A Late Night Snack

BRING IT TO THE RIVER

cooking by the river is as fun to do as it is fun to eat. maybe it's the resourcefulness and creativity that comes into play. probably it's the novelty of cooking outside. whatever it is, i was reminded of the simple joys a river lime can serve a crew.



fire was the first order of business. malcolm handled the burner.



jason handled the small pit.



christian washed out the pot with some river stones... nature's brillo pad.



meanwhile, ingredients start to jump off. garlic, onion, pimento and of course the tomatoes for the choka.



simple madras curry and some fresh water from home. we doh play dat with the river blend.




next step... SHHHHHAW!!



the duck was first up. seasoned from two or three days before (which was when we decided to make the river run in the first place).




usual procedure... dash in duck, mix up, season up with salt and such, coconut milk and a hot pepper. children were on the scene, so no pepper bursting was allowed.



meanwhile, Nyla started to deal with the tomatoes on the small pit. my first experience with roasted tomatoes for choka.




they went on some galvanize until they got roasted and smokey.



pimentos, onion, garlic...



chunkay the garlic.



then everything went into the bowl to be mashed together... DONE!



the goat preparation followed the same simple process, including hot pepper.



goat bubble bubble



food was done fairly quickly. nyla handled the story.



so in the end, the plates ended up with tomato choka, curry duck, curry goat, dahlpuri in some cases, buss up shut in others and curry mango which i got from the trusty roti spot in el socoro.



soon, everybody was dealing with matters.



everyone showed approval.



some showed signs of fatigue.




but some preferred to wine on the river bank with food in hand.




eventually, the day had to come to an end.
it was a good reminder of how much fun a river lime could be.
so until next time "... leh we bubble

CARNIVAL QUICK FIX

while the masses palanced on carnival sunday, i was home enjoying the idea of no real obligations for two sure days. joy. what could compliment some quality lounging time better than a nice plate of something tasty. considering the pack of minced chicken left over in the deep freeze, i thought a chicken bolognese and spaghetti might be the meal to hit the spot.

so into a saucepan went a little golden ray with some onions, garlic and pimento peppers. sautee time. dropped the minced chicken into it and cooked away the pink. put in some chicken stock to add some moisture and deglaze the pan a bit. then i added a sauce that was made before, which combined tomato paste, onion, garlic, italian seasoning, basil, thyme, salt, black pepper a little sugar and lemon juice. poured that in there and cooked it low and slow until everything cooked together thickened a bit. i would have liked the flavour and texture some heavy cream brings to the table, but alas, my cupboard was sans heavy cream and i didn't see a grocery run or a fairy god mother producing such a product for me in the near future. so i just sprinkled some parmesan on top and spruced it up with some chopped olives. some garlic toast on the side and that was it.

since the next two days are up to this point unplanned and open to various outcomes, it's safe to say that this is most likely my only carnival quick fix. check it out.


leh we bubble.

the early bird sees the turkey

i've never seen the very start of my father's turkey process. reason being, the bird is in the oven by 7am latest. even when i lived at home, my daily routine included keeping late hours and jumping out of bed early. so i've always used weekends, holidays, christmas and new year's day, to sleep in. this year however, with the help of the most brutal ringtone a phone could have and a late start by my father, i was able to catch the start.

this is the bird chillin in the fridge. it sat there thawing 2 days before, had some seasoning rubbed on it (including under the skin on the breast meat) the day before, and today its ready to take part in the festivities.

but before taking the bird out the ice box, he prepares the stuffing. this starts with some olive oil in a pan.

he adds to this some onions and celery...

about a heaping teaspoon of salt and some cayenne powder.

meanwhile, mom crushes some crackers a bit at a time. unlike me with my modern, unique, absolutly premium rolling pin, mom is a fan of the standard traditional equipment.

multi-grain crix was the flick this time around. this is how fine they go with it.

back over on daddy's side, minced beef is added to the pan to get some colour.

he mashes about 5 big potatoes in a bowl and adds the cracker crumbs, a box of evaporated milk, a little melted butter, some chives and the minced beef. mixes it all up.

this is what the mixture looks like before its oven appointment.



now the bird is set free from its chilly prison. butterball turkeys (i don't know about any other brand) come with this handy string that you wrap around the bird. you'll see it in action a little later on.

dad stuffs the bird first from the cavity below, then from the neck cavity, so the bird is well packed. now, both my father and myself usually listen to the advice of alton brown of food network fame, but on this matter we differ. alton's advice is to cook stuffing separate so that the bird cooks faster and dries out less. for the turkey drippings to soak into the stuffing for that blow mind flavour... sorry alton, but we'll wait. and we'll do our best not to let the meat dry out too much.

a lot of pinning up takes place. a pin goes into each wing to hold them down. this helps it cook evenly.

then an operation of a pin job goes on at the neck cavity to help hold the stuffing in.

remember the string? well there yuh go. lift and transfer.

next he creates a mixture of melted butter, olive oil and honey...

which he uses to glaze the turkey.



then its into the oven preheated at 350. following the butterball guide, on which our turkey fell closest to the 10 to 18lbs category, this bird would roast for about 3hrs.



every hour, he applies the honey glaze to it. gives it a nice colour and texture. according to how it looks when he takes it out, he adjusts the temperature of the oven. this time around, he backed down to 300 after the last glaze for the final hour.

it's all done and ready to be enjoyed when the stuffing is out of the turkey in a bowl at the side, and the house smells unbearably good. this is no time to be mixing matters.

the stuffing is always a hit, and with a strong supporting cast, there's no better way to bring in the new year. especially since mom bought chinet so we didn't have to wash wares. no place like home on new year's day.

leh we bubble in 2010!

THE SAUCE OF INSPIRATION

tomorrow will make it one year since i promised to do a post with this title. i guess good things really come to those who wait, because this is the perfect post for it. during my mother's birthday dinner at the normandie hotel, my father and i tasted a cranberry sauce that was quite nice. he called me on christmas eve and asked "what yuh say was in that cranberry sauce again?". "i think i was tasting x and y if i had to guess." was my response. (the ingredients shall remain nameless for now to maxmize impact later on) "yessssss! aight, ah gone." he replied. little did i know he was in the middle of preparing everything already. when i arrived on christmas morning, the main stuff was already done, but guess what he was about to prepare? yup... the cranberry sauce. in other words, the source of my inspiration in the kitchen was in the kitchen preparing a sauce inspired by a sauce that inspired me to try cranberry sauce on my turkey for the first time ever. i thought it was ripe for a saucy entry.

so he started off by getting the two secret ingredients:



cinnamon powder



and bay leaf. now in these here parts, a lot of herbs and spices are picked fresh from the garden. bay leaf is no exception. can't beat that with a bat.



he put the spices in a sauce pan and added some water plus that hot fiyah.




next, he got out some jellied cranberry sauce. we have this every year, but i never put it on my turkey. the jelly just isn't my thing.



he mashed around the jelly with a wooden spoon while it took the heat.



then he added a little salt to refine the taste.




balanced out the flavours wth a little sugar. it thickened up nicely and had this sweet and spicy flavour that was reminicent of the sauce that inspired the effort. i had to try it on my turkey.



so i did. it worked. i don't like a lot of sweet stuff, but this was just right. it played a good supporting role.



the cast was strong as usual: (going clockwise from the turkey at the bottom) minced beef and potato stuffing, cauliflower in white sauce, shepard's pie, peas with coconut milk, vegetable lasagne, beef pastelle and a vegetable rice with carrot, pepper, celery, onion, chive, apple and raisins.

thanks to the sauce, the falvours changed up again this year and it was another meal worth remembering.