Have your got your passport? How about sunglasses? Did you remember to bring sun screen? OK, ready? Buckleup buttercups - as I mentioned yesterday, we're doing a whirlwind tour of Caribbean cuisine this week with Tortola the first stop on our adventure, followed by a trip to St. Martin.
Tortola is the largest populated island in the British Virgin Islands with breathtaking views, hilly countryside and steep, narrow roads. The views are unspoiled by highrises since no building taller than a palm tree is allowed. Island cuisine includes West Indian specialties such as fresh spiney lobster, conch, turtle, spicy goat and curries as well as stewed mutton, saltfish and dumplings and many varieties of Caribbean fruits and local vegetables. With no flatlands to speak of agriculture is scarce and naturally that is reflected in the cost and availability of foods not indigenous to the island.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm not sure that salmon is a local speciality found in the Caribbean or whether it is flown in; however, this recipe is from a Taste of the Caribbean Cookbook by Angela Spenceley. Download Salmon with Brown Sugar and Lime Rum Mustard Glaze The salmon is coated with a sweet and spicy glaze of brown sugar, honey, butter, dijon mustard, fresh ginger, lime zest, rum and olive oil, then wrapped in foil and grilled. The big guy cooked our beautiful filet of wild salmon for 10 minutes, indirect heat over charcoal. By the way, for those of you living in Tucson, Sprouts has wild salmon on sale this week for $3.99 a pound and each filet runs about a pound to a pound and a half in weight. It's beautiful, high quality and very fresh fish. Perfect, just perfect!
The island flavors really came though loud and clear in this dish with the ginger predominant. The filet was perfectly cooked, incredibly moist and full of flavor. We'd do this again in a heartbeat - in fact, we managed to scarf down the entire one pound filet and had we bought 2, it would have been devoured too. It was that good.
Our salmon was accompanied by a light delicious salad from St. Martin made up of grilled pineapple, avocado and red onion, dressed with a sweet and spicy lime vinaigrette. St. Martin is the smallest island in the world shared between two different nations - St. Martin by the French and St. Maarten by the Dutch. They've co-existed for over 350 years. Located in the center of the chain of Caribbean islands, the climate is moderated by cooling trade winds meaning the average temperature is 82 in the summer and 80 in the winter. Their average annual rainfall is about 45 inches, most of which occurs during late summer and early fall.
St. Martin is known for its nude beaches, high fashion, shopping and fine dining style influenced by French culture..."the smell of fresh croissants and pastries mixes everywhere with the spicy aroms of West Indian cooking." Nix on the nude beaches, but I have a feeling I for one would LOVE discovering the joys of St. Martin's cookin'.
This salad was perfect along with the salmon. If you've never tried grilled pineapple, you've just GOT to - it brings a whole different flavor to the mix as the sugars in the pineapple carmelize so the normally fairly acidic pineapple is much sweeter and milder. The vinaigrette has mild heat from Serrano pepper balanced with honey and a touch of cinnamon. Quite honestly I could easily live off the stuff. Download Grilled Pineapple Avocado and Onion Salad
As for the GMan, he loved it - the big guy loved it. Can you believe it? His comment after dinner last night was "this is turning out to be a BAD weekend. Friday night peas, now Saturday night salmon. What are you doing to my tastebuds". Got him AGAIN. Man I love being right!
The salmon looks delicious, but that salad...oh that salad! It's absolutely gorgeous June! (and I love that bowl too.)
Loved the information on Tortola and St. Martin. I felt like I was watching the travel channel. I need to get out of corn country and see the world.
Posted by: Mags | 09/20/2009 at 03:10 PM
Thanks Mags. Wait till you see tonight's dinner on tomorrow's post! The big guy says "thanks for not making fun of me. June did!" LOL
Posted by: June | 09/20/2009 at 03:23 PM
This looks so delicious! We were in St. Thomas two years ago but didn't partake in their cuisine....we were on a cruiseship. I may have to go back to experience it....or just follow your recipes! I will be in Wisconsin this week but look forward to catching up on your blog when I return! Thanks for taking me on your Caribbean journey!
Posted by: Diana | 09/20/2009 at 07:55 PM
Diana, thanks for dropping in to share our Caribbean adventure. I hope you have a wonderful trip to Wisconsin...we'll have to honor that great state one of these days soon!
Posted by: June | 09/21/2009 at 08:06 AM