IMITATION JERK PORK

When Massy stores put out these fresh slices (steaks) of pork leg just as I was doing my weekly shopping, I immediately thought “jerk pork.” There was no Walker’s Wood jerk seasoning on the shelf ( and we trines swear that this is the best brand), but I thought that it would be no problem because I always have a supply at home. I was wrong.Be lately I remembered that the last bottle had been transported to the villa in Tobago. So what to do?

The options were:

1. Go look for Walker’s Wood jerk at another grocery
2. Buy another brand
3. Do something else

Being a sort of a lazy guy, I decided on option 3. So I made up an imitation jerk sauce with ingredients I had on hand.

THE BASIC SEASONING

From my kitchen garden I took 10 leaves of shadow beni plus enough fine thyme to fill a table spoon. These seasonings were ground up with 6 clove of garlic

THE OTHER INGREDIENTS

• 2 table spoons of ground Geera
• 2 table spoons of pepper sauce
• 1 tablespoon of mustard
• 1 teaspoon each of black pepper and salt
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of butter

All ingredients were mixed together and the pork generously lathered with the imitation sauce. It was set aside in the refridgerator for 2 days.

COOKING

• Foil a baking pan
• Base the foil with some butter
• Pre heat the oven to 400 degrees
• Bake uncovered for 15 minutes
• Turn the meat
• Reduce heat to 350
• Bake for another 20 minutes

 

TUNA STEAK SALAD

This dish was inspired by a presentation on TV featuring chef Bobby Flay.

Having feasted on Tobago stewed pork, curry chicken and fish steamed in coconut milk over dumplings, cassava and green figs, yesterday, I was in no condition to enjoy the Tuna steak which a neighbor brought for me last night.  After a small sliver to taste I refrigerated the rest with breakfast in mind.

This morning however, what looked like a delicious steak, had the appearance of something a little withered. Definitely not the most appetizing piece of fish any one would have ever seen. It needed something to brighten it up, make it look more appetizing.

Searching for inspiration in the fridge I spotted some yogurt. Immediately the Bobby Flay program came to mind. In that episode he made a dressing with yogurt as one of the ingredients. So what else was in the fridge?

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tuna steak cooked medium rare and flaked
• 1 table spoon of capers
• 2 hard boiled eggs chopped in quarters
• 4 cherry tomatoes halved
• 1/4 cup of chopped bell peppers
• 1/4 cup of sliced white onions
• 1/4 cup of chopped celery
• 4 stalks of chive, chopped
• Teaspoon of fresh cilantro torn up
• Teaspoon of red pepper flakes

THE DRESSING

• Table spoon of mustard
• Blueberry yogurt
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• Teaspoon of black pepper
• Teaspoon of salt

In hindsight I think that a little honey would have made this delicious dish perfect.

 

Three children and three grandsons

The youngest grandson, Miles is missing in this photo.

Fried Chicken in Tomato/Coconut/Curry Sauce

This is a picture of some of my overcooked fried chicken breasts.

instead of throwing it all out I decided to put it into a sauce. So today I cooked;

Fried Chicken in Tomato/Coconut/Curry Sauce

Stewed cabbage with corn and peppers

Couscous

Sauce Ingredients

1.Squares of fried chicken breasts

2. One cup of chopped pumpkin

3. 4 cloves of garlic. Minced

4. 2 large pimentos minced

5. Whole scotch bonnet pepper

6. 2 tablespoons cooking oil

7. 1 tablespoon of curry powder

8. Quarter of a large onion chopped

9. 1 tablespoon coconut milk powder

10. 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

Make a paste of the coconut milk, curry powder and the tomato ketchup

Sautee onions, garlic, pumpkin and peppers at medium heat for 6 minutes, Add the chicken and mix well. Stir in the paste. Add salt to taste. Cover the pot. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Be careful not to allow the hot pepper to burst.

CURRY CORN

Angela Mc Farlane sent me this. She wrote, “I saw a Trini chef on you tube. He roasted the corn first, made a curry sauce and just simmered the corn until the curry, coconut milk and corn is well cooked. I made some flat dumplings the size of a quarter and added them to the curry. I also added corn kernels to add thickness to the sauce. Season to taste off course. It’s very good.”

In a subsequent conversation she told me that my sister Celia had some the next day which prior to eating she heated up adding some shrimp to the mix. This she also claims was very good.

Chimichurri Chicken Steak With Couscous

Mom has gotten even more selective about the things she would eat. She seems to have lost taste for most things which she had been accustomed eating. Dishes she was enjoying last week, no longer appeal today. She is driving my sister and the care giver up a wall trying to figure out what she will eat today if anything at all. At 88 she needs to eat, maybe more so that we younger McFarlanes need to. Daddy on the other hand is devouring everything in sight as long as it does not contain pepper or curry.

I have joined in the hunt for recipes which might appeal to mom. In a dream last night I was eating Peruvian food. Specifically a Peruvian steak. This is a dish I had had once about 3 years ago at a Peruvian restaurant in Miami. That was my only experience of Chimichurri. While out exercising, I remembered the dream and thought that this might be a flavor which Mom would enjoy. The only challenge is that she is no longer eating any kind of meat, no beef, no lamb, no goat. Chicken, yes, as long as it is not white in appearance when done. So chicken steaks with something would be my next offering for her.

For her I will do the Chimichurri Chicken with sweet potato fries and Cole slaw. But for myself I prepared this dish:

This is Chimichurri Chicken plus couscous with red beans and slices of avocado. Once I had made the chimichurri sauce and put the chicken to marinade in it( ideally for 24 hours) I just had to sample it, so I cooked one of the steaks within 2 hours.

The recipes for Chimichurri sauce are on line. It calls for the following ingredients:

• Olive oil
• Red wine vinegar
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• Garlic
• Crushed red peppers
• Ground cumin
• Salt

These are all blended together to make the sauce. I did not have all these ingredients so my compromise ingredients were:

• Fresh thyme
• Shandon beni
• Teaspoon of curry powder
• Chive
• Garlic
• Scotch bonet pepper
• Crushed red peppers
• 4 pimentoes
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• Salt

This is how it looks when set aside to marinade.

The chicken steaks were made from chicken breasts from which the bones had been removed and the flattened into steaks with a meat tenderizer .

The cooking took just 5 minutes in a grill pan. Two and a half minutes on each side, then left in the pan covered for another 5 minutes.

For the couscous couscous I sauted some cooked black beans in olive oil with chopped onions, garlic, pimentos, and pumpkin slices. This was then stored into the couscous couscous which was prepared according to the instructions on the package.

Tomorrow I will know how mom like this dish. I hope that you do.

Trini/Jamaican/Thai Soup

Today I cooked a soup which I am calling Trini, Jamaican, Thai, Soup.

Having promised my family to bring home Thai food for lunch, I drove to the restaurant. Ten feet short of the entrance I was hit by the CLOSED sign. Closer examination of the opening hours sign, advised me that on week-ends the restaurant only opened for dinner from 5 pm. It was then 11am. I turned away very disappointed because I really had my mind set on the Thai Coconut Chicken Soup.

Shaking my head, I shuffled towards the car to return home. As I drove off considering alternatives for the lunch I had promised the family, I spotted a Walmart on the compound. I pulled aside. Thought for a minute and had a “to hell with it,” moment. “I will make my own damn soup.” Cruising the isles of the supermarket section of Walmart I picked up:

1 4 lb chicken

3 cans of red beans

1 large red onion

2 packets of coconut milk powder

1 carton of chicken stock

2 large potatoes

1 packet of frozen corn

1 large casava

These became the basic ingredients for the Trini, Jamaican, Thai Soup.

The total list of ingredients for the soup are:

1. 4 cups of water
2. i teaspoon of pepper sauce
3. 4 tablespoons of olive oil
4. 2 lemons juiced
5. 2 table spoons of ketchup
6. 10 chunks of carrots 🥕,pumpkin, sweet potato, corn on the cob and cassava
8. 1 4 lb chicken cut into chunks to give 16 pieces
9. 3 cans of precooked red beans
10. 32 ozs chicken stock
11. Finely diced quarter of red onion, 6 cloves garlic, large tomato
12. 4 stalks of Spanish thyme
13. Quarter cup of finely diced pumpkin
14. Half cup of finely diced sweet potato
15. 1 and a half packets (3 ozs) coconut powder
16. Handful of fresh green herbs finely diced

PREPARATION

Wash the chicken in the lemon juice. Season with salt black pepper, worchester sauce, the diced herbs, and the pepper sauce.

Set Aside.

COOKING

1. Add the water to a large soup pan and bring to a boil
2. Add half the chicken stock, the corn plus the finely diced sweet potato and pumpkin
3. After 10 minutes add the coconut milk powder and the cassava
4. Heat the oil in a non stick sauce pan
5. Introduced the chicken and allow to cook for 8 minutes
6. Add the garlic, tomato, and onion
7. After 5 minutes add the  red beans
8. After 5 minutes transfer the contents of the nonstick sauce pan into the soup pot
9. Add the thyme, pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots and the ketchup
11. Cook until the provision , especially the cassava is soft.

Note that some dumplings would have made this a true Trini type dish .

By country the contributions are:

Trinidad

1. Provision
2. Pepper sauce
3. Seasoning

Jamaica

1. Redbeans

Thailand

1. Coconut milk

 

 

Parmesan Pork Chops

The menu comprised of an entre of Parmesan Pork Chops surrounded by two appetizers and a desert. This was the dinner menu prepared for my oldest daughter George and her two sons.

 

A question for you. Whose children, grandchildren and great grandchildren makes chow from every imaginable fruit and who simultaneously love cheeses?

Answer. Those of Andrew and Betty Mc Farlane.

The influence is probably more that of Betty than Andrew because her nephews and nieces who are descendants of her sister Babba, share the same love of chow made from every imaginable fruit.

It is easy therefore to recognize my daughters as being my daughters and as sisters. Like all Mc Farlane, the youngest Dani, loves both chow and cheeses. The oldest, Alyss, who I call George, loves cheeses. Both have shelves full of various cheeses in their refrigerator and like me must have at least one piece every day. A trip to the refrigerator almost always results in a take away of a slice (or 2).

It is partially in recognition of her love for cheese which led me to decide upon the Parmesan baked pork chops as the entree for her mothers’ day dinner today. The second reason for the decision is that she brought home a packet of pork chops which she admits is not a cut of meat she frequently uses. When therefore I thought to make her a special mothers’ day dinner in her new home, to be served on her spanking new mothers’ day gift of a dining table, the choice had to be something which combined cheese and pork chops.

A check on the the internet of the combined words Cheese and Pork Chops, yielded the result Parmesan Pork Chops by Elizabeth Knicely .

This mothers’ day was a very special occasion for the following reasons:

1. This was the very first time that I would share mothers’ day with my daughter George and her two boys the oldest of whom is 21. And if anyone is wondering how this could be, please note that they live in Fort Worth , Texas, USA, and I live in Trinidad and Tobago.
2. This was an opportunity to celebrate with them on their move into their new home.

The home had been acquired on the first of December 2016. It was tenanted with a lease due to expire on May 31st 2017. The tenants left earlier than expected allowing us to have the place in time for mothers’ day. I visited to assist with the fixing and moving.

The decision to visit and help gave me another reason to view this whole period as particularly special. The fixing up and moving was done almost entirely by my oldest grandson Jordan, and me. His mom works two jobs and his brother has school, so we were thrown together landscaping, painting, cleaning, packing and moving. In all of his 21 years, this was the first opportunity we have ever had to be alone together for so many hours. I will treasure these moments to the day I die.PRECIOUS.

As it turned out, Jordan was unable to share the dinner with us. Her works 40 hours a weaken evenings from Thursday to Monday, at a restaurant . And mothers’ day week-end is one of those special occasions when restaurants are extremely busy. He never got home until after 1am.

My special dinner menu was:

• Shrimp cocktails
• Chicken chunks with bell peppers stir fried
• Parmesan pork chops
• Coconut yogurt with fresh fruit

SHRIMP COCKTAIL

For this dish I used pre cooked shrimp, finely diced tomatoes, red onions ,romaine lettuce and a sauce of mustard, mayonnaise and agave syrup .

CHICKEN

  

This was made with chunks of chicken breasts and green and red bell peppers turned in olive oil and seasoned with salt and black pepper.

PORK CHOPS

The recipe for the Parmesan Pork Chops can be found online. Note how ever that I am “ah true Trini.” And Trini’s like to season things so I did.

• First I washed the chops in lime juice
• Next I seasoned them with finely chopped cilantro plus salt and black pepper and set aside for 4 hours
• 
•  I then followed Elizabeth Knickey’s recipe but added some potatoes and carrots to the baking dish

 

DESERT

 

This creation included:

1.Chobani coconut yogurt

2.Grapes

3.Watermellon

4.Cantaloupe

5. Agrave syrup

Ingredients were mixed together then set into the freezer until ready to serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conch buljol

Apologies to all who read the post for this menu. Unfortunately an unedited version was published showing a distorted chart and several embarrassing mistakes like my mom sending me to a barber to buy beef. I hope that you read that to mean butcher.

The comparison of the ingredients for the two dishes are:

Salt Fish Buljol contains, tomatoes, onions, black pepper, hot pepper and olive oil.

Conch Buljol contains, chives, butter, olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, onions and hot peppers.

Lime juice is used in both. It’s added to the finished dish of saltfish while it is used to wash the conch for the conch buljol.

My apologies for all the errors.

CONCH BULJOL

Sister Valarie named the dish prepared primarily for mom as Conch Buljol. She, Valarie that is, thought that I had some more exotic name for this offering and because I had not even thought about naming what I consider to be Ken Sebro,s creation, I am accepting the name on behalf of Ken and myself. The comparison below will identify the appropriateness of Val,s name.

Items Salt fish Buljol Conch Buljol

Black pepper y y

Salt y

Pimentos y

Hot pepper y y

Olive oil y y Lime juice y y

onions y y

Tomatoes

Chives

Butter

Y

Y

Y and y to the butter as well

Ken is renowned among his friends for his conch dishes. His conch spouse is the best and the one he cooked for my 70th birthday/Super Bowl lime is still being talked about 4 weeks later.

About 4 years ago Ken and were invited to the BP booth at the queens park oval to witness a cricket match. BP dedicated that day to it,s staff and we were required to bring food. Ken’s offering was a conch turned in garlic. It was outstanding. Last year I gave a version of that dish to my mom and she loved it. The ingredients for her included a bit of hot pepper plus green and red bell peppers. Mom was disappointed recently when I brought food and it did not include the conch dish. I made her a promise to do it next time.

In the last year or two, mom, now well into her eighties has been eating less and less. This is of some concern to the family because she eats less than the recommended dosage for persons her age and this can have dire consequences. And it’s not that she won’t eat because she has lost appetite she seems to find fewer and fewer foods appealing. She has a particular phobia about beef, harboring the belief that all beef tastes like buffalo. Amazing because she has never had buffalo meat in her life. Mom even sent me to a special butcher to buy fresh beef. A barber

whom she trusted. She could not bring herself to eat even that beef. When therefore we discover a dish she is willing to eat, we try t make it available.

Last week a friend gave me a nice package of 6 really nice conch, just in time for mom,s visit to Trindad.

At 5 am on Wednesday morning, the day of her arrival, I started to prepare the Ken version of garlicky conch only to discover that some key ingredients were missing. The decision to compromiseresulted in the CONCH BULJOL.

She had it for 3 meals, leaving behind all the other meats which had been prepared for her.

Conch Buljol

Ingredients

6 conch

2 large tomatoes. Diced

Half of a large white onion also diced

2 garlic cloves finely diced

Half of a scotch bonnet pepper finely diced

Table spoon of olive oil

Teaspoon of black pepper

Table spoon of salt

Table spoon of butter

Juice of two limes

Tablespoon of diced chives

Prepare the conch

While the conch is still very frozen, remove the hard dark skin from the tail half.

Use a heavy, solid object like a stone or tenderizer to tenderize the meat.

Cut into bite sized pieces and wash in the lime juice.

Pressure cook in salted water for 60 minutes.

Make the Buljol

1. Heat the olive oil in a non stick pan

2. Sautethe garlic and hot pepper for 30 seconds

3. Reduce the heat to medium

4. Add the onions and the conch

5. Cook for 4 minutes stirring regularly

6. Add the black pepper and the butter

7. Remove from the fire after the butter has melted