Mothers – who’d be one?
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I enjoy being a mother and relish the complexities and challenges it brings. I firmly believe all human beings are made to nurture, I have concluded it’s innate within all of us.
This Mother’s Day, my daughter made me breakfast in bed. She found out what I like to eat and drink and then ordered my husband to the supermarket – hubby doesn’t ‘do’ supermarkets, or shopping, so that was an achievement in itself.
She then dragged him out of bed on Mother’s Day to help her prepare my surprise. It was lovely! She had prepared heart-shaped toast, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, bucks fizz and had even given me one of my chocolate mousses as a ‘dessert’. I was in heaven.
Chocolate Mousse? I hear you say – for breakfast? well it so happens that all the women in the family were gathering at my mum’s for sunday lunch, all of us having promised to bring something for the feast. My contribution was a chocolate mousse soaked with the wonderfully mellow Appletons Rum.
The champagne and music flowed, the men did the washing up – we watched ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and all had a great time.
Mothers – Who’d be one? I would 
Try my Rich Caribbean Chocolate Mousse recipe for yourself and let me know what you think.
Angeli’s Caribbean Food Rich Chocolate Mousse. 
150g (5oz) 72% dark chocolate
2tbsp the best rum you can afford. *
3 egg whites
50g (2oz) caster sugar
100ml (3.5 fl oz) double cream **
Method
Put a med sized pan of water on to boil – turn down to a simmer and place a (glass) bowl on top .
Break the chocolate into small pieces and place into bowl. Once melted mix in the the rum, turn off the stove, leaving the bowl on the pan.
Whisk the cream until very thick and stiff, Put aside.
Whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl until very thick and stiff you will be able to make ‘little peaks’ with the whisk.
Add the sugar bit by bit , whisking until all is incorporated. The mixture will be ready when it is smooth, thick, and shiny.
The chocolate mix will be a bit stiff by now, but still melted, fold in the whipped egg whites bit by bit to the chocolate mixture, making sure all is blended.
Now add the cream mixture and once all mixed in pour into small dishes or glasses. I get 4 or 6 depending on how greedy we are!
* the higher the rum quality, the less water it will contain – melted chocolate doesn’t like water.
** I find that double cream is far superior to whipping cream and holds it’s shape longer.
Love, Laughter, and food for all
Angeli x
My True Love Have My Heart And I Have His
by Angeli · 2 Comments
Their eyes met across a crowded room drowning out all else around them.
The prince waded through the throng of partygoers, never once losing her gaze. She was transfixed.
Finally he was in front of her, he swept her up in his arms and declared for all to hear.
“I am in love, Marry me for my heart is yours….”
Okay, the story didn’t quite go like that. But it was love at first sight, and The Shrek did ask me to marry him after three weeks together.
We got married 8yrs later. However, my wedding day was wonderful. It was everything I wanted it to be – magical, whimsical, irreverent and beautiful. As is always with special occasions, it was over all too quickly.
My wedding cake was baked by my mum in true caribbean style to her own secret recipe. Fruit cake is always eaten on special occasions and most caribbean women will have their own recipe.
I had decided to design and decorate my wedding cake myself. My ‘love chest’ cake contained magical heart sweets – both bought and hand made.Enchanted love charms, gossamer rose petals and one of a series of poems The Shrek had written to me declaring his undying love and passion.
This was the poem in the ‘love chest’
The sound of our love deafens me
It’s volume drowns all else around me
And when we’re apart
I hear the echo of our love……
We will be celebrating Valentine’s day as a family day of love. I will be making special Caribbean Spice Chocolate Cookies.
Recipe
My Caribbean Food Love Cookies
230g(8oz) self-raising flour
40g(1.5 oz) good quality 100% cocoa
120g(40z) softened salted butter
190g(7oz) brown organic caster sugar
60g icing sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teas highest quality vanilla essence
1/4 teas good quality finely ground cinnamon.
Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (aprox 350 degrees farenheit)
Method
Put the flour, cocoa, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix together well.
In a small bowl place the eggs and the vanilla essence, lightly whisk together until there is just a little froth.
Put the all the sugar and the butter in a bowl and whisk together until creamy.
Add the egg mixture bit by bit untli all is blended.
Now add the flour mixture and mix on a low speed until just blended.
The mixture will be soft and pliable
Shape into balls and place on a greased baking tray about 5cm(2in) apart.
Bake for aprox 10-12 mins.
Let cookies cool before placing a small heart cutter on the centre of each of the cookies.
Sprinkle some icing sugar into the shape.
Now removing the heart cutter will reveal a little heart on top of the cookie.
Happy Valentines day my friends
Love, laughter, and food for all.
Angeli
Caribbean Chocolate Tea – Liquid Heaven
Rich, creamy and spicy. Caribbean Food Chocolate Tea. A Sunday morning treat.
My Dad grew up on a farm, and one of the things they grew was chocolate. His Grandfather planted the cocoa, and the family still harvest it today.
Dad said that when he was a little boy he used to help with the harvesting of the cocoa. One of his delights was to open some of the pods and drink the liquid surrounding the bean.
I was intrigued to find out if the liquid tasted of chocolate, but he said that it tasted syrup-py and sweet,and even though the adults had told him not to drink it, he loved it.
Anyhow, after the fruit ripens – it goes a bright yellow - the beans are picked out and put into a container to ‘ferment’ for about a week. This helps the chocolate flavour and aroma to develop. It is then ‘parched’, meaning roasted. The beans are taken out and ground up, either in a grinder, or using a pestle and morter. The fat in the chocolate is released helping the mixture to becomes pliable like plasticine.
Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg are the magical spices added to the mix which is then made into sausage shapes or small ball shapes. Finally, it is left out in the sun to dry after which it is then ready to use.
My dad reckons that if stored properly in airtight jars, the chocolate will last for years. I can indeed vouch for that because it is not something you could find here in the UK as I was growing up, yet I had it every Sunday as a drink.
RECIPE
Angeli’s Caribbean Food Chocolate drink.
To get an idea of chocolate tea, try making the following drink.
1 or 2 teas very good quality 100% cocoa
Hot water
High quality vanilla essence
finely ground cinnamon
finely ground numeg
tiny pinch of salt.
milk either plain or sweetened (condensed milk) .
Sugar (if required)
In a large mug, place your cocoa and your hot water, add milk as required.
Add sugar as required
Add a few drops of vanilla essence
Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg. about half of a 1/4 teaspoon.
Add a tiny pinch of salt.
Give everything a good stir, sit and enjoy with a slice of homemade bread and butter. Lovely!
Hope you enjoy my Caribbean Food chocolate tea.
Love, laughter, and food for all.
Angeli x
photo courtesy of www.thechocolatechemist.co.uk
Potato Horror
by Angeli · 8 Comments
Recently, my daughter asked for one of my roast dinners- caribbean food style.
Her favorite consists of delicately jerked, juicy, roast pork. Crispy, light, yorkshire puddings. Lightly steamed veg and golden, caribbean-style, roast potatoes, which she adores.
On this occasion, fearing I didn’t have enough time to prepare potatoes for her and her five friends, I bought some ‘Aunt Bessie’s’ roast potatoes from the supermarket.
What happened next was the stuff of nightmares. My daughter announced to the world that they were the best roast potatoes she had ever tasted.
Oh, the shame! The horror!
I felt the world spinning around me. Was this really happening? Did my daughter and her friends just cast an evil spell on me? I could see my culinary forefathers tutting and wagging their fingers at me. I decided there and then that it was the last time I’d buy manufactured roast potatoes – I would produce my own even if I were on my death bed.
RECIPE FOR MY CARIBBEAN FOOD ROAST POTATOES
INGREDIENTS
Pic by Anandamide
Approx 1kg/2lb weight of your favourite roasting potatoes – I use King Edward or Maris Piper
2 onions
Approx 2cm piece of red scotch bonnet
Approx 1/2 cup of warmed virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves
Large sprig of thyme
1/4 teas saffron or 1/2 teas tumeric
1 teas fresh ground pimento seeds or allspice
Good quality sea salt to taste
METHOD
Incorporate the scotch bonnet, the garlic,the thyme, and the salt into the oil and put the mixture in a large bowl. Now set aside. Turn the oven on and set at approx 220/375 degs
Wash and cut potatoes into aprox 4cm or 2inch chunks. Set aside. Next fill a large pot with water, and place the two onions, half the thyme, large pinch of salt, 2 cloves of garlic, the saffron or tumeric and the allspice/pimento into to pot.
When the water is boiling, place the potatoes in the pot, and boil for approx 8-10mins. While potatoes are boiling, put a large baking tray in the oven.
Once boiled drain off the potatoes and toss in the olive oil mixture.
Put the potatoes into the hot baking tray and bake for 35-45mins.
Now Enjoy!!
Having gone to Twitter for counselling, here are some of my fellow twitterers’ roast potato preferences:
@Nalani1
I like New Red Potatoes, quartered, with olive oil, kosher salt, garlic cloves AND fresh rosemary. Never 4get the rosemary
@SensitivePantry http://www.thesensitivepantry.com
Roasted potatoes (in a cast iron pan) with olive oil, sea salt, pepper, rosemary, and parmigiano reggiano. Mmm.
@cookskorner http://www.cookskorner.com
try this. mix 1 tsp dry mustard, 200 mls cream. toss w taters. roast at 375 for 60-90 mins. turn often.
@goodshoeday http://www.withknifeandfork.com
king eds are the best for roasties.
@dmentia66 http://www.goreyhaus.livejournal.com
I love Yukon Golds roasted with olive oil, coarse sea salt, and lots of garlic cloves. ‘Tater’ comfort extraordinairre.
Love, Laughter, and Food for All.
Angeli x
How To Eat Jerk Chicken Wraps With Your Whole Face
by Angeli · 13 Comments
It’s true, my husband eats Jerk Chicken wraps with his whole face.
in fact, his whole body. So engrossed is he with the waves of taste and utter culinary pleasure that take over him, a thousand Elvis’ could be hip-swiveling and rocking behind him singing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ at the top of their voices and he would still fail to notice.
He’s so completely lost in-the-moment that nothing else registers with him to prevent his total, instant, demolition of Jerk Chicken wraps. I swear that i can almost see his body shudder as he takes the first mouthful. What i definitely can see are his eyes rolling to the back of his head and then his head lifting towards the heavens in a quasi-religious experience. It’s like he’s mystically channelling some sort of Gourmet-God. Soon after, his feet then begin to dance a little Celtic jig as the taste of the chicken, herbs and spices hit-the-right-spot.
Then comes the use of, what seems, his whole face to extract every atom of sensation from the food. His entire head appears to begin slowly opening and closing as he masticates the wrap with great purpose. Apparently King Cobras can dislocate their lower jaw in order to consume animals larger than the orifice would otherwise allow. When it comes to devouring my wraps, I swear my husband has the same anatomical ability.
Chomp, chomp, chomp. A cacophony of eating noises accompany.
It’s quiet and slow at first, then as he engages his complete face to eat, they build to a throaty, chaotic crescendo of deep guttural and alto ejaculations of perverted sounds.
I’m sure it must be some sort of crime-against-humanity to eat food in this way. But then i remember he’s my husband and not a neanderthal interloper, so i manage to prevent myself from calling the police. It’s ridiculous really. He’s a grown man (allegedly).
Don’t get me wrong, i love my husband dearly.
I call him The Shrek. He stands 185cm tall in his stocking feet (currently the left one has a hole in the toe). Weighing in at nearly 95 kilo, he is still mostly muscle and bone, but the adipose fat is beginning to cloak his once athletic body, like a padded gold-lame jump suit worn by The King himself. And, of course, being The Shrek he speaks in a lovely, lilting Scottish accent.
In fact, i can hear his Celtic voice, in my head as i write, asking for another fistfull of Jerk Chicken wraps.
So, in order to gift you the recipe but spare you the theatrical eating performance of The Shrek:
JERK CHICKEN
Peppercorns by ToniVC
500g (1Ib) of raw chicken breast meat
1.5 teas mild curry powder
1 clove garlic
1 med onion(or 2 small shallot onions)
a sprig of fresh thyme/1 teas dried
2.5cm x 1cm(1inchx1/4inch) piece of green scotch bonnet pepper*
1 teas cocoa powder
1/2 teas allspice/pimento
1/2 teas juniper berries
1/2teas black and red peppercorns
1teas balsamic vinegar
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons brown sugar/demerara sugar
3 fresh medium tomatoes
1 teas Angostura bitters
1/2 teas salt
Spare bowl
*The green scotch bonnet although milder, will still give heat – so if preparing this for children, cut down on the pepper.
PANCAKE MIX
350ml(12floz)milk
3/4cup(4oz )Wholemeal flour
1 tbsp sunflower cooking oil
2 med eggs
Pinch of salt
I use the 1/4 cup measure (approx 60ml/2floz) to scoop up and pour out mix – it gives approx 11-12 pancakes using a 23cm (9”) frying pan.
First, cut the chicken breasts into strips(aprox 8cm x1cm/3″ x 1/2″), place into a bowl with clean water, squeeze in half a lime and wash meat. Next, crush and chop garlic, chop onion, and chop pepper into small pieces.
Grind Pimento seeds,peppercorns, and Juniper berries down as finely as you can, with a pestle and morter.(if you don’t own one, then place seeds between a clean kitchen towel and bash with a rolling pin)
Chop tomatoes.
Prepare the rest of the jerk seasoning, and add all to the meat.
Using your hands* mix all the ingredients together, so that the meat is totally coated.
Set aside – ideally overnight, but for at least 1/2hr.
Once the meat has been prepared, Prepare your pancake mix.
Simply put all ingredients into a large bowl and whisk well, making sure that the end result is a nice smooth batter. Set aside.
Before you can fry the meat, you need to scrape off as much of the seasoning as you can, placing scraped off chicken in a seperate bowl. Don’t throw away seasoning, pour in approx 250ml(1/2pt) warm water making sure all the seasoning is incorporated into water. Set aside.
To fry chicken, heat aprox 60ml(4tbsp) cooking oil in pan over a med high heat- you know the oil is ready, by sprinkling into it, a small pinchful of breadcrumbs or flour – it will sizzle immediately. Place chicken pieces into oil, fry on both sides until golden brown. Take pan off heat, remove meat and drain off oil.
Pour the water with seasoning into pan and replace onto stove bringing to the boil. Add Meat, lower heat and simmer for approx 20 minutes.
Once meat is simmering, take out pancake mix and give a good whisk.
Heat frying pan, lubricate base with a smear of oil, or spray on oil. Cook pancakes, making sure base of pan is always lubricated.
Once your meat is cooked, remove from the liquid, which should have reduced down while simmering. Take the cooking liquid and strain into a bowl/jug – you have your Jerk Chicken sauce!
Assemble your pancake wrap by placing some meat, together with some lettuce, cucumber,or sweet pepper etc. onto the pancake, and wrapping tortilla style.
Well, there it is. Please let me know what you think. I love comments, questions and viewpoints on my blog so please leave comments below.
Love, Laughter & Food for All
Angeli