Crab & Spinach Soup
Callaloo
(Serves 6-8)

Easy to make and absolutely delicious. This soup substitues fresh spinach for callaloo (see sidebar) and adds okra as a thickener.

2 lb. fresh crabmeat (or canned)
2 T peanut oil
4 scallions, with green part (diced)
2 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 lb. bacon (diced)
1 lb. fresh spinach
1 lb. okra (tips & ends removed, sliced into rounds)
6 C chicken broth (approx. three 14 oz. cans)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 C coconut milk
1 chili pepper (pricked with fork)*
3 limes (juiced)

In a skillet, heat oil and saute crab meat with scallions, garlic, and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes till scallion is translucent. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large soup pot, brown diced bacon and wilt spinach in rendered fat. Add the okra, stirring to coat with bacon fat.** Stir in broth, along with salt and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes stirring constantly.

Add crabmeat mixture to broth. Stir in coconut milk and chili pepper (pricked with fork). Cook over low heat for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Right before serving, whisk in fresh lime juice and serve hot.


* Scotch Bonnet chili peppers are used throughout the Caribbean, but they can be hard to find. Substitute a jalapeno or habanero pepper. All 3 are very, very hot.

* You can drain off some of the bacon fat before adding broth, but leave a little for flavor.

Tips & Glossary:

Caribbean cuisine is an exquisite blend of African, Asian, European, and Carib Indian (the area's original inhabitants) foods. Dishes are highly seasoned, either with a dry rub or marinade—or both. Following are some typical ingredients found in Caribbean food.

Spices: Allspice, bay leaves, black pepper, chives, chili peppers, cilantro, cinnamon, coconut, curry powder, escallion, garlic, ginger, lime, mace, nutmeg, onion, oregano, sugar, thyme, orange, tomato paste, vanilla, cayenne (red) pepper.

Jerk: Jamaican cooking method in which meat is rubbed, prior to grilling, with a blend of seasonings, often firey hot. Jerk is also the name of the seasoning (from Spanish charqui, or dried meat). You can buy jerk in most grocery stores (even McCormick makes it), or can make and store your own.

• 1 T each—onion powder, garlic powder, dried chives, brown sugar; 2 tsp. each— (ground) allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon; 1 tsp. each—sage. thyme, salt, black pepper, cayenne (or more to taste). Mix thoroughly and store in a tightly covered jar.

There are thousands of versions; figure out what flavors you like most and add or subtract accordingly.

Typical Caribbean Meats: goat, pork, chicken, and some beef (though beef has tended to be expensive).

Fish: varieties that abound in surrounding waters, some familiar to us—grouper, cod, tilapia, blue marlin; others not so—200 species of jack, chip-chips (tiny clams), casadura (primitive armored catfish).

Indigenous plant foods:
• ackee—/peach-looking fruit with pulp like scrambled eggs
• annatto (achiote) seed—red coloring or flavoring agent w/ slightly sweet peppery taste.
• callaloo— like spinach
• cassava root (taro root)—
• malanaga root—
• scotch bonnet peppers—
• breadfruit—fruit used like a potato in salads, stews, even whipped.
• passion fruit

More familiar foods:
bananas and plantains, okra, yams, papaya, mangoes, coconut, yams, sweet potatoes, rice, beans, corn and cornmeal.