A taste of the islands

Image by wayneandwax via Flickr

My wife and son didn't return from Jamaica empty handed. Her luggage contained nearly a dozen small fish that had been escoveitched, a spicy preparation that made a great dinner tonight with yellow rice, large butter beans with tomato and a green salad.

My mother-in-law fried the fish and then doused them in vinegar with hot pepper, pimiento, onion and carrot (photo). They were wrapped in aluminum foil.

I had business Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, and tried to return home for lunch.

But it was pouring Tuesday, so I ducked into John's Coffee Shop on Sussex Street, near the courthouse, and ate lukewarm vegetarian pea soup and an egg-white Spanish omelet flecked with black bits from the grill. The original owner, who served judges and lawyers for decades, sold the place, and the new owner -- well, let's just say I won't be returning.

Here is a link with a recipe for those small fish my wife brought home: Jamaican fish recipe