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Throw a Bahamian dinner party
WELCOME BAHAMAS - NASSAU, CABLE BEACH & PARADISE ISLAND - 2007
Throw a Bahamian dinner party
Create a tropical ambience for your guests
With a little imagination and a few inexpensive table items you can pick up in Nassau, you can easily create a Bahamian ambience for your next dinner party back home.
Stroll along Bay Street, or visit the world famous straw market and you?ll quickly spot items that will lend a tropical look to your home?batik cotton tablecloths sporting tropical images, napkins in bright Bahamian colours, island fragrances, art prints and authentic wood carvings.
A polished pink conch shell, which you can pick up in any one of a dozen shops or from a dockside vendor on Prince George Wharf, will make a great centrepiece for your party table.
If you find yourself on East Bay Street near the exit bridge from Paradise Island, you?re only a block away from Bahama Hand Prints
on Ernest Street, just behind the Island Traders complex. This is a good place to begin assembling party items.
Co-owner Linda Brown explains that Bahama Hand Prints makes all of its fabric creations on the premises, including place mats and napkins in original colours with designs that include seashells, palm fronds and floral patterns.
?Our new product line includes laminated place mats in a whole slew of colours that are easy to clean.? The shop favours peach, cream, yellow and pink in its designs.
?We also offer custom-produced tablecloths in whatever print, colour or pattern you like. Just give us your table shape and size and we?ll create a presentation tablecloth,? says Brown.
Adding Caribbean flair
Another place to look for Bahamian accents is My Ocean Body & Home, a bath and home styles boutique just off Bay Street on Charlotte Street, also with a smaller shop in Festival Place (see story on page 56) where the cruise ships dock.
Co-owner Tanya Klonaris offers handmade candles in many festive colours. You?ll also find irresistible handcrafted sculptures here, along with innovative wall plaques and speciality soaps. Have a look at the shell-shaped straw plates, ideal for serving appetizers.
A bottle or two of a Bahamian hot sauce on the table will also help to set the mood. Bahamians are well known for their love of hot sauces, and there are nearly two dozen to choose from in stores around town.
Local manufacturers include Conchy Joe?s, Plantation Hill, Winfield Fine Foods and D?Vanya?s. All offer sauces made in the old-fashioned way, based on family recipes that call for local, home-grown peppers. The sauces come in many flavours and different heat levels, ranging from mild to fire engine hot.
Tropical cocktails
There are plenty of indigenous drinks, entrées and desserts that will make your dinner party a success. After all, Bahamians eat the same foods and drinks as visitors: beef, pork, chicken, fish (lots of chicken and fish), rice, veggies and pasta. The difference is all in the preparation.
A daiquiri is thought to be the most popular rum drink throughout the tropics but the piña colada is surely a close contender. This recipe is courtesy of The Bahamas? resident rum manufacturer, Bacardi.
Piña colada
3 parts Bacardi Carta Blanca rum
1 part pineapple juice
1 part coconut pulp
Mix in a blender with ice, pour into a chilled cocktail glass and decorate with pineapple cubes and a cherry on a toothpick.
Another festive drink is the yellow bird, which has the look, as well as the taste, of the tropics. This one is served at East Villa, a popular Chinese restaurant frequented by both visitors and Bahamians.
Yellow bird
11?2 oz Bacardi light rum
1?2 oz banana liquor
1?2 oz Galliano
1?2 oz lemonade mix
2 oz pineapple juice
2 oz orange juice
Shake together with ice and pour into a cocktail glass with your favourite garnish.
For the main course
Unless you live in the tropics near the sea, you?re not likely to find conch at your local supermarket. This is a drawback if you want to prepare an authentic Bahamian dinner since conch is the nation?s favourite food. However, there are plenty of other entrées that will give your dinner a Bahamian flair.
Islanders love seafood, including shrimp, and they?ve found ways to Bahamianize the crustaceans by adding the taste of coconut. This easy recipe yields a delicious appetizer or the featured item in your main meal.
Coconut fried shrimp
(Serves two)
20 large shrimp, tail on
3 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1?2 cup breadcrumbs
1 cup coconut flakes
1?2 cup flour
Combine coconut milk and eggs.
Combine coconut flakes and breadcrumbs.
Clean and wash shrimp; dry and dredge in flour. Immerse shrimp in egg wash and coat with breadcrumbs and coconut flakes.
Deep fry until golden brown.
Serve with a dip made of orange marmalade thinned with fresh orange juice. Serve with peas ?n rice.
If you really want to impress your guests, serve crawfish, the Bahamian equivalent of lobster. It has a firm texture and a delicious flavour, quite different from Atlantic lobster.
Broiled lobster tail
(Serves one)
10-12 oz tail, butterflied
salt and white pepper
paprika
1 oz melted butter
1?2 oz lemon juice
Season lobster with salt, white pepper and paprika. Broil for 8-10 minutes. Serve with butter and juice.
Sides Bahamian style
Bahamians eat lots of macaroni and cheese but they like it solid rather than soupy and they consume cut squares of it as a side dish. Some variations are highly spiced. This one is not.
Macaroni and cheese
1 16-oz box ready-cut or elbow macaroni
1 lb of cheddar cheese, grated
1?2 lb of butter
1 can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 small onion, chopped
1?2 sweet pepper, chopped
Salt and hot pepper
Boil macaroni in salted water and drain. Add butter and cheese.
Beat eggs and fold into macaroni with milk, onion and sweet pepper. Add salt and hot pepper to taste, pour into a baking dish; sprinkle top with grated cheese.
Bake uncovered at 350ºF until golden brown. Cut into squares and serve hot or cold.
Another traditional side is peas ?n rice, but it?s much different than the white rice and green peas to which North Americans are accustomed.
Bahamian peas ?n rice
1 large can pigeon peas
11?2 cups rice
1?2 small tomato, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1?2 sweet pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
2 tsp tomato paste
2 slices bacon or salt beef, cut small
fresh thyme
Fry bacon or salt beef in a large pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Add tomato, tomato paste, onion, thyme, salt and pepper to taste, and reduce. Add peas but reserve liquid.
Add rice and retained liquid plus two cups water. Bring to a boil, stir, cover and reduce heat. Simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
The favourite dessert in The Bahamas is unquestionably guava duff, followed closely by coconut ice cream. Pineapple or guava duff is to die for but it?s a difficult dish to bring off perfectly the first time. Another dessert, also delicious, is rum cake and it couldn?t be easier to make.
Bacardi rum cake
1 Bacardi rum cake in a tin (courtesy Nassau?s Purity Bakery Ltd)
Buy tin in Nassau at any souvenir store, open at home and serve. Your guests will love it and no one will ever know.
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