When it comes to my culinary needs, I’m pretty liberal. I allow my palate free-rein to explore. She knows what I desire and if I don’t concur initially, we often come to a compromise. Ultimately, our needs are satisfied in the long run. So, the week-end was one of those when we were on similar pages from the ‘get-go’. I didn’t resist and went with the flow.
I was in a rustic mood. There was no need to julienne and cut my root veggies for the pickles on my fried snapper fish. I was aiming for flavors and great spices. I allowed my knife and cut board to do the talking. They produced sizeable portions for my pickle sauce made up of vinegar, splash of water, pinch of sugar, salt, black pepper, pimento (all spice).
After simmering my onions, carrots, scotch bonnet peppers and other ingredients I placed these on my fried snapper fish along with a squeeze lime. My escoveitch fish stood out with their usual bold, spicy and mouth-watering flavors.
It was back to basics for my callaloo (Jamaica’s spinach). It didn’t assume a power struggle with its bold counter-part (escoveitch fish). In general, callaloo knows where it stands in my kitchen. The fact is, I could use this fiber loaded vegetable day-in day-out.
I’m always intrigued with the way it comes alive as the heat hits it. As usual, it didn’t disappoint. It held on to its green hue and even shone even brighter. After softening my onions and clove of garlic in a drizzle of olive oil, all I had to do was to administer a pinch of salt and black pepper to taste.
I combined my two dishes and they fed off each other in a beautiful way. The callaloo (spinach) was tender but was not overly cooked. Moreover, it balanced out the spicy flavors of the escoveitch fish. They provided me and my palate great satisfaction that lasted the for hours later.