A+++ for Attractive, Affordable Alternatives

Last Thursday, Vibes Cuisine kicked off a new season of delicious programmes with a focus on affordable seafood options, as well as a first for Jamaican television - a mystery protein challenge.

Young, confident and self-taught caterer Stephen Hamilton was the first to rise to the occasion when the production team arrived in his Elletson Flats community. He was given 30 minutes to prep and another half-hour to cook a meal using a designated product from Rainforest Seafoods.

With his secret ingredient of versatile white fish fillet revealed, Hamilton chopped, sautéed, blended, fried and grilled his way to perfection. Along the way, several glitches threatened the passionate cook's vision, including his sugar cane's inability to skewer the fish. A real renaissance man, the champion rugby player adjusted his recipe and served up a gorgeous meal to tasters/judges Michelle Jones and chef Karl Thomas from Lillian's. Hamilton's finished dish included cornflake-crusted croquettes of crushed breadfruit, pumpkin and Irish, along with herb-marinated white fish fillet wrapped around sugar cane with fish sautéed veggies topped with a June plum pineapple chutney. With this presentation christened breadfruit sea breeze delight representing Hamilton's creativity and skill set, the future shines especially bright for his Eskay catering venture.

This great Jamaican eating tour continued in the Vibes kitchen with an introduction to what corporate chef Evrol Ebanks calls the 'first cousin' of the snapper, the humble grunt. This lovely fish gets its name from the sound its grinding teeth make once out of the water. Despite a somewhat indelicate title, this species is attractive in every way. Its taste, texture and bone structure are almost identical to snapper, yet its price point is even more appealing.

Chef Ebanks shared his twist on a brown stew grunt with choice of bammy sticks or yam that cost about $100 per serving. You did read that correctly— one hundred Jamaican dollars for a great seafood meal. Doesn't this entice you to add more healthy seafood to your shopping list? Ebanks injected some individual flair with his adaptation using fruit punch for his sauce, adding potatoes plus slicing bammy rounds into trendy sticks. The end result is eye-catching and mouth-watering. Whip up these budget-friendly meals with the recipes provided and get hooked on healthy seafood.

As a brawta from the Vibes archives, an uber-easy tilapia in a savoury beer sauce is included for your culinary pleasure!

Brown Stew Grunt with Bammy Sticks

4 Rainforest Seafoods Grunt, 8oz each whole and gutted

Garlic, 4 cloves minced

Ginger, 2-inch piece grated

4 pimento berries, crushed

3 stalks scallion, chopped

1 Irish potato

1 carrot

1/4 each large red & green sweet pepper, chopped

Scotch bonnet pepper to taste

1 cup fruit punch

1/2 cup water

2 tbs soy sauce

Salt & black pepper

sprig of thyme

2 tbsp butter

4 bammy rounds, sliced into sticks

couple of limes

olive oil

Method

1. Wash grunt with lime.

2. Preheat oil on high.

2. Score both sides of each fish, then rub well with salt and pepper.

3. Sear fish on each side approximately 3 min per side. Reserve.

4. Sauté garlic and ginger.

5. Add punch, then water and soy sauce.

6. Add potatoes, carrots, sweet peppers, Scotch bonnet, scallion and butter

7. Simmer to thicken approximately five minutes, then return fish to pan with bammy sticks.

8. Coat grunt and bammy with stew.

9. Heat through, ensuring potatoes are cooked, then serve.

Evrol's tip:

Including more seafood in your family's diet ensures one of the richest natural sources of omega-3, essential fatty acids, that offer safety against harmful cardiovascular disease by reducing the levels of poor cholesterol and even lower blood pressure.

Breadfruit Pumpkin Irish Croquettes

1/2 breadfruit diced

3 potatoes, diced

4oz pumpkin, diced

2oz butter

1 basil leaf

2 tsp dry parsley

Salt to taste

2 cups flour

2 eggs beaten with a little milk

2 cups cornflakes

Method

1. Add breadfruit, potato and pumpkin to boiling salted water and cook for approximately 10 minutes.

2. Drain, blending with butter and herbs, and blend for 2 minutes. Cool slightly.

3. Roll starch into a ball. Dredge with flour, then egg. Coat with cornflakes.

4. Fry until golden brown. Drain and serve hot.

Stephen's tip:

Leaving rough edges of the starches will allow breading to be easier.

Fish Sauté Vegetables

2 sweet peppers, julienne

1 onion, diced

1 broccoli, chopped

1 stalk scallion

thyme

2oz Rainforest Seafoods white fish fillet, minced

2oz butter

1oz rum (white wine, beer, juice, stock or water are options)

Method

1. Over medium heat, add butter, alcohol, fish and seasoning and sauté for one minute, just to give it that seafood flavour.

2. Add vegetables and sauté for another 4 minutes.

White Fish Fillet

4 pieces of cane

4 Rainforest Seafoods white fish fillets

Salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 onion

1 stalk scallion

Thyme

1 cup rum (white wine, beer, juice, stock or water are options)

1 piece of ginger

2oz dry parsley

Oil

Method

1. Blend seasoning with alcohol and set aside.

2. Tenderise the fish fillet with a mallet and roll it with cane.

3. Place into the blended seasoning to marinate for 5 mins.

4. Grill fish - each side for 3 minutes brushing with herb oil until that brown texture appears.

5. Enjoy!

June Plum Pineapple Chutney

1 June plum

4oz pineapple oil

2 leaves peppermint

1 pepper, diced

1/2 onion ,chopped

2 tsp dry parsley

1/2 cup honey.

Method

1. Sauté seasoning for 2 mins.

2. Add fruits, then honey.

3. Simmer then serve. 

Tilapia with Savoury Beer Sauce

1/2 tsp mustard

1 cup milk

2 cups beer

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup butter

6 Rainforest tilapia fillets

1 red pepper, cut up fine

1/4 cup parsley, cut up fine

Method

1. Season fish with salt and pepper.

2. Melt butter and flour, cook for 3-5 minutes.

3. Add mustard, milk and beer. Continue stirring to avoid lumps.

4. Place seasoned fish in pan, cover and cook fish for 4 minutes until done - depending on size of fish.

5. Spoon sauce over the fish and sprinkle with red pepper and parsley.

Vibes tip:

Beer can be substituted with wine, juice, stock or water.

Vibes Cuisine, which has partnered with The Gleaner's Food to present the best offering in popular food and lifestyle, airs on CVM-TV at 6:30 p.m. on Thursdays and at 8:35 a.m. on Wednesdays. Encore presentations air Sundays at 8 p.m. on Flow 100. Like our recipes? Then 'like' Vibes Cuisine TV on Facebook.