Tonight’s meal came from Barbados, some a hit, some a miss, but we definitely did not leave hungry!
I was expecting something a little more of a Caribbean flair, but what was chosen by the kids was not too far from what we’ve had many times before.
The main was a macaroni pie, though slightly different than what we use. While the noodles were cooking I made the sauce, starting with boiling evaporated milk. To this I added cheese and a whole lot of it. Once it was melted in I added the ketchup, honey mustard, salt, pepper, and onion powder. Mixed altogether, this was placed into pans, sprinkled with bread crumbs, and baked.
This was pretty good, but unfortunately it seems to have been cooked a bit long in our busyness and it was a bit dry. The flavour was definitely different with the ketchup and honey mustard making it sweeter, but not too much thankfully. The kids all went back for seconds as they all enjoyed it. Though I think we’ll cut back on the ketchup and mustard, we’ll try this way again.
https://foreignfork.com/macaroni-pie/
Along with the macaroni we had fish cakes. Apparently fish cakes are so popular in Barbados that they even wrote a song about them, found here:
The fish cakes were made of salt cod, something I’d seen at the Oliver Global Grocers in Oliver. I had no idea what it was like, seeing it in the fridge there, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so light and dry, thinking it was instead frozen.
To prepare the fish we cut it into smaller pieces and put it in boiling water, once for four minutes, then after swapping the water again for three.
At this point we shredded the salt cod, adding to it a diced onion, flour, baking powder, a lightly beaten egg, a diced jalapeño, chopped parsley, thyme, marjoram, and some water. This was combined and cooked in oil.
The kids didn’t like these though some just don’t like fish much. It was suggested to have these with pepper sauce, made of ten scotch bonnets amongst other ingredients, but instead we paired it with tatar or tamarind sauce.
Josh and I really didn’t mind the taste, though they were still salty. I think we might have eaten more, but I for one don’t like salt.
https://barbados.org/barbados-recipes-fishcakes.htm#.YBXb4lN6rqs
For dessert we enjoyed Bajan Sweet Bread. This bread is made by creaming brown sugar, shortening, butter together, then adding the flour, grated coconut, chopped raisins and dried cherries, and nutmeg. Once combined we added water, almond extract, and sour cream (this was supposed to be evaporated milk but I missed that I needed it for both recipes and we were out).
This was made into a thick dough and put into a pan where we cut diagonal lines and added raw sugar.
The bread was quite tasty, sweet with a coconut flavour. I will definitely be making this again in the future to share with friends when we’re allowed to see each other again!
https://www.food.com/recipe/bajan-sweet-bread-barbados-502791#activity-feed
Did you know that Barbados has a population density of 47 people per square kilometer compared to Canada’s 4? Similar to Canada however, they have a Governor General and are the third oldest parliament, having had uninterrupted parliamentary governance since 1639.
They have the largest mongoose population due to having brought them in to help with their rat problem. This unfortunately backfired when the mongoose ate snakes, the rats original predators. It is considered good luck though if a mongoose scurrys across the road in front of you.
Rum originated in Barbados and the Mount Gay rum is over 300 years old. Flying fish is their national dish and for $10 ($6.33 Canadian) you can get a temporary yearly Barbados license.
Finally, the original name was Los Barbados, meaning The Bearded Ones.