While wintering in South Florida, we fell in love with Caribbean and Floribbean cuisine. We dined on Cuban Sandwiches, ceviche, conch and fish salads, fish and shrimp with sweet plantains, jerk chicken with salsa and Cuban pork with rice and beans. We also experimented with the ingredients, flavorings and spices unique to Caribbean cooking – pepper, coconut, nutmeg, mace, allspice, cinnamon, garlic, mango, papaya, plantains, greens. And we discovered wonderful sauces, rubs and marinades for meat, chicken and seafood from Haiti, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Caymans and the Dutch and French Islands. In this blog, I share a few of my favorite sandwiches, salads and side dishes with you. In PassageMaker’s new newsletter, I share the recipes for sauces, rubs and marinades and in an upcoming issue of PassageMaker, I offer a few Caribbean menus that are easy to make aboard.
CUBAN SANDWICH (Serves 2)
12-inch loaf Cuban bread, split lengthwise
1/4 lb. thinly sliced ham
1/4 lb. thinly sliced cooked pork roast (see recipe above)
4 slices Swiss cheese
6 pickle slices
Mustard and mayonnaise
Spread mustard and mayonnaise on insides of the split loaf. Add layers of ham, roast pork, and cheese. Top with sliced pickles. Heat both sides of the sandwich on a grill or in a Panini press. You can also fry it in a pan on the stovetop (like you’d cook a grilled cheese sandwich), weighting the top with a plate and turning once. Serve hot or warm.
CONCH OR SEAFOOD SALAD
This is the basic recipe for raw conch salad, should you find yourself with fresh conch. It is also delicious when made with any raw or cooked fish or scallops.
1/4 cup lime, lemon, or sour orange juice
1 tablespoon grated lime, lemon, or orange peel
1/2 teaspoon minced hot pepper (jalapeño, habanero, or other hot pepper)
1/2 cup chopped onion or scallion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 lb. fresh raw (or cooked, if you prefer) conch, scallops, salmon, tuna, whitefish, or shrimp, cut into bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
Place all ingredients except seafood in a mixing bowl, blend well and season with salt and pepper. Add seafood and marinate 30 minutes in refrigerator. Serve on lettuce leaf cups with a bottle of hot sauce on the side
TROPICAL COLESLAW
There are more variations on coleslaw recipes in Caribbean cuisine than I can count. This is one of the best I’ve tasted.
2 tablespoons chopped green pepper
1/2 cup diced apple
1 teaspoon each salt and sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
3 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
3 slices pineapple, chopped
Combine all ingredients and serve.
SPICY CUCUMBER SALAD
1 large cucumber
1 teaspoon seeded chili peppers, minced
1 cup white, cider or rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Wash the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and slice it into moon-shaped, 1/3-inch-thick pieces. Place it in a bowl along with the chili peppers. Mix vinegar, sugar, and salt and pepper. Pour onto cucumber mixture, chill, and serve
SWEET PLANTAINS
Near our Florida home is a great little Caribbean restaurant called Calypso in Pompano Beach that makes the most delicious plantains I’ve ever tasted. I spent the winter trying to replicate the recipe and here is the one that comes closest to the original.
3 ripe black plantains, peeled* and cut into 1” inch rounds
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet and place over medium low heat (to avoid burning the plantains). Sautee the plantains in a single layer, until golden on the bottom then turn over with a spatula. Add the cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar and let cook a few more seconds until the sugar melts. Remove pan from heat and leave plantains in pan. Just before serving, melt remaining butter and gently blend plantains into caramelized sauce and heat on low until thoroughly warmed. Serve immediately.
*To peel the plantains, cut off ends and discard. With a paring knife, make 3 shallow slits lengthwise along the seams of the skin and peel away. Split the plantains lengthwise.
COCONUT RICE
3 cups long grain rice
2 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover tightly, reduce heat to very low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Fluff rice when cooked. To make it a bit sweeter, add ½ teaspoon of sugar or crystallized ginger.
Variation: Coconut Rice and Peas
To the recipe above (without sugar) add items below to saucepan at the start of cooking and follow directions above:
3 cups canned and drained pigeon peas or chickpeas
1 cup chopped scallions
1 scotch bonnet or 2 jalapeno peppers left whole
½ teaspoon dry thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1/4 cup olive oil