Caribbean Cuisine

HRinNH

Help! Our church is holding a Winter Social and the theme is A Caribbean Cruise. I need a few easy, cheap recipes that would feed a big crowd and have a Caribbean flavor.

Any recipes can either be offered here or you can e-mail them to me at my home address: [u]ven4us2@metrocast.net[/u]

Thanks much!
Cheryl

Whirlwind

This is more of an idea than a recipe at this point: They're big on black beans in the Caribbean. And you can't get much cheaper than beans. I've got a good black bean soup recipe at home, hand written on a spattered recipe card. If you're interested, I'll convert it to electrons.

HRinNH

Sounds great...please pass it on!
Cheryl C.

Whirlwind

Cheryl,

Here's the black bean soup. I haven't made this in years and had forgotten that it has bacon and ham in it. I don't think you eat pork, so I guess you could either use turkey bacon and ham, or omit the meat altogether and add more spices like chili powder, cilantro, and/or cumin.

Black Bean Soup

2 C. dried black beans
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2-3 slices of bacon
1.5 C. cooked ham chunks
1.5 tsp. dry mustard
2 T. lemon juice
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste (or use fresh minced garlic and add at the same time as the onions)

Soak beans overnight in enough water to cover. When ready to cook, add enough water to make about 2 quarts. Add bacon and onions (and garlic if using fresh rather than powder). Bring to a boil and simmer until beans are tender -- 3 to 4 hours or all day in a crockpot. Puree mixture in blender, return to pot and reheat, adding ham, lemon juice, and seasonings. Makes about 8-10 cups.

A word of extreme caution from someone who learned the hard way (that would be me): When pureeing hot liquid mixtures in a blender, do it in very small batches and hold the lid down tight with both hands. Something in the process makes the lid tend to blow, spewing the contents liberally around your kitchen. I had this experience with black beans and also squash when making butternut squash soup. Trust me, you do not want to be scraping black beans off your ceiling and re-painting it dark purple. Black beans stain like blueberries!

HRinNH

Thanks Whirlwind, this will work nicely. I'll have to quadruple the recipe though. I'll use turkey bacon and ham. No problem there.

Thanks also for the hint about the exploding blender. I've done this with water alone so nothing got stained (only semi-scalded...me) but I learned!

Oh also the cumin is a given...I love it as much as cilantro. Yeah mon!

Cheryl :-)

HRinFL

You can buy packets, of Mahatma [sp?] yellow rice at the grocery store and it has a recipe for chicken and yellow rice on the bag. I have used this recipe before and it is great (I also add black beans to the recipe). Cut up a loaf of Cuban bread and have at it.

Carribean flavors are diverse, but some of the common spices are curry, chili powder, sasson [sp?], and bitter orange. Marinate just about any meat in a little olive oil and Mojo, top with fresh cilantro and fresh tomatoes and you can't go wrong either. I will take a rotisserie chicken and marinate it with Mojo and cilantro and slow cook it on the grill using my rotisserie attachment. The family loves it. I will normally serve it with yellow rice and either Cuban bread or quartered potatoes with chili powder, paprika, and a light dusting of garlic powder (not really Carribean, but good!). Now I'm hungry!

BTW, if anyone has a good recipe for paella, I would like to try and make this.

HRinNH

I'll start another thread with the Paella recipe.
Cheers!
Cheryl C.

Parabeaglex2

Think rum.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist. x;-)

HRinNH

As this is a church social...I think the rum will stay at home.

Cheryl C.