Mummy's Easy, Cheesy, Caribbean "Scalloped" Potatoes

I thought to myself, if I only had time to share one recipe over the next two months, what would it be? This dish came to mind. Mummy made this occasionally to go with our Sunday lunch, which was always fancy and interesting. One such combination was roasted chicken, fried rice, scalloped potatoes, veggie chow mein, pepper shrimps accompanied by a trifle for dessert. Nothing you would expect in a small village surrounded by sugar cane fields some forty years ago.

She always referred to it as “scalloped potatoes” but I have never seen a recipe for scalloped potatoes with eggs. It can also be referred to as “potato pie or potato casserole” and if you want to get technical you can even call it aloo pie, but, as we Trinis know, that name is already taken. Whatever the name, let’s not allow that to get in the way of a good time.

This blog has taken on a mind of its own, the most popular recipes are not the healthy, low calorie recipes I posted, but those that are reminiscent of the taste of home. Because of this, I plan to share a little more of the comfort foods that were such an integral part of my childhood. These “comfort” foods ignite memories of a time long gone. A time we wish had never ended. For me, it’s those Sunday lunches we enjoyed together when my dad was alive. We would all be huddled up around the dining table in our tiny kitchen, which also served as the living room. We had the barest of necessities, yet at mealtimes, there was always peace, contentment and much to feast on.

Back then, and even now, I found comfort in food. If Mummy had never said I love you, her food did, the care, the attention she put into every meal was evident. She had an unspoken passion for cooking. The same passion I inherited, unspoken it isn’t. The joy that these meals brought me still inspires me, three decades later(maybe closer to 4 but who’s counting ;-)) , to do the same for my family. Nothing makes me happier than serving my husband and girls a plate of food that lights up their face, touches their soul and creates lasting memories. Memories which will serve as a source of comfort despite what life throws at them in the future. 

This is my story, this is my song….and this is my recipe for Mummy’s “Scalloped” potatoes……with a few of my own additions and variations...

Easy, Cheesy, Caribbean Scalloped Potatoes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 1/2 - 2 pounds organic russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices 

1 tablespoon thyme leaves

2 cups (8-10 ozs) shredded "trinidad Cheese", extra sharp white or yellow cheddar cheese  or gruyere 

1 egg

1 can "Carnation" evaporated milk (about 1 ½ cups) (or heavy cream or a combination of both)

Salt (1/4 teaspoon) and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic (about one small clove-use more according to your taste)

1 heaping teaspoon green seasoning (optional)

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg (optional)

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Ria's updates: Thanksgiving 2015, I doubled the recipe; used a combination of white cheddar(8 oz), yellow cheddar(8 0z) , vermont cheese(4 oz)  (total 20 oz of cheese), also used half evaporated milk and half heavy cream ( 1 1/2 cups each) and the result was phenomenal. 

Directions

Peel potatoes and slice into 1/8- inch thick slices. Rinse the potatoes and drain.

 

In a saucepan, add water and salt (I use 2 tablespoons himalayan salt) and bring to a boil over high heat.

Once it comes to a boil, lower heat, carefully add potatoes to the boiling water. Raise heat to high again. Cook for 8 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked but still firm. Drain. Cool.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, mix egg, milk, grated onion, minced garlic, black pepper, salt, green seasoning and nutmeg(if using).

Generously butter a small casserole dish (I used an 8 by 10 dish below). Place 1/3 of potatoes in an overlapping pattern. 

Top with 1/3 of the cheese. Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture. Sprinkle with thyme leaves and a little freshly cracked black pepper.

Repeat layers two more times(potatoes, cheese, milk, thyme, black pepper). Press potatoes into the milk. Milk should come almost to the top of the potatoes, if not, depending on the size of your dish, add more.

Top with grated parmesan cheese, if using.

Baked uncovered @ 325 degrees fahrenheit for 30-45 minutes until bubbly, cheese is a lovely golden brown and your kitchen smells heavenly.

Leftover tastes much better, so feel free to make it a day ahead. You may also assemble the day before, cover and refrigerate. Next day, bring to room temperature and bake as usual.

Seen above: Scalloped potatoes, roasted chicken, green beans and cranberry sauce.

Happy Holidays!

From my family to yours,

With love,  best wishes 

......and fabulous dishes,

Ria 

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Ria's Trinidadian Pumpkin

Growing up, pumpkin and 'dosti" roti (a three layered roti) was one of my absolute favorite meals! Strangely enough, it’s also my 10 year-old-daughter’s favorite. 

In my recipe below, cubes of pumpkin are sautéed with simplest of ingredients; olive oil, garlic, onion and the optional hot pepper. It’s steamed until tender, then mashed to a smooth, paste-like consistency. Roasted ground geera (cumin) is also added at the end of cooking to highlight the flavor of the pumpkin. (Mummy swears by the addition of a little brown sugar at the beginning of cooking). 

Pumpkin is traditionally eaten for breakfast with roti and served at religious functions and weddings along with a flavorful array of other vegetarian dishes.

In the tiny village where I grew up in Central Trinidad, it was and still is customary that women would gather the day before a “prayers” [religious function] or wedding to prepare enormous quantities of vegetables for the next day’s vegetarian feast. I was a young girl then, but I vividly recall helping to peel and cube what seemed like a ton of pumpkin! 

[Picture of "Calabaza" taken at Chaguanas market, Trinidad.]

Assisting in the prep work wasn’t my favorite thing to do, but listening to the banter of the older ladies (and eavesdropping on the latest village gossip) was fun and the thought of the end result - the next day’s feast - was encouraging (will work free for food)! Nowadays, I rarely buy the whole unpeeled pumpkins. Do you blame me? I always look for the peeled and cubed pumpkin in my supermarket or BJ’s.

[Picture taken at Chaguanas market, Trinidad.]

I have roasted pumpkin, added it to soups, callaloo, stews, my green seasoning, “cook up” rice and once I even made a pumpkin cheesecake, but in this recipe it’s the star of the show. Over the years, I have shared our Trinidadian method of preparing pumpkin with many folks via a conversation at the supermarket, on the train, in a park, the ladies room…wherever necessary …Now I am very excited to share this recipe here with those of you who love pumpkin, but are unaware of this very simple method of preparation.

[Squash has a different texture, but is equally delicious.]

This pumpkin dish is satisfying, sumptuous and healthy. I attest my excellent eyesight to all the pumpkin I’ve eaten over the years! (I have roti and rice to thank for my curvaceous hips. Atleast the eyesight is good.)…Not only is pumpkin rich in antioxidants and beta carotene, it’s very low in calories, and a very good source of dietary fiber. But that’s just the wonderful side benefits of eating pumpkin. 

[So many varieties of pumpkin in the U.S! 

For this recipe I only use Calabaza or Squash..]

The main benefit is the wonderful experience of breaking off a piece of roti, using it to scoop up the pumpkin, excitedly shoving it in your mouth and savoring the inviting combination of flavors! Okay, so I got a little carried away….and yes, it’s that good.

Some pumpkins cook quickly and melt on its own, while others require your time, attention and hard labor to mash. It’s not uncommon to hear some cooks exclaim in our beautiful Trini dialect, “Dat pungkin cook rel good boy, dat was a gooood pungkin”.

Well, fellow foodies, I do hope your pungkin cook rel good!!

Ria's Trinidadian Pumpkin

Serves 4-6

2 pounds pumpkin, peeled and cubed (butternut squash, calabaza)

6 large cloves of garlic, minced (about 2 tablespoons)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1-2 teaspoon roasted ground cumin (geera), or to taste

1 teaspoon Himalayan salt (or to taste)

2 teaspoons raw brown sugar(optional)

Slices of habanero or scotch bonnet (optional)

Prep:

Scrub the outside of the pumpkin with a vegetable brush under running water. Pat dry with a paper towel. Cut in half. Scrape out the fibers and seeds. Dice the pumpkin into 1 - 1.5 inch pieces. Sometimes, I cut the pumpkin into small pieces before peeling, all depends on the mood I'm in. 

Grate or mince garlic. Slice onion and hot pepper, if using. 

In a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add the onion (and hot pepper if using), cook for a few minutes until the onion becomes light golden brown. Add the garlic and cook for another minute until translucent.

[Allow the onion to become light golden brown for the best result. Not like this...]

Add pumpkin, stir to coat with the oil. Add salt and (sugar if using). Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the pumpkin is tender, stirring occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t stick. 

The pumpkin will relinquish its juices, depending on the variety of pumpkin. When the pumpkin is cooked through, use the back of the spoon to mash the pumpkin until you have a paste like consistency and there are no chunks. It must be a smooth consistency. Always scrape down the sides of the pot.

Continue to cook uncovered until any liquid from the pumpkin has evaporated and it begins to stick to the pot. 

Stir in cumin and serve with roti, rice or pita bread.

Hope you give this recipe a try,

Also wishing you a Happy Diwali,

May Light always conquer darkness!

--Ria

Diwali Menu (Vegetarian) using recipes already on my blog (I am working on the others! :-)).

Appetizer: Pholourie  and Mango Chutney

Main: Pumpkin, Channa and Aloo, Fry Bodi, Baigan Choka and Paratha Roti

Dessert: Sweet Rice

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Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

This beloved bread has evoked many passionate discussions that extend from the north to the south. The Northerners prefer their cornbread sweet and the Southerners never add sugar. This Trini will avoid that controversy. Allow me to exercise my First Amendment Rights by claiming that I love my cornbread……on the sweet side.

I don’t recall making or eating my “first” cornbread, as much as I don’t recall sucking on the rubber nipple of my first bottle of milk(Klim). That doesn’t make it any less special. I have a special affinity for anything made with corn. I love corn muffins, corn casserole, cornmeal cakes, corn dumplings, payme, pastelles, puddings….

Some have tried to dissuade me from eating corn over the years claiming that it’s an unhealthy grain and also because some varieties are genetically modified, but there comes a time in a girl’s life (once or twice per year) when she just needs to eat what she wants to eat, or else everyone watch out. The cranky, psycho, you know who, will be sure to make an appearance. As my sister KK once passionately confessed to me on the phone, “I am so tired of this %^&;* healthy eating %^&;*”!!!!…Alrighty then….I couldn’t have said it any better myself…

For many years, the only cornbread I knew came from the blue box and I must admit it was very good too. Now that I am older and chemical sensitivities prevent me from eating most products from a box, can or bag I have no other choice. “I eat it only if I make it”.

This is a basic cornbread recipe I adapted from Allrecipes (directions have been changed) and the one that graces my dinner table every Thanksgiving, alongside the turkey and other delectable fixings. I also use this cornbread to make my dressing(also known as stuffing). After trying many recipes over the years, this is the one I gravitate to because it’s quick to prepare and that’s important when one is busy preparing about thirty dishes on Thanksgiving day. I could make it ahead of time, but I work best under intense pressure. 

Cornbread is a great snack or accompaniment to any meal and leftovers can most certainly be used to make French toast or bread pudding. I liberally butter my day old cornbread and toast it in a non stick pan until it looks something like this…….[My 9 yr old loves eating it with maple syrup….]

According to cornbread aficionados, it’s best when baked in a cast iron skillet. My cast iron was unavailable during the preparation of this cornbread, due to situations beyond my control. In other words, I couldn’t find it. I chose the first skillet I could find, my 10 inch All-Clad, which didn’t disappoint. If you don’t have a skillet, use a greased 8 inch square pan.

The finished product with a golden brown top and heavenly, crunchy, almost cookie-like edges was buttery, sweet, grainy yet moist….….

Grandmother’s Buttermilk Cornbread

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Serves 9

Ingredients

½ cup butter

2/3 cup sugar (I use equal amounts of raw brown and white)

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk **

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 cup organic yellow cornmeal (I use Arrowhead Mills)

1 cup unbleached all purpose white flour

½ teaspoon salt

**No buttermilk? No worries: Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to a 2 cup measure, fill to 1 cup mark with whole milk. Wait about 5 minutes. Add the baking soda to the buttermilk, stir and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees C). Place one tablespoon of butter in the 10-inch cast iron skillet you will be baking the cornbread in and place it in the oven to heat. 

Melt butter in another pan over low heat (you will mix all the ingredients in this same pan so make sure it is large enough). 

Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Quickly add eggs and beat until well blended. 

Stir in buttermilk mixture. 

Add cornmeal, flour and salt and mix only until just combined, with as few strokes as possible.

Carefully remove the smoking hot skillet from the oven and swirl to coat sides with butter. 

Quickly scrape the cornbread batter into the hot skillet and return the skillet to the oven. 

Bake until golden brown and crusty at the edges, about 20-30 minutes, depending on your oven (takes about 25 minutes in my oven). 

Slice into wedges or squares. Serve plain, or with honey, butter or honey-butter. 

 Enjoy for breakfast, as a side for lunch or dinner...as an anytime snack..

.......or with a hot cup of tea or coffee for dessert....

(...while singing that Marvin Gaye song...how does it go again?....Oh yeah...

"......Let's get it on..SUGAR..

.....giving yourself to me can never be wrong...."

You know how it goes people...)

...just saying...

Please tell your friends about my page....and don't forget to like Cooking with Ria on Facebook!!

Talk to ya soon,

[...Hopefully...Pray that I'm inspired to 

....leave the comfort of my bed to work on recipes.....]

With love always,

Ria

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Ria's Accra - Codfish Fritters

Accra, cod fish fritter, saltfish or cod cakes or bacalaitos, however it is referred to in your area of the planet, does not induce childhood memories. Heck, I don’t even recall eating it as a child, and prior to developing this recipe, I had never eaten a codfish fritter! I did consult with Mummy to verify that my memory is in fact accurate. She confirmed that she only made oyster fritters when we were young-er…. (and she wondered why I was always chasing the boys!).

How could a person who has never tasted codfish fritter provide you with a recipe? Simple. I know what a fritter shouldn’t taste like. You see, last year while on vacation in Paradise Island(Atlantis) in the Bahamas, we grasped the opportunity to travel to downtown Nassau to experience the culture and cuisine. 

Conch fritter was on every menu so we knew we had to try it. We ate some amazing food on our vacation(see below), but the half dozen fritters we were served at one of the popular restaurants in the area known as “Fish Fry” were poor excuses for fritters. They lacked seasoning and island flavor. They basically lacked ingredients. Each contained a minuscule piece of conch measuring less than one eight of a millimeter, with one dice of green sweet pepper enveloped in fried dough and moist with recycled, hydrogenated oil.

Early one Sunday morning in my kitchen, with the disappointing memory of that fritter still haunting me, I created a fritter to please my palate, but I used saltfish which is always more readily available than conch or oyster. I fell in love instantaneously, so did my family.

Confident in my recipe, I made these fritters last August as an appetizer for my niece’s first birthday party. Instead of frying them in a little olive oil as my recipe suggests, I deep fried them which resulted in round delicious balls of goodness.

My auntie Jang wondered why they were so small and my uncle Raffick, her husband, seemed confused because I wasn’t serving them in bread. Apparently, Aunty Jang always made it large enough to eat like a burger in a sandwich.  I learn something new every day. I am sure that it'll be marvelous in a sandwich, but I’ll continue to pass on the bread! I enjoy a few with hot sauce, a little mango chutney or kuchela, as an occasional quick Saturday breakfast or appetizer/snack prior to dinner during the week. Strangely enough, my kids who could never get enough and are always fighting for more than their share(and never wants anything other than a sandwich for lunch), asked to take it to school for lunch!!

The salt cod (bacalao) I buy usually does not require repetitive boiling; just a few minutes of rinsing are sufficient. If you think your salt fish requires more than rinsing, feel free to boil it, changing the water several times. I understand that no two brands of salt fish are the same.

It may seem like a lot of ingredients for what should be a simple fritter, but Mummy always preached “needs more seasoning” when I was learning to cook, so “robust flavor” is my main priority when creating a recipe or dish. The ingredients, however, are all familiar and are probably already waiting for you in your refrigerator or pantry. I added the blended green seasoning to create a flavorful backdrop for the other ingredients. The other ingredients are not only healthful, but they also add texture, flavor and create a perfect savory balance which leaves you wanting more!!!

You may add heat to this dish by adding minced habanero or scotch bonnet pepper.

Accra-Saltfish Fritters

Makes 9

6 oz salt cod (also known as salt fish, bacalao), skinless, boneless

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder

½ teaspoon active dry yeast

2 tablespoons finely chopped green sweet pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped red sweet pepper (about ¼ medium)

1 tablespoon finely chopped pimento pepper (1 large)

1 scallion, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons green seasoning

1 teaspoon minced garlic

¼ cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

1 teaspoon brown sugar

Salt, to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

About ½ cup water

Oil,  for frying

Using a knife, cut salt fish into small pieces. Soak for several hours. Rinse with several changes of water until only a hint of salt remains. Squeeze out all liquid from the saltfish. (Alternatively, you may rinse salt fish,  then boil, changing water several times, drain, transfer to a bowl and flake) .  

[Note...Pics were taken the day I quadrupled the recipe]

PREP: Dice peppers, onion, scallion, mince garlic.

In the bowl with the salt fish, add the remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder, yeast, peppers, scallion, green seasoning, garlic, onion, thyme leaves, brown sugar and black pepper).

Using your hands(or spoon), mix together while gradually adding water, until you have a thick batter. Add more salt if the cod fish has no trace of salt after washing or boiling.

(I then allow the batter to rest for 15-30 minutes)

Heat ¼ inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat or enough to cover the bottom of the skillet. Start by doing a taste test for salt. Using a one tablespoon measure, scoop and drop batter into the hot oil, press with a spatula to flatten and fry until golden brown. Flip and cook the other side. Transfer to a paper towel lined platter. When cool, taste the fritter, adding more salt to the batter, if necessary.

[Deep fried]

Working in batches (now using a ¼ cup measuring cup), scoop batter, drop into oil, flatten with a spatula and fry, flipping once, until both sides are golden brown. Do not overcrowd pan. Transfer to paper towels to drain. 

[Shallow frying]

Notes: [Add more oil as necessary in between batches and always make sure that the oil comes back to temperature. Reduce the heat at any point the oil begins to smoke. I lower the heat while I am shaping the fritters and raise it to medium immediately after shaping. Instead of using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, you may also scoop and shape batter with your fingers, then drop gently into oil.)

Serve plain or with mango chutney, kuchela or hot sauce.

Hope you enjoy my recipe,

Cooking with love,

Ria 

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