April is always an eventful month in our family. We have a few family birthdays, including mine, and it is generally when Easter occurs so we’re busy eating nearly as many chocolates as we do at Christmas!
This year was special though. The whole month was spent either preparing the boat in Panama for our Trans-Pacific crossing or onboard, during the crossing itself: 4000NM or 8000KM of nothing but ocean, for weeks on end. Three to be exact.
That is 21 ½ days, 64 meals to cook and serve to an often bored and always hungry crew. My daily entries would be too tedious to read, so I have picked the weekly highlights of this floating culinary journey of ours.
The difference between my boat pantry and my house pantry in Sydney is that we don’t have the convenience of running to the supermarket whenever we run out of a particular ingredient. The closest we ever come to this situation is when staying in particular countries for a while (like the USA or Mexico) where grocery shopping is easy and accessible. We then make weekly trips to the supermarkets and seek out local produce and to experiment with, just as we do at home. Otherwise, planning is the key to successful provisioning. Even more so for ocean passages.
Terry and I have crossed a few oceans in the past 25 years: we sailed up and down the Australian Coast maybe 10 times B.C (before children), then as a family cruised around the Mediterranean, crossed the Atlantic twice (from Spain to Brazil, then from France to the Caribbeans), and we are currently on our 4th Pacific crossing from Panama to Australia (previous ones were from Cairns to Alaska via Hawaii, Los Angeles to Townsville, and Panama to Sydney). 3 years ago, we joined the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) for the crossing from the Canary Islands to St Lucia. The main attraction for us was not only the opportunity to travel for a while with other cruising families, but also have all the official paperwork done for us, allowing us to focus on boat preparations and enjoy the social programme set up by the rally organisers. Between seminars, safety briefings and cocktail parties, we met a huge variety of crew, a lot of them first timers curious to hear about our previous voyages.
While Terry’s mechanical skills were in high demand, I found myself asked about tips for provisioning. I was happy to share our experience then, and now that we’re embarked on yet another long passage, I thought I’d part with some of my VOAHANGY wisdom, answering the most frequently asked questions. Read More
Inspired by Colombian seafood dishes (coconut sauce) and red snapper from San Blas fishermen (off Coco Banderos Cays).
Colombians traditionally deep fry individual fish, but I prefer to bake a bigger fish. Serve with plain rice and green vegetables. The sauce is so good it can be made on its own. Also left over fish and sauce mixed with mayonnaise make beautiful cold spread on tartines for lunch! All the family loves it.
Ingredients:
2.5 kgs ( or 4 individual) red snapper, cleaned, gutted and scaled
1 cup sliced onion
½ cup minced green shallots
¼ cup lime juice
1 tbsp minced parsley
1 tsp mashed garlic
1 tsp salt
2 cups coconut milk
½ fish stock cube (opt)
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp pepper
1. Make 3 or 4 slashes along the sides of the fish, all the way down to the bones
2. Combine sliced onion, green shallots, lime juice, garlic, parsley and salt. Rub the mixture inside the cuts and the belly of the fish.
3. Refrigerate, covered in the fridge for 15mn or ready to bake.
4. When ready, remove the onion mixture from the fish and drain the lime juice out. Discard the liquid and keep the rest aside. Paint the fish on both sides with olive oil
5. Bake the fish in a preheated 230 deg C for 10mn on each side, or when the flesh easily flakes when inserting a knife. The skin will not crisp up, rather it will fall off and be a little soggy, but that’s OK.
6. While the fish in baking, in a sauté pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and sauté the onion mixture you removed from the fish. Cook on medium heat, until the onion is translucent, about 7mn. Add the coconut milk, fish stock cube (if using), curry powder, cumin, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook briefly to blend the flavours, do not let it boil.
7. Place the fish on a large platter, let guests help themselves (or slice off a piece for them , as I do, it’s easier). Spoon the coconut sauce over fish and rice.
8. Enjoy!
Earlier this month we spent 18 days in Cartagena, on Colombia’s Atlantic coast. It was a technical stop, to work on the boat rather than for tourism. Still, we all had to eat and I found that scouting for local produce was a perfect distraction to the frustration of life in a shipyard.
When I asked friends in Mexico about Colombian cooking, I was told there was lots of rice. And indeed, rice is served with everything. It is a staple eaten for lunch and dinner, prepared in dozens of ways (plain, coconut, chicken, seafood, beans, mixed…) and served along side dishes like pasta, potatoes, beans, yucca or plaintain. Colombians think nothing of heaping their plate with 2 lots of carbs, and green vegetables seem to be an afterthought. It is an acquired taste, my teenage son thought he was in heaven, I learnt quickly to share an order with Terry as servings are generally large.
Work lunch: grilled steak, pasta, rice and salad
Our first trip to the supermarket was an eye opener: I expected to find tortillas and chilis like in Mexico, but found rows upon rows of deep-fried snacks : arrepas ( corn cakes made flat or filled, sweet or savoury, with cheese or butter…), empanadas (meat turnovers), deditos de queso (cheese fingers), plaintain chips (cooking, bananas), chicharrones (crispy pork rind), even something called piglets (fried green plaintains filled with chicharrones and refried into crispy balls!) The healthiest option were tamales or fresh fruit salad. And that was for morning tea.
Morning tea Cartagena style: egg filled arrepa and beef empenada. have it with strong coffee!
Then we moved on to lunch. I took the easy way out, and ordered take away: roast chicken and boiled potatoes, work lunches of grilled meat, rice and soup from the shipyard canteen…nothing fancy, but perfectly suited to our circumstances. We did eat out a couple of times to sample more “elaborate” Colombian food: once with the kids to a forgettable steak house, and another one with Terry to a restaurant called Mar de las Antillas where we feasted on regional specialties like fish medallions in garlic sauce, ceviche, name and cheese soup, brown coconut rice and plaintain fritters (double carbs again!). A combination of Caribbeans and South American fare, meat also features heavily but the cuts are very different to what we’re used to: the beef is not as tender, and the pork definitely on the fattier side ( coming from someone who loves pork belly, that says a lot! ) I would have loved to sample the desserts but was too full.
Canteen lunch at the shipyard: baked chicken, rice, potatoes, coriander soup and melon juice
Gourmet lunch: name & queso soup, brown coconut rice, fish in garlic sauce…feeling stuffed!
Ceviche always!
And don’t Colombians love their sweets! In a country that grows so much coffee, rice, corn and sugarcane, is it such a surprise to find super sweet desserts like dulce de leche (caramel), cocodas (coconut balls) , fruit jellies, flan de coco (coconut custard)… Just take a stroll down the Portal de los Dulces in the old Town and try to resist these sugary temptations displayed in glass jars. Or answer the call of street vendors selling tropical fruits all cut up into pieces in sealed plastic bags, ready to eat as finger food.
Sweet snacks to go in the old city
2 weeks on, the technical issues are becoming mere anecdotes, we will end up joking about, but the food memories will linger and provide inspiration long after. Last week, I found that all we had in the fridge was left over rice and pork spare ribs (a product of me cooking enough for 8, catering for the possible extra guests…as if , in an anchorage!). Remembering how Colombian accommodate rice a dozen ways, I came up with my own version of Arroz Mixto, rice with pork, with the addition of snow peas for greenery, chicharrones for crunch and fried eggs for that extra gooeyness.
Pork Rice and Snow Peas
(serves 4)
4 cups cooked rice
2 cups left over cooked pork spare ribs or pork belly with rind on
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
200g snow peas
4 eggs
2 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup soya sauce
4 tbsp coriander
For the chicharonnes: cut off the rind of the spare ribs, rub with salt, lay in a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes. They will render some fat but since they’re already cooked they won’t take long to crisp up, just watch they don’t burn, as some of mine did!
For the rice: heat olive oil in a wok on medium-high heat, add chopped onion and crushed garlic, sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add pork sliced, stir, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Uncover, stir in the cooked rice, the soya sauce and cook over low heat for another 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, blanch the snow peas , and add to rice mixture for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Keep warm, while you fry the eggs, making sure the yolks remain soft.
To serve: place the rice mixture on individual plates. Top with a fried egg, a sprinkle of coriander and a couple of pieces of chicharrones. Season to taste. My son likes to mix the egg in and turn this dish into a creamy risotto-kind, my daughter prefers to dip the chicharrones in the egg yolk little soldiers-style. Your choice. Enjoy!
Two years ago, we had the good fortune to spend 6 months cruising around the Eastern Caribbeans. From the Grenadines to the Bahamas, thru the French islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Barth, the yacht mecca of Antigua, luxurious Mustique…the sailing was brilliant and the food even better!
One of our favourite islands was Dominica, not only for its lush and green interior, but also for its happy and friendly people. While anchored in Prince Rupert Bay, the boat boys would come around everyday offering fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as live lobsters which they would sell for a few dollars. These became our standard fare, I cooked them in many different ways: grilled, boiled, in curries, in salads, and crumbed as in the following recipe. Lobster, mango, chili and lime…the tropics on a plate!
*this recipe is also very good with fish fillets, if lobster is unavailable. Use firm white fish like mahi-mahi or cod.
Crumbed lobster medallions with mango and chili coleslaw
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 mango peeled, seeded and chopped
1 red shallot
½ cucumber
1 tsp red chili chopped
½ head of cabbage, shredded
A handful of basil leaves
¼ cup sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
Juice of 2 limes
2 lobster tails, shelled and cut into medallions
2 eggs beaten
1 cup fine breadcrumbs
- Mix the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl
- Whisk together sweet chili sauce, fish sauce and lime juice. Add to the salad, mix well, leave at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Place the beaten eggs and the breadcrumbs in separate bowls.
- When the salad is ready, dip each lobster medallion in eggs first, then roll in the breadcrumbs until all covered.
- In a skillet, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. Pan fry the lobster pieces until golden brown, about 3 mn on each side.
- Serve immediately with the coleslaw, sprinkled with basil leaves, curried mayonnaise on the side (mayo with a pinch of curry powder!) and fresh bread.
- Enjoy!
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