Recipes By Brigid Ransome Washington
3 recipes found
Pineapple Chow Chow
This piquant pickled relish is widely believed to be descendent from English piccalilli. In Trinidad and Tobago, chow chow is a staple during the holiday season, and is often served with baked ham and hops bread on Christmas morning. Typically Trinidadian chow chow is made by soaking a bevy of fruits and vegetables like Chinese long beans and green papaya overnight in a salty-sweet brine. This quicker stovetop adaptation nixes the need for a night-long soak, and incorporates canned pineapple to add both sweetness and heft to its bright and assertive mustard base.
Saltfish Buljol (Salted Cod Salad)
Salted cod has a long and venerable history in the Caribbean islands. It is at once classic and current; a relic from the trans-Atlantic slave trade that has been repurposed into delicious relevance. In this dish, bright, spiky notes come from the addition of lime juice, habanero chiles, fresh tomatoes and a bevy of fresh, grassy aromatics. Salted cod comes packaged either boneless or bone-in. You can use either, but boneless salted cod is a tad easier to prepare than bone-in. When working with salted cod, it is imperative to desalinate the fish by either an overnight soak or by rinsing it prior to boiling. Depending on your preference, you may need to boil the cod twice and change the water in between each boil to rid the cod of excess salt.
Coconut Bake
Many of the derivatives of coconut – coconut oil, coconut milk and shredded coconut – are used in the making of this mildly sweet, surprisingly moist bread, which is very popular in Trinidad and Tobago. This family recipe uses both baking powder and yeast, as it adds extra lightness to the bake, which has a tender yet textured crumb. The complex flavor stems from the inclusion of ground ginger, nutmeg and, of course, the namesake ingredient. Coconut bake can be used in myriad meal applications — as an accompaniment to soups and stews, as a substitute for sliced bread for sandwiches or with saltfish buljol — but has enough range and depth to be enjoyed on its own.