Belize

Red Recado a spice mixture made from Annatto seeds.  This is a staple spice mix used in the cuisine of Belize and a great excuse to run back to Toronto's Kensington market to hunt down this spice mix and seed.  I ended up purchasing both,  a paste with a blend of spices already pre made and the Annatto seeds itself.   While in Kensington market I picked up some Tomatillos to make a Chicken Chilli Verde, a dish from Mexico.  I would describe this fruit as somewhere between a cross of a green tomato and a gooseberry.   I made some chickpea pancakes to go along with this dish to make it almost like a soft taco/burrito.   We noticed that this dish definitely tasted better the next day as the spices and herbs matured or melded together.

This week we will be introduced to 4 new ingredients,  Annatto seeds,  Plantains, Bitter Orange Marinade and the Tomatillos. 

Our Menu

Rice and Peas

A staple in Belize and most meals are accompanied by this dish.   I did not have pig tails handy so I put in some smoked bacon and substituted the kidney beans for black eyed beans.  This turned out really nice and was quite impressed with the results.

Grilled Belize Chicken

Everything was going right for this dish from the marination in bitter orange to the lovely red recado paste I made to further marinate this dish.   It was perfect you could tell this was going to be good real good.






That was until I burned it, charred, crisp and any longer and it would have been hard to distinguish between the charcoal and the chicken.   A few moments of inattention and flareup not attended too and this is what happens.  I was quite sad about this even though my wife and daughter said it was tasty.   It did have the potential to be really good  for sure but this time around I messed it up big time.







Grilled Plantains

I made a cumin, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt rub for these.  A bit of olive oil and right on the grill they went.   These turned out quite nice and along with the rice and peas was enjoyable with a side of charcoal aka chicken this particular day.









Belize Banana Bread with Cocoa and Rum

The ingredients say it all.  I added some walnuts and this was a really nice banana bread.  








We listened to a radio station from Belize and the music was quite interesting.   Even though the official language is English the DJ or announcer would cut in every 30 seconds to 1 minute through the song to add their two cents in.  It was mildly irritating but quite interesting to say the least.  After some time you got used to the strange comments and cut ins from the announcer.



This week we are doing a Mexican day on Tuesday in honour of Cinco de Maya.  Corona here I come Ole.