In the land of Rum and Fish

That national bird of Bermuda is the Bird of Paradise. While it isn’t exactly paradise here, it comes close. Bermuda is still a British Colony (although you wouldn’t know it on July 4th! There were so many fire works displays I thought that we were back in DC. I wonder if the inhabitants of this British Isle noted the irony of celebrating the American War of Independence…) Since its roots are British it isn’t exactly know for its stellar food. I was actually surprised about how little fresh fruit grows on this island. However, as long as you stick to the staples—fish and rum—you can’t go wrong.

Since it’s an island nation, it’s not hard to find a good fish. Some of my favorites so far are the red grouper—I’m not sure that it is in fact a grouper, since it is much smaller than any grouper I’ve seen and doesn’t have the characteristic dopey expression; muddled snapper—a white, flakey fish with sweet flesh. You also commonly see on menus this time of year gambas (big shrimp), Wahoo—being a UVa Grad this fish, which as legend has it is the only fish that can drink twice its weight, has special significance—and yellowtail snapper.

Another staple here is Bermuda Fish Chowder. It is a slightly spicy, tomato based soup with vegetables and of course lots of fish. I think each cook has their own special recipe, but the chowder I have had so far didn’t have any crustaceans, and usually is made with some rum. The chowder is traditionally served hot with “sherry pepper” (sherry vinegar infused with hot peppers) and for flavor, of course, rum. I like the fish chowder, but I’m not crazy about it. The fish gets a bit overdone in the chowder which imparts a grainy texture onto the soup.

For dessert, you can’t go wrong with a Rum Cake. We took a special trip to the rum cake factory which of course involved sampling all the different cakes. Rum cake is your standard light and fluffy and very, very good coffee cake. The only difference is that it is made with Bermudan rum! The modern rum cake comes in lots of different flavors including chocolate, banana, ginger, rum swizzle (more on that tomorrow), and my favorite, coffee.

Stay tuned…the next post is all about the best Bermudan drinks!

Life is Good

What can I say? I’m sitting outside, sipping a rum swizzle, listening to the melodious harmonies of tree frogs, blowing smoke rings, and watching the moonlight sparkle off the clear Bermudan waters. Maybe I’ve had one too many swizzles, but I am also watching a boat with four shadowy figures on board coast through the inlet with its lights off…Images of “The Beach” come to mind, but unfortunately Leonardo DiCaprio is nowhere to be found….

Medallions of Veal With Gran Marnier ReductionAnyway, a lot of my friends ask me how I come up with recipes. It is a process based off of my own experiments and shamelessly “borrowing” the work of others. I love to read cookbooks, but I hate to follow recipes. I use them for ideas, however I hardly ever follow a recipe word for word. I often cook what I crave (good thing for my regular dining companions, my husband and my brother, I’m not pregnant) or what I have readily available. For example, on Tuesday, I wanted to cook something high in protein, i.e. meat, but something I had in my freezer so I didn’t have to make a separate trip to the grocery store. I defrosted some lovely veal medallions. I was contemplating making a lemon caper sauce, but I ran out of regular olive oil to sear the meat, and I only had blood orange infused olive oil. Orange made me think of Gran Marnier. Because it has a high sugar content and of course lots of flavor, Gran Marnier reduces into a perfect syrupy consistency, and was a lovely pairing with the veal. I had some Swiss chard in the fridge. I quickly sautéed the greens with garlic and the remainder of the unflavored olive oil, added a couple of cans of stewed tomatoes, a can of kidney beans, and a teaspoon of sugar and cooked until almost all the liquid was gone.

Yes. Life is good.

Easy Summer Meals

Insightful remark of the night...summer is here.  Just because it is hot outside doesn't meant you have to stop cooking, but on these hot nights I crave lighter meals.  (Ignore my posts on venison stew and the five course meals we have been eating lately).  Light doesn't mean lacking in flavor, however.  On Saturday we went to a concert and brought a picnic supper of prosciutto, mozzarella, and sun dried tomato sandwiches.  Last night we didn't have much time to prepare dinner, so I defrosted some Smithfield Farm Lamb sausages, seared them in a hot skillet, and served them with a fresh baguette, sauteed peppers and onions, and stone ground mustard.  It was easy and delicious.  Tonight we had another favorite--lemon and herb grilled trout.

A Perfect Night For Stew

Venison BourguignonOK, not really. It's hot and muggy here. But my brother mistakenly defrosted some venison stew meat for the fajitas, so I had to cook it. It's wild venison and probably a little tough, so I decided to stew the meat. I had opened a less then stellar bottle of wine, so I guess I am making "venison bourguignon." Juniper berries which--you guessed it--grow on Juniper trees are sweet and piney, and work well with game meats. I also added some onion and carrots, tomato paste, garlic, star anise, cloves, rosemary, and thyme. Hopefully it tastes good. If not, there is always take-out!

Whenever I cook venison, I think of Switzerland. I promise, this is not a non-sequitur. I found this restaurant in Zurich that, to this day, is still my favorite restaurant in the world. It is called Caduff's Wine Loft. Caduff, the chef and owner, prepares the day's menu based on what looks good in the market. The restaurant, which isn't in the greatest area of town, is unpretentious. I have to admit, I was unimpressed when I walked in and saw the stark, white-washed walls. This was before I visited the wine cellar. Instead of a wine list, Caduff takes you downstairs to his cellar. It is dark, and candle lit, and the crates of wine are dusty and covered in spider webs. Anyway, getting back to venison. My mom, brother, and I were perusing the menu written in German trying to decide what to have for dinner. Unfortunately none of us speak German. Our waitress tried to explain what each dish was in very broken English. We were doing great until we got to the Rehfleisch.  After she futilely tried to explain what it was, we commenced a game of quasi-charades.  "You know, its like Bombay," she said.  "Curry?" I asked, "no, no, Bombay."  "You mean Bambi?" my mom replied.  From now on, I am on my mom's team.

I better go check on the meat....

Spring Peas

Sadly it is Sunday night.  Once the torrential downpours ended yesterday, it was a beautiful weekend in DC.  We went to dinner at Oyamel last night, a Mexican "tapas" restaurant.  It was delicious (you can read more about it on the "restaurant reviews" page) and highly entertaining.  As we were walking into the restaurant, two police cars pulled someone over, the guy ran, managed to lose his shirt before he was tackled and handcuffed by two police officers.  Meanwhile another officer (there must have been 10 policemen on the scene) started ripping open the seats of his car and removing a white powdery substance.  I love DC.

Pasta with Spring Peas and MushroomsIn honor of the first day of summer, I am writing a tribute to spring peas.  I love peas.  In contrast to the nondescript, vomit colored canned variety, peas are naturally sweet and not too starchy, and literally brighten up a meal.  You can eat them raw on salads, steamed, or in a multitude of dishes.  Besides peas, I bought some interesting looking "honey" mushrooms in the farmer's market yesterday, and some fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.  I'm going to make a pasta "sauce" with above ingredients as well as some garlic, basil, onion, and chicken broth.  I was thinking about adding some additional spices (mint and peas go great together.  I have an amazing recipe from the Culinary Institute for a cold pea soup with mint), but I didn't want to overwhelm the flavor of the peas.