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Fruity salsas, chutneys, and purees make tasty toppings for fresh fish. Photograph by Bob Krist
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Island Cuisine Recipes
Here, chefs at restaurants on five islands—Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Thomas, Grand Cayman, and Anguilla—give recipes you can make at home.
Click on a dish for the recipe:
Chayote Restaurant, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Prepared by chef/owner Mario Pagan
Curried Yucca Crab Cakes on Arugula with Piquillo Pepper Sauce and fresh Mango-Papaya Chutney
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh crab meat
1/4 pound cubed yucca or cassava (boiled/pureed)
1 diced green bell pepper
1 diced shallot
1/4 tablespoon curry powder
2 ounces piquillo peppers
4 ounces fresh garlic mayonnaise
1 ounce lime juice
1/8 cup flour
3/4 cup of bread crumbs
1 well mixed egg
1 cup of arugula
1/4 cup of mango-papaya chutney
Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Mix the crab meat, yucca purée, and vegetables together in a mixing bowl by hand. Add lime juice, mayonnaise, salt, pepper, and curry powder.
2. Mold two cakes by hand and roll in flour. Pat both to get rid of excess flour and place in the egg-and bread-crumb mixture.
3. Set in refrigerator for one hour.
4. On a shallow pan coated with peanut oil, sear both sides of the cake until golden brown and bake in oven at 350 °F for six minutes.
5. In a separate dish mix the piquillo peppers and mayonnaise well to create the sauce.
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Red Snapper Filet on Pumpkin Puree and Passion Fruit-Nutmeg Vinaigrette (two servings)
Ingredients:
2 (8 ounces each) red snapper filets (with skin)
1 pound (clean and seeded) fresh diced pumpkin
1 minced red bell pepper
1 minced yellow bell pepper
1 minced green bell pepper
1/2 a minced purple onion
1/2 cup fresh passion fruit pulp pureéd (frozen puree optional)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 ounces fine sherry vinegar
Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Place the pumpkin in boiling water until almost tender. Add the tablespoon of butter and mix well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside in a warm place.
2. Emulsify the sherry vinegar, olive oil, and passion fruit puree in a mixing bowl. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add the peppers and onions. Set aside.
3. Place the filets skin side down first in a high-heat, shallow pan coated with olive oil for one minute. Repeat with the other side. Place in a 400-degree F oven for about five minutes.
4. Spoon puree on the middle of the plate and place filets on top. Drizzle with the vinaigrette.
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Cuzzin’s Caribbean Restaurant & Bar, St. Thomas
Johnny Cake (10 to 12 cakes)
Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 ounces margarine
1 egg
3 ounces evaporated milk
2 to 4 tablespoons water as needed
1 pinch of salt
Vegetable oil heated for deep-frying
Directions:
1. Add all of the ingredients to the flour.
2. Mix dough well and roll, with sprinkled flour, into balls that are approximately two and a half inches in diameter.
3. Flatten to a thickness of about half an inch with a rolling pin.
4. Drop each, one at a time into the hot oil and fry until dark golden brown on all sides.
5. Remove from frying pan and blot with a paper towel to remove excess oil.
6. Serve hot or at room temperature.
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Cuzzin’s Curried Conch (serves four)
Ingredients:
3 Conch
1/2 sliced medium onion
1/2 medium green pepper
2 1/2 cups conch water (liquid saved from cooking conch)
1 teaspoon fish base or bouillon
1 tablespoon curry powder (or to taste)
Garlic powder to taste
Black pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Scoop out the meat from three conchs (cleaned and pressure cooked for approximately 20 minutes or until tender).
2. Sauté onion and green pepper with a small amount of oil until tender in a large skillet.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes.
4. Slice conch into bite-size pieces and add to the skillet.
5. Simmer slowly together for another 10 to 15 minutes.
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Dasheene, Ladera Resort, St. Lucia
Caribbean Octopus Salad
Ingredients:
1 octopus
1/2 onion
1/2 dried coconut
1/2 lime
2 seasoning peppers
2 spring onions (chives)
2 garlic cloves
Celery and parsley (to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons hot sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Boil octopus until tender.
2. Cool octopus for 15 minutes.
3. Dice onion, celery, parsley, and seasoning pepper.
4. Slice and roast coconut until golden brown.
5. Mix everything together.
6. Add salt and pepper.
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Seventh Heaven Lamb
Ingredients:
3 lamb chops
2 seasoning peppers
1/2 tablespoon of ginger
1/2 an onion
2 garlic cloves
1 ounce ginger wine
1/4 cup beef stock
3 tablespoons oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Clean and marinate lamb overnight with ginger, onion, seasoning pepper, garlic, and oil.
2. Pan sear lamb until cooked.
3. Remove from pan and add diced onion, pepper, garlic to sauté for about three minutes.
4. Add beef stock.
5. Simmer until reduced then add lamb.
6. Add ginger wine and salt and pepper.
7. Enjoy!
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Hemingway’s, Grand Cayman
Plantain Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with Passion Fruit Sauce and Caramelized Pumpkin and Parsnips (serves four)
Ingredients:
Crust
One green plantain sliced and deep-fried until crisp (or plantain chips from the store)
Two ounces of corn meal
Directions:
1. Grind in a food processor until medium powder consistency.
Sauce
1 fresh, peeled, and diced mango
1 cup dry white wine
1 clove garlic
1 fresh passion fruit
4 ounces butter
6 ounces cream
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Place the mango, garlic, and wine in a pan and reduce until the wine is almost gone.
2. Add cream and let simmer for a few minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, small pieces at a time—blend and strain.
4. Cut the fresh passion fruit in half and scoop the seeds and flesh into the sauce.
5. Allow to heat through and then stir to break up any fleshy bits.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Caramelized Pumpkin and Parsnips
8 ounces pumpkin or butternut squash
6 ounces parsnips
1 cup brown sugar
2 ounces butter
Salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Steam or boil pumpkin and squash until soft.
2. Caramelize with brown sugar.
3. Mash with butter.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
17-ounce Filets of Seabass
Directions:
1. Season the bass and drizzle with a small amount of olive oil.
2. Press the filets in the plantain crust and pan fry on a medium heat until golden brown and cooked in the middle.
3. Stack the fish on the puree.
4. Drizzle with the sauce.
5. Garnish with plantain chips.
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Island-Style Conch Fritters with Pickled Scotch Bonnet Mayo (serves four to six)
Pickled Scotch Bonnet
6 ounces fresh bonnets or habaneros peppers
2 ounces of peeled carrot
1 small, white onion
16 ounces white wine vinegar
Directions:
1. Remove the stems from the peppers and slice the underside with a knife.
2. Slice the carrots into julienne strips.
3. Slice the onion.
4. Place all dry ingredients in a clean mason jar, bring the vinegar to a boil, and pour over the other ingredients.
5. Allow to cool and then seal and refrigerate (will last for a few months as long as it’s topped with vinegar).
6. For the mayo, puree a few peppers either by hand or blender.
Mayonnaise
6 ounces good quality mayonnaise
2 ounces chopped fresh cilantro
Squeeze the juice from a lime
Pepper and salt puree to taste
Conch Fritters
12 ounces clean conch meat
1 small onion
1/2 a red pepper
1/2 a green pepper
1/4 bunch cleaned cilantro
1 egg
1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Salt and pepper
Lemon and lime juice
Directions:
1. Finely purée the conch in a food processor or meat grinder.
2. Add the peeled onion, peppers and blitz until you have a slightly chunky mixture.
3. Pour in a mixing bowl.
4. Add the egg, salt and pepper to taste, citrus juices, flour, and baking powder.
5. Adjust the flour to consistency—you should be able to make golf-size fritters without it sticking to your hands.
6. Deep fry fritters over medium heat in vegetable oil until golden brown.
7. Serve fritters on small dots of mayo so they don’t slide around on the plate.
8. Garnish with fresh lime.
9. Enjoy!
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KoalKeel Restaurant, Anguilla
Prepared by executive chef Leonard “Smoke” Sharplis
Anguillian White Fish Puffs
Ingredients:
4 ounces diced yellowtail snapper filet
2 ounces thinly sliced button mushrooms
1 ounce unsalted butter
2 level tablespoons diced, fresh watercress (save the tops for garnish)
2 to 3 level tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 to 3 ounces heavy cream
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Whole egg for eggwash to seal pastry (one per pastry)
Garnish—lemon wedges and watercress sprigs
Directions:
Filling
1. Portion the snapper filet and mushrooms.
2. In a sauté pan, melt the butter over low heat and sauté the fish and mushrooms lightly for two to three minutes.
3. Mix in the chopped watercress.
4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour gradually.
5. Add the cream gradually, stirring constantly.
6. Return the pan to the heat on low and simmer for four to five minutes.
7. Remove from the heat.
8. Add sherry and stir until blended in.
9. Add lemon juice and stir until blended in.
10. Add salt and pepper to taste.
11. Set aside to cool.
Directions:
Pastry
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Beat egg until incorporated and reserve.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry to a rectangle of 16” by 8” alternating directions as you roll to keep the dough square and relaxed.
4. With a pizza wheel or knife, cut the dough into eight 4” squares. Work with squares one by one, keeping them refrigerated while working—do not allow to thaw.
5. Spoon a teaspoon of the fish mixture into the center of each puff pastry square.
6. Fold over the edges of the dough to form a triangle.
7. With a pastry brush, brush the edges of the dough with the beaten egg to seal.
8. Press the edges of the triangle with a fork to hold closed.
9. Brush the top of the triangle lightly with the beaten egg.
10. Score the triangles with three slits on the top of the dough to allow the steam to escape.
11. Place the triangles on a damp parchment paper and place in the oven just above the center.
12. Bake for ten to fifteen minutes or until the triangles have risen and are golden brown.
13. Garnish with lemon wedges and sprigs of watercress.
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Grilled Lobster Medallions with Vegetable Ragout
8 pounds (including the shell) of lobster
1 small, diced green pepper
1 small, diced red pepper
1 small, diced yellow pepper
1 small, diced yellow squash
1 small, diced zucchini
3 medium plum tomatoes
1 crushed garlic clove
1 fresh basil leaf, julienne
2 1/2 ounces of extra-virgin olive oil
Fresh, small basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Lobster
1. If live, tie the tail of the lobster to the body with a tight rubber band before boiling.
2. Boil the lobster for 35 minutes in a rolling boil.
3. Remove and set aside to cool.
4. Remove lobster meat from the shell using the tail portion only.
5. Slice into medallions of equal sizes.
6. Grill the lobster medallions on a hot grill for 20 seconds on each side.
Ragout
1. Cut off the tops of the tomatoes and mark the bottoms with an “x.” Blanche in boiling water for 20 to 30 seconds and remove. Peel the skin from the tomato and take out the seeds, leaving only the flesh. Dice into small bits.
2. Remove the seeds from the peppers and dice into small bits.
3. Remove the seeds from the core of the yellow squash.
4. Cut all other vegetables into small bits except the garlic and basil.
5. Heat pan and add olive oil.
6. When hot, add vegetables, tomato concasee, and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes (they should remain crisp)—but be careful not to burn.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Arrange the lobster medallions on a bed of cold or hot vegetable ragout.
9. Garnish with a sprig of basil.
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La Route des Epices, St. Barthelemy
Prepared by: Thierry Clion
Cod Accras (serves eight)
Ingredients:
1 pound cod filets
1 clove garlic
1 onion
3 chives
1 bunch parsley
1 Antillean pepper without seeds
1 pinch thyme
9 ounces flour
1 yeast sachet
Frying oil
2 eggs
5 cups water
Directions:
1. Desalt and poach the cod and skin and de-bone the fish.
2. How to desalt the cod: Cut the cod into pieces, and stand in water in a colander. Let the cod stand for 24 to 48 hours. Change the water if necessary.
3. Bring to a slow boil and then remove the pan from the heat. Wait 15 minutes and strain.
4. Dice the garlic, onion, chives, parsley, Antillean pepper and the thyme.
5. Mix the flour with five cups of water, add 2 egg yokes, and the yeast.
6. Add the cod and the chopped spices.
7. Whisk the egg whites and slowly add mixture of cod.
8. Then put the preparation in croquette form and fry.
9. Serve very hot accompanied with different sauces.
10. Enjoy!
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Red Snapper—Creole Fashion (serves four)
Ingredients:
4 filets Red Snapper
4 limes
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch chives
1/2 an Antillean pepper without seeds
Thyme
2 soupspoons of peanut oil (Olive oil can be used too)
17 ounces of fish stock
Directions:
1. Chop up the garlic, parsley and chives with the lime juice and add the pepper as well as the thyme.
2. Marinate the filets in the lime juice and chopped spices around 1/2 an hour.
3. Pan fry the filets in the peanut oil 30 seconds each side and keep.
4. Add seventeen ounces of fish stock in the marinade and bring to the boil for 2 minutes.
5. Pour on the fish and serve accompanied with white rice.
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—Compiled by Heather Morgan
Heather Morgan is Traveler magazine’s online editor.
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