The Blue Food Festival is an annual tourist attraction highlighting part of Tobago's culinary tradition and in recent years, the innovative cooks in Tobago have been coming up with some pretty interesting ways to use the humble ground provision. Some of the creations included dasheen crisps, dasheen nuggets, dasheen mousse and dasheen punch. Chef Debra Sardinha-Metevier who was chief judge for the Blue Food Festival was especially happy about the creativity shown by the cooks. "This represented village cooking, it was rustic but full of creativity. The cooks really delivered," she said. "I?feel that because lots of cooks are more exposed to things like Food Network and better cookbooks, they're now taking more chances."
Sardinha-Metevier sees that the Blue Food Festival can grow into something much bigger but she hopes it can grow organically. "This is an event where people come just to eat, they don't think, 'oh I'll come and hear the music and get something to eat', they come from early to sample. I?hope that as it grows, there can be more community development and opportunities for the chefs to develop their skills. We want to raise the bar, but we don't want to lose the original rustic feel." One of the recipes, the former Hilton executive chef singled out was Patricia Sheppard's dessert, dasheen mousse. "I?really liked the mousse, the texture was great and it was such an interesting dessert. It was clearly created by someone with high cooking skills."
Dasheen mousse dream cooler with dasheen tuile from Patricia Sheppard
Mousse
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup condensed milk
Vanilla essence
Dash of bitters
1 lb boiled dasheen, diced
Tuille
40g white sugar
40g butter, melted
1 egg white
40g dasheen flour
Pinch of salt
1 tsp almond essence
Method for mousse
Wash and chop dasheen into 1 inch dice.
Blend in food processor with water to cover.
Boil for 20 minutes on a low fire, stirring often.
Allow to cool.
Stir in remaining ingredients and leave to set in refrigerator.
Method for tuille
In a bowl, combine melted butter and white sugar and set aside to cool.
In another bowl whisk egg white until fluffy and add a pinch of salt.
Gradually fold in egg into sugar mixture.
Add sifted dasheen flour. Mix to a smooth batter and take care not to overmix.
Let rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Spoon 2 tbsp of mixture onto a well-greased pan and bake at 320F for 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove from the oven let cool; when it is cool enough to handle, make any shape desirable.
n Serves 12