Grilled Potatoes with Bajan Inspired Dipping Sauce

Last week we spent five blissful days in beautiful Barbados. It was a quick trip but a great way to see old friends, meet new ones and enjoy a little time under the Caribbean sun.



Our snorkeling trip was a rare treat for me. We spent a wonderful morning snorkeling with majestic Hawksbill sea turtles. These marvellous creatures sailed past us so closely that they just grazed our fingertips. With all of the regular boat tours and foreign interlopers flailing about in the water, I suspect the sea turtles have come to recognize the sound of the boats engines as a Pavlovian conditioned response: Boat engines = food.

But we spent the balance of our time in Barbados primarily out of the water. We explored the island, ate the local cuisine and enjoyed the night life. On one such night, our friends boasted a Rihanna sighting at one of the local bars across from our hotel. (All the things you miss when you don't stay out until 3am!)

Nevertheless, I still love the adventure of travelling. My favourite aspect of being away from home is enjoying an experience that I have never had before, meeting new and interesting people and of course, discovering the local cuisine. Like most Caribbean cuisines, Bajan food is known for spicy flavours (though not necessarily the most fiery), and the freshest fish (including my new favourite, flying fish) cooked on the hottest grills.

Most people who spend time in Barbados make their way to Oistins for the Fish Fry. The weekly event takes place on Friday and Saturday nights and draws in both tourists and locals on a steamy night for a little music, some handicrafts and alot of delicious food.

As much as I was looking forward to our friend's wedding, I was also quite eager to experience the famous Oistins Fish Fry. When Friday night arrived, we packed ourselves in a taxi with a camera in hand and a healthy appetite. We followed the crowds down to Oistins. The parking lot heaved with taxis and buses lining up to unload hungry folk intent on experiencing the famous Oistins Fish Fry.

One side of the market is what I would call the fresh side. This is where fish comes off the boats caught that day to be brought up to stations where masters with expert hands deftly scale and gut fresh fish for sale. By the evening, there is little for sale as stand owners prepare for the next day's business.




As we moved over towards the crowds, we found the Fish Net Stand, the recommended dinner spot from the locals we polled. It turned out we weren't the only ones who knew about this gem. We lined up for ten minutes to order dinner. The line moved quickly and the staff hustled to move the line along. By far, the most popular choice was Dolphin-fish. (Don't worry - we didn't eat Flipper, it's another name for Mahi Mahi.) The dinner comes with a generous serving of the fish of our choice (Marlin, Dolphin, Tuna, and Swordfish), a small green salad, two potato halves grilled to perfection. But best of all, was the slightly spicy tartar sauce. This tartar sauce was creamy and smooth, studded with little bits of sweet relish and finished with a smooth touch of heat. We thought this tartar sauce was excellent with the fish, but it was even better with the grilled potatoes.



I think the base of this sauce was a combination of mayonnaise and sour cream but I decided to lighten it a little bit with a little low fat sour cream and skipped the mayonnaise.

These grilled potatoes would be a great addition to your next BBQ dinner. Also, this is simple enough to a great side to a weekday dinner.

Grilled Potatoes with Bajan Inspired Sauce


Quantity of potatoes
Olive oil

Dipping Sauce
1 c sour cream (low-fat is okay)
1/2 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dill
1/4 tsp dry mustard
6 sweet gherkins (minced finely - use a food processor) or 2 tbsp sweet relish
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp lime juice

Boil the desired quantity of potatoes until mostly cooked. Cool slightly and slice lengthwise. Brush lightly with olive oil and grill on the BBQ or a grill pan.

To make the dipping sauce, mix ingredients together and adjust seasoning to taste. Set aside. If possible, make the dip in advance to allow the flavours to meld.

Serve sauce alongside grilled potatoes. (This is fantastic with raw vegetables as well.)

While in Barbados, I recommend:

Cuzz's Fish Stand (the most fantastic flying fish sandwich I had on the island)Located beside the Dive Shop Ltd in St Michael by near the Hilton

Fish Net Stand for the grilled "Dolphin-fish" dinner at Oistins Fish Fry
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What To Do With... Anchovies

Okay, so maybe you were hoping for another ingredient... maybe, pine nuts or something a little more fashionable, but it's anchovies this week. Don't stop reading okay? Just hear me out.

Anchovies do have a bad rap. They are too often maligned with noses upturned at the mere mention of this salty, humble ingredient. But why? Sure, they are not the most attractive things, and sure, they are incredibly salty and also a bit fishy, but who says you have to eat them out of the can? Maybe anchovies were never meant to be in a starring role, but I think they make a great supporting cast member. Think of anchovies as Rob Schneider to a main ingredient's Adam Sandler. So maybe you weren't supposed to have an anchovy sandwich, but just maybe anchovies are supposed to be a great sidekick.

Indeed, there are many delicious uses for this flavour enhancer; just give it a try.

Some classic preparations of anchovies include:

1. Ceasar salad: mashed into the dressing, its form is indiscernible but its presence is unmistakeable.
2. Spaghetti puttanesca : add 3 or 4 anchovy fillets into your next tomato sauce, add sliced black olives, 1 can of flaked tuna and warm thoroughly. The anchovies melt away leaving a rich taste of the ocean.
3. Jannssen’s Temptation : this is ridiculously delicious and simple to make. It’s basically scalloped potatoes with a layer of onions and anchovies. Bake until golden and bubbly.
4. Bagna Cauda: Warmed dip of olive oil, butter, anchovies, garlic, parsley, chilli flakes for dipping raw (carrots, celery or radishes) or cooked vegetables (such as baby potatoes, baby corn or artichokes)

With the holiday season upon us, don't waste your money on insipid preservative-laden commercial tapenades. Make this sweet and salty tapenade instead:

5. Fig and olive tapenade : In a food processor, whiz up 1/4c capers, 1 c of pitted black olives, 1/4 c olive oil, 1/4c balsamic vinegar, 10 dried black mission figs roughly chopped, 4 anchovy fillets, 1/4c red onion – until chopped finely. Serve with cheese and crackers.


(Fig olive tapenade a top of triple creme pictured above. Sinful but delicious.)

6. Sauteed rapini and chilli flakes : sauté 2 cloves of garlic (minced), 1 pinch of chilli flakes, and 3 anchovy fillets. Add half bunch of chopped rapini and sauté until rapini is bright green and wilted slightly.
7. Steamed asparagus with lemon caper and anchovy butter – toss steamed asparagus with a mixture made of the zest and juice of one lemon, 1 tbsp capers drained, 2 anchovies finely minced, and 1 tbsp butter.

If you’re feeling particularly brave:

8. Smear it on hot toast instead of butter.
9. Add to pizza
10. Add to pesto

There see? That wasn't so bad. You can do it! Anchovies are a great second fiddle.

Kitchen Gadgets & Sunchokes

I do love my kitchen gadgets. But like most people, I have to admit, over the years I have collected and hoarded those little things, in fact, I have two drawers teeming full. However, in reality, most of these gadgets warmed the bench and never really saw any game time.

Thus, in an effort to really only own the kitchen gadgets I need, I actively exercised restraint whenever I came upon on the Benriner mandolin slicer at my favourite Japanese grocery store, Sanko Trading. It sat on the top shelf of the small single aisle store with a little hand-written sign appealing to my food obsession nature: “Benriner Japanese slicer! Excellent for slicing! Now only $29.99.” Every time I stopped in, I’d stand in front of the Benriner, read the sign and say to myself, “You know, it would be so useful at home. It would really elevate my skills in the kitchen.” I always wanted one, and I imagined its razor sharp blades easily slicing through the hardest vegetables dispensing them into fine, papery slices or perfectly uniform matchsticks or batons. It took about four visits to that grocery store before I accepted my fate and bought the Benriner.

With the Benriner now at home, it needed an appropriate debut. This week at the Market, we picked up a knobbly, knuckly vegetable called a sunchoke (also known as, a Jerusalem artichoke.) In fact, I must confess, I didn’t know what it was initially. My husband pointed to what he thought was ginger, but when I saw it, it didn’t look quite right to me. At first glance, I thought it might be galangal, a pale rhizome bearing an uncanny resemblance to the ginger. But when I picked it up, it had no discernable scent. The woman at the market must have noticed my bewilderment, “It’s a sunchoke,” she advised.

A quick search on the internet revealed that sunchokes are a starchy tuber, similar to a potato in texture, but resembling a ginger. Therefore, sunchoke’s starchy nature was naturally suited for a lovely re-imagining of a classic potato dish, Pommes Anna. And the Benriner did not disappoint. Smooth and sharp, it razed the hard nubby ‘chokes into delicate pedals in a matter of seconds. Within several minutes, the bowl of sunchokes turned into a pile of translucent papery shavings. Not quite ready to put the Benriner away, I also dispensed with a large garlic clove and a stalk of celery in the same efficient manner.

Oh the power of the Benriner! It is the one Ring to rule all kitchen gadgets.

In the spirit of full disclosure, this recipe does border on being fussy. We made this dish on the weekend when our night was all about a big dinner. Stayed tuned, I suspect a gratin dauphinoise (or potato gratin) will make it to the dinner table sometime soon.



Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke) Pommes Anna

1 lb sunchokes – washed, peeled or unpeeled
1 large garlic clove
1 celery rib
3 tbsp butter

Handful of parsley
Salt and pepper
A squeeze of lemon juice to prevent the sunchokes from darkening

1. Very carefully, slice sunchokes on a mandolin (or food processor) into thin translucent slices over a bowl of water and lemon juice to prevent discolouration.
2. Process garlic and celery in the same manner in a separate bowl.
3. Drain the sunchokes and dry well with a towel.
4. Add 2 tbsp of butter to a large skillet.
5. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
6. Heat the skillet until the butter is melted and foamy. Turn heat down to low. Arrange approximately a third of the sunchokes, concentrically. Layer a 1/3 of the celery and garlic, repeat until complete.
7. Place a plate on top of the slices and weigh down with a large can.
8. Turn up heat to medium and cook for ten minutes.
9. Remove plate and can and dot the surface with the remaining tablespoon of butter
10. Place skillet in the oven and bake for another twenty minutes or until crispy and brown.
11. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.


Disclosure: I have no commercial affiliation to the Benriner; I am just a big fan.

Broccoli Potato Soup

It has been unseasonably cold in Toronto this past week so much so that I took my winter coat out of storage, grudgingly removed the dry cleaner's cover and wore it to work today. But it's not even Thanksgiving yet, I pleaded. Sigh.

So as my winter weather clothes come upstairs from our basement storage, it is time for me to pack away my the warm weather recipes of salads, light summer suppers and usher in thick woolly sweaters, slow cookers and comfort foods. So it begins...

Hmm. Did that sound overly negative about winter... Let me clarify... it's not a bad thing altogether. I do love comfort food. I love the warm, rich dishes we allow ourselves to indulge in when it's cold outside because we feel it fortifies our bodies and nourishes our souls... But I guess I was having a hard time, just because there are little green orbs on my tomato plant that sits on my backporch garden and there wasn't enough of the sun's rays to warm those little darlings to red. I just wasn't ready to say good bye.



Well, not all of summer is lost, yet... While the air feels chilled, there is still one remnant of summer with us. Our CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) half summer share continues for the rest of this month. In the early days of summer, we received tastes like garlic scapes, rhubarb, and strawberries. As the summer progressed, we were treated to tastes like exotic lettuce mixes, garlic, onions, herbs, peppers, potatoes, jalapenos, cantalopes, and watermelon. The half share brought a connection to the earth we never had before with our food. While we do our best to eat local, support the farmer's markets and eat foods in season, our weekly bounty from our organic CSA really made an impact to the way we think about our environment and the challenges farmers face.

This June, it rained hard and our first half pint of strawberries were on the small side and pock marked. The following week, the weather had improved and our strawberries were bright, fragrant and juicy. As an "owner" of a half share of a CSA farm, we are receive a "share" of the weekly harvest. What the weekly share is is highly dependent on what is ready to be harvested by the farm's owners. In the earlier weeks of the summer when the weather was unseasonably cold, our weekly box reflected this. At the height of summer, we would gasp at how many vegetables were in our box. There were weeks where we struggled to eat the contents of our "half share" and this week was no exception.



Now as summer fades into fall, our summer deliveries are winding down but our weekly take is still bountiful. With a small bunch of broccoli threatening to whither, about a pound of potatoes, and a bright grapefruit size white onion, I decided that a warming, hearty soup would be a good use of some of the gorgeous produce we received this week. It was also a good excuse to use my new Le Creseut dutch oven.



Broccoli Potato Soup
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 bunch of broccoli - washed well - no stalks
5-6 medium sized white potatoes - peeled
1 medium sized onion (or a half of one large one)- chopped roughly
1 liter of vegetable stock

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute gently. Sweat the onions, until they are soft and glossy.
2. Chop the potatoes into a large chunks and add to the pot.
3. Add broccoli and vegetable broth. Lower heat to a simmer and cover.
4. Cook until the potatoes are soft and crumble underneath your spoon.
5. Carefully, insert an immersion blender and whiz the soup until smooth and creamy. Do this slowly and carefully. If the soup is too thick, you can thin it out with additional vegetable broth. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning.

15 minute soup: Creamy Corn & Potato Chowder

It was a busy week... but I managed to squeeze out a quick recipe. I looked into my fridge and cobbled together some vegetables for a delicious corn chowder. Sometimes if we are making potatoes for dinner, I make extra and store them in the fridge for quick meals during the week.


Cream Corn & Potato Chowder
1 c of corn kernels
3 stalks of celery - diced
1 large carrot - diced
1 small yellow onion - diced
1 small orange pepper - diced
6 new potatoes - boiled & cooled & diced
1 tbsp of minced garlic
1/2 tsp of dried dill
3 tsp of chicken / vegetable bouillon in 1 c of water
(if you have chicken stock use that instead)
1 l of skim milk
1 tbsp of olive oil

1. Heat oil in pan, saute garlic and onion until onion starts to sweat.
2. Add diced celery, carrot, potato, pepper and dill. Saute until soft.
3. Once the vegetables are heated through, add the chicken stock or the bouillon powder mixed with water. Heat until bubbling and turn down heat to low-medium.
4. Add the milk and cover with lid. Stir often to ensure that the soup does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
5. When the soup is heated through, plunge an immersion hand blender into the soup pot. Ensure the blender is fully immersed as the soup is very hot and could cause serious burns. Don't blend it until you have a puree but leave it rather thick and chunky. You still want to see the vegetables but blending the vegetables creates nice creaminess and beautiful texture.

It is literally a 15 minute soup if you buy the pre-packaged diced vegetables.