Sunday Baked Chicken

I remembered this recipe from my grandmother a few days ago. This is one of the dishes we would do for Sunday lunch/dinner in Dominica. We would start cooking from about 9 in the morning and be done by 2pm. Then we would walk to the beach, hang out and swim (and drink Kubuli beers) for a few hours. By then we would have worked up an appetite, so we would practically run home to devour that chicken along with mac n cheese, red beans, potato salad....oooh delicious memories...yummy!!!

Sunday Baked Chicken
3 lbs mixed chicken parts
1 & 1/2 Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp adobo seasoning
1 tbsp grill mates
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
I tsp all spice
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp EVOO
1 cup onions, chopped
1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped

*preheat oven at 425F

Preparation

• Clean chicken parts under cool running water, removing excess fat and any feathers.
• Combine all dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl
• Lay chicken pieces in a roasting pan and sprinkle worcestershire sauce
• Rub each piece of chicken generously with dry ingredient mix
• Brush chicken with EVOO then sprinkle onion and pepper on top of the chicken parts
• Cover pan with foil and place into preheated oven for 40 minutes
• Remove foil and roast for another 15 minutes to allow chicken to brown.

Serve with Mac n Cheese and a fresh watercress salad

Stewed Saltfish (salted cod)

We celebrate Creole Day during the month of October in Dominica and one of the staple items on any Creole Day menu is salt fish. Salt fish is really Cod, dried and salt cured. It is also done with Pollock if you can't find cod. A lot of time it is packaged with the bones in so be sure to remove the bones before preparation.

Ingredients
I lb salt fish
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 small onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 tsp Scotch Bonnet pepper, finely chopped (you could also use habanero pepper)
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup water

Preparation

You MUST re-hydrate salt fish prior to preparation. My grand-mother used to soak the fillets in cold water overnight. The next day she would discard the water, then boil in another pan of water. This is done to remove the excess salt. You don't want to boil it too much to remove all the salt though. I usually rinse off in running cold water then boil it twice, discarding the water after each boil, because I never know if I'm going to cook salt fish the night before!

Once the excess salt is gone and it has just enough to be tasty, you shred the fillets and remove any bones. Set aside.

• Heat oil in a pan and saute garlic, onion, bell pepper, scotch bonnet pepper until soft
• Add tomato and curry then mix well
• Add salt fish and using a spatula (or my trusty wooden spoon) combine all ingredients together.
• Add 1/2 cup water, stir again, cover and simmer for 10 minutes
• Remove from heat and serve hot

One Creole day (or whenever) we ate salt fish, roast breadfruit and cucumber salad for breakfast and salt fish over boiled green bananas for lunch. On a regular day, bake (a fried bread) and salt fish is always welcome for breakfast, lunch or dinner too!

If you have none of the above, you may serve of rice. Enjoy!

Calypso Rice

Tired of eating plain old rice all the time? Add some Caribbean flair it! I was 13 years old when I first made Calypso Rice in my high school Food and Nutrition class. ...shout out to PSS!!... It is still well received every single I bring it out!

Served with Orange Pork Chops

Ingredients

2 cups cooked jasmine rice

1&1/2 cups coarsely chopped tri-color bell pepper

1 cup diced fresh pineapple

2 tsp Goya sazon

1 tsp EVOO

2/3 cup water

Preparation

• Heat oil in pan and sauté bell peppers until limp
• Add pineapple and sazon and mix using a wooden spoon

• Pour in water and continue mixing
• Bring to a boil and let reduce to 1/2 cup of liquid
• Turn of heat and add rice into pan 1 cup at a time
• Mix well making sure rice is completely yellow/orange in color

Serve with fish, chicken, meat or alone. 

This recipe serves 4.

Turkey Bacon Frittata

I woke up this morning and I didn't know what I wanted for breakfast. I scanned the fridge and I saw eggs. Then I saw turkey bacon and bell peppers... *ding ding ding* a frittata was born! Well in my head at least :)

Ingredients
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp butter
3 strips turkey Bacon
1/4 cup bell peppers, chopped

*preheat oven to 350F

Preparation

• Whisk eggs together with salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl
• Add milk and baking powder and combine well 
• Melt butter in a 9" oven proof pan then add peppers and turkey bacon. Saute for 2 minutes
• Pour egg mixture to pan and cook until the egg had set at the bottom and the top begins to set
• Place pan in oven and cook for 4 minutes then broil for 1 minute until golden brown
• Remove from oven and cut into 6 slices.

Orange Pork Chops

As you may already know, I love using fresh fruit in my recipes. I wanted to make pork chops but not in the same old way so I picked up a few oranges. The result is as follows! My mom enjoyed this meal :)

Ingredients

4 center cut pork chops

1 and 1/2 tsp Salt (or to taste)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 clove of garlic finely chopped

1/2 cup yellow onions

1 tsp Goya sazon

1 orange, juiced

1 cup water

Preparation

• Season pork chops with salt, pepper and paprika
• Heat oil in a large pan then sauté onions and garlic over medium heat
• Add sazon then Pour in juice of 1 orange and bring to a boil
• Place pork chops in the pan and cook for 3 minutes. Flip pork chops and cook for 3 more minutes

• Pour in water, cover pan and simmer for 40 minutes

Garnish with an orange wedge and serve...Enjoy!!

Roasted Chicken Ziti

This recipe was created at the request of one of my viewers. It gave me the perfect excuse to have a glass... or two, of Pinot Grigio ;) Baked Ziti can be done start to finish in 25 minutes however, I wanted to do something a little different. This dish can be done for under $15 and feeds 6 people. You can eat well on a budget!

Ingredients

For roasted chicken

• 2 lbs chicken thighs
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 sachet goya sazon sin achiote
• 1 tsp ground black peppercorn
• 1 tsp garlic finely chopped
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp olive oil

For ziti

• 1 box ziti (16 oz)
• 6 cups water
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp kosher salt

Other Ingredients

• 1 bell pepper, julienned
• 4 oz diced tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups pasta sauce
• 1/2 cup mozzarella
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar

Preparation

• Clean chicken under cool running water and place on a baking tray
• Sprinkle chicken on both sides with salt, black peppercorn, sazon, garlic and Italian seasoning
• Rub olive oil on the top side of each thigh and roast in oven at 350F for 45 minutes.
• Once chicken is done, chop into small chunks and set aside

• Bring water to a boil, add seasoning and cook ziti for 10 minutes (until al dente)
• Turn off heat, drain water and return to pan
• In another sauce pan, saute bell peppers. Once peppers start to become limp pour in diced tomatoes and chunks of chicken. Continue to saute for 5 more minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon.

• Pour in pasta sauce, cover and bring to a bubble
• Pour pasta sauce and chicken mixture over ziti and mix well.
• Transfer to a baking dish and top with mozzarella and sharp cheddar. 
• Bake at 375F for 15 minutes or until golden.