I’m always looking for interesting and creative side dishes. The kind that can be used both formally and informally. This recipe fit the bill. Warm creamy potatoes and sweet pumpkin slices combine to create an unexpected comfort food vibe, while the vibrant notes of fresh basil, make it exciting enough for guests’ palates. Braised Pumpkin and Potatoes Makes 6 to 8 servings INGREDIENTS: 3... 

Happy Independence Day to all the Trini readers and passersby Hard to believe but our nation has now been free of colonial rule for 45 years! My menu inspiration today is the old red, white, and black. I’ll be making: • Sarina’s Independence Day Fettucine with Sundried Tomatoes and Olives •  Read More →

This concoction came up on a whim. I’m always looking for ways to invent and reinvent rice-based side dishes. Sauteed garlic, scotch bonnet peppers and sweet peppers create a hot and savoury medley. The piece de resistance however is the inclusion of fresh thyme which makes each mouthful unexpectedly fragrant. It made a wonderful complement to this year’s Emancipation Day menu. Give it... 

Several weeks ago a reader asked me to post a recipe for Trinidad Kachourie. Well, it’s taken me a while but here it goes! So what is kachourie, some of you may ask? Well kachourie appears to be Trinidad’s version of what is listed in Wikipedia as kachouri or kachouri: From Wikipedia: Kachori – More specifically spelled as Kachauri, a farsan or spicy Indian mouth watering snack... 

Fried rice. It’s something that I’ve grown up on as my mother usually makes it at least once a week. Sometimes as a side dish, other times as the main occasion. It is really interesting to me how versatile it is and how it never tastes the same from cook to cook. Even when my mother and I approach the same recipes the results are slightly different I have posted various Fried Rice recipes... 

Wow, this has really been a year of confronting, and overcoming, my culinary fears! Who knew I had so many? So far this year I have created soufflés, tackled British food, baked several successful cakes, and combined peanuts with chicken. You’d think at this point I could rest on my laurels and smile over a job well done. But no sirree… not when I saw that this month’s Retro Recipe... 

The above is one of my favorite vegetable sides dishes and one that my mom can’t make enough, as far as I am concerned. Julienned slivers of green beans and carrots are sauteed in olive oil with cloves of garlic over medium heat until soft and sweet. Sometimes she leaves it on the heat too long and bits caramelized to the point of almost burnt, however this only makes it even more delicious... 

When I heard that this month’s theme of Meeta’s Monthly Mingle was “Earth Food” I smiled. You see, I have been interested in the preservation of the environment from a very young age. Where I got this passion for conservation I’m not quite sure, but I attribute some of it to Charlie. Who is Charlie you ask? Well he was a cartoon mascot in the early 1980′s for the... 

This month’s theme of Sugar High Friday is “tropical paradise“. Well seeing as I live on the very tropical island of Trinidad this should be a cinch! Currently, mangoes are in season and we are buried under several bags of the good stuff (courtesy of friends and neighbours) so I have been trying to use them in as many ways as possible. So far I have made my Coco-Mango smoothie,... 

Several months ago, Canadian food blogger kslobodian (who was also the subject of my second Nyam interview) posted a recipe for Green Onion pancakes. Green onion pancakes (or scallion pancakes as I know them) were something that I was introduced to during my college years in Massachusetts. They quickly became a staple of each visit that I (and my good friend Shyama) would make to our town’s... 

Like most food bloggers I have amassed a huge set of backlinks to recipes that I want to ‘try’ one day In fact, I would not be hurt if no one believes me anymore when I comment on their blog that I have bookmarked their recipe to try, as it appears that I never seem to get around to it. Well I have set a challenge to myself to become more proactive when it comes to actually putting these... 

It’s been several months since I’ve taken part in a “Waiter There’s Something in my…” challenge. So, it was with great excitement that I saw that this month’s theme was dumplings. Who doesn’t love dumplings?!? And I have tons of variations on the theme!… Then I read the rules more closely… oh my… the definition of dumpling was being... 

This recipe was the first one that my mother decided to try from my copy of The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1000 Classic American Recipes. Since then she’s made it at least twice a month and I never tire of it. Smoky, spicy, and heavily herbed it is almost a main dish by itself From The Good Home Cookbook: More Than 1000 Classic American Recipes: “Arroz verde, “ or green rice,... 

My anchovy fixation continues and everyone in my home is loving it! This recipe for Bagna Romano couldn’t be any simpler. Pasta, anchovies, garlic and cheese. That’s it! The pasta is so delicious it is a meal in itself! From: Cooking with Three Ingredients: Flavorful Food, Easy as 1, 2, 3 This sauce runs over with the complex salty fermented richness of oil-cured anchovies and garlic.... 

Spaced out by the title of this post? You should be! I’ve been bit by the Sci-Fi bug just in time for this month’s Blog Party Inspired by The Happy Sorceress’ theme requirements, and some leftover ginger ‘hard candy’ that I had made on Friday, I put the following together… Chocolatey, creamy, with a sneaky rum assault, I named this cocktail after the ringed... 

Mmm Mmm Mmm. Can you believe that this is my first entry to Sugar High Friday for the year? I don’t know what’s taken me so long! But look at this cake, I think it was worth the wait This time around Domestic Goddess asked participants to post desserts that they ‘crave’. Well I crave chocolate cake. Not only is it the cake that I make the best but it also needs little... 

Fried Plantain is a simple snack that appears to be common on tabletops across the Caribbean. I’ve grown up eating them my father’s way which is to wait for the plantain skins to turn almost black before panfrying them on high heat, until they are slightly charred on the outside. Then, when done, immediately sprinkle the slices with brown sugar. YUM! Tweet  Read More →

Vegetarian Express is one of my all-time favorite cookbooks because I can always rely on it to provide a simple quick accompaniment or entree to a more lavish menu. This recipe for deviled tomatoes was used to provide an accompaniment to a meal I made recently of Broccoli Gratin and Fettucine Spaghetti Alfredo. It not only provides nutritional balance but a lovely burst of red to the plating. Even... 

Although this is the first time that I am sharing an entry to They Go Really Well Together (TGRWT) this is actually not the first time that I’ve created a recipe for this ongoing ‘Molecular Gastronomy Project’. Unfortunately my first creation was so ghastly, so toxic, that I could barely swallow one bite and promptly attempted to discard it when my mother’s frugality exploded... 

Fried vegetables in a light, almost meringue-like, batter. Delicious! Although this recipe calls for squash or zucchini I used up veggies that I had on hand (cauliflower, potatoes, mushrooms and more!) The results were just as excellent. This is -the- perfect beer food Tweet  Read More →