With weeks
of beautiful sunshine, a British
win at Wimbledon, and the momentous birth of our future King, the summer of 2013 has definitely been one to remember. The fun is set to continue as well, with Caribbean Food Week and Notting
Hill Carnival just weeks away!
Running from
the 19th to the 25th August 2013, the week leading up to
the Notting Hill Carnival on Sunday 25th and Monday 26th August, Caribbean Food Week will
focus on spreading Caribbean flavours and cheer throughout the UK, with people
encouraged through events, activities and promotions to taste new dishes and spice up old favourites with Caribbean ingredients and spices.
Back in
April, I had the pleasure of attending a launch event to introduce Caribbean
Food Week 2013. Sponsored by Grace Foods, the leading UK
supplier of Caribbean food and drink, the event debuted a range of freshly made
and delicious Caribbean dishes, cooked up by Chef Hasan De Four using a range
of readily available ingredients. The menu included:
- Ackee & Saltfish Fritters, served with chilli dipping sauce
- Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
- Jerk Chicken Skewers
- Caribbean Fish & Chips (fry coley with seasoned sweet potato fries)
- Curried Goat served with Rice and Peas
- Tropical Rhythms Fruit and Rum Jellies
- Spiced Plantain and Ginger Fritters served with Nurishment Caramel
- Chow! – spiced tropical citrus fruits caramelised with sweet chilli
My favourite
dish was the Ackee & Saltfish Fritters, which were moreish, light and
incredibly delicious! As a big fan of coconut, I also enjoyed the smooth and
refreshing Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup, with a Scotch bonnet drizzle
adding a slightly warm kick.
The Curried
Goat was tender, flavoursome and very scrummy, and surprisingly so to be
honest, as it was not something
that I was expecting to enjoy. This seems to be a common view amongst many people in
the UK, despite them happily consuming other goat produce, such as goat’s milk and goat’s cheese.
Don’t be scared to give goat meat a try though! The assimilations people make with the
flavour and textures of goat to beef and lamb are accurate, and, for those of
you that are health conscious, goat meat also offers a number of excellent
health benefits. As well as being very high in protein, and a fantastic
source of iron, goat meat also contains less saturated fat, and lower
cholesterol levels than beef, pork, lamb and even chicken. Bonus!
At the event,
Grace Foods also displayed its broad range of products, a number of which were
used to make the dishes on offer to demonstrate their quality and versatility. Introducing
some of these products to your home and dishes would be the perfect way to get
in the spirit for Caribbean Food Week, so why not take a trip to the world food
aisle of your local supermarket, or source out a local independent for a more
cultured experience, and give some Caribbean-style products and recipes a try.
One of the
brands owned by Grace Foods is Encona, which offers a range of delicious and
exotic flavours from around the world, including a strong Caribbean-inspired
selection. As well as being perfect to add flavour to a dish as a dip, the
sauces can also be used for marinading (see my Ginger, Sweet Chilli & Lime Salmon with Noodles recipe as an example). My
favourite sauce from the range is the Sweet Mango Chilli variant, although
(unfortunately) it does not seem to be available in all supermarkets, so you
may have to hunt for it a little – it will definitely be worth it when you find
it though!
***
There is a
lot more to Caribbean Food than Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae sauce (although this
could be the perfect place to start), so get your taste buds tingling, the rum
flowing, and embrace Caribbean Food Week. The flavour experiences are not
something that you should miss out on, and there are definitely some delicious dishes and recipes for you to try!
For more
information about Caribbean Food Week, along with recipe inspiration, visit
the dedicated Facebook page, and follow
@CaribbeanFoodWk on Twitter.
