In St. Georges, Grenada

The ship is going on and on, never a rest. We have done a different island nearly every day in the past week. Just two sea days out of Miami and then it just went bang, bang, bang! Like I said, there was not much time to go out at all, but now I just had to hop off for a little while. We are in the centre of Cricket loving people and of course we are following on the net what South Africa is doing in India at the moment....not that everybody loves Cricket, but I must say that I really enjoy it.

I just spent a little time outside in St. George and must say that I have never seen before how poor the West Indies really are. I think without the cruise industry it would be even worse, if that is possible. It is a public holiday today, so everything is closed, restaurants, bars, shops, everything just the market is open, but it is not a huge market anyway.

I walked from the cruise terminal up to the castle, quite steep but one has a lovely view from up there. Then I went through the old city to the harbor, that is when I thought it would be nice to just sit under the shade, have something cool to drink and simply enjoy a moment of peace……next time when we are here I will do that (hopefully in 2 weeks)
There is as well the fish market at the Carenage Harbor, today I just saw all the vessels lying there and the crew having a sleepy time, so I hope next time I am more lucky.

The city itself is actually quite beautiful with many old houses, some of them unfortunately in disrepair, like some of the beautiful churches. Just a little about the history here. After Columbus “discovered” The Island, like many others he found, the French settled in 1650 from Martinique and one can still see a strong French influence. The British came and after lots of feuding the British took control in 1783. Only in 1974the island got its independence.

The Island is as well known as the Spice Island, Grenada has plenty of them. Walking though the market one gets all the beautiful smells especially from Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Cloves.

Then of course I have here the promised recipe, this time a fish, nice and simple, less labour intensive than the meat in the past blog. Enjoy it!

CAULIFLOWER

120 g (4 oz) Cauliflower
30 g (1 oz) Onions
30 g (1oz) Butter
55 ml (2 oz) Cream
30 ml (1 oz) Hazelnut oil
30 g (1 oz) Hazelnuts
Salt, pepper

TO PREPARE CAULIFLOWER
1) Heat butter in heavy based pan
2) Add onions and fry without color till translucent
3) Add Cauliflower, saute for 5 minutes
4) Add cream and season, simmer till tender
5) Blend the puree, add hazelnut oil
6) Just before serving add the chopped, roasted hazelnuts
7) Season again to make sure it is nice

SPINACH

30 g (1oz) Butter
30 g (1oz) Onions
5 g (0.3 oz) Garlic
200 g (7 oz) Spinach
Salt, pepper

TO PREPARE SPINACH
1) Heat butter to medium heat
2) Fry onions till translucent, then add garlic.
3) Add spinach, season to taste, saute quickly
4) Press out any additional juice


SEA BASS

300 g (10 oz) Sea bass
Olive oil
Salt, pepper

TO PREPARE SEA BASS
1) Heat skillet to medium to high heat
2) Add olive oil and heat to nearly smoking point
3) Fry the fish, skin down first till golden brown and crisp turn the fish around and fry on the other side
4) Season to taste
5) Finish the cooking of the fish in a moderately hot oven at 290 F



RELISH
100 g (3 oz) Apples Granny Smith
30 g (1 oz) Red Onions
Chili red
Wasabi Paste
Palm sugar
Lime juice
Cilantro

TO PREPARE RELISH
1) Cut apples and Onions with mandolin in fine julienne
2) Marinate with the other ingredients for two hours
3) Season to taste

TO PLATE
Plate the cauliflower puree on a hot plate, add spinach
Set the fish on top of the spinach
Garnish with the apple relish and thyme