Welcome to In Good Taste’s Christmas table, which serves up an appetizer, an entrée, a dessert and an adult drink. Enjoy!
Buljol & Bakes
(Adapted from Tastes Like Home – My Caribbean Cookbook)
Buljol is pickled salt fish. It is light, with a clean fresh taste. Serve this pickle with miniature bakes as an appetizer.
This recipe requires overnight preparation.
(Photo by Cynthia Nelson
INGREDIENTS
● 1 pound skinless, boneless salt fish
● ¾ cup finely diced onions
● ¾ cup finely diced tomatoes (cored, seeded)
● ¾ cup finely diced sweet peppers (yellow, green, red)
● 1/3 cup thinly sliced scallions/green onions (purple & white parts included)
● Finely minced hot pepper to taste
● Fresh lime/lemon juice to taste
● Salt to taste
● 3 tablespoons hot oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Rinse the salt fish and put in a bowl, cover with tap water and let is soak for 16 hours. Change the water 3 times during the soaking processes. Drain well and flake fish. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Bring a kettle with water to a boil and pour the boiling water over the fish and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain well and pat dry with paper towels. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the oil to the salt fish and toss well to mix. Taste for seasoning – salt, pepper, and lime/lemon juice and adjust to suit.
4. Pour hot oil over the mixture and toss to mix. Let Buljol rest for 20 minutes for flavours to meld before serving.
NOTES
● Skinless, boneless smoked fish can be substituted for salt fish.
● Soak the salt fish the afternoon of the day before you plan to make the Buljol.
● If you like, serve pickled cucumbers along with the Buljol and bakes.
● Heat the oil until it is smoking hot before pouring it over the buljol.
● For the bakes, make your regular dough for float bakes, cut the dough into large pieces, roll them thin then cut each piece into smaller pieces (about 2 inches) and deep fry. Drain on paper towels.
Pork Chops with Thyme-Garlic Butter
If you would like to make this savoury butter to rub all over your leg or shoulder roast, double the ingredients for the butter.
Pork Chops with
Roast Potatoes
(Photo by Cynthia Nelson)
INGRDIENTS
● Thyme-garlic butter (recipe follows)
● 6 (2-inch thick) bone-in pork chops, pat dry
● Salt and pepper to taste
● 4 tablespoons oil
For thyme-garlic butter:
● 2 large heads of garlic, roasted
● 3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
● 4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
● 1 ¼ teaspoon fine table salt
● ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
DIRECTIONS
For thyme-garlic butter:
1. Squeeze the pulp of the garlic into a blender. Add the thyme, mustard, salt and pepper and puree to make a smooth paste. You can make this using a mortar with pestle. Taste and adjust if necessary with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Lightly season pork chops with salt and pepper.
4. Heat oil until smoking hot in large frying pan. Brown the pork chops on both sides and transfer to a baking dish or pan.
5. Smear the tops (one side) of the pork chops with the thyme-garlic butter. Bake in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 – 20 minutes before serving.
NOTES
● The cooking time for the chops in the oven refers to loin chops; if using shoulder chops, double the time. You can opt to trim the loin chops remove the skin and some of the fat, leaving just a thin cap to keep the meat moist.
FOR ROAST POTATOES
● Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt the water to taste.
● Peel and drop potatoes in to boiling water. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes or until the outer part of the potatoes cook a little.
● Drain well and when cool enough to handle, take a fork and run the tines over one side of the potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika if you have; better yet, smoked paprika. Bake in a 400 degrees F oven for 40 minutes or until cooked through.
Banana Mousse
After all the heavy-laden food filled with assertive flavours, this Banana Mousse, as dessert, will serve as a palette cleanser. It is fruity and not overly sweet.
INGREDIENTS
● ½ pound of peeled ripe bananas
● 1 tablespoon lemon/lime juice
● ¼ cup orange juice
● ½ cup white granulated sugar
● 2 tablespoons banana liqueur/Cointreau
● 1 tablespoon tap water
● 1 tablespoon gelatin powder or 2 gelatin leaves, soaked for 10 mins and then squeezed dry
● 1 + 1/3 cup heavy cream
DIRECTIONS
1. Cut bananas into pieces and puree in a blender with the lemon and orange juice and sugar.
2. Add the water and liqueur to a saucepan and warm to 115 – 120 degrees F. Remove from heat and stir in gelatin or gelatin leaves until dissolved. When dissolved, stir in to the pureed fruit.
3. Whisk cream until it thickens but not to the stage of whipped cream. Fold the cream into the puree; spoon the mousse into individual glasses or goblets and refrigerate until set.
4. Serve garnished with mint (optional).
Mulled Wine
Make this drink and watch it disappear in no time. Fruity, spiced, and sweet, served warm or at room temperature, mulled wine can mischievously sneak up on you. You could find yourself having to catch your bearings as you stand up. Don’t say you weren’t warned. Here’s a piece of advice, if you are entertaining with this drink, make a large batch.
Choose a red wine that you like but do not splurge on an overly expensive bottle of wine because all the nuances of it will be lost in the heating process. And remember, the wine will be spiced too. Find a fruity wine with high alcohol content and high tannins. Tannin in wine refers to the bitterness and astringency that when combined makes a complex flavour. In simpler terms, tannin can be considered as the degree of tartness of the wine. You need the high tannin content because the wine is going to be sweetened and spiced to balance the flavour.
INGREDIENTS
● 1 x 750 ml bottle red
wine
● ¼ cup port wine (sweet
red wine)
● ¼ cup orange juice
(see notes below)
● ½ cup white sugar
● 2 cardamom pods, lightly
bruised to crack open
● 6 whole cloves
● 6 black peppercorns
● 6 whole allspice berries
● 1 small star anise
● 1 cinnamon stick
DIRECTIONS
1. Add the ingredients to a pot and place over medium heat; stir to dissolve the sugar (1 – 2 minutes). Bring to a simmer, and reduce heat to very low and cook for 30 minutes until the flavours are melded.
2. Remove the pot from the heat and cool to warm or room temperature. Pass through a sieve, pouring into a jug before serving.
3. Garnish with orange wedges and cinnamon sticks (optional).
NOTES
● Use a non-reactive pot. A non-stick pot or any enamel-coated pot/pan would do.
● Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir the wine.
● In place of the plain orange juice, use 1 whole orange – remove the zest and then juice the orange and add it to the pot with the wine.
● Do NOT ever let the mixture come to a boil, if that happens the alcohol would quickly evaporate. The point here is to infuse the wine with the spices and citrus and warm it through, SLOWLY.
● Other flavour ingredients to experiment with – fresh ginger, nutmeg and mint. Other fruits that can be used in place of orange – fresh cranberries or apples.
● Store extra or leftovers in one of the empty wine bottles.
