Seafood

I’ve shared countless recipes featuring the use of saltfish (Salted Cod) over the years, as it’s used a flavor enhancer to MANY dishes in the Caribbean. However, stewed on it’s own.. being the STAR of the recipe is what allows us to really appreciate the humble salted codfish. From our colonized past and slavery, we’ve perfected the art of making humble food, tasty and comforting.

You’ll Need…

3/4 lb prepared salted Cod (any salted fish will work)
8 tomatoes (ripe)
1 bell pepper (cut into strips)
2 pimento peppers (optional – sliced)
1 large onion (sliced)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 cloves garlic (smashed)
2 tablespoon parsley chopped
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper (sliced)
3 scallions (chopped)
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup olives
5 sprigs thyme
3 + 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 -2 tablespoon tomato paste

Note: If doing this recipe gluten free, be sure to go through the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. I used boned (bones and skin removed) salted cod as it makes for
easier work. But do go though and make sure there’s no bones left back during processing.

Roast the tomatoes over a charcoal or propane flame, or you can also roast them in your oven. Roast on direct heat for about 5-10 minutes.

Set the roasted tomatoes aside to cool down in a bowl, then remove the skins and discard along with the core/stems. Save the juices which accumulate at the bottom of the bowl. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces.

Prep the other ingredients. (chop, dice, smash)

Prepare salted cod and set aside. (soak in water overnight or boil in water, drain and shred into chunks.. explained further in the video below) .

Heat a wide pan on medium heat, then go in with the olive oil, followed by the onion, garlic, thyme and black pepper and drop the heat to low to gently cook. Give it a toss, then add the bits of slated cod.

3 minutes later add the scotch bonnet, pimento and bell peppers. Mix well to combine everything. Take the heat back up to medium and cook for 3 minutes. Remember to NOT use any of the seeds nor white membrane surround the seeds from the Scotch Bonnet or it will be SPICY! Be sure to wash your hands immediately after with soap and water.

Now add the chopped roasted tomato (and juices) and stir well. Add the capers and olives.. and bring back to a boil. Go in with the tomato paste for a bit of color, sweetness and to help create a lovely sauce. Cook with the lid on.. as it comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Taste for salt and adjust. I didn’t add any as the salted cod will have some salt remaining and capers can be a bit salty as well. Turn off the stove, top with the remaining olive oil and parsley.

While not a ‘traditional’ way of making Stewed Salted Cod in the Caribbean, I dedicate this version to my ancestors, who paved the way for me to make and enjoy such stunning food. Serve with boiled ground provisions (cassava, yam, dasheen, eddoes, sweet potatoes green banana), roasted or steamed breadfruit, bread, rice or rock it on flour dumplings or even pasta.

Seafood

My Grandmother’s Fish Choka.

May 12, 2020May 8, 20201 Comment

Following up on the Fry Dry Herrings recipe I shared yesterday, here’s my take on my grandma’s Fish Choka. Basically any fried, oven roasted or grilled fish, flaked and made into a sort of salad (best way I can describe it). Light, tasty and very simple to put together. While the recipe isn’t exact, the technique is very true to the traditional way of making Fish Choka in Trinidad and Tobago. A ‘poor mans’ dish, usually made from fish the fishermen would practically give away (back in the old days).

You’ll Need…

1 lb fried fish (any will work)
1 medium onion (sliced thin)
1-2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tomato (diced)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 lime (juice)
1 birds eye pepper (chopped finely)
2 scallions (chopped)
1 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
1 teaspoon pepper oil (optional)

Strip fish meat off the bones into flakes, ensuring you remove all the bones and discard. If using fried herring or sardines with a batter you have the option of keeping the crispy skin or not.

With the flaked fish in a large bowl, add the black pepper, salt, juice of lime, tomato, bird’s eye pepper (optional), scallion, parsley and pepper oil. Being a bit gentle, toss everything to mix evenly. As mentioned in the video below, my grandma would typically use a clove of crushed garlic in the mix, but my pepper oil got a lot of garlic in it.

Top with the thinly sliced onion. I used a red onion, but you’re free to use any onion you have on hand or like using.. the key is to slice it very thin.

Heat the olive oil until you start seeing smoke. You my use coconut. vegetable or any oil you like using.

Pour the heated oil directly over the onions. This will slightly cook then and in the process, add a lovely onion flavor to the dish and kill some of it’s pungency.

Stir well and ENJOY

While my dad enjoys this as a topping for salted crackers, I’m a fan of Dhal and Rice served with this Fish Choka. The odd times I make sandwiches with it and when I’m not lazy I make fresh Sada Roti.

Seafood

Grandma’s Traditional Fried Herrings.

May 7, 2020May 7, 2020Leave a Comment

Fry Dry! Small ocean fish marinated in a classic Caribbean marinade, then fried until crisp. Such a simple dish, but deep in tradition (our family’s recipe goes back about 150 yrs) . Just about every Caribbean household got their own version of making this dish.. today I’ll share my grandma’s take on it.

You”ll Need…

2 lbs herrings (cleaned)
1/2 lemon (juice)
1 teaspoon curry powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
I tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper sauce (hot sauce)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Clean (or ask your fish monger to do it) and wash the herrings with lemon juice and cool water. Drain and season with salt, black pepper, curry powder, garlic, Caribbean Green Seasoning and peppersauce (or your fav hot suace). Mix well (be gentle as you don’t want to break-up the fish) to coat evenly and marinate for about 1 hour. Try to get some of the seasoning
into the belly cavity of the fish. For additional flavor you may grate in a small onion too!

Set up your frying station. Flour (on a plate), Seasoned fish, frying pan and a plate lined with paper towels.

Heat oil on medium heat, dust each fish in the flour (not heavy) and pan fry the fish until they are crisp. Takes between 3-4 minutes on each side. The goal is to have fried (crisp) dry fish.

Fry in batches to not crowd the pan and place on paper towels to drain off excess oil.

Quick, simple and very tasty. I recall days when my grandmother would have boiled rice, split peas dhal and this fry dry herring (sardines and smelts will work great too) . Yea, fire roasted coconut chutney would be the spicy condiment of choice back then.

Gluten Free Seafood

Oven Roasted Yellow Tail Snapper.

April 28, 2020April 5, 20204 Comments

I’ll be honest, I grew up eating fish three ways. Fried, Stewed and in a lovely Curry Sauce (mommy’s repertoire). Never grilled, steamed, smoked (well except for the smoked herring we get in the Caribbean), oven roasted or broiled. However that quickly changed when I started traveling through the Caribbean and seeing how we do fish and seafood differently. Sadly, I wish I knew sooner (when I lived on the islands) as getting good fish here in Canada is very expensive. Understandable, but painful to see. I’m not a fan of fresh-water (lakes and rivers) fish.. only ocean fish please.

You’ll Need…

1 Snapper (about 2 lbs)
1 tablespoon salt (divided)
1 1/2 tablespoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
4-5 tablespoon olive oil (divided)
2 scallions (chopped)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
4 cloves garlic (smashed)
8-10 Brussels Sprout (optional)
8-10 cherry tomato
8-10 olives
4 sprigs thyme
1/2 tablespoon parsley (chopped)
1 teaspoon lemon juice (to finish)
*juice of a lime or lemon (to wash the fish)

Important! If doing this recipe gluten free, please go through the entire list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs.

Wash the fish, then cut slits across the thickest part of the back/belly – to help cook faster and to allow for absorption of the marinade.

Salt (1/2 of it) the fish, especially in the cuts and belly of the fish. Then in a small bowl mix the Caribbean Green Seasoning and 2 tablespoon of Olive oil and paste it all over the fish, including the belly cavity.

Then in your roasting dish (oven proof) go in with the 1 tablespoon olive oil and place the fish on it. Add the Olives, Brussels Sprouts, Scallions, Garlic (smashed) and Thyme and pour any remaining marinade over everything. The Brussels Sprouts is optional as I found some in my fridge and tossed them in there… great addition yea.

Top with black pepper and the remaining salt. Drizzle on the remaining olive oil. This will help develop some color during roasting. You may need to go in with you hands and make sure everything is coated. Try to marinate for about 30 minutes.

Now into a 400 F oven uncovered on the middle rack. 25 minutes.. then 5 minutes on broil (525 F) But be mindful it can burn easily at this high temperature.

As it comes out of the oven, drizzle with the lemon juice and top with the chopped parsley. This will brighten the finished dish a bit. I didn’t add any Caribbean Sunshine (Scotch Bonnet) nor anything spicy, but you can certainly add your fave heat source if you wish.

Today moms got a ton of fish recipes in her arsenal, including a to-die-for baked salmon. Maybe I’ll convince her to share that recipe soon. If you can, please support. And should you have questions about this recipe or anything food related, be sure to Ask Chris.

Gluten Free Seafood

Tin Mackerel In A Delicious Tomato Sauce.

March 26, 2020March 18, 2020Leave a Comment

Canned or “tin food” as we refer to it in the Caribbean is something we all grew up eating in some form or the other. With years of experience, comes very unique and delicious way of using them. You’d never find someone opening a can and eating directly from it. Besides feeling we need to cook it to KILL the ‘germs’ (Caribbean belief), it’s all about adding extra flavor, but more importantly … stretching the one can for a few people. Remember canned foods were imported back in the day, so it was somewhat expensive.

You’ll Need…

2 cans mackerel (this one had oil and olives)
1 medium onion (sliced)
1 clove garlic (crushed or sliced)
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
10-15 grape tomatoes (any tomato – chopped)
2 tablespoon chopped parsley
3 sprigs thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 scallions (chopped)
1 1/2 tablespoon tomato concentrate (paste)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Optional – juice of 1/2 lemon + spicy peppers

Important! If doing this dish gluten free, please go through the list of ingredients to make sure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Especially the tin of mackerel you use. Add slices of scotch bonnet or any hot peppers you have, if you’d like for the dish to have a KICK!

Heat the olive oil on a medium/low heat in a wide pan. Then add the onion, garlic and black pepper. 1-2 minutes later, add the scallions and the leaves of the thyme. Stir well and cook for another minute.

Now add the tomato paste and stir to coat the bottom of the pan. The heat will help release the natural sugar of the tomato paste for a lovely flavor.

Followed by the grape tomato (any tomato will work). Cook for about 30 seconds, then add the mackerel directly to the pot. This one I had was packed in olive oil and had sliced olives – delicious. Typically if I get the mackerel packed in water, I drain that water and discard as to get rid of some of the brine / sodium.

Break the fish a bit (don’t over-crush) and stir well. Cook on low for 2- 3 minutes, turn the heat off and go in with the parsley and lemon juice.

In under 7 minutes you’ll have a delicious topping for rice, ground provisions, dumplings or pasta and an EXCELLENT side for hot Sada Roti or worst case scenario – sliced bread! Notice I didn’t add any salt as I find the canned stuff usually have enough added salt to it, but do taste and adjust accordingly.

If you can, please support. And should you have questions about this recipe or anything food related, be sure to Ask Chris.

Meat & Poultry Seafood

The Ultimate Cherry Rum BBQ Sauce.

May 27, 2025February 10, 20208 Comments

This Cherry Rum BBQ Sauce is a great fusion… Canada meets the Caribbean. Freshly picked cherries from Niagara On The Lake, combined with sugarcane juice and all of her byproducts – Molasses, Rum and Demerara Sugar. Read on.. you’ll love the supporting cast of ingredients which goes into making this insanely GREAT homemade BBQ sauce.

You’ll Need…

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion (diced)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
2 scallions (chopped fine)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Demerara sugar
2-3 tablespoon molasses
1 cup sugar cane juice (with ginger)
1/4 cup honey vinegar (apple cider vinegar will work)
1 1/2 cups tomato ketchup
1 cup dark rum (1/4 cup to finish also)
2 tablespoon honey (+ 1 tablespoon)
1 cup cherries (seeds removed)
2-3 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard

In a deep saucepan heat the olive oil on a medium flame, then add the diced onion and garlic. Immediately reduce the heat to low so we don’t burn the garlic and add the scallions along with the black pepper. Cook gently for 2-3 minutes.

It’s now time to add the cherries (I guess you can use canned cherries if you wish – I’ve never tried that) and stir well and follow up with the orange juice.

Turn the heat back up to medium high and basically all you have to do now, is add all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil.

Important: If you cannot get sugar cane juice, use apple juice. If you have pure sugarcane juice, grate in about 3/4 teaspoon of ginger.

40 minutes later, turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to puree to the consistency you like. For me it was smooth, but thick.

To finish with that pronounced RUM flavor, hit it with a further 1/4 cup of rum and for a lovely balance, add the remaining tablespoon of honey. Allow to cool and store in sterilized containers in the fridge. Can easily last 2-3 weeks.

Did you know that our annual July Month Of Grilling is into its 11th year this year? Stay tuned… I’ve got some delicious offerings (as usual) this year for you.

If you can, please support. And should you have questions about this recipe or anything food related, be sure to Ask Chris.