Cinnamon Casabitos with Fudge Sauce, Mamba and Flaky Sea Salt
These sweet, savory and salty casabitos are my spin on casabe; I make the crispy yuca flatbread smaller and play with flavors dear to my Caribbean childhood. The recipe is also an homage to the longstanding ancestral production of ingredients in the Caribbean and Dominican Republic, such as cacao and yuca. The Taino and Arawak traditionally made casabe over an open fire, griddling it on a budare after drying out the yuca for hours. We can use a box grater and cheesecloth to reduce the labor and time but still enjoy the benefits of this ancient flatbread. Casabe is typically enjoyed in the mornings dipped in a mug of hot chocolate, or served with a peanut spread or with a stew or sauce, for soaking. Instead of hot chocolate, I coat the casabitos in a rich but not overly sweet fudge sauce made with coconut sugar and oat milk. I then drizzle the casabitos with mamba. This spicy peanut butter sauce acknowledges the deep contributions and influence on our cuisine from our Haitian neighbors with whom we share an island. Nowadays, you can find garlic- or Parmesan-flavored casabe becoming more popular and sold in some supermarkets and bodegas. You can also always find it in someone's luggage when returning from the island, often at the request of an elder loved one.
Grill Basket Bacon-Wrapped Brussels Sprouts
There are two key elements for success when making these irresistible little salty-sweet Brussels sprouts. First, they need to be cooked slowly over indirect heat so that the fat from the bacon can render lazily (and not cause flare-ups), crisping them to perfection. This also infuses a subtle smoky flavor that you would not otherwise get from the oven. Second, cooking them in a meatball grill basket holds the sprouts in place and keeps the bacon from shrinking too much and unraveling.
Grilled Bacon, Egg and Cheese Zucchini Boats
Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner, these zucchini boats are filled with eggs, two kinds of cheese, garlic and fresh chives. Grilling them over indirect heat adds a smoky flavor to the eggs and keeps them from drying out. At the end, the boats are wrapped in salty bacon, making them utterly irresistible.
