters amid the tropical vegetation. On other islands the mangrove oyster is still available, though it is growing scarcer as the mangroves disappear under the pressure of development. Whatever fresh oysters are available to you will be delicious in this dish.

To clarify butter, melt it slowly in a pan over very low heat. Remove the pan from the heat, and let the butter stand for a few minutes. Carefully skim off the foam of butterfat on the top, and gently pour off the clear yellow liquid, leaving behind the milk solids at the bottom.

 

In a skillet, fry the bacon until it is brown. Remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat from the pan. Add the garlic, and cook briefly over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, and cook until it begins to turn a light caramel color. Add the roasted pepper and mango. Stir to combine the ingredients.

Put the bread crumbs and cracker crumbs into a bowl, add the mango mixture, and stir. Season with salt, pepper, lime juice, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Preheat the oven to 500°.

Open the oyster shells, reserving as much liquid as you can. Discard each top shell, and loosen each oyster from the bottom shell. Place some of the stuffing on each oyster. Brush the oysters with clarified butter, and bake them for 8 to 10 minutes, until the stuffing is golden brown.

Serve the oysters with lemon wedges and chopped parsley or cilantro.

 

Makes 4 servings

Allison Piotrowski, a fabulous caterer on Tortola, gave us this recipe. Her conch is wonderful to munch with drinks, or you can lay it on a bed of lettuce with some stuffed eggs, olives, and quartered tomatoes for a great salad. If you can't get conch, you can substitute lightly cooked scallops or cubes of cooked firm fish.

 

Cut the conch into small pieces, and let it cool. Mix together the remaining ingredients, and add the conch. Chill the mixture at least 8 hours before serving. The conch will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.

Our small crabs are not sea dwellers; they prefer the landlubber's life. You can often see them darting across dark roads on moonlit nights. Once caught, they are fed on bread and spices until the time comes for them to find their way into some delectable dish like these crab cakes. Whatever local crab meat is available to you will work just fine in this recipe.

 

In a small saucepan, sauté the garlic, shallots, and shrimp shells in the oil until the shells turn red. Add the paprika and sherry, and cook over medium heat until the sherry is reduced by half.

Strain the sherry, and return it to the pan. Dice the shrimp, and add it with the heavy cream to the saucepan. Reduce the sauce until it coats the back of a spoon. Season it to taste with salt and pepper, and keep the sauce warm.

In a small skillet, sauté the peppers in 2 tablespoons butter until they are soft.

Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Put the bread crumbs and crab meat into a bowl. Fold in the egg whites. Add the yolks and the seasonings. Form the mixture into 3-inch cakes, dust them in the flour, and fry them in the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, turning them once, until they are golden brown.

Serve the hot cakes with the warm shrimp sauce.

 

Makes 8 servings

When sliced, the brightly colored vegetables rolled in flaky crisp phyllo make a mosaic pattern as bright as carnival costume.