What's everyone cooking this week?

[Lusciouslush Profile]

Too right Clive...….!!!!!!!!

From what I know about it - it is a fascinating subject, I saw a programme on the box a couple of years back about the Mayans & cocoa, and how it had evolved with them - they also used it as a currency apparently!


Hope you're resting your mince-pies today...…………..

[Joanbunting Profile]

Glad you had a few beers to recover Clive. M sometimes does translations and it always does his head in.

My family are coming for a week on Tuesday and I am trying to cope with meal planning and continues heat despite a storm in the early hours.

I had a small piece of pork loin to deal with this weekend and for some reason thought I'd ccook it last night while it was cooler so I just coevered it in fresh herbs and breadcrumbs and stuck it on a bed of Mediterranean veg and garlic with a splosh of olive oil and left it to it's own devices. It was very good!

There was enough for it cold for lunch with an assortment of hm salads including M's favourite West Indian potato salad with chilli.

[Amyw Profile]

Funnily enough I cooked pork chops for dinner tonight on Mediterranean veg with garlic , mixed herbs and olive oil , so very similar . Added some cooked new potatoes to the roasting mix too . Dessert was nectarines baked with honey and Greek yoghurt on the side

[Renee Profile]

I had half a jar of Albacore tuna to use up, so I hard-boiled an egg, tomatoes, cucumber cubes, nectarine slices. My bagged mixed salad was out of date so I didn't risk that. A strange mix, maybe, but ideal for warm weather!

[Joanbunting Profile]

I'm in the throes of preparing tomorrow night's supper for the family. I'm making a Bahamian meal and am cooking soaked carlin(pigeon) peas for peasn'rice which will go with jerk chicken with fried ripe plantain and stewed okra.

We'll start with "conch" fritters - the nearest I can get using whelks

For afterwards I have assembled a collection of tropical fruits from our Fresh store. I have mango, pawpaw, 3 ripe guavas and a pineapple.

There is some Venezualan rum and some Martinique too, plenty of limes and coke

[Renee Profile]

We talked about Venezuelan rum a while ago and I found some in Waitrose, but at £45 a bottle, I decided to give it a miss!

Enjoy your meal tomorrow!

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Hang on, Joan - I´m on my way

I love fried plantains , rice and peas, jerk chicken... and Venezuelan rum, of course!

Renée - It´s such a shame it´s so expensive over there. I bought a bottle of the decent stuff the other day ( Sta Teresa brand) for less than $7...

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Renée - Just found this : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pampero-Aniversario-Rum-70-cl/dp/B003WIHR44
on the web.
Anniversario is an excellent rum, and very reasonable at this price. I´d buy one right now!!

[Joanbunting Profile]

The Sta Teresa I bought on your advice clive has become a regular in our local Leclerc it is around €20.00. To my great joy Hendricks gin has joined the rum as a regular and is about £10 cheaper than in the UK.

The mad thing is that simple things like milk and butter are often "en rupture" as they put it but there is always a good selection of spirits!

[Renee Profile]

Thanks Clive! I've taken the plunge and bought it with free delivery! I look forward to receiving it. I take it that you drink it without ice, because that would deaden the flavour somewhat.

Makes me want to move to Venezuela, but maybe not!!

[Renee Profile]

I've just read that the rum is best served with Cola. Wouldn't that destroy the flavours?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Rum and cola is an abomination (but then I dislike cola)

Waitrose often used to have Sta Teresa on offer, but haven’t seen it for a while, I drank it just with a little ice

If you like a mixer, make proper planter’s punch or add ginger ale such as Canada Dry or American Dry, ice and a slice of lime.

Just had a look, it’s the Santa Teresa 1796 Solera that is expensive, the Santa Teresa Gran Reserva is £20 - £25, which is the one I used to buy.

At the moment I have Havana Club Especial, which is very nice and works well in cocktails but I prefer the Havana Club 7 Anejo (7 year aged) for sipping - it’s a more expensive, I think the Especial comes from a different distillery but is branded as Havana Club for export from Cuba

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Rum and cola is an abomination (but then I dislike cola)

Hilarious, Sue!!I quite enjoy a cuba Libre, but you´re spot on; it kills the flavour of the rum.

Venezuelan rum is different from other rums. In the eyes (or palates) of many experts, it is among the finest in the world. How is it different?
Firstly, the sugar cane destillate is aged for two years in 200 lt oak casks - usually obtained from Kentucky. No-one is allowed to touch the barrels except the Official Government Auditor. He/she is implacable regarding the quality. Nothing else is added to accelerate the ageing process; no added sugar, wood extract, etc. One of the very few government audits which still actually works.
200 lts max because that ensures that the destillate has maximum contact with the oak barrels. A Havana Club or (God Forbid) a Bacardi barrel might be 30,000 litres. And 2 years minimum because that is the law.
Another thing is the climate. The warehouses might get very warm during the day: temperatures of between 25-30ºC, and far cooler ( 21-22ºC) at night. Plus the tropical humidity. The Angel´s Share for single malt (ie. the evaporation) is estimated at about 3% per year, whereas in Venezuela, it might be 17% in 24 months.
Venezuelan rum is elaborated with molasses - or treacle. This is the last stage of sugar refining; in many other countries , the first pressing of the sugar cane ( which is sugar "juice") is used. Molasses have more sugar content and fewer impurities. Therefore, our rum is more sugar-cane-intense in flavour, and sweeter than other rums.

Personally, I like mine with just one cube of ice and a slice of lime. Or neat, as a chaser with a cold beer.
Rum cocktails are all the rage with the kids over here, and one of their favourites is a Caribe ( which is also the Venezuelan word for a piranha fish ) - rum, 7-up, ice and a splash of Angostura Bitters. Or a mojito - rum with lime juice and crushed mint. Or a rum tonic. Or a Seven: rum, a little shredded ginger, honey, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, 2 drops Angostura, 2 oz Ginger Beer and a piece of orange skin. Mix together with ice and strain into a Martini glass.

For those of you who read Spanish, the above details came from a definitive tome on the subject written by my friend Rosanna di Turi " Ron Venezolano".

Salúd!!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

In Cuba most cocktails are made with white rum, which may have been aged as long as a week

When you arrive anywhere you tend to be given a long (weak) mojito by way of welcome - but they leave the bottle handy so you can adjust it to your own taste.

My favourite was a daiquiri Floridita, as made for Ernest Hemingway - white rum, ice, lime juice, a hint of maraschino, angostura

Havana Club Especial, 3 anejo and 7 anejo are of course all aged dark rums

The young person’s rum cocktail is either a mojito or a Dark & Stormy, which is a good measure of dark rum over ice in a highball glass with a squeeze of lime, a shake of bitters, topped up with ginger beer. Which makes me laugh because their parents would have laughed at older West Indian men drinking dark rum and ginger. If I were making this, I’d use Especial and Fevertree ginger ale (not ginger beer)

[Amyw Profile]

I absolutely love a mojito. Bizarrely the best one I’ve ever had was at Eurodisney . Loads of fresh mint , lots of lime , but enough rum that you could still taste it . Whether it was because after a full day of walking round Euro Disney , I was just particularly ready for a drink , who knows

[Renee Profile]

WOW! Thanks so much for all the information. I can see that Venezuelan rum is really special. I really didn't want to spoil the flavour of the rum, so will have it slightly chilled!

[Binky Profile]

Tonight's dinner - prawn and tofu stir-fry with egg fried rice and plain boiled rice.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ooooo, that's good.

[Renee Profile]

What a lovely meal Binky! Do you marinate the tofu first? I've had a packet of tofu sitting in my corner cupboard for a while now. I really need to do something with it.

[Binky Profile]

No marinading needed (but you can if you want to).

What I do is to chop up the veg in readiness for the stir-fry, fry the tofu chunks in a mix of avocado oil and sesame oil, pop in the chopped veg, add some teriyaki sauce and some sweet chilli sauce. Usually I do plain boiled noodles, but this time I boiled up some rice with peas, divided it in half, fried one half with an egg and some spring onions, and left the plain rice as it was. It has taken more time to explain and write than actual cooking!

Tofu tips: always squeeze the block and wrap in kitchen paper to get as dry as possible before cooking. I used to drop the tofu in at a late stage, but have discovered that frying early gives a better (chewy) texture.