Suzy Palatin has strong memories of Sunday lunches at her grandmother’s, who lived in the suburbs of Pointe-à-Pitre. She remembers the townhouse and the kitchen with its charcoal stove, placed in a separate hut, near the Creole garden where pigeon peas, sweet potatoes and taros flourished in the shade of a breadfruit tree. . Near this subsistence garden, there was often a pig, a rabbit and a hen ready to complete the menu one day: colombo, stuffed cabbage, smoked chicken.
“What my grandmother and my mother did was not household cooking, says Suzy Palatin today. It was gastronomy. We think our dishes are too spicy, greasy, combined with thick strings and drowned in spices. It’s not true. When they are well done, they are good, fragrant and beautiful to look at. And my grandmother, who loved chilli, always offered it on the side. »
With his latest book, At my Creole table (Hachette Cuisine, 2022), which brings together one hundred recipes, the Guadeloupean author wanted to pay tribute to the stoves of her childhood. This book is also an almost militant bias: “Today, the American influence is very strong on foodshe regrets. West Indians buy a lot of sodas and frozen foods and no longer take the time to promote their products. » She offers three dishes among the simplest to make in her book to put a little of the sunny delicacy of the West Indies on her plate.
ferocious avocado
For 6 persons
Preparation: 25 mins
Cooking (for the cod): 10 min
Ingredients :
- 300g dried salt cod
- 3 tbsp. at s. grainy cassava flour
- 2 limes
- 1 large ripe tropical avocado (or 2 medium-sized avocados)
- 1 large onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- ¼ West Indian pepper
- 5 cl peanut oil
The day before, cut the cod into pieces and soak it in cold water to desalinate it. Change the water 2 or 3 times. The same day, poach the cod in barely simmering water for 10 minutes.
Rinse the cod under running water in a colander. Remove skin and bones. Crumble well and squeeze to remove as much water as possible, then set aside.
Squeeze the lemons. Cut the avocados in half, remove their core, peel them and place them in the bowl of a mixer. Cover with lemon juice.
Add the peeled onion cut in four, the peeled garlic cloves, the crumbled cod, the chilli and the oil to the blender. Mix everything until you obtain a homogeneous and fine paste.
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