I Remember Pappa

Surrounded by mountains, the cool breeze waving through the pine trees and buffalo gently grazing in the distance sets the perfect stage for a Caribbean dining experience.  We may be at 9300 feet but tonight we are going on a culinary journey between old Key West and the beaches of Cuba.

Every year a few of us from LLIO pack up and convoy out to Crested Butte Colorado to cater a dinner party for Tour De Forks, a culinary benefit for the Crested Butte Arts Center.  The dinners are hosted in spectacular vacation homes every year showcasing the home, home owners and the visiting “Celebrity” chefs.  This year the menu, and the home, and the home owners were equally spectacular

My Dad and I talked a lot about this year’s menu.  We wanted to provide our guests, who by the way come from all over the country, something they have never experienced.  During our talks we were interrupted by a phone call from my grandmother, a south Florida native, who had to talk to my dad about her friend who was heading off to Cuba on a missionary trip.

“I tell you son, it’s not like it used to be.  Do you remember when we used to go to the keys and sit on the beach all day, fishing for crabs, lobster, scallops, and red fish and eat on the beach?  She lamented,

“Things have changed so!” 

 

“So true mom, but you just gave me a great idea so can I call you back later?”  He hung up and exclaimed, “Have I got a treat for you!  We are going to do a dinner tribute to Ernest Hemmingway (Pappa) and his love of both Key West and Cuba!”  Our culinary thread for the evening …..”I Remember Papa”…A Culinary Tribute to the legendary Ernest Hemingway.

The game was on.  What were those old classics that just sang the praises of the Florida Keys and Havana Cuba?  We started with the drinks, Cuban sangria made with red wine, brandy, triple sec, fresh oranges, lemons, limes and raw cane sugar left you expecting a salty ocean breeze to wash over you at any second.  No party with Pappa would be complete without his favorite Tom Collins, a potent concoction of Gin, fresh lime juice, and club soda, The Havana Rose with Guava, Cacacha Rum, Lime and Seltzer finally, as a nod to Key West, a fresh and bright Key Lime Margarita!

To pair with these cool drinks, and help set the mood for our guest’s Caribbean journey, we offered three tropical bites.  We started with fried White Gator tail bites serves with a tropical tartar sauce, spicy conch fritters with a traditional red sauce and our signature lime remoulade, and a classic Cuban treat of fried plantains topped with curry and onion spiced cream fresh topped  and mango chutney. 

We started the meal in Key West, Pappa’s home base, with a cold spicy seafood gazpacho with fresh lump crab meat, shrimp, cilantro, lime juice and ripe avocados.  This little “amuse” was a perfect balance of rich tomato flavor with a hint of clam, bright acidity from the lime juice, and a tropical kick from the cilantro perfectly matched the delicate flavor of the shrimp and crab.  The diced avocado garnish was the perfect texture to add balance to flavorful soup. 

Next we mentally transported our dinner guests to Cuba for a Havana Salad celebrating the bounty of the island.  Baby spinach topped with ripe mango and papaya, then (because goat is such a large part of the diet) topped with a seared goat cheese medallion, blood orange vinaigrette and garnished with crispy fried shallot rings,  The salad was finished with a sweet guava paste triangle and a Myers rum and pecan cornbread muffin that was spread with whipped tangerine butter.  What more do I have to say, a perfect mix of textures and bright fresh fruit flavors. 

Now grab your passports because we are hoping back across the Gulf Stream to Key West for a traditional baked sea bass.  The bass was braised with a in a combination of red, yellow, and red peppers, fresh tomatoes, garlic, onions, bay leaves, oregano, basil and a splash of lemon.  The fish was baked to perfection, yielding to the guest’s fork like warm butter.  The sauce took on all the wonderful juices of the fish and created an unctuous broth that forced some guests to tilt their bowls to the sky to get the last drops.

 

But before we leave the keys we need one last quintessential dish, key lime sorbet.  The tiny cold serving of bright green, tart and tangy sorbet was a perfect pallet cleanser gearing our guests up for their next Traditional Cuban experience.

Ropa Vieja, or “old rope/old clothes”, is a Cuban peasant dish made from braised and shredded  flank steak cooked with red wine, tomatoes,  peppers, onions, garlic, thyme, and rich beef stock. .  After another two hours of low and slow braising, the meat was ready to plate!  We presented the ropa served on top of savory saffron rice garnished with fresh garden peas.

The last dish of the evening was a tribute to the islands, a celebration of the taste of the Caribbean.  A smooth and silky grand mariner flan topped with a sweet bruleed orange cap.  This was paired with caramelized pineapple on a sugar cane skewer.  The dish was finished with, my personal favorite, our signature chocolate habanera and lime ice cream.  A truer combination of Caribbean flavors I have never seen.

High up in the Rocky Mountains my dad and our crew transported those lucky few on a culinary journey back and forth across the Gulf Stream experiencing the traditions of Key West and Havana. If only for a few hours our guests had the opportunity to celebrate Hemmingway and “Remember Papa”.

Stay tuned for more inspired dishes from Lon Lane's Inspired Occasions Research and Development Department!