Barbados @ 50 - Bay Leaf

One of the amazing things about Barbados is that the island is studded with tall, sturdy, towering bay leaf trees. Also known in some other parts of the region as the spice leaf tree, or West Indian Bay Leaf, the variety of this bay leaf is superior in terms of fragrance and flavour. The leaves of some of the trees grow as long 5 inches with about 2 and 1/2 and more inches in width. Rarely do you need to use more than 1 bay leaf when you are cooking. In addition to cooking with bay leaf, teas are also made with the leaves, as well as wines and other concoctions. The aromatic leaves are also used to ward of insects - a few are thrown into cupboards and pantries.

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Nutmeg Photo Essay

A THING OF BEAUTY

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Meat + Rice + Spices = Tatbileh

Like many of you, I buy and eat the same things every week, particularly when I am busy. The familiar is quick and easy to prepare because we can make it with our eyes closed. In this week's column, I share with you a Middle Eastern rice dish, Tatbileh, which I discovered when reading a blog! Truly, food blogs are the best places to discover food. Thanks to Sarah Melamed over at Food Bridge, I now have another dish that I can add to my repertoire of quick tasty meals.

Read more about this dish here and get the recipe, or head over to the Food Bridge.

This week on About.com, discover how to make this delicious, creamy corn soup that is a favourite in Trinidad & Tobago.

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What is Allspice?

Contrary to popular belief, Allspice is not a ground up mixture of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. It is a spice all by it self. Read this week's column to find out more about this dried unripe berry that is a major export from Jamaica and how you can use it.

Jamaica Pepper, English Spice, Clover Pepper, Myrtle Pepper and Pimento are a few of the other names given to Allspice.

This week on ABOUT.Com.

Want to make these Potato Balls that are a street food in certain parts of the Caribbean? Then get the recipe here. If you have left over mashed potatoes, you can certainly doctor them up and makes these babies.

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Annatto aka "Poor Man's Saffron"

Bunches of beautiful ripe, red Annatto can be found on the tree just outside the classroom where I teach. I’ve tried to get my colleagues and students to try using it in their cooking but I’ve had no luck so far. Perhaps I can convince you? Read more about this spice that's popular in this week's column and why it is referred to as "poor man's saffron".

This is what the fruit looks like:

It is used in its fresh (left, top & bottom) and dry form (right, top & bottom). See the colour it yields? Please see my friend Felix's post on how to make the concentrate for home use.

The concentrate drizzled over rice while cooking and tossed at the end gives a beautiful two-colour rice.

A recipe to make the Achiote oil can be found in this week's column.

Sunny-side up eggs cooked with Achiote oil makes a for a striking presentation.

This past week I have been doing one of the things I love - baking bread and sharing it with my friends. One of my favourite bread-baking sites is the one owned and run by my friend Chuck over at The Knead for Bread. You've heard me mention his site before... his recipes are fool-proof and always turn out perfectly.

I first made his Coconut Bread which is a pull-bread (my favourite kind), no need for knives and this bread needs no butter or jam. All it requires are fingers that do double duty - pulling and transporting to the mouth!

See the topping? The crumble. I swear, you'll find yourself picking at it all the time and as in my case, you'll have adults unashamedly eyeing each other's piece of bread to see who got the bigger piece with the topping. I am not kidding you. Do give this a try.

A few days later, I made the Pesto Bread. Just like Chuck, I had some pesto in the fridge left back from a batch I had made recently. This savoury bread can be enjoyed as is but if you are looking for a sweet and salt combo that will dance on your tongue, slather some jam on it, take a bite, chew slowly, and let your tastebuds go wild with pleasure. Here is the recipe.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all those celebrating the holiday!

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I'm all spiced up

I chuckled a couple of weeks ago as I read Dave Martins’ article, Guarding the recipe, in which he expressed his enjoyment of some “mouth-watering” and “mek yuh foot bottom lif’ off de ground” (make your feet lift off of the ground) food in the forms of corn bread, fry bake, pepper sauce, fried snapper and coconut fish. Dave enjoyed these creations so much that he wanted to try making them himself but the creators would not share their recipes. Although he extolled the delights of his Cardamom Bread, he stopped short of sharing his recipe with us. He’s guarding his recipe too! Well, I was going to have none of it... click here to read the column.

I first saw the Cardamom Bread on Aparna's blog and was led to Mike Swanson's website. Mike, thanks again for permission to publish your recipe in print. You can click here for Mike's recipe in which he gives variations if you're making the bread by hand or using a bread machine.

Cardamom Bread

Aparna's recipe with some variations can be found here.

I seriously doubt that the coconut-fish concoction that Dave was referring to was the Kerala Fish Molee, I think he had some of Belize's Fish Serre which is similar, in that the fish is cooked in coconut milk along with fresh herbs and some ground provisions. Thanks to my friend Lyra, I hope to make this dish soon and share the recipe with you.

Fish Molee Spices

For now, I'd like you to continue enjoying this wonderfully delicious and delicately spiced fish curry that is Fish Molee. You can find recipes for it here, here and here. Since I first made Fish Molee, I have been using Malar's recipe and tweaking it with lemograss :) Thanks for permission to publish your recipe too Malar.

Fish Molee

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Fond Recollections

Have you ever sat down to a meal and as you are eating, you think of others – be they family or friends – that you think might enjoy the meal and wish that they were there to share it with you? That’s what happened to me this past Wednesday. Click here to read the rest of this week's column.

Here's what I was eating:

Braised Baby-back Ribs with Black Bean & Garlic Sauce

Stir-fry Baby Bak Choy

Pan Roasted Pears with sweet spices

Sauteed Apples with Cinnamon

Do not hesitate to email me for any or all of the recipes.


I am now a Contributor to a Canadian Magazine on food, fashion and travel, City Style & Living. Be sure to check out this issue if you're in Canada and try my recipes.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

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Kabset Baitenjan (Iraqi-style Beef & Vegetable Stew)

Since I first read about this stew in December's issue of Saveur, I have been making it often. When my brother first tasted whilst visiting me back in January, he just could not get it off of his mind. So, when I visited my family in Guyana recently, he requested that we make the stew together. This week's column gives you some insight into a sibling relationship and food communication. Click here to read it.

The spice paste is what gives this stew it's unique flavour especially when mixed and cooked with the tomato sauce. It's a one-pot dish that's great for entertaining and everything is cooked twice. A note before I send you to the recipe - it calls for frying the veggies and meat in a deep pot but I found it to be way too oily the first time I made it, I have since switched to pan frying which uses a lot less oil. For the original recipe, click here. For my adaption with less oil, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the column. I'm thinking that I'd like to try it with chicken sometime.

Happy Weekend everyone and I'm looking forward to catching up on your posts!

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