1999 Valentine’s Dinner

Caribbean

James Beard’s Cuban Bread

Crabs Caribbean-Style

Pina Colada Punch

Sinful Mango Smoothee

Caribbean Guisado

Cuban Black Beans

Caribbean Grouper with Mango, Pear & Avocado Salad

Papaya Salsa

Jamaican Jerked Pork Tenderloins

Jamaican Chocolate Cake

Fresh Lime Sorbet

Mango Sorbet

Cappuccino

James Beard’s Cuban Bread

• 1-1/2 pkg active dry yeast
• 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 cup warm water (100 to 115 F)
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 5 cups all-purpose or hard wheat flour plus 1 cup
• 3 Tbsp yellow cornmeal
• 1 Tbsp egg white, mixed with 1 Tbsp cold water

Combine the yeast with sugar and warm water in a large bowl and allow to proof.

Mix the salt with the flour and add to the yeast mixture, a cup at a time, until you have a stiff dough. Remove to a lightly floured board and knead until no longer sticky, about 10 minutes, adding flour as necessary. Place in a buttered bowl and turn to coat the surface with butter.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down the dough. Turn out on a floured board and shape into two long, French bread-style loaves. Place on a baking sheet that has been sprinkled with the cornmeal, but NOT buttered. Slash the tops of the loaves diagonally in two or three places with a single edge razor blade or sharp knife, brush the loaves with the egg white wash.

Place in a COLD oven, set the temperature at 400 F, and bake 35 minutes, or until well browned and hollow sounding when the tops are tapped.

Crabs Caribbean-Style

• 8 Tbsp butter
• 4 scallions chopped
• 1 to 2 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 hot green chili, seeded & finely chopped (or use dried red pepper flakes)
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 3/4 to 1 lb crab meat, shredded
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves, if possible
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
• salt & ground black pepper
• 6 to 8 Tbsp crab liquid or clam broth
• 2 cups bread crumbs

Melt butter in skillet; add scallions, garlic and chili peppers and cook until scallions are wilted. Add curry powder to this mixture and blend thoroughly. Add crab, coriander and parsley. Add salt, pepper and crab liquid (if more is needed, add melted butter). Blend in bread crumbs. Fill the mixture in 8 clam shells and bake at 400 F about 10 minutes or until browned. Serves 8 as an appetizer or 3 to 4 as a main course.

Pina Colada Punch

• 8 oz (1 cup) well-stirred canned cream of coconut
• 2-1/2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
• 1-1/2 cups light rum
• 2 cups ice cubes, or to taste
• a wedge of fresh pineapple with its leaves for garnish plus additional small, thin wedges for garnishing the drinks

In a blender blend together, in batches if necessary, the cream of coconut, the pineapple juice, and the rum and transfer the punch to a large pitcher. Stir in the ice cubes and garnish the punch with the pineapple wedge. Garnish each drink with a pineapple wedge.

This recipe makes about 6-1/2 cups.

Sinful Mango Smoothie

• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup mango slices
• 1 Tbsp Key lime juice (optional)
• 1 cup crushed ice
• 2 to 3 jiggers rum

Pour half and half and mango slices in blender. Blend at high speed until smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

Note: A couple of the ladies were pregnant at the time of our dinner (a frequent hazard of these dinners, or at least in the aftermath), so we turned this into a virgin drink by substituting rum extract for the rum. Gave it pretty much the same taste.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find conch or abalone, which are apparently seasonal items, nor could we think of a proper substitute. So we scrapped this recipe. Per usual, we still had far too much food so we didn’t really miss it. But the recipe sounded good, so I preserved it.

Monte’s Conch Fritters with Mustard Sauce

Fritters:

• 1 lb conch or abalone
• 2 red peppers
• 2 green peppers
• 2 large sweet onions
• 1 Tbsp cayenne
• 2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 egg
• 2-1/2 cups self-rising flour
• oil for frying

Mustard Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp mayonnaise (or plain yogurt)
• 1 Tbsp mustard (Dijon works well)
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• sea salt & ground black pepper

Mustard Sauce: Mix all of the ingredients together and taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Makes about 1/4 cup of sauce.

Fritters: Rinse the conch and remove and discard the orange fin and the foot. For abalone, clean as usual and cut into 1/2″ pieces. Chop the meat in the container of a food processor. Chop peppers and onions fine by hand, so that there will be crunchy pieces in the fritters.

Place the chopped meat and veggies in a bowl, add the seasoning, egg, and mix in the flour. Roll into balls around 1-1/4″ in diameter.

ring the oil to 350 F. Add 1 fritter at a time, waiting a few seconds before adding the next. Fry only 5 at a time, removing and adding as they are cooked.

Cooking so few fritters at a time means that the oil is kept at a constant temperature, rather than dropping a few degrees each time more food is added. This keeps the fritters crunchy rather than oil-logged.

Fry for 5 minutes, or until golden and light. Drain and serve with the mustard sauce.

Makes around 30 fritters (10 servings).

Caribbean Guisado

• 1-1/2 cups chickpeas, cooked
• 1-1/2 cups pinto beans, cooked
• 2 cups pumpkin, cubed
• 2 medium chayote squash, cut into 2″ pieces
• 2 cups celery root, chopped
• 2 cups yucca, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups battata, peeled and cubed
• 8 plum tomatoes, quartered lengthwise
• 3 Tbsp ground cumin
• 16 whole garlic cloves
• 4 large yellow onions, coarsely chopped
• 1 Tbsp black pepper
• 1 tsp hot pepper sauce
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 300 F. Combine all ingredients in a large roasting pan. Place in oven and cook, uncovered, for 4 hours.

The pumpkin, chayote and tomatoes will cook down to a thick sauce. Stir every 30 minutes. Add more stock if necessary. Serve hot. Makes 8 servings.

Cuban Black Beans

• 2 cups black beans
• 5 cups water
• 1 or 2 bell peppers, chopped
• l large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp vinegar
• 2 Tbsp red wine

Put cleaned, washed beans in a 4 to 6 quart pressure cooker. Boil beans for 2 minutes; turn heat off, cover beans and let sit for 1 hours.

Add bell peppers, onion, garlic, salt, oregano, bay leaf, and sugar. Cook at 15 lbs pressure for 25 to 30 min. Open cooker when the indicator has dropped down.

Remove about 1/2 to 1 cup of the beans and mash; return to pot and add the vinegar and wine. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve over white rice.

Caribbean Grouper with Mango, Pear & Avocado Salad

• 3 lbs black grouper fillet, skin on
• 4 mangos, cut in 1/4″ strips
• 6 red pears, cut in 1/4″ strips
• 1/2 lb cleaned baby spinach
• 3 Haas avocados, cut in 1/4″ strips
• walnut oil
• juice of 2 oranges
• juice of 1 lime

Caribbean Seasoning:

• 6 Tbsp minced garlic
• 6 Tbsp minced onion
• 6 Tbsp dried onion
• 2 Tbsp allspice
• 1 Tbsp chipotle
• 2 Tbsp Hungarian paprika
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 4-1/2 tsp thyme
• 4-1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground habanero
• zest of 2 lemons

Prepare a wood or charcoal grill and let it burn down to embers. Rub on the Caribbean seasoning in long strokes. Let sit for 15 minutes. Grill for 8 minuets on one side and 6 minutes on the reverse side. Remove from grill and keep hot.

Lightly oil the fruit with walnut oil and grill over hickory wood for 3 minutes. Place in a bowl with the fruit juices and toss. Serve on top of baby spinach and avocado.

Papaya Salsa

• 1-1/2 cup papaya, diced
• 1/4 cup red onion, minced
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 Tbsp red bell pepper, minced
• 2 Tbsp hot pepper jelly
• 2 Tbsp cilantro, chopped

In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together well. Chill. Makes about 2 cups.