They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think these pictures add up to 10,000 at least, especially in the cold wintery weather that we are currently experiencing here in Indiana. My winter break was spent in Belize: at home on the farm and also in the village of Placencia, a fishing community turned tourist zone located on a peninsual of pure sand. These are the pictures of Placencia. Its a pretty sort of place, and not coincidentally, where I will be doing my dissertation research starting (if all goes according to plan) the middle of this upcoming autumn.
Placencia was once one of the biggest fishing villages in Belize, and is known for spiny lobster, the Caribbean cousin of the large clawed animals some of you may be more familiar with. These pictures tell the tale of a lobster fishing expedition that I went on in December. We got a couple conch and a big crab as well.
Cleaning lobster is best done on the beach. The limes provide a great cleanser for the hands afterwards and keep the lobster sprightly til you get them in the freezer or cook them.
Mark made lobster stew. Lets just say, it was fantastic. Chopped up lobster, cleaned heads and all, sauteed in coconut oil with onion, sweet pepper and a panopoly of seasonings, including soy sauce, cumin, recado and fresh thyme and finished off with fresh coconut milk and cilantro.
A couple leftover cooked lobster tails=lobster tacos for lunch! Sauteed in butter with the ubiquitous onion and sweet pepper (the vegetable back-bone of Belizean Creole cooking), and served in fresh corn tortillas from the tortilleria down the street, topped with
homemade pepper sauce, these were absolutely delicious!
Labels: Belize Stories, Belizean Recipes, Main Courses, Marine Life
