Coastal Living Magazine Features Elbow Cay: The Island Time Forgot

Coastal Living magazine’s current issue features our old stomping grounds of Elbow Cay in the Bahamas in their April travel section. The main settlement on Elbow Cay is Hope Town, where their picturesque  kerosene powered candy striped lighthouse greets guests on arrival in the little harbour. The article is titled “Elbow Cay, The Island Time Forgot.” You can read it in their on-line addition of the magazine and see more pictures of the tropical paradise.

Elbow Cay is located in the Abaco chain of "out-islands" in the northern Bahamas where we lived for ten years on the tiny nearby tropical cay of Lubbers Quarters. For a tour of Elbow Cay and more about Abaco and Lubbers Quarters, please visit my blog Island Time in Abaco.

In conjunction with Coastal Living's article I thought that, since this is a food blog, it would be fun to go to the grocery store on Elbow Cay. So hop aboard my “imaginary” run-about boat and we’ll head to Hope Town. The welcome sign at the entrance of the harbour reminds us to “Slow down, we’re in Hope Town.”

Here is the lovely harbour where power and sailboats are tied up to buoys.

We’ll park our boat at the Hope Town Sailing Club Dinghy Dock and walk to the grocery store. Vernon’s grocery store to be more exact. Vernon happens to be a good friend of ours and I want you to meet him.

Hope Town was founded in the late 1700’s by Loyalist from the United States fleeing the wrath and intolerance of the American Revolution. Their loyalties lay with Great Britain, so they left the victorious United States in order to remain within the British Empire. Wyannie Malone was one of the first loyalist and many of her descendants still live on Elbow Cay, including our friend Vernon Malone. Along the Queens Highway, a narrow concrete main lane that winds its way through the settlement, there are old loyalist’s cottages resembling New England that have been lovingly restored. Here are a couple of examples.

Since we’re going to Vernon’s Grocery, we need to take a right at the Jib, named because it is shaped similar to the head of the sail at the forward end of a sailing sloop.

Ah, here we are at Vernon’s Grocery.

Let’s look and see if he’s open. Stores in the islands close for lunch as well as holidays and Sundays.

We’re in luck. Vernon’s here.

As you can see, island grocery stores stock a little bit of everything, not just food. Vernon is famous throughout Abaco for his homemade Bahamian bread and delicious key lime pies. His motto is “let them eat key lime pies.” Vernon also has a fabulous sense of humor as you can see by his little humorous signs strewn throughout the store.

Here’s a glimpse of Vernon making his signature key lime pies. They are a perfect balance of sweet and tart.  It's smart to buy them the moment you see them on the shelf; otherwise they will be snapped up before your very eyes.

I can personally attest to the fact that the very best Bahamian bread in the Bahamas is made by Vernon. They remind me of the sturdy white loaf my mother made when I was a child. There's nothing better than a club sandwich made with Bahamian white bread. Here are some of his loaves of bread rising in the window of the bakery.

Vernon is a jack-of-all trades and, in addition to be a shop owner and baker, he is also a lay minister of the local Methodist Church. In case you would like to get married, he can perform the ceremony for you. Here is a wedding of a lovely couple who honeymooned in our rental house on Lubbers after Vernon married them on Tahiti Beach on the south end of Elbow Cay.

I hope you’ve enjoyed our imagionary trip to Vernon’s, our favorite island grocery store and bakery, on Elbow Cay in Hope Town in the Bahamas. Don’t forget to take a look at Coastal Living’s April 2011, either by picking up the April 2011 issue or on-line. For more pictures and information about Abaco, Elbow Cay, and Lubbers Quarters, please visit Island Time in Abaco.

Wild Mushroom Toasts with Eggs Recipe

Eggs are probably the original convenience food. According to Sara Foster of Foster’s Market fame in the Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, “When it comes to convenience food, you can’t do much better than eggs; they’re nourishing, they cook in minutes, and they’ll keep in your refrigerator for weeks." I totally agree. Eggs are so versatile and you can add just about anything savory to eggs and they’ll be delicious.

We’re the kind of people who can eat eggs morning, noon, or night. How about you? Do you think eggs are only for breakfast? If you do, I hope this recipe for wild mushroom toasts topped with eggs will convince you otherwise. This is adapted from Sara Foster’s delightful cookbook Casual Cooking, More Fresh Simple Recipes from Foster’s Market. The book has an entire chapter titled “Anytime Eggs,” and features such recipes as individual prosciutto, spinach, and egg “pies,” and smoked salmon toasts with poached eggs and Dijon dill sauce, which we had for dinner recently and it was so good we ate them before we got a chance to take a picture.  

The recipe calls for assorted wild fresh mushrooms. I bought a box of assorted mushrooms at the market, but next time I might try to choose my own mushrooms. The box I bought had a couple of exotic mushrooms, but the majority were baby bellas.

I didn’t have my wonderful egg poacher here that I so love, so we did what I call “soft fry” the eggs. They’re a cross between fried eggs and poached eggs. To “soft fry” the eggs, break them in a skillet with hot fat just as you would for fried eggs and, after a couple of minutes, add a little water and cover the eggs with a lid for the remainder of the cooking time. This method is much easier than poaching eggs and they turn out prettier than fried eggs in my opinion.

Enjoy eggs “anytime” as Sara Foster recommends.

Wild Mushroom Toasts with Eggs
Adapted from Sara Foster’s Casual Cooking

Serves: 4
Level: Easy

2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for brushing the bread
4 ounces assorted wild fresh mushrooms, trimmed and sliced if needed
1 shallot, peeled and minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped minced chives, plus more for garnish
4 1-inch-thick slices of crusty, rustic-style bread
4 large eggs

Heat the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add the mushrooms and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, until the mushrooms are golden brown and soft. Add the shallot and sauté about a minute more, until the shallot has softened. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the chives. Remove the mushrooms from the heat and keep warm.

Preheat the broiler. Brush one side of each bread slice lightly with olive oil. Place the bread under the broiler for about 1 minute per side to toast lightly. Set aside while you cook the eggs.

Heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack eggs into pan and cook 2 minutes. Add one tablespoon of water, cover with a lid and cook an additional 2 minutes until whites are set, then remove the skillet from the heat. Remove the eggs with a slotted spatula and place one egg on each toast. Top the eggs with the mushrooms and chives. Season with additional salt and freshly ground black pepper if desired and serve warm.

Now for the winner of the give-away. The question I posed on my last post with the French Bistros photos – “Do you wish you had gone to culinary school?” yielded a lot of interesting answers and I enjoyed reading each and every one of them. Many of you, in fact more than half, said you had dreamed of going to culinary school.  Some of you actually have attended culinary school and I really admire you. Others said they were dreaming of winning a contest that would whisk them off to the bistros of Provence to enjoy the food. Moi aussi. How about this charming bistro in Arles, Le Café La Nuit, which supposedly was the bistro that inspired Vincent van Gogh’s painting Café de Soir.

Le Cafe La Nuit in Arles, France

It’s wonderful to be able to dream, isn’t it? Where would we be if we didn’t dream? Walt Disney said “All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt was right about my dream of culinary school. I didn’t have the courage to pursue it. But there are others in the world that do have the courage to pursue their dreams. Of course I’m referring to the people in the Middle East and their dreams of freedom. It’s a very dangerous but exciting time in parts of the world today.

I wish that each of you could receive a copy of this fun read - Under the Table, Saucy Tales from Culinary School. It’s Katherine Darling’s memoir of adventures in the student kitchens of the legendary French Culinary Institute in New York City. However, there is only one winner and the winner is Ally from Sweet & Savory.  Ally’s name was drawn the old fashioned way, from a hat, and she too has dreamed of going to culinary school. Ally just delivered an adorable baby girl so you might want to drop by her blog and say congratulations on the new addition to her family. Ally, if you’ll contact me with your mailing address I’ll get the book off to you. Keep dreaming everyone.

For those of you that wished me well with our move in to our condo that is being renovated from head to toe, we're in but not quite settled. In any renovation, especially a major one, there are glitches. I'll have pictures when we're complete.

Bistros of Provence and a Giveaway

I've been feeling very French lately. Perhaps it's because I've just discovered the lovely blog Paris and Beyond and it's brought back wonderful memories for me of our trip to Provence. This lovely watercolor is from the cover of a menu of a French bistro in Maussane-les Alphiles in Provence.  Maussane is a charming village in the south of France near Saint-Remy-De-Provence with a lovely square where several bistros serve meals al fresco around the village’s fountain. As you can see, each bistro is distinguished by a difference set of tables and chairs.

Just a few kilometers down the road from Maussane is the tiny village of Paradou. Paradou is the home of Patricia Well’s favorite bistro – Le Bistrot de Paradou. Perhaps you may remember our lunch when we were there.

Because of Patricia Well’s stamp of approval and the fact that the food is outstanding, Le Bistrot du Paradou is a very busy restaurant. The owner, Jean-Louis Pons, carefully protects his bistro’s reputation by never allowing more people in than he can comfortably seat, so reservations are highly recommended. How I wish more restaurants in the US would follow Jean-Louis’ lead and not jam so many people in as they seem to do too often here at home.

On another day we enjoyed déjeuner under the umbrellas at La Petite France, also in Paradou.

Outside Le Petite France was proudly displayed Maîtres Cuisiners de France, meaning their chef was a member of the prestigious Master Chefs of France.

Seeing that sign about the chef and remembering these bistros and the fabulous meals we enjoyed there made me think that sometimes I wish I had gone to culinary school. Do you ever wish you had gone to culinary school? I’m retired now, so it’s far too late for me to pursue a culinary career, but I do enjoy reading about those who have - which brings me to the giveaway.

I’m giving away to one of you a copy of Under the Table, Saucy Tales from Culinary School by Katherine Darling. The book is a memoir of Katherine’s adventures in the student kitchens of the legendary French Culinary Institute in New York City, flavored with celebrity chefs, eccentric characters, and mouthwatering recipes. To quote part of a review from the Wall Street Journal, “Ever since Anthony Bourdain's best-selling "Kitchen Confidential," celebrity chefs and wannabees have flooded the market with boastfully naughty -- and often downright raunchy -- cook-and-tell confessions. No doubt that explains the publisher's title for "Under the Table: Saucy Tales From Culinary School." But it turns out that author Katherine Darling is a happy exception to the trend.”

It’s super easy to win - all you have to do is leave a comment telling me if you have ever dreamed of going to culinary school. If you are a follower, please leave an additional comment saying so and you’ll get two chances to win.

I’ll be taking a brief intermission to move into our condo and will return next week, when I’ll announce the winner of the book giveaway.

À bientôt mon amis – see you soon my friends. In the meantime, this is a photo of the most outstanding dessert of our trip to Provence, created by the Master Chef presiding over Le Petite France in Paradou.

Shrimp and Scallop Salad with Mango Salsa

I find that when people visit from other areas of the country and are invited to dinner, they expect certain foods to be served. For instance, if I visit my sister in Texas, I hope she’ll prepare some of my Tex-Mex favorites, since good Mexican food is hard to find where we live in the mountains. If we’re going to Maine, I want lobster and lots of it. If we drive over to eastern North Carolina to see friends, I always have my fingers crossed they’ll roast a pig they are so famous for that’s basted with vinegary eastern Carolina BBQ sauce. Last year when we visited our old home in Abaco, I couldn’t get my fill of spicy Bahamian fresh conch salad with fiery bird or goat peppers and seasoned ever so lightly with native sour oranges.

If you live in Florida as we do in the winter, guests expect seafood. I like to have a recipe up my sleeve that’s easy, so when people call and say, “We’re just driving by. Can we stop and say hello?” I can eagerly answer, “Yes and please stay for dinner” and mean it. If you live in a tourist area, it’s smart to be prepared, because people are bound to drop by unexpectedly sooner or later.

By easy, I mean two different kinds of easy. The first easy means easy to put together. I want to spend time with my guests, not be stuck in the kitchen. The second easy is versatility. I want a recipe where I can easily substitute ingredients and know that the recipe will still work.

This seafood salad fills both bills. It can be put together in under thirty minutes, perhaps even fifteen if you multitask. If the scallops don’t look good at the market, use all shrimp. If you don’t want to use shellfish, fish or even grilled chicken would work well. We’ve used broiled salmon or mahi mahi (also known as dolphin fish) many times with great success. Perhaps you remember this salmon with fruit salsa.

No mangos? Use peaches, nectarines, cantaloupe or honeydew. Want it spicier? Leave some of the seeds in the chopped jalapeno. If you have a guest who doesn’t like cilantro (and there are definitely some of those), leave it out or use some flat leaf parsley. Just don’t leave out the tomato, onion, or basil. They are the foundation of the salad. After that, almost anything goes.

Do you have foods that people expect to be served when they visit you?

Seared Shrimp and Scallop Salad with Mango Salsa
Adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cook Home Collection

10 large scallops, preferably dry pack
10 large shrimp, wild caught, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Baby lettuce mix, for serving
Mango salsa, recipe below

Dry the scallops and shrimp well. Heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet, add the butter and, when it has melted and starts to foam, put the shrimp and scallops in the frying pan. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook for 3 – 4 minutes, or until lightly golden on both sides and just tender to the touch, taking care not to overcook. Arrange a bed of baby lettuce mix on four plates and spoon over the salsa. Top with warm scallops and shrimp, and serve immediately. Serves 4.

Mango Salsa
Adapted from Little Moir’s Food Shack, Jupiter, Florida 

2 mangos, peeled and diced
1 ripe tomato, diced
½ of a red onion, minced
Juice of ½ to 1 lime
1 tablespoon jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar (unseasoned)
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh basil, cut into a chiffonade
1 tablespoon honey
1 - 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a bowl and gently toss. Serve immediately, or can be left at room temperature for up to an hour. Taste before serving and add more salt, pepper, rice vinegar, honey, or hot pepper to taste if necessary.

Grilled Bread with Prosciutto Barefoot Contessa Style

This grilled bread with prosciutto recipe is in Ina Garten’s (The Barefoot Contessa) latest cookbook How Easy is That? Ina put it in the cocktails category, but for us it easily was dinner when we combined it with a green salad and a cold beer.

Since the recipe isn’t on the Food Network site yet, I’ll talk you through it below, with a few changes. I used regular fresh mozzarella cheese instead of the fresh smoked one that Ina called for because I couldn’t find smoked mozzarella. Ina grated the cheese, but what I bought was too soft to grate, so I broke it up into bits with my fingers. I also thought the dish needed a burst of fresh flavor, so I added fresh basil leaves in the layer between the cheese and the prosciutto.

Choose a good, sturdy bread and cut it into 6 slices. Grill or toast the bread in a toaster oven on one side until golden. Immediately rub the grilled side with a half of a slice of a large garlic clove. Ina recommends that if you like a real garlicky flavor, rub hard. We thought that the garlic really made it, so don’t skip this step. Drizzle each slice with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Crumble 2 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese well with your fingers or grate it and divide it into six piles. Tear 2 ounces of Prosciutto de Parma and divide into six piles. To assemble, place one pile of the prosciutto on the grilled side of each bread slice. Slip in a fresh basil leaf or two, and top with crumbled mozzarella cheese. Return the bread to a hot grill or toaster oven to melt the cheese and cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Remove the slices and drizzle with a little more extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, season to taste with a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve hot.

This is a rich appetizer, both in terms of taste and your wallet. When you are making a dish with only a few ingredients, it’s essential that you use only the finest of ingredients, which is what real Prosciutto de Parma is as opposed to the stuff you find in styro-packs at the grocery store hanging on a rack in the deli. It is also expensive. Combined with the melted mozzarella, this is a very rich and filling dish. As far as easy goes, Ina was right on with that. It took only a few minutes to put it together.

Would we serve it again? As much as I love Ina and trust her recipes and own all of her cookbooks, probably not on this one. The main reason is we felt that the mozzarella cheese overpowered the prosciutto and all we tasted was cheese. If I’m going to buy the good (and expensive) Prosciutto de Parma, I want to savor and taste every morsel. In all fairness, Ina called for prosciutto and did not specify Prosciutto de Parma. But would you really want to use the cheap stuff? Plus, the dish was, in our opinion, too heavy as an appetizer and would spoil your or your guest’s appetite for dinner.

Have you tried this recipe and, if so, what did you think of it?