A Complete Meal

A couple of years ago my husband and I took a trip to Philadelphia to see the Barnes Collection in its new home. This was something of a stroll down memory lane as well since he went to graduate school in the city and our middle son was born there. Of course the city has changed in the forty years since then, most of the changes for the good. One of those positive changes is a restaurant named Little Fish in the Queen City area of the downtown. It is tiny, tiny with no liquor license but the food is wonderful and the service top notch. The focus is on seafood of all types and that's what our meals were from two kinds of fresh oysters as starters to our entrees. I don't remember what my husband had but I had jerk seasoned cobia with beans, sofrito, and coconut rice. I didn't ask for any recipes but since we came back I have made my own attempts at the meal a couple of times. Cobia is difficult to come by where I live and the type of fish is less important than the seasonings and the accompaniment. Last time I just made a grilled halibut and served it with the other three components.

Sofrito is almost like Caribbean ketchup--it is everywhere and on everything. Besides that everyone seems to have their own family recipe. Most recipes make way more than my family can eat in a year so I changed and adapted and shrunk some recipes.  So feel free to add or subtract to the following.

1 yellow onion diced small
1/2 green bell pepper diced small
1/2 red bell pepper diced small
your choice of small hot pepper diced small (if you like it hot use Scotch bonnet or habanero--for milder heat use jalapeno--in the middle there are serrano peppers) The type and amount used controls the heat and a little of the flavor
1 large ripe red tomato peeled and diced
1 or 2 garlic cloves crushed or diced
some salt, some oil, a splash of white wine vinegar

In a small saucepan heat some olive or canola oil until hot but not super hot. Add everything up to the tomato and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the onions and peppers are softened. Add the tomatoes and cook until their liquid is mostly absorbed. Add the garlic, the salt, and the vinegar (about 2 tablespoons) and taste. Cook for about five minutes and then turn off. You can store this in the refrigerator but the amount is small enough to finish in one meal if four people eat.

Cranberry or Pinto Beans
Soak one cup of dried cranberry or pinto beans in 2 cups of water overnight or do the quick soak by covering with two cups of water, putting in the microwave, cook on high for two minutes, then let soak for an hour. Drain and rinse the beans and put in a pot with 3 cups of water, one or two dried red peppers (whatever kind you like), half an onion sliced into chunks. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for 2 to 3 hours or until the beans are soft. I live at altitude so this takes a while here. Do not add salt until the beans get soft or they will have a very strange texture. When the beans are fork tender, pick out the red pepper pods and most of the onion. Add 1 garlic clove, half an onion diced, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, some fresh or dried oregano (about half a teaspoon dried--a teaspoon fresh minced), Add salt and pepper and taste. Cook another half hour or so until the beans are very soft and the cooking liquid is thick.

Coconut Rice
1 cup Jasmine rice (you can use plain white or brown rice but the flavor is not the same)
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 shallot sliced very thin
About two tablespoons grated sweetened coconut
1 garlic clove crushed
Water
Oil
In a pot with a lid saute the shallot in about a tablespoon of olive or canola oil until it is quite soft, then add the grated coconut. Watching carefully, cook the shallot and the coconut just until the coconut begins to brown (the shallot will be browning as well but the coconut is more sensitive to the heat because it is sweetened). Add one cup Jasmine rice and stir to coat and mix. Add one can of coconut milk and one coconut milk can of water and the garlic. Bring to a boil and then stir, turn to simmer, and put the lid on. This takes about 18 minutes where I live but your time may vary.

Your fish can be sprinkled with jerk seasoning (look online for ideas) or just salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Everything else is highly seasoned so putting jerk seasoning on it seems unnecessary unless you want to. Plain grilled halibut was delicious with the beans, rice, and sofrito.

Put the rice on the plate, put beans on the side, place the grilled fish on the rice. Put a small amount of sofrito on the fish and put the rest of the sofrito in a bowl on the table for everyone to add to taste. I like lots of sofrito with everything.

This makes a great meal even if the recipes didn't come from the chef at Little Fish. If you get a chance you should go there though. It is fabulous, inventive, fun. My dessert was strawberry rhubarb tart with black pepper ice cream.