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| The first mate |
In
the last few posts I've been talking about repairs, mishaps, my
puking and you might think I'm just complaining all the time. I am
not. All this trip has been a learning experience.
As
you can tell I'm not a sailor. I am the first mate, even when there
is nobody else to give orders. My job is mostly keep everything nice,
clean, and the captain happy. Since he said, almost two month ago
“this is not a journey for the sailing, this is a culinary trip”,
I have been recollecting herbs, fruits and recipes for the
specialties of my galley.
A
little bit from every island has made this chef improve it skills.
From Dominica we enjoyed the fresh orange and grape fruit juices. I
also prepared a dessert with the orange peel, very delicious with
cream or white cheese, a lot of work to prepare though. In
Martinique I learned what is the easiest way to cut and peel a
pineapple. It was at that carnival day in Fort the France, we went to
the boulevard for lunch. We stopped first at the fruits stand where
two young kids were making a killing with the smoothies. We got a
Hawaiian smoothy with lots of pineapple and strawberries. It was so
good! But what really impressed us was how easy and quick they peeled
the pineapple.
In
St. Lucia Jim tried the blogo plantain for the first time. In
Cuba we call them donkey plantain or fongo. Not
many people like them in the eastern part of the island, where they
generally use them to feed the pigs. I introduced Jim to the semi
ripe mashed boiled blogo with saute garlic, chives in olive oil and
coking wine. The green mashed fried and ripe fried blogo were in the
menu too.
Sour sop or guanavana is a fruit Jim
never tested before, because when he saw it for the first time he
thought “and if that thing comes to life at night and attacks me?”
It is an ugly, spiky green thing, but inside it has the most tasty
white flesh and it's good in ice creams, milk shakes and juices.
Since he tried it, we always carry several green spiky little
monsters on the boat.
There was not much of food
discovering in Bequia, but I did a lot of cooking and we ate in some
of the restaurants there. There was a new addition, to be honest, and
that was the rum punch with nutmeg. The ingredients? Very easy: one
of a sweet, one of a sour, lots of rum and grated nutmeg.
Then we got to Grenada, where we
reached the culinary peak. There we found everything, but mostly the
spices. I learned their traditional fresh herbs blend to season meat
and fish. Ready? “You put your chives, your thyme, your shadow beni
or cilantro, celery and seasoning peppers, in the mixer with oil and
a little bit of water”. That is how they explained it to me.
In
Trinidad and Tobago; where everybody has their own curry recipe, and
they blend it from scratch; I found a little tough to get
information. When I asked what do they put in their curry, I got lots
of different answers and always that “secret ingredient” part.
Well I put my sari on and made my own blend too: saffron, coriander,
cumin, bay leaves, chili prouder, black pepper and if you want it
really hot, slice some hot pepper and add it to your sauce.
I think that my cooking has kept the
captain happy, because one night after dinner he stated I was his
first mate. I don't now if dancing with the Gipsy Kings is part of my
duties, but he seems to like my show too.
AnechyNotes
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