Catherine's Kitchen

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Catherine's Kitchen

Catherine Manning

I promised myself that it would not happen, but struggle and strife seems to be the center of my life at the moment. First, I got the worst flu bug that I've had in years, having not even had a cold in the last five years. I know where I got it from: my mother, as I had her and an old blind friend of hers who doesn't really live a very good life, to stay for a few days to give them a break. But unfortunately Ma wasn't past the contagious stage, so down I went with a vengeance. Not good as I have a lot of work to do and was hindered by that along with my car which has been (after 11 years) giving hideous trouble and leaving me stranded anytime anywhere, usually in the middle of a delivery to some remote part of the island. Cell phones are a blessing; mine has paid for itself long since!

I love my car and it has stood me in good stead, but "the time has come, the Walrus said" to put it out to grass. My daughters are pushing me to buy a new one, but they are not cheap here, as our duties are very high and a new Elantra will cost me US$25,000 -- not funny. My brothers are shouting and saying, "spend the money and fix it, keep it longer" and I am flying off the handle and slamming the phone down in their ears and having a stress fit! Take into consideration that I have no backup. They do, so if they have a vehicle that gives out on them, they pick up another. I, on the other hand, have to go through all sorts of strife to get someone to come to me, but also to find alternative transportation and that is not easy as I'm in a remote part of the island.

However, my mind is now made up with the unwitting help of the brother who was telling me to keep the car. He phoned me again one night with the name of (according to him) an excellent mechanic who lived not far from here and I should let him have a look at the car and get to the bottom of the problems. Don't know why he didn't tell me before, as it would have prevented a lot of my stress!

So said, so done and I took the car over to him the next morning. He returned it to me last night, having corrected one thing and with a long list of things that needed to be done because of previous shoddy workmanship and he also informed me that my car had been hit very hard and the chassis was bent. I told him "no," that I had never had an accident and my insurance coverage would prove that, but he proved to me that the car had been hit and hit hard. I hadn't noticed as there was no visible damage from the outside, so that would mean that along with all the other nonsense that was being done to it when it went to the agents to be repaired, it was also damaged otherwise. That really upset me as I have been driving since I was seven years old and at 59 have never had an accident and then to find that unbeknownst to me some idiot has damaged my car and no doubt also caused other problems, was an outrage. Naturally I'll never find out, but it does mean that I will now have to buy another; otherwise the problems will continue forevermore.

Apart from that, my monitor died, one stove nearly caught fire and the lawnmower gave up. They have all been replaced and I hope that's the end now. Enough is enough. Unfortunately I can't replace me but I really could do with a tuneup as well. I'm almost afraid to get out of bed!

On a lighter note, I now have 29 baby turtles. I just transferred some to the cage outside as they were big enough and were too crowded inside. I've lost count of the total now, but there must be about 60. They don't all come out at once so it's difficult to tell.

We're at an in-between season at the moment as we have had very little rain for this time of year, which is very unusual being hurricane season. Not that I want a hurricane but it has been more of a drought year for Barbados, so our normal fruit supply has been sparse, which is not good for me. But now is snapper time and that is such a lovely fish, doesn't take any time to cook and is so tender.

BAKED FISH IN WINE SAUCE

3-4 lbs. red snapper, grouper or similar fish, cleaned, boned and cut into cubes.
Make a seasoning of:

1 tbs. chopped chive,
1 tbs. chopped parsley
2 tsp minced garlic
1 oz. Barbados rum
Salt, pepper and lime juice to taste

Marinate cubed fish for one hour or more, mixing occasionally. Sauté fish in about 5 tbs. of hot oil until crisp. Drain of excess oil on paper towels and place in baking dish.

For sauce:

2 cups milk
2 tbs. butter
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tbs. flour
Water
3 tbs. minced onion
4 tbs. white wine
4 oz. sliced button mushrooms
1/2 cup diced cheddar cheese
Parmesan cheese

Scald milk with butter and salt and pepper to taste. Blend flour with a little water and before milk comes to the boil, add flour mixture and stir well till it thickens. Add wine, mushrooms, onion and diced cheese till melted and cooked. Pour over fish in baking dish, sprinkle with Parmesan and bake at 400F for about 30 minutes.

Spanish Cream or Chocolate Mousse

The only difference here is that cocoa powder is added to the milk for the chocolate mousse. Top the Spanish Cream with pineapple slices and whipped cream and the chocolate mouse with whipped cream. I don't bother to measure too much; how big a mousse I want depends on the number of servings, so the measurements I'm giving are changeable. The important thing here is the quantity of gelatin to the amount of liquid; otherwise you'll have one runny mousse!

This is what I do, but I would suggest you go by what your gelatin quantities call for, though you could try this first.

Spanish Cream

4 cups milk
4 eggs, separated
Sugar to taste
Vanilla essence
2 packs gelatin
Lime rind

Scald milk with piece of lime skin. Separate egg yolks and whites and beat yolks in bowl. When milk is scalded, add a little milk, stirring all the time, to the egg yolks and then add that mixture to the remaining scalded milk in the saucepan, stirring well. Replace the saucepan on the stove on a low heat and cook for about a minute, stirring all the time, till slightly thickened. (Don't allow to curdle, which it will if it's not stirred well or the heat is too high.) Remove from heat.

Dissolve gelatin in a little water and add to milk. Add enough sugar to taste and add essence. Strain and cool.

Beat egg whites till soft peaks form and using a metal spoon, gently spoon whites into egg mixture, blending well. Pour into serving bowl and chill for several hours till set. You will get two layers of mixture, one light and one gelatinous.

For the chocolate mousse, dissolve about 2 tbs. cocoa powder in some milk and add the milk to be scalded and the recipe is the same. But it will burn so do it on a low heat and stir.

Do not substitute lime juice for the peel or you will have scrambled custard!

Bon Appetit
Cath