Saint Lucia

Welcome to Saint Lucia!  This island looks beautiful.  Stunning, in fact.  This may become a bucket list country.  Just take a minute to Google the country, and you'll see what I mean.  One fun fact about Saint Lucia is that it is the only country in the world named after a woman!  According to Google, the population is 184,751 people and the capital is Castries.  Their national dish is...

 

 

Green Fig and Saltfish!

We did this country a few weeks ago.  You know how life happens and blogs get put on the back-burner...This meal was not my favorite.  By a long shot!  In Saint Lucia, "green figs" are actually "green bananas".  So, as you can imagine, this was not my favorite.  But, I will try anything once (as long as I can actually eat it).  Here's what we did:

GREEN FIG AND SALTFISH

4 green bananas

1 lb salted cod

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 pickled peppers, sliced

1/2 purple cabbage, shredded

2 tomatoes, sliced

3 sprigs of thyme

3 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tbsp avocado oil

Salt

Pepper

1. Place salted cod in a bowl of cold water and refrigerate for 12 hours, changing the water 2-3 times.
2. Cut off the ends of each banana and discard.
3. Make a shallow cut down the length of each banana and place in a deep pan, cover with water, and bring to a boil.
4. Turn heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Drain and cool.
6. Drain the cod and crumble into pieces. 
7. Heat oil over medium heat in a deep pan.
8. Add cod, and lower the heat.
9. Saute the cod for about 5 minutes.
10. Add the onions, garlic, peppers, black pepper, and thyme.  Cook for 5 minutes.
11. Add the shredded cabbage and stir.
12. Peel the bananas and cut into 1-inch pieces and sprinkle with salt.
13. Add the bananas to the cod mixture, stir, and let cook for 5 minutes.
14. Add the tomato and parsley, stir, cover, and turn off the heat.
15. Let it sit for 5 minutes and serve.

(Source: Green Fig and Saltfish)

 

This was not my favorite meal.  At all.  In fact, it smelled like canned cat food and tasted very strongly of fish.  It was gross, actually.  Perhaps it would be better if it was cooked on a beach in Saint Lucia.  Who knows.  I was surprised, though, that the bananas weren't the worst part of the dish.  In fact, you could barely taste the bananas at all.  Handsome Husband was gracious, and ate it.  I found leftovers for dinner.

 

**Handsome Husband's note: I wasn't just gracious, I did actually like it -- even though Laurie can't bring herself to believe someone could like it. It wasn't super, but was still tasty.  I can see what she means about the smell, but the fish flavor was good even if a little overpowering.**

 

 

ME

Taste of Green Fig and Saltfish (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing) 2

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 2

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Green Fig and Saltfish (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

Another down!  Join us next time in Ireland!