Cluinary Tour - My Haitian Dinner

When I saw the fun Culinary Tour on Foodalogue I knew that I had to try it out and play along. This week the tour stop was Haiti. So I invited my Mom and Dad over for a Haitian Dinner.
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First up was Pikliz - a Haitian spicy pickle.

I chopped up 1/2 a head of cabbage.

Then finely chopped up 2 carrots and 1 onion in the food processor.

Then I mixed everything together and added a habanero pepper. Almost every recipe called for a scotch bonnet pepper or two, but I could only find habaneros.

I packed the whole mix into a BIG jar, with 2 tsp salt, 10 pepper corns and then I added white vinegar to fill up the jar.


Next was Joumou (pumpkin) soup and Diri ak pwa (red beans and rice).

I used squash that my Grandma grew in her garden and gave me - plus tomatoes I grew in my garden and canned.

Diri ak pwa
1 Tbs butter

1 small onion - chopped

1/2 yellow pepper - chopped

roasted garlic paste

tomato sauce - 1/2 cup

red beans, cooked - 2 cups

1 tsp. thyme

2 tsp. oregano

1 bay leaf

rice - 1 cup

1 3/4 cups stock

salt to taste

Saute onion in butter, add chopped pepper and rice. Add tomato sauce and spices, then add stock and red beans. Finally add garlic paste and bring everything to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 15- 18 mins.

JouMou Soup
2 cups pumpkin or squash - cooked

1/2 head of cabbage - chopped

2 carrots - chopped

1 small onion chopped

2 small potatoes chopped

garlic paste

stock or water - 4 pints

tomato sauce - 1/2 cup

2 tsp. lime juice

1/2 cup spaghetti - broken into small pieces

salt to taste

Saute the onion, add all the vegetables, spaghetti, tomato sauce and stock. Bring to a boil. Add garlic past and lime juice. Cover and simmer for 15 mins or until potato is tender.

Diri ak pwa cooking.

Adding spaghetti to Joumou soup.

Finally, Labouyi Bannann (banana cream).

1 unripe plantain

2 small ripe banana

1 - 12oz evaporated milk

1 - 12oz can of coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

dollop of lime juice

Blend the plantain and banana together and then add the mixture to a saucepan. Add milks and vanilla and spices. Simmer over med. heat until thick.

I added some fresh ginger, but that wasn't in the recipe.

Plantain and banana.

Cooking Labouyi Bannann.

I found these sodas at the grocery store. I'm not sure if they drink them in Haiti, but they were good. The coconut one was the best. The champagne flavor tastes like a cream soda.

I made Mayi Moulin - white cornmeal mush to go with the soup.

1 cup water

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup white cornmeal

Boil water and salt. Add cornmeal and stir together. Form mush into balls and place one into each bowl. Then pour soup around mayi moulin.

Whole dinner laid out.

Diri ak pwa

Joumou soup and mayi moulin

With added pikliz

And now with some fresh spinach.

Labouyi Bannann with cream and cinnamon.

Well, it was definitely a very interesting dinner! Minnesota and Haiti are very, very far apart. A lot of the Haitian recipes that I found included ingredients that I had never heard of and would never, ever find in the local grocery stores. So, I did a little improvising. I do not guarantee that any of these recipes are authentic, but they tasted good!

I actually like the cornmeal mush ball with the soup. It was a good combination and I have never eaten a cornmeal mush ball!

The red beans and rice were hands down the overall favorite.

The big excitement of the night was when my Dad 'accidentally' ate the habenero pepper from the pikliz jar.

Let's just say he couldn't finish the meal.......

I'm still trying to figure out how you 'accidentally' eat a huge, bright orange pepper. ?

Winter Rose

Happy 1st day of March!

Just a little winter rose for you.

Spring will soon be here!

Ponzu Shrimp Potato Balls

You might remember that I received a bottle of Ponzu sauce through the Foodbuzz taste maker's program.

I made these shrimp balls and some in a croquette shape. I forgot to take any pictures of the flattened croquette shape, which is too bad, because I like them better that way.

They cooked evenly in the croquette shape, so just flatten them a little bit before baking.

I started with some boiled white potatoes ( from my garden!).

As a side note: I'm still using potatoes that I harvested from my garden last Fall.

They are a little wrinkly, but still yummy.

I riced the potatoes. This was about 2 cups of riced potatoes.


Then some roasted onions and red potatoes.
And a bag of 50 frozen defrosted shrimp.
Plus a little roasted garlic paste.



Zipped up in the food processor with a *dash* of cilantro.
Don't you love my cute spoon?!?
My friend Carol gave it to me.




Then 1/2 cup of Ponzu, an egg and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
Add everything together and blend in the food processor.
After you have mixed everything together - made your "dough" - put it in a bowl and refrigerate over night.
The next day prepare your shrimp ball/croquette making area: one bowl with flour, one bowl with a whisked egg and one bowl with Ponzu breadcrumbs.
Take a tablespoon sized ball of dough and roll it first in the flour, next in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Continue with the rest of the dough.
Bake on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400F degrees for 10 mins or until toasted brown.

Frozen Puffballs

I made this Mushroom stroganoff again using mushrooms I foraged last summer and then froze.

Click here to read about the Mushroom foraging adventure.

So the experiment is complete - freezing mushrooms works!

The puffballs were delicious in the stroganoff.

Next summer......watch out mushrooms!

Prize For Someone

Hello readers

I have a proposition for you.......you could win a prize!

Right now there are 49 people following my blog.

I'm not so crazy about uneven numbers, so I will send a prize to the 50th person that signs up to follow my blog. If there are enough people I'll give a prize to the 55th person too!

Ok so what's the prize?

Cookies!

Coconut white chocolate macaroons

And chocolate chip cookies too!

Just make sure I can contact you, if you win, to get your address and send you your prize.

Can Jam Feb. - Carrots #2

Torshi Haveej - Persian Carrot Pickle with Mint and Garlic

4 large carrots, shredded

6 radishes - thinly sliced

2 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 1/2 cups water

1 Tbs salt

1 Tbs sugar

1 tsp dried garlic cubes

1 mint tea bag

pinch red pepper flakes

Lightly pack 3 pint jars with shredded carrots and radishes. Bring brine ingredients to a boil. Pour brine into jars. Remove air bubbles. Process for 10 mins in a boil water bath canner.

Makes 3 pints

Shredded carrots and radishes.

Brine ingredients.

Filled jars.

This is a tasty carrot slaw. The mint and garlic add an unexpected dimension to the carrots.

Opposites really do attract.

Delicious!

Plus a pic from this summer. I found these 2 carrots in my garden. They were growing in a corner of a raised bed.

Can Jam Feb - Carrots

It's time for another Can Jam!

Huh - That month went by fast.

This month the challenge item was carrots.

At first, I was nonplussed. Carrots? Hmmmm. I like carrots, but I'm not crazy for canned carrots. Plus there was the addition of safety concerns. We can only use boiling water bath canning not pressure canning, so the recipes would be limited to pickles, relishes or what?

Well, while I was researching the Daring Cook's Feb. challenge, a Mezze dinner, I discovered rose water. Then I discovered Morabaa-yeh Haveej or Persian Carrot Jam made with rose water and lime.

Ok, maybe I can get into this carrot idea!

Morabaa-yeh Haveej or Carrot Jam with Rose Water and Lime

1 quart carrot juice

2 cups shredded carrot

1/2 cup bottled lime juice

2 Tbs rose water

1 tsp butter

4 cup sugar

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

In a large pot boil together carrot juice, shredded carrots, lime juice, rose water and butter. Boil for 5 mins, add 4 cups of sugar. Bring to a full rolling boil and continue boiling for 20 mins. Add pectin, return to a boil and boil for 1 min.

Pour into prepared jars and boil in a boiling water bath canner for 10 mins.

Makes 6 pints and 1 half-pint.

Shredding carrots.

I had a few limes hanging around in my fridge so I squished them into the pot too.

A little added acid.

Jars getting ready for tops.

Pretty! I love the color of this jam!



I made some challah bread to eat with the jam.

This jam is awesome! It doesn't taste like carrots exactly. It tastes like a combination of pears/apricots/peaches.

I asked my Dad to blind taste test it. He didn't even get close to guessing that it was made from carrots. But he said it tasted good!

Personally and honestly, I think this is the best jam I have ever canned.

*Best Jam Ever*

Just think of all the beta carotene.

Super healthy jam too!