Month: March 2012

Contessa Kitchen Tip #4

by Crucian Contessa

Living on a beautiful tropical island, surrounded by warm, blue-green, ocean waters and constant cooling trade winds pretty much guarantees that our baking ingredients, will be affected by the humidity or moisture in the air. To test the effects that humidity has on some ingredients, I made my favorite pound cake at home on St. Croix, and then made the exact same recipe when I went to visit my sister in Florida in her air-conditioned home. The difference was a much improved textured cake in Florida! The Reason? Less humidity. Read More

Crucian De Gallo

by Crucian Contessa

On very hot days, the last thing I feel like eating is a plate of steaming hot food. This is a basic recipe for the Mexican side dish pico de gallo. A guaranteed cooling food filled with local green onions and tomatoes. But instead of using the usual cilantro, I substitute the local recaito or culantro. It has a far more robust flavor than the store bought cilantro, and really wakes up the freshness factor in this salad. Much of this recipe is to taste, so if you like more lime juice, more tomatoes, onions, ADD IT! Some people also add a bit of garlic or jalapeno. I am a purist. This is just fine!

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Contessa Kitchen Tip #3

by Crucian Contessa

Caribbean cooking is as imprecise an art  as you can find. Asking for a recipe from a friend or family member is better shown than read, because hardly anyone writes down recipes with exact measurements. You can ask a question like, “How do you make this”? And you will get a response of, “Oh, I will show you!” or “You put in some of this, and some of that!” The oral tradition remains an active part of our cultural landscape.

Recipes are guarded, and handed down from generation to generation with each person adding their own contributions. On this blog you will sometimes see words like add “a bit of” ingredient X, or “some of” ingredient Y, or other unquantified terms as a substitute for the word “Pinch”.

Just following tradition, and encouraging you to add your own creative flair!

Dominican Nutmeg

by Crucian Contessa

Somehow the words Mmmmmm… and Nut-mmmmm-eg, just seem to go hand in hand. It is a heady, warm, and fragrant spice that grows on many islands in the Caribbean.  This is what real nutmeg looks like. Forget the ground, store-bought nutmeg. This is the only way to go!  The three in this picture are from Dominica –another island in the Caribbean archipelago.

The lacy reddish bands that surround the exterior coating are yet another spice called “mace”.  If you look closely, you can see the impressions the mace carved onto the surface of the hardened nut. Gorgeous natural etchings! Read More

Peter’s Favorite Spinach Quiche…

by Crucian Contessa

Anytime my husband comes home with a bag of spinach from our favorite local farmer’s market Sejah Farm, I KNOW that he wants me to make his favorite quiche. On the island, we are lucky to get fresh eggs from the local farmers, as well as homemade bacon at a local butcher shop called “The Basic Butcher”. We adore this because it is a thick-cut bacon, and it  has NO nitrates!

Eggs and Bacon are a classic combination. Add some sharp cheeses and organic sour cream to temper it, and you have an awesome anytime meal! In our house, the smile ends when my husband’s quiche ends. This is a “once in a while” food,  but the pleasure it brings him is priceless.

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Coconut Milk…

by Crucian Contessa

I am a coconut milk fanatic. Coconut or coconut milk sneaks its way into almost everything I make–from the savory to the sweet. It is just the most luxurious of foods. I try as much as possible to use the fresh hand made version, because I am always concerned about the BPA in canned foods. And it really is extremely simple to make. Read More

Contessa Kitchen Tip #2

by Crucian Contessa

Whenever a recipe says, “Bring to room temperature” by leaving the ingredient out for an hour, bear in mind that in the Tropics “Room Temperature” can be between 80-85 degrees. That is about a ten degree difference from the “Room Temperature” on the Mainland. So the consistency of your creation, and its ultimate outcome, could be really altered by the amount of time you leave out an ingredient.

I find this to be especially so with butter or for rising yeast doughs. Instead look for descriptions about the consistency of the ingredient or the volume of the dough. Look for clue words like “softened” or “soft” (there is a difference) for butter, or “doubled” or “tripled” in size for breads.

Benefit: Breads take less time to rise in a naturally warm Crucian kitchen than a colder State-side one! Yet another reason to relocate to our little rock!

 

“Auntie Katie” Cake

by Crucian Contessa

This is a version of my favorite Aunt Katie’s cake. She never actually used semolina in her version of this simple plain cake, but it was the only addition I knew to get that same corny texture that reminded me so much of her actual cake. It was usually served practically right out of the oven warm. Its buttery lightness and a super tender crumb, were held precariously in place by a craggy exterior texture.

The fragrant headiness of the nutmeg competed for a while with the vanilla and almond extracts that flavor this cake.  This is simply my favorite cake. Basic, down-to-earth, and stirring, just like the lovely human spirit who created and shared it with me as a child.

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