A Taste of Bermuda

Bermuda is pretty pink beaches, dazzling turquoise water, lush vegetation, touches of British style, pastel painted homes and truly friendly people. It’s posh yet casual and while not a bona fide culinary destination, it offers some delicious things to eat and drink that you won’t find elsewhere.
Here are my top picks:

Fish chowder
This scrumptious soup, considered the national dish, was originally poor people’s food, made from fish bones. It’s a rich broth, with vegetables including onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots and a variety of spices and herbs. It's a little bit like Manhattan style chowder but with bits of fish instead of clams, but what makes it most special is the black rum and sherry pepper sauce that’s added to it, often at the table.

Where to find it: I loved it everywhere I had it, and it’s on just about every menu, but I’m told, the best version is sold at the Rubis gas station near the airport (get your taxi driver to take you!). I tried it at Bonefish, Henry VII and Wahoo’s Bistro.

Fresh fish
Grouper has a tender texture and a sweet flavor, similar to sea bass. It’s often served in Bermuda with sautéed bananas. The combination of sweet and savory is very popular on the island. Wahoo is another local fish, but if even slightly overcooked, it can be terribly dry.

Where to find it: I enjoyed tastes of grouper at both Muse and Swizzle Inn, where it was expertly prepared.

Rum cake
Rich buttery cakes doused in rum are popular in Bermuda, as they are in the Caribbean. The best are airy, light, boozy and just a touch moist in the center.

Where to find it: While I had samples at many shops, the best I had was at the luxurious Fairmont Southampton.

Pepper jelly
I never understood the appeal of pepper jelly until I had it in Bermuda. Wow! This spicy sweet jam with chunks of pepper was the perfect foil for a fresh scone slathered with clotted cream. But it’s also great on toast with butter. There are lots of different varieties and brands, some hotter and others sweeter.

Where to find it: The best price I found for it was at the supermarket in Hamilton but you’ll find it at gift shops and in the duty free stores at the airport.

Bailey’s Ice Cream
DJ Donovan, one of the charming taxi drivers and guides on Bermuda told me the best ice cream on the island is at Bailey’s, and I believe it. The rum raisin is made with the Gosling's Black Seal Rum of course.

Where to find it: Bailey's is across the street from the Swizzle Inn, At Wilkinson Ave and Blue Hole Hill (in Bailey's Bay), Hamilton Parish

Gosling's
Gosling’s is the oldest business in Bermuda and makes Bermuda’s only rum. The sugar cane is not grown on Bermuda, and it’s not distilled there either. But the proprietary blend of distillates from Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad is blended there and it’s distinctive spicy flavor is the key ingredient in the Dark and Stormy and the Rum Swizzle, both of which you should try while on the island.

The Dark ‘N Stormy, Gosling's trademarked cocktail, is made from Gosling's Black Seal Rum and ginger beer over ice. The recipe for the Rum Swizzle varies, but it often consists of Gosling's Black Seal Rum, and a combination of lime, and orange and pineapple juice and a sweetener such as falernum or grenadine. If you want to try their most premium rum, look for the family reserve.

While you can find Gosling's Black Seal Rum off the island, what you can’t find is Bermuda Gold, a brand owned by Gosling's. It’s a sweet loquat liquor made on the island. It’s fruity and slightly reminiscent of amaretto. It’s great over ice, with orange juice of sparkling wine. It's also perfect over vanilla ice cream.

Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum is in limited supply and very expensive off the island. A must for rum connoisseurs, this award-winning rum is rich and mellow with spice and fruit.

Where to find it: You can get the cocktails anywhere, buy Bermuda Gold liqueur or the Gosling's Family Reserve Old Rum at the airport in the duty free section, at the gate. The prices there are the best you'll find.

Disclaimer: I was a guest of Bermuda Tourism, However I was not paid for this, or any other post and I paid for some food and drink that is featured in this post. 

Mexican Cooking Class with Ruth Alegria

It's hard to spend time with Ruth Alegria, and not want to jump on the next plane to Mexico City. To say she knows Mexican food would be an understatement. Ruth has lived in Mexico City for almost 10 years and before that studied the cuisine with luminaries including Diana Kennedy and Enrique Olvera. She also opened the first Mexican restaurant in Princeton, N.J., in 1980 and received two stars from the New York Times.

Her culinary tours and cooking classes at Mexico Soul and Essence are not just beloved by her students, but were singled out by Saveur magazine as among the best in all of Mexico. But it's not just the recipes, it's the techniques and insights into shopping, ingredients and the history and culture that make her such a wonderful teacher and guide.

This past Sunday at the lovely Tamarindo Antojeria restaurant in Oakland, proprietor Gloria Dominguez hosted a cooking class with Ruth. We made salsas, agua fresca, a creamy poblano soup, an ensalada with nopales and another with grilled spring onions, cochinita pibil and pollo pibil, fish wrapped in hoja santa and more. I learned so much, it's hard to know where to start! But here are a few tidbits:

* Seek out Mexican oregano, it is much different than the Mediterranean variety, and very fragrant (a bit sweeter I'd say).

* Toast herbs on a comal, in addition to spices and vegetables. A cast iron comal is probably better than non-stick.

* Cook your salsas, if you want them to last longer in the fridge.

* Add chia seeds to agua fresca.

* Cut chayotes in half, then boil them just until a knife will pierce them, not till they are soft!

* If dried chiles are brittle, do not buy them. They should bend, not break.

* After grilling poblano peppers, put them in a paper bag, not a plastic bag, before scrapping off the peel otherwise they will continue to cook.

* Use only Mexican Jamaica flowers in vegetarian dishes, not the Sudanese variety which turns pink after steeping to make agua fresca.

I am looking forward to trying some Ruth's recipes, especially for salsas, and Gloria's recipe for Capirotada, a Mexican style bread pudding (with no eggs!).

Ruth is spending time in the San Francisco Bay Area, to take a class with her or to find out more about her tours and classes in Mexico, visit her Facebook page.

Vegetable Cookbooks

Is this the year of the vegetable? It sure seems like it! Vegetable centric cookbook are in the spotlight, and it's not one size fits all. There are cookbooks about foraging, using roots, healthy eating and more. In honor of Meatless Monday, here's a round up of some interesting ones I've come across lately.

The Duke's Table is a vegetarian book of Italian food, written in 1930 and now available in English. I learned to love vegetables in Italy where they are never, ever served plain. They are always "dressed" and I find this makes all the difference. Even a little drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice make a dish of vegetables more appealing. This book has a staggering number of recipes, over 1000 and everything from pasta dishes to souffles, egg dishes, soups, ice creams and even some raw dishes (those are a little out there!). Some of the recipes are healthy, some are not, but all are interesting and offer a peek into a fascinating diet of a man of means at the turn of the century (the duke lived from 1879 till 1946). Some of the recipes are fancy, but many are regional dishes like Bucellati, a sweet bread or Torta Napoletana. The vegetarian meatballs and meatloaves are inventive mixtures of mushrooms and walnuts. 

My verdict? A fascinating book for Italian food lovers. 

I am very excited about Tara Duggan's book Root-to-Stalk Cooking because I am the kind of cook who wonders, can I eat carrot tops? What can I do with squash blossoms other than stuff them? And is there a good use for apple peelings? Fortunately this book answers all those nagging questions and more. It's all about using the whole vegetable and that just makes good sense.

Recipes I've bookmarked include Chard Stalk Relish with Pine Nuts & Sultanas, Pea Pod Pudding, Carrot Top Salsa Verde with Roasted Root Vegetables and Apple Peel Bourbon. Note this book won't be available until August. 

My verdict? Great for adventuresome and thrifty cooks, farmer's market shoppers and gardeners who often end up with whole, untrimmed vegetables. 

Vegetable Literacy is the latest book from Deborah Madison and the closest thing to a vegetable bible both for cooking and gardening. It's organized by families, such as nightshades, lily, grass, cabbage and sunflower. It really makes you think about vegetables in a new way!

There are recipes for vegetables you use all the time like carrots and squash but also recipes using less common vegetables like burdock, quelites, parsnips and escarole. I have so many recipes bookmarked I don't know where to start, but a few that caught me eye are Young Leeks with Oranges and Pistachios, Corn Simmered in Coconut Milk with Thai Basil and Sweet Potatoes with White Miso Ginger Sauce. I am in awe of Deborah Madison. She's like a national treasure and though no longer living in the Bay Area, she was deeply involved in the restaurants that made a big impact in our local cuisine specifically Chez Panisse and Greens. 

My verdict? Buy this book! It is destined to become a classic. 

Ripe is written by Cheryl Sternman Rule with stunning photography by Paulette Phlipot. It came out last year but is still making waves! Organized by color, it really does embody passion and excitement. It's written in a slightly cheeky style that's fun to read and each ingredient gets a set of tips for using them and how to combine them with other ingredients.

There are lots of surprises in this book like Swiss Chard stuffed with Polenta (smart!) a juicy salad of Honeydew, Cucumber and Grapes with a poppyseed and lime dressing and show stopping Persimmon, Apple, Radicchio stacks (you can't tell me you've seen that elsewhere). 

My verdict? Inspiring recipes, ideas and photos, and a great coffee table book. 

The Longevity Kitchen by Rebecca Katz and Mat Edelson focuses on 16 "age busting" foods, they are asparagus, avocado, basil, blueberries, coffee, dark chocolate, garlic, green tea, kale, olive oil, pomegranate, sweet potatoes, thyme, walnuts, wild salmon and yogurt. Let's face it, you are going to get old, no matter what you eat. But the ingredients in this book may help you live a more healthy life.

The photos are good and the book is really jam packed with inspiring recipes for things you probably haven't considered like Nori Rolls stuffed with Avocado and Smoked Salmon, Edamame Wasabi Spread and sardines mixed with loads of herbs and mustard. Many of the recipes, including all of the baked good and desserts are gluten-free, often relying on almond flour. Also Rebecca Katz writes wonderfully informal headnotes with each recipe.

My verdict? Great for anyone wanting to incorporate more healthy foods into their cooking and looking for new ideas.

Backyard Foraging. Yay! Another book on foraging! And this one is not about going far into the wild, but simply into your own backyard. Full color photographs and a guide to seasonality will be helpful to those just starting to forage for food. Did you know you could eat magnolia flowers and buds? I didn't! Watch out foliage, this book is coming after you! 

There are instructions for how to prepare the foraged food, but only a few recipes at the end of the book, for things like Dandelion Wine, Dahlia Tuber Bread, Mushroom Ravioli and Rose Hip Soup. 

My verdict? Great for budding naturalists living in the suburbs or less urban areas with access to common plants. I fear urban plants growing wild are probably exposed to more pollution and not as suitable for eating, though perhaps I'm wrong about that.

The Passionate Vegetable is a weird name for a cookbook. I mean, what exactly is a passionate vegetable? Written by a health educator, Suzanne Landry the book provides a roadmap for better health through the "flexitarian" style of eating. Perhaps most importantly the recipes are easy to follow.

To be honest, though I do want to try The Passionate Breakfast Cookie, much of the photography is not terribly inspiring in this book and the recipes remind me of the things I cooked when I moved into my first apartment--Mushroom Barley Soup, Black Bean and Corn Salad, Ratatouille over Spaghetti Squash. 

My verdict? This book is best for beginning cooks. 

Disclaimer: Some of these books were review copies, and this post includes affiliate links. 

Cantaloupe Drizzled with Lemon Cardamom Yogurt Sauce

As I get older, one thing that seems to get increasingly higher is my threshold of what constitutes "embarassing" behavior in public places.

In my middle school years, I would never leave home without my self-defined "mall outfit" - a fun shirt and jeans, makeup, and copious amounts of baubles emblazoned with smiley faces, yin-yangs, and peace signs (oh my god what were we thinking). Having parents in tow was an automatic source of embarrassment (for no logical reason).  All behavior was directed at the goal of "fitting in."

Eventually, things start to ease up.  You realize that no one actually dies if you decide to wear sweatpants out of the house.  And the mere fact that you have parents no longer seems to be a source of shame.

And now I am the girl who leaves home with giant knots in my hair.  As well as the person who traipses around markets, sniffing each melon to find the most wonderfully fragrant one.  Picking them up to make sure they are dense. Examining the color of the rind.  This is all very important work.  A bad melon is a bad melon.  But a good melon is transcendent.

But one could make the case that this behavior is quite odd.  Embarrassing, even.  Which I'm sure I will be told by Max sometime in the near future.  But that will be his problem, not mine.

Ingredients
Cantaloupe chunks (or slices, which would be prettier, but not as easy to eat )
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
zest from small lemon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon honey
pinch cardamom

Instructions
Mix the yogurt, lemon zest and juice, coconut milk, honey, and cardamom together in a small bowl.  Spoon over cantaloupe chunks.

Rice Paper Salad Rolls Recipe

Rice paper salad rolls are basically salads wrapped in rice paper. You probably already have plenty of salad ingredients in your fridge, but what about Vietnamese rice paper?  It's one of those pantry ingredients I've sometimes bought and used once, and then forgot about. And that's kind of a shame because it has a lot going for it. It's cheap, keeps forever and is easy to use.

Rice paper is traditionally used to make Vietnamese "Summer rolls" but like tortillas, it's extremely versatile and shouldn't be limited to only Vietnamese cuisine. Use it as a wrapper for pretty much whatever you like and you've got a great appetizer, snack or meal. While tortillas are served warm, rice paper rolls are served at room temperature.

I believe eating outdoors is more fun than eating inside, and that eating with your fingers makes everything taste better. So that makes rice paper salad rolls perfect for picnics (or take from home lunches). I have used all kinds of different fillings and this is a combination I really like, but experiment! Try sprouts, shredded chicken, smoked salmon, enoki mushrooms--the possibilities are endless. 

Rice Paper Salad Rolls

Makes 2 rolls

Ingredients

4 sheets rice paper

1 English cucumber, peeled

1 small carrot 

1 daikon radish
Avocado 

1 piece marinated or baked tofu, (or use homemade gluten free baked tofu)

4 lettuce leaves

Peanut sauce 

Instructions

Prepare the vegetables by peeling long lengthwise strips of each the cucumber, daikon radish and carrot using a vegetable peeler. The number of slices will vary depending upon the size of the rice paper you have. Then slice each strip into long skinny slivers. Cut the tofu and avocado into thin strips. 

Fill a bowl with warm water. Dip two rice paper sheets into the water, making sure the water flows between the sheets. Let the water drip off the rice paper, and then lay it on a flat surface. You want the sheets to be just softened enough so you can roll them. 

Lay one lettuce leaf on the double layer of rice paper. Top with thin strips of vegetables and tofu, but don't overstuff. Roll up like a burrito, either tucking the ends in or leaving them open. Serve with peanut sauce

Enjoy!

Berries with Hibiscus-Infused Whipped Cream

I'm not always great at multitasking.  Okay, if I'm honest, I'm never great at multitasking. But I love to believe I am.

One minute I'm full of hubris about simultaneously doing some laundry, engaging Max in a toddler alphabet game, cooking some dinner, running the ice cream maker, and perhaps slipping in a quick phone call.  And then time passes, and I've forgotten that I was actually doing laundry.  And now it is smelling a bit moldy and the clothes in the dryer are now wrinkled.  I have no idea what letter we are on in our alphabet game, and I've left things in the oven for too long.  Or over-whip the cream, as was the case the first time I made this hibiscus whipped cream.

I've always found it hard to be in the moment, I never feel I'm experiencing things quite right. I can be at the beach, and instead of feeling the coarseness of the sand as I dig my fingers into it or the chilliness of the salt water on my toes, I'm on my phone - absorbed in some reading or writing.  I know I should be doing this whole "mindfulness" thing, but that just doesn't work for me.

So juggling multiple things at once feels natural for me.  Even if I often fail spectacularly at them.  It is that rare, fortuitous occasion in which success happens that keeps me going at this multitasking endeavor.  Plus, I'm stubborn.

But even a stubborn person knows when to let it go.  So this time, I made sure to devote most of my attention to the task at hand.  And instead of playing an alphabet game with the tot, I tried teaching him to say "hibiscus," a rather amusing word coming from him.  And this time, things worked out.     

I would like to say that this will be a permanent change in behavior.  But I can assuredly say that isn't the case.  Because I'm stubborn like that.

Here we used the whipped cream to top some gorgeous blueberries and strawberries that were picked up at the farmer's market.  For more strawberry dessert ideas, Cooking Light put together this slideshow.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
3 tablespoons dried hibiscus leaves
pinch salt
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar

strawberries, sliced
blueberries

Instructions
For the hibiscus cream:  In a small pot over low heat, warm 1 cup cream and hibiscus leaves.   Take off heat and cover, letting the leaves steep in the cream for 20 minutes. strain and chill the mixture.  Once the hibiscus cream has chilled and is nice and cold, add the mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer and add in another 1/2 cup of whipping cream.  Add a pinch of salt and the sugar and use the whisk attachment to the whip the mixture until stiff peaks form.  Serve with the berries.

Nambé CookServ

Wedding season is coming up and I recommend going off the registry to buy something really special. There are lots of basic items that end up on registry lists, for example, a stock pot or soup pot. You need a big one, but a smaller one is very useful too, especially for households of two people. I use mine for pasta, boiling potatoes, making soup and blanching vegetables. 

A soup pot will probably last you a lifetime so it's worth getting the nicest and most pleasing one you can find. To that end, the CookServe line of Nambé cookware fits the bill. Nambé recently sent me a soup pot to try and I really love it. It's so pretty to look at, I don't want to take it off the stove! All of the CookServ line is designed to be oven to table, made from 5 ply stainless steel and is compatible with all ranges including induction. It also has nubs on the interior of the lid to baste. I've found all the handles stay cool when I am cooking on the stove. The design of the cookware is one of the things that makes it so special, the uniquely curved shapes and handles. 

I know it's tempting to buy non-stick, but especially for a pot like this, it's really not necessary and most certainly isn't as long lasting. Non-stick is great for things like eggs and crepes, but you'll find alloy pieces much better value in the long run. 

Named for an ancient village, Nambé is a company based in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has been designing beautiful cookware, tableware, kitchenware and more since 1951. They work with some very well-known top designers including Karim Rashid, Their beautiful award-winning designs have been in museum collections since the early 1950's. 

Nambé is hosting a giveaway of a set of four Nambé CookServ Sauté Pans (8, 10, 12 and 14 inches) with a retail value of $650. Click on the link to enter : a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was given a piece of cookware to try, I was not paid to write this or any other post