This is why I am not a vegetarian.

It's true that I delight in eating a wonderful variety of foods. Fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and pulses, I adore them all. I have even been known to crave a salad on occasion. However, I cannot escape the fact that when I dream, it’s not about chunks of soya. My sleep has yet to be disturbed by a craving for lettuce, or spinach, or pumpkin. Folks this right here is why I am not a vegetarian.


When I dream about food this is what awakens my subconscious.

Doesn't everybody? dream about meat? You don't. Well you should!

Imagine a sweet, slow-roasted, rack of pork ribs. Fork tender meat bathed in a classic, sticky brown-sugar glaze that is just right for a lazy Sunday afternoon with the family.

But it’s the rainy season you protest. Summer may be grilling season in the temperate world but here in the Caribbean it’s the rainy season with the odd hurricane thrown in for good measure. Hauling out the grill at this time of the year is dicey at best.

You’re new here aren’t ya?. Please read here to see my feelings on grilling. No really….I’ll wait.

Yeah I know those early pics were somethin’ awful. What can I say we all have to start somewhere. Have you read it? Are we now on the same page on the issue of grilling?

Alrighty then, so this recipe is brilliant on two counts.
1) It utilizes my favourite cooking implement – the significant other.
2) No grill required.

Isn’t he amazing? My husband not the meat I mean. Okay well that’s somethin' too but really it’s no match for the kind, guy who not only slow roasts you some ribs but is thoughtful enough to do enough to last you well into the week. But surely that’s too much meat? I’ll bet it is - for a normal person but didn’t we start this conversation with me telling you I dream about meat? How normal is that? I’m guessing not very.




Here is the recipe translated from husband’s a dash of this and a handful of that methodology. It really is somethin'

Oven  BBQ  Ribs

Ingredients

4 racks pork ribs

Marinade

1 cup green seasoning.

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.

1 tbsp Angostura bitters

3 tsp salt.

2 tsp black pepper.

Classic Barbecue Sauce (makes 3 cups)

 2 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup finely chopped onion

2 cups ketchup

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup molasses

2 tbsp prepared mustard

juice of 1 lime

1 tbsp Worcestershire sause

8 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

2 tbsp fresh thyme

8 Trinidad pimento peppers

½ tsp salt

5 leaves chadon beni (finely minced)

½ tsp coarse cracked black pepper

Method

Season meat   meat  with green seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, Angostura bitters  salt. and black pepper. Marinate overnight.

Put a large bread pan with 3 cups water on bottom rack below meat in middle of oven. Cook meat bone side side up at 350 degrees F for one hour. Then flip and cook an additional  1 ½ hours. Check tenderness. Lift rack with tongs and it bends then it’s done. Alternatively tug at a piece of the meat with a fork and if it almost falls off easily then it's ready to be basted. Give it some love. I mean baste with barbecue sauce and leave for additional 20 mins -30mins.

 

Sauce

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Sauté onion in butter until softened, about 5 mins. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Simmer the sauce for 20 minutes over medium low heat. Store refrigerated, up to two weeks.

Sunny with a Chance of Delicious

Sunny with a chance of Delicious
Confession and apology


Jouney with out maps
Unadventourous advedture

Wey Indian Umami
Destination – wife saving recipes

Close your eyes and think of the Caribbean. What do you see? I’m betting you conjured up clichéd images of perpetual summer, white-sand beaches and cocktails with little pink umbrellas. It’s a pleasant thought, but I’m here to tell you the islands offer so much more.
Take for example our food. West Indian food is really, REALLY great. I mean, I know it hasn’t achieved the celebratory status of some other world cuisines and even has a bum rap of being very heavy on the carbs but I’ll talk about that in another post.

This past week I found myself sitting in one of the many American styled restaurants that have sprouted up all over this island, The menu was uninspiring and consisted of little more that glorified over priced burgers and a few pasta offerings. Cheese was the star flavouring agent. It was over everything – even the shredded lettuce that masqueraded as a salad. I shudder to think that many people who visit our islands might go away with the impression that this type of food is the daily fare of the local population.

Once upon a time it may have been true that people travelling to a foreign destination may have been reluctant to try unfamiliar food. In an effort to make guests feel at home, restaurants sought to make them feel at home by providing them with typical European or American fare. Luckily that is changing and more places are giving local cuisine the prominence it deserves.

I dare say based on the number of food blogs out there these establishments are headed in the right direction. Travelers today are now looking for culinary adventure along with their vacation package and are a lot more daring. Okay so maybe not everyone is up for a fishy-smelling but chicken-tasting plate of curried iguana à la Andrew Zimmerman of Bizarre foods but I’m guessing that most would love the adventure of sampling local flavous like the recipe that follows.

So here is my challenge to you. On your next vacation to the Caribbean or elsewhere, take a holiday from the food that is familiar. Explore where and what the locals eat. Then along with pictures of your pretty sunburn you’ll take home the aromas of sunny days, tastes of briny seafood, the almost electric heat of local peppers and the delicate intrigue of fresh herbs.

Not traveling to the Caribbean this summer; no problem man. So long as you marinate your fish the night before I can get you there in 10 minutes with this adaptation of a Jamaican steamed fish recipe.

Jamidaian Stew Fish
Traditionally red fish (red snapper) is used but I have an aversion to bones. If can’t find already filleted red fish I use King fish (King Mackerel) which has one central bone through the middle or Carite or Cavali. This dish is actually combines elements of Janaican and Trinidadian cooking and the name is a tribute to my second mom who is Jamaican but has made Trinidad her home. Jamaidadian is how she describes herself.

Ingredients
2/2 – 3 lbs King Fish (King Mackerel or other fish)
3tb spoons Green seasoning  (I don’t mince on my seasoning I like anything from 3 to 5 tablespoons of the stuff.)
1 tsp Angostura Orange bitters
4 tbsp. golden ray margarine (or butter)
1 large onion, peeled and sliced into rings
2 large christophene (chayote), peeled, seeded, and diced

1cup diced West Indian Pumpkin ( calabaza squash) peeled and diced
1 cup carrots (diced)
10–12 allspice berries
4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1⁄4 tsp. minced scotch bonnet peppers (optional) * absolutely no swapping with jalapenos please the flavour is vastly different. You can subsititute with a ½ to a full tsp of any Caribbean pepper sauce so get your butt in gear and head for your nearest West Indian supplies mart. We’re cooking Caribbean today not Mexican.
1⁄2 tsp. minced fresh ginger

2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and crushed (this is called fever grass in Trinidad)
Method
Season fish with salt, 2 tbs green seasoning and 1 tsp orange angostura bitters. Leave in the fridge to marinate overnight.
The next day chop all vegetables.
Melt 2 tbsp. Golden Ray margarine (or butter) in a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pot over medium high heat and lightly saute, garlic, onions and 1 tbsp green seasoning. Add the chopped veggies. I used christophene (chayote), pumpkin, carrots, ginger, pepper and lemongrass. You have free reign on the vegetables for this one any combo of veggies would work here, broccoli, cauliflower, beans what ever is in season.
Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, until fish is cooked through, about 7 – 10 minutes depending on thickness of fish slices. Discard lemongrass before serving.
Close your eyes and inhale. Now taste …..well? Are you on the beach yet? The warm warm scent of allspice and subtle zing of citrus should make you feel like you are there. Serve over rice with a sied of stewed beans. (Recipe to follow).

Look at what I found! My mom's old Agostura® recipe book. She has had it ever since I was a little girl. The cover is missing so it is difficult for me to ascertain exactly when it was printed. Coming to think of it, I don’t remember it ever having had a cover but  my guess would be that it was printed in the late 60’s or mid-70’s?  The recipes contained within are for the most part are unimaginative with a few quaint recipes for wild meat like turtle stew, lappe and salami d’agouti. Finally there is a chapter with the amusing title of Wife-saving recipes! I can only imagine the ad campaign...Are you a wife? Are your meals dull and boring? Then you need saving....You need the magic touch that means so much! Alrighty then, so I won't be quitting my day job, any time soon.

Angostura® bitters is known the world over as an indispensable bar ingredient but did you know that in Trinidad, home of this world famous concoction it is a much used cooking ingredient? According to the official website it is also the hallmark of a good cook!

So will you taste the bitters in your food? Does it make your food taste bitter ?

No. According according to the website Angostura® aromatic bitters is not bitter when added to food and drinks. It works by enhancing the flavour of other ingredients without masking the personality of other ingredients; it adds a unique but subtle flavour of its own.

In my experience when you cook or even bake with bitters, what you get is an increase in what the Japanese call umami or the savoriness of the food. This taste has no direct translation except to say that the dish has a level of deliciousness that goes beyond the ordinary. In local parlance, it gives your dish that sweet hand taste. In Trinidad a good cook is described has some one who has sweet han’ (sweet hands) meaning that what ever they cook is “sweet too bad” - sweet here not meaning sugary but lip- smacking go back for second goodness.

Trinidadians cook with Angostura all the time. So much so, it has become almost a reflex motion for me to put a dash of it in soups, stews, marinades, on ice cream, in pasta sauce as well as in my drinks. So ingrained is it into our cooking culture that it is rarely mentioned in recipes because it goes with out saying that it’s in there.

So tell me do you cook with bitters or am I the only one who finds it to be almost as necessary as salt? Maybe you use another ingredient to give your dish that magic touch. Do tell. I'd love to know your magic ingredient.

My next recipe will of course feature Angostura bitters. I just hope that my Jamaican readers don’t slay me when they see what it is…. Stay tuned.

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