Green Seasoning

In Trinidad  and Tobago we like to marinate our meats hours or a day before cooking. One can buy green seasoning in the supermarkets now, but many people prefer to make their own. These are all fresh herbs, not dried

Ingredients:
chive
oregano
fine leaf thyme
broad leaf thyme
sweet basil
parsley
celery
(and any other fresh seasoning you may wish to add, but not garlic or onion, those can be added each time you season the meat)
salt
vinegar

Method:

1) Wash herbs and cut up very small or blend in blender in vinegar (don't add water)>
2) Add salt and mix well, then place in a clean bottle and keep in the fridge

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Stewed Beef in Coconut milk with Dumplings

Ingredients:

6 leaves of ( local) Bay leaf
3 lbs tender beef, cut up
6 leaves broadleaf Thyme ( called Spanish thyme in Trinidad); can be substituted with other thyme 

1-2 cups coconut milk
Salt, pepper- to taste
Garlic-to taste
onion- to taste
chives- to taste

Dumplings
Ingredients:

Flour- 2 cups
Salt- a little to taste
Sugar- a little
butter or margarine- 1 tablesp.
a little baking powder ( 1 teasp )
water- enough to make a stiff dough

Method:

Mix all ingredients and shape into desired dumplings: 2 inch for soup and large rounded flat ones for curried crab. Then boil about 15 mins in salted boiling water or put directly into soup
 

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Method:

1) Brown beef in oil ( in a heavy iron pot, heat about 4 tablesps. of oil, add brown sugar and fry until sugar has become a brown syrup, then add beef)

2) Add coconut milk, bay leaf, thyme and seasoning and cook on a slow fire until tender ( may take 1.5 - 2 hours )

3) Serve with dumplings
 

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Guyanese Pepper Pot

Ingredients

1 lb cow heel
1 lb Oxtail
1 lb beef, cubed
1 lb pork, cubed
1 lb salted pigtail, pre-cooked to get excess salt out
1 lb beef shin with bone in
5 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablsps. brown sugar
Broadleaf thyme , chopped up ( to taste)
Fine leaf thyme, chopped up ( to taste)
a few  leaves of fresh basil
5 hot peppers
3/4 cup cassareep ( extract from cassava root)
1 small piece of spice
3 cloves
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
1 large onion
oil for frying

Serve with:

Different root vegetables, such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, yams, eddoes etc - boiled in salted water until soft, then drained

Method:

1) Wash cow heel - mix with all the other meats, except the salted pigtail

2) Season meats with salt, black pepper, thymes, garlic, onion,brown sugar, cloves, basil and piece of spice

3) In a large heavy pot, like an iron pot, heat up oil ( about 3 tablespoons) and fry meat for about 5 - 10 mins, turning it with a pot spoon until all pieces are "browned" ( they do not actually have to look brown at this stage, but should not be looking pink again )

4) Boil salted pigtail for 5-10 mins, drain and add to other meats

5) Pour cassareep over meat and stir through- cook for 5 mins more, then add water to cover and simmer meat for about 6 hours or until meat is very soft and comes off the bones

6) About 1 hour before finishing the pot, float the hot peppers on top of the meat, one at the time- Keep tasting the meat for hotness- Some people like it hotter than others
( Some like it hot :-) ). Bursting these peppers will result in a very hot pepper pot, so watch out

7) Serve with root vegetables. I usually cook this dish for Carnival Sunday and keep some for Monday after playing Mas
 

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Trinidad Stewed Beef a la Marsha

  Ingredients:

2 lbs. Stewing beef (I like to use marbled chuck), cubed
2 tbsp. Oil
4 tbsp. Sugar
2 large onions, sliced
1 bottle beer (12 oz)
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp. Soy sauce
1 tsp. Basil
salt & pepper (and optional hot pepper, of course) to taste

Method:

1. In a heavy frying pan or skillet, heat oil, add sugar and allow to
burn until dark brown.

2. Add seasoned beef and stir well to coat pieces of meat; cook for 6-8 mins., stirring constantly.

3. Add onion and cook for 5 mins more

4. Stir in beer, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, hot pepper and basil.

5. Bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until meat is
tender.

If potatoes or taro root are desired, cut them into small pieces and add them just before beef is tender.

This same recipe can be used for any other meat.

Serve with white rice or dumplings .

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Marsha's Sazon grilled steaks (chicken too)

By now you realize that I love Sazon Goya seasoning because I use it to flavour almost everything I cook. They should give me shares in their stock!!
If you can't get Sazon Goya (too bad), you can use McCormick Season All or any good bottled seasoning salt.
 

Depending upon how many people you're cooking for and how much they eat, figure one steak per person. I love grilling chuck, marbled meat (meat with bits of fat in it) because of the flavour!!

Ingredients:

4 cheap, marbled chuck steaks, not too thick.
2 single packets Sazon Goya 
Coarsely grounded black pepper to taste
Dried Italian herb seasoning (e.g.: oregano, parsley, etc) to taste

Method:

Place steaks in shallow glass dish, season with all of the above on both sides of steaks then let stand over night if possible. (You can season them and use a resealable freezer bag instead of the glass dish)

When ready to grill, preheat gas grill (or charcoal grill) to high heat, place steaks on grill to get colour then lower temperature and let cook to desired texture. Serve with my "Sweet & Sour Mango relish" or salad.

If you're following a low salt diet, omit the Sazon (season salt), add freshly crushed garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice instead
 
 
 

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