Day 152! Saint Vincent and The Grenadines - Guinness Bottle Chicken Stew - Up Next, Samoa

This was one of those weeks where life got in the way of cooking much of anything. Between spending a full day in the emergency room with my son, following up with an ear, nose and throat doc who informed my happy 16 year old that he'll probably have to get his tonsils out, our elderly cat disappearing, as well as various other commitments, this flavorful and spicy Guinness Chicken Stew from Saint Vincent and The Grenadines had to go on the way back burner. But now it's Sunday and I'm not letting another thing get between me and my kitchen. Peace at last.

An Island country in the Lesser Antilles, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines is a Windward Island that sits on the southern end of the eastern border for the Caribbean Sea. The main island is Saint Vincent, the northern portion of the smaller chain of islands stretches from Saint Vincent to Grenada. To Saint Vincent's north is Saint Lucia and to the east, Barbados. This beautiful tropical tisland was originally inhabited by the native Caribs, who fought mightily against European colonization, until 1719 when the French over powered their resistance efforts. Once established, the French developed coffee, tobacco, indigo, cotton and plantations that were largely worked by African slaves.  From 1763 until 1979, the island changed hands many times from French to British rule and back again, ultimately gaining independence to become its own parliamentary democracy. The country's mountainous terrain and tropical climate create ideal conditions for volcanoes, and hurricanes which have caused many deaths as well as environmental and agricultural devastation over the years. Despite unforeseen natural disasters, however, the island is offers visitors gorgeous beaches, exotic plants and wildlife, wonderful food and warm hospitality and a strong and vibrant culture. 

Cuisine in Saint Vincent and The Grenadines is generally hot and spicy. Meat stews, curries, shellfish, pickled and salted fish fish are typical to island cooking. Cassava, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions and bread fruit are staples as well. One of the island's specialties is Callaloo, a dish that is cooked with spinach or dasheen leaves and coconut milk. Arrow root, a thickening agent used in soups, stews and gravies is grown on the island, as well as a wide variety of tropical fruits such as bananas, citrus, mangoes, papayas and one of my favorites, passion fruit.

Guinness Bottle Chicken Stew (Recipe Adapted from Caribbean Choice)

2 lbs. chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 10 oz. can or bottle of Guinness Stout beer
1 cup chicken broth
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 bell pepper, seeded and sliced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp. chilli powder

Combine flour, salt and pepper on a plate or paper bag. Toss cubed chicken to coat.
In a large pot, heat oil, then add chicken and fry for 3 minutes on each side until golden brown.
Remove from oil and drain on paper towels.
Pour off oil until about 2 Tbsp. remains, then add onion and garlic and saute for 4 mintutes.
Add Guinness, then reduce by half, then return chicken.
Add broth, tomato paste, peppers, parsley and chilli powder.
Let simmer covered for about 15 minutes.
Serve over rice.

Final Assessment: This was a wonderfully satisfying and easy to make dish. The addition of Guinness gave the stew a rich, full-bodied flavor with a great kick from the chilli powder. Served over a bed of rice with a nice cold beer, this a perfect lunch.


(C) 2010-2011, What's Cooking in Your World?/ Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved 

Avocado Topped Bagels

This breakfast concoction is inspired by something I tried recently at a nearby coffee shop.  They had this interesting bagel covered with an avocado, cream cheese, and lemon pepper spread.  It turned out to be a killer combination!  Tangy and creamy, with a kick of spice from the pepper – At home, we prepare this with the ingredients separated, which makes the flavors really pop, as well as some fresh herbs on top. If you’re an avocado lover like us, we highly recommend trying this.

Ingredients 

1 everything bagel

1 avocado

cream cheese to taste

zest and juice from 1 lemon

ground pepper to taste

sea salt to taste

1 teaspoon chopped cilantro (or parsley)

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix lemon zest, ground pepper, and sea salt.  Slice avocado and drizzle slices with lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. Toast bagel and spread cream cheese on top.  Place the avocado slices on the cream cheese.  Sprinkle with lemon zest mixture and herbs.

When picking out an avocado:  If you are making this within a day or two, make sure it is slightly soft and uniform.  Too mushy, and it is probably bruised or going bad.  Too hard, and it is unripe and will take around a week to soften up.

Homemade Beer Bread

Beer bread is great, because it doesn't take hours to make, it has a nice subtle flavor, reminiscent of your favorite beer, and it has has that great pillowy inside and crusty outside you only get from fresh baked, homemade bread. Excellent with a sandwich, pasta, or best of all, on its own.

Ingredients 
3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bottle of beer (we've enjoyed Newcastle and Blue Moon)
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in beer. Place batter into greased loaf pan and bake for about 25 minutes. Brush on melted butter and continue baking for another ten minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Green Bean and Mushroom Pork Stir Fry

This stir fry has a delicious, unique flavor profile. Packed with umami, the flavors of hoisin, mushrooms, ground pork, and spice stand out right away. Supported by hints of garlic, sweet honey, rice wine, and soy, this dish surprised us with its complexity and richness of flavor, and has become a regular mainstay for weeknight dinners.

Ingredients 
½ lb ground pork
2 teaspoons cornstarch
¼ tsp white pepper
dash black pepper
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon canola oil
splash sesame oil
3 cups chopped green beans
5 cloves garlic, minced
8 ounces cremini ("baby bella") mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon honey
3 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon thick soy sauce
1 ½ teaspoons chile paste

Instructions
Whisk cornstarch, white and black peppers, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon rice wine. Coat the ground pork with the cornstarch mixture. Heat oil in wok over medium high heat and cook green beans, mushrooms, and garlic for five minutes and the mushrooms have started to brown. Add the ground pork and cook until the pork is cooked through. Whisk together hoisin sauce, honey, soy sauces, and chile pastes and add to the meat and vegetables. Cook for a few more minutes.

Peach and Blackberry Cobbler

Is there ever an end to what you can do with fresh blackberries? Combine the sour of blackberries, the sweet of peaches, the creaminess of vanilla, and the spiciness of cinnamon and ginger to get this delicious, crumbly cobbler. Perfect for satisfying guests who know their sweets.

Ingredients 
2¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1 cup half and half
4 cups sliced peaches
2 cups blackberries
½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lime zest
½ teaspoon lime juice
1 tablespoon half and half
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ginger

Instructions
Whisk baking powder, 2 cups flour, and salt. Mix in the chilled butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumble. Stir in the half and half and form into dough. I like forming the batter into one large biscuit to place on top, but you can also form the dough into smaller clumps and place all of them on top.

Mix the fruit with ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup flour, vanilla, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour the fruit mixture into a greased baking dish and cover with the biscuit dough.

Brush half and half on the biscuit dough with a pastry brush. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon, ginger and 2 tablespoons sugar and sprinkle before placing the cobbler in the oven. Bake at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

Avocado Bacon Penne

Avocado and bacon... a match made in heaven. This luscious and creamy pasta harnesses the same mystical powers that make avocado bacon burgers so delicious, and turns them away from the dark side, and toward the light! Forget all that cream, butter, and cheese, and savor the natural, buttery creaminess of avocados!

Ingredients 
12 ounces penne
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 slices bacon, chopped
½ tsp red pepper
ground black pepper
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 avocadoes, sliced

Instructions
Bring a large pot of water with salt to a boil, and cook the penne until pasta is about two minutes from being al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water before draining it. Heat oil in large skillet and crisp the bacon. Add black pepper, red pepper, and garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add chicken broth and wine. Bring to a boil then simmer for ten minutes. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and parsley. Add the almost cooked pasta to the skillet and finish cooking in there. Add about ½ cup of the reserved pasta water (add more if it is dry). When the pasta has cooked, top with the slices of avocadoes, letting the slices melt into the pasta.

Day 151! Saint Lucia - Baked Stuffed Bread Fruit - Up Next, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

1262 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA

Never before has a recipe required the assistance of so many friends to come to fruition. Many, many heartfelt thank yous to high school friends, Lynnette and Marylou for their good-natured and tireless efforts to find the fruit, and special mention to Yves-Rose for sourcing the breadfruit at a local store I never knew about. Girl-friend fist-bump to Lulu for schlepping to Cambridge to get the fruit on a 100 degree day, then driving it out to my house in a cooler lined with freezer packs to avoid spoiling. Lulu, if BPS doesn't find you a good teaching job soon, you may want to consider organ-donor transport as a new career. Finally, extra special thanks to Susie, the owner and proprietor of Tropical Dimensions, located in the heart of Inman Square, Cambridge for stocking this usual and difficult to find fruit! Without everyone's persistent sleuthing to find the illusive breadfruit, also known as lam veritab in Haitian and fruita de pan in Spanish, Tonight's Baked Stuffed Breadfruit from the beautiful Caribbean of country of Saint Lucia could never have happened.

Located in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary of the Atlantic Ocean, Saint Lucia is a Windward Island Country. Named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse, the island is part of the Lesser Antilles, which sits north/northeast of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. In addition to this island's beautiful climate, beaches and historic sites, it is also home to two Nobel Laureates: Arthur Lewis, the first black man to win a Nobel Prize in Economics (other than in the Peace category); and, Derek Walcott, a poet, play-write, writer and visual artist who won his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992. First inhabited by the Caribs and Arawak Indians, the island was colonized by the French in 1660. For the next decade, England fought France for control of the island, during which time the island changed hands seven times. Finally, on February 22, 1979, Saint Lucia became an independent state. The country now celebrates this momentous date as a national holiday.

Cuisine in Saint Lucia is influenced by British and French traditions, as well as by the bounty of tropical fruits and vegetables indigenous to the island such as mangoes, oranges, tangerines, avocados and breadfruit. One of Saint Lucia's most famous dishes is bouyon, a dish that can be cooked using fish, chicken, meat, plantains, bananas, yams, dumplings and coconut water and/or milk. Garlic, cinnamon, nutmeg, cocoa, parsley, cloves and allspice are frequently used spices.

A few words about breadfruit. Interestingly, the fruit grows on a flowering tree that is in the mulberry family, Moraceae. Breadfruit grows on many Caribbean islands, as well as in South East Asia and Haiti. The fruit got its name as many believe that when cooked, it imparts a potato-like flavor that tastes and smells like freshly baked bread. There are many ways to eat breadfruit, which vary from country to country - everything from boiling, to baking, to frying and mashing. We thought it tasted like a cross between a potato and a baked apple, with a starchy texture slightly similar to cassava. It was very good, but I think it would have been better if I'd had a tutorial from someone who cooks regularly with the fruit. Regardless - it was tasty, fun to cook with - not to mention thrilling to located!

Peel, parboil, core and stuff breadfruit

 Make Filling

Island Jerk Spice

Baked Stuffed Island Spice Breadfruit (Adapted from food.com)

1 large breadfruit, (full, but not ripe)
3/4 lb. lean ground beef
3/4 lb. ham, minced
1 cup onion, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1 medium tomato chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tsp. Island spice Jamaican jerk spice (recipe below)
2 tbsp. canola oil

1. Peel and parboil breadfruit whole in salted water; remove from water and cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a baking pan.
3. Lightly fry chopped onion, scallion and tomato in oil; add minced meats and jerk seasoning and cook until meat is almost done.
4. From stalk end of the cooled breadfruit, cut out the core and scoop out enough of the pulp to make room for the meat stuffing. 
5. Fill the cavity with meat mixture.
6. Bake in oven till soft and of a nice golden brown color, about 50 minutes. If pan appears dry, add a little water.

Island Jerk Seasoning (Adapted from allrecipes.com)

2 tsp. dried minced onion
2-1/2 tsp. dried thyme
2 tsp. ground allspice
2 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

In a small bowl, stir together all spices. Store in airtight container.

(C) 2010-2011, What's Cooking in Your World?/ Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved 

Day 150.5 - Homemade Lemonade Pie

This recipe was inspired by a song I dreamed about last night. Yes, I know, I'm nuts, which by now, has been well established and documented. It is said that "the dream is the dreamer", and although I have no idea who said it, I believe this to be true. Therefore, not to do something creative with the vivid imagery and song in my waking hours would be to ignore whatever it is my dreamy subconscious was trying to work out. So work it out I will - in the kitchen, naturally.

I often dream songs, and Judy in Disguise (which I thought was Judy in the Sky when I was kid), by John Fred and his Playboy Band, contains some of my favorite, albeit obtusely psychedelic lyrics. Makes me kinda wonder what John Fred and his Playboys were doing when they wrote these trippy lyrics:

Judy in disguise, well that's what you are

Lemonade pie and a brand new car

canteloupe eyes, come to me tonight

Judy in disguise, with glasses.

If you watched the video, then you understand how I came to make Lemonade Pie. Now, Although there are many, many fine recipes for lemonade pie, all of them (that I could find) call for canned frozen lemonade and Cool Whip (including the one I adapted below), which is fine, except that I'm one of those freaks who derives absolute pleasure from making as much as I can from scratch. Admittedly, there are plenty of things I simply can't make because they're way beyond my bandwidth - still, I do like to try. But, seeing as I don't especially care for Cool Whip (except when Stewie on Family Guy says it) and since I know I can approximate frozen lemonade, I set out to make this pie from scratch, which I think I did.  Behold - Lemonade Pie I think John Fred and his Playboys would dig with or without glasses.

Juice Lemons and Make Candied Lemon Zest

Make Graham Cracker Crumb Crust

Make Filling

Freeze Pie Overnight

Lemon Simple Syrup and Candied Lemon Zest (this is a 2-for recipe)

3 lemons
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained through a fine sieve)
2 cups sugar

1. Cut lemons in half and squeeze juice through a fine sieve.
2. Gently scoop out as much of the pulp and and white inner layer as you can using a sharp pairing knife and/or spoon.
3. Slice into strips, then trim away as much of the remaining white pith from the zest as possible.
4. Bring water and lemon juice to a boil in a small non-reactive pan, add lemon zest.
5. Boil for about 5 minutes, until lemon peels are tender to the touch.
6. Remove zest from water and stir in sugar.
7. Bring syrup to a boil, add zest and boil until translucent.
8. Drain zest and spread out on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.
9. Allow to air-dry before storing in an airtight container (depending on humidity 3-24 hours)
10. Place syrup in a freezer safe container (uncovered) and freeze until very thick and slightly slushy (it won't completely freeze).

Use leftover lemon simple syrup in martinis, margaritas or for sorbet or sherbet.
Use left over candied zest in cakes, scones, ice cream or anything else that calls for candied citrus zest.

Homemade Lemonade Pie (Adapted from a recipe by the Neelys on Foodnetwork.com)

Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 2 packages)
1/4 cup sugar
7 Tbsp, sweet unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a food processor, whirl graham crackers until finely ground (I used a resealable bag and rolling pin and crushed them with the same result and no clean-up)
3. In a medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Press firmly on bottom and up the sides of a pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes and let cool completely.

Lemonade Filling
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk, chilled
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
2 Tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup slushy lemon simple syrup (recipe above)
1 tsp. candied lemon zest

1. In a medium bowl, whip cream  and 2 Tbsp. sugar until soft peaks form. Add chilled sweetened condensed milk.
2. Gently fold in frozen lemonade syrup-slush, until blended.
3. Pour mixture into pie crust and freeze overnight.
4. Garnish with candied lemon peel.

(C) 2010-2011, What's Cooking in Your World?/ Sarah Commerford/All Rights Reserved