First, we had the ceviche.  Executed well, generous with the seafood, especially the lobster.

Next was this delicious garlicky squid dish, with a pleasant snap to each bite.

A fresh salad.

The Mayan fish– cooked in a banana leaf in a rich spicy tomato based sauce.  The fish was fork tender, but not overdone.

Shrimp sere, a local stew with coconut milk, plantains and shrimp.  Served over coconut rice, this dish is addictively sweet and savory.

Fried plantains, a perfect side dish before the Pièce de Résistance…

An entire fish, in this case snapper, deep fried and scored for easy dismantling.

Mr. Fish from the front view.  We appreciated the olives-as-eyes touch.

And in case you were still hungry, it was served with fried plantain chips.

Finally a palate cleansing dessert, a frozen key lime piece with fresh whipped cream.

And then this super sweet, caramel flan.  It was almost a shame to break it open.  Don’t worry, we totally did.

Final Take

I don’t have a single bad thing to say about Elvi’s.  I was thoroughly impressed with their service, food quality, quirky ambiance… everything.  In our week in Belize we dined at some of best restaurants, but the meal at Elvi’s beat them all.  Seriously.  Take that Conde Nast whatever award.

Restaurant: Elvi’s Kitchen

Website: http://www.elviskitchen.com/

Location: San Pedro, Belize

Last week I was in Belize, as part of a press trip with Belize Tourism that allowed me to sample Belizean cuisine across the country.

We ended up spending the first two dinners and breakfasts at The Inn at Robert’s Grove. I had done some research before I left and based on their website, I was expecting more of a beach-side, grab and go type atmosphere. However I was pleasantly surprised. There’s a formal sitting area and a full outdoor veranda. The Inn is on the water, so during the day, it’s a great place to grab a bite and enjoy the views.

We were lucky as it was both Lobster and Conch season when we arrived. We started out with the Conch Fritters.

I’ve had these before, but this time they were more substantial. There was large chunks of conch meat and the breading was fried perfectly. They added a bit of jalapeno, which is a deviation from the traditional recipe, but the sweet heat was a nice accent.

For the main course I ordered the Chef’s Special, which was a seafood trio of Lobster tail and drawn butter, coconut curry shrimp and grilled fish, served with coconut rice. The lobster was sweet and a little tougher than the Maine variety, but it was cooked well and pared perfectly with the coconut curry shrimp.

The stand out of the meal was the banana gelato, which is made locally. It was powerfully sweet and smooth. I tasted a few of the other desserts around the table, but for me the banana gelato won the day.

Breakfast the next day:

Being in Belize, I had to order the traditional Belizean breakfast. It was fried fish, scrambled eggs, refried beans and of course fry jacks (a puffed dough, similar but less sweet than the fried dough found at carnivals). The fish was very flavorful and I enjoyed dipping my fry jack into the refried beans. The fry jacks seemed to be a little heavy, but overall it was a wonderful breakfast.

You know the food is good, when your Belizean breakfast-mate is this excited about it.

As far as table side accouterments, I loved the habanero pepper sauce that’s found on every table. Great for a smoky, strong heat that lands on the mid to back part of your mouth.

Dinner the next night:

I had enjoyed the coconut curry shrimp from the night before, so I ordered the coconut lobster, served with the same sweet curry sauce with large chunks of lobster in the lobster shell (with a side of coconut rice). It was a great dish, albeit one-note and about half way through you start wondering if it’s okay to leave uneaten lobster on your plate (I decided it wasn’t).

For dessert I tried their chocolate cake, which looked pretty. Unfortunately the texture was off, a sort of congealed mess, as if someone added a few too many eggs to the batter. The most disappointing item on the menu by far.

Breakfast the next day:

I decide to take it easy and just order a fruit plate. If you stay at the Inn, there is a large continential breakfast bar included free, so this fruit plus assorted breads, pastries and muffins are available. The fyffes bananas were a treat, especially as they are not available in the US. The pineapple was under ripe, and I wasn’t able to eat it.

Final Take:

I loved the seafood here, and for that I’d definitely return. It seems like they reuse a lot of menu items, for instance the coconut curry sauce was the same on the coconut shrimp and the lobster and the grilled fish was the same on my seafood trio and breakfast the next day. However stand outs like the conch fritters make up for the repetitive menu items. The little details like fresh fruit were lacking, and while the table service was generally good, I did have to ask for refills on my water more than once. If you get a chance, try their banana gelato and conch fritters, they’re almost worth the trip alone. Overall, worth the trip, but just once.

Restaurant: The Inn at Robert’s Grove

Website: http://www.robertsgrove.com/

Location: Placencia, Belize

How to get here: transfers from Belize City airport are available

Pie:

• 3/4 cup apple butter
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Mix, pour into pie shell and bake at 425 for 40 minutes.

Cream:

• heavy whipping cream
• To taste: powdered sugar, almond extract, cinnamon and nutmeg.

So what happened?  Well I think there is too much apple butter in the pie and I didn’t cook it enough.  As you can probably see from the photo, the pie didn’t set.  The pumpkin filling is mushy and falling apart.

And the whipped cream?  It’s over whipped.  Oops.

So the whole thing is a big mess, but you know what, it tasted great.  I’ll probably try this again, because it was that good.

I wanted to make a spicy, smoky turkey burger… and wow this turned out all that and more.  Roughly, here’s what I did:

The Burger:

• Ground turkey
• salt, pepper
• mustard (I used stone ground)
• cumin (maybe 1/4 teaspoon)
• curry powder (same amt as cumin)

The Topping:

• Roasted Habanero
• Roasted Roma Tomato
• Avocado
• Gruyere Cheese

To roast the pepper and tomato, you could use a comal (if you have one), or do what I did and put it in a glass dish in your oven on broil.  You want to blacken all sides and then carefully remove the seeds and slice.

Caution: you need very little habanero to make this very spicy.  For two burgers I used just one.

I love the intense heat of the habanero.

It’s starting to get cold and the fall always makes me crave comfort food.  I wanted something I could set up and leave, so I bought a 5lb whole chicken and potatoes. I made a simple slow roast, stuffing the chicken with a chopped onion, a few cloves of garlic, butter and a few springs of fresh rosemary. Then I rubbed the bird with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, dried thyme, onion powder, and garlic powder. Covered with tin foil and into the oven at 275 for 4.5 hours. Then uncovered at 375 for 30 minutes.

When the chicken came out it was falling off the bone.

Then I made Gratin Dauphinoise (aka Potatoes au Gratin), pulling the recipe from the Professional Chef.  The recipe called for nutmeg, which was a little surprising, but it totally works.

The recipes in the Professional Chef are meant to be restaurant-sized, so I roughly cut their recipe in 1/5, eyeballing most of the ingredients.  I won’t post the recipe here, simply because it’s a completely standard interpretation.

Then the gravy.  I did all the usual steps.  I took the droppings and cooked them down.  I mixed a little cornstarch into some heavy cream and slowly added to the reduced liquid.  It made this wonderful gravy that had a hint of rosemary, onion and garlic from what I stuffed the bird with.  It was bubbling nicely, I tasted it, turned off the heat, then turned my back on it.

It was so good.  Maybe the best gravy ever.  Then I broke it.

In the time it took for the heat to die down, and while I wasn’t looking, it overheated and reached that very bad point where it starts separating.  When I came back to it, it was grease on top and clumps on the bottom.  I tried to save it, but it was done.

Huge lesson learned: Remove your sauces from heat immediately when they are done!  Overheating can deconstruct the whole shebang.

The upside is that we still had slow roasted chicken (which was moist enough not to need the gravy) and Gratin Dauphinoise.  Perfectly comforting.

Fast forward to eight months later… I just got word today that I’ve been invited by Belize Tourism to spend a week touring their fine country.

I’m so excited.  Belize?  Warm weather?  Gorgeous seafood and adventure sports?  Count me in!

They’ve put together an amazing itinerary, which includes tons of local food. I’m very excited about the culinary aspect of Belize, because on my first trip, it was such an interesting combination of latin american/mexican/carribbean foods with a heavy dose of seafood. It wasn’t unusual to see conch fritters, rice and beans and ceviche on the same menu. Since I didn’t see much of Belize the first time around, I’ll be curious to see how the regional differences influence the food as we travel up the coast.

Here are some of the restaurants on the itinerary:

Robert’s Inn Grove

Ka’ana (Local Maya food will be served & we will have the opportunity to view the chef in action)

Jaguar Paw Jungle Resort

The Phoenix Resort

Elvi’s Kitchen (Culinary display of food preparation will be made.  Available for display & tasting. We will have the opportunity to meet Chef Jennie Staines & ask related culinary question)

Victoria House

Stay tuned…  This will all be happening the week of November 9th – 14th.

I’ve been playing around with making my own rubs, instead of relying on the store bought kind.  Basically a bit of brown sugar, garlic and onion powder, salt, pepper and whatever else I can find.  Tonight I used:

• Brown Sugar
• Cayenne Pepper
• Paprika
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Fresh Rosemary
• Dried Thyme
• Course Sea Salt
• Hot Chocolate powder
• Columbian Coffee Grounds

It was great for my $3 steak because the chocolate and coffee, although slight, gave it a smooth deep flavor, which the cayenne added some spice and the other spices (paprika, rosemary especially) adding another level of flavor.  I wouldn’t smoother a fine cut with this, but it did it’s job– tasted so good, it was like a modified carne asada.

I found a discount packet of lavender at World Market and nearly giggled.  I had been looking for the aromatic casually over the past few months with no luck.

That afternoon I made my first batch of lavender cookies.  I took some pictures and I wanted to write about them.  They were so perfectly lavender scented, sweet and light.  I knew it was a time for a blog.

I’ve been traveling non-stop since June 2008, when I traded my cubicle for a less predictable life.  I’ve been taking pictures of food for years, but I’m also an avid cook and trying to learn as much as I can.  I’ve also been studying The Professional Chef on the weekends.  I find that food connects me to where I am, and whether it’s learning how to make the perfect cocido in Madrid or taking notes on a classic pepian in Guatemala, I’m drawn to the process.  I want to learn how to make anything, how things work, the flavors and concepts behind good food.

I’m not a big recipe follower, but here is what I used for my cookies:

• 5/8 cup butter
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoon dried lavender
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup powered sugar (for decoration)
• 1 tablespoon dried lavender (for decoration)

Mix, spoon onto a cookie sheet, cook at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, cool on a rack and sprinkle with powered sugar and lavender.

Enjoy!