just got back, and still recovering, from a great week down in the bahamas at club med’s columbus isle. chef erik peters, executive chef of club med, invited a group of us down to participate in a food and wine week at the village. having grown up going to club med every year with my family, i knew i was in for a fun week, but this exceeded my expectations.

sitting at the gate in ft. lauderdale waiting for our charter to the island, i could already spot the other chefs. one dc chef, russel, was sitting next to me on the floor, with half sleeves of tatts, looking as though he too had had a late night. his friend, greg, gave it away with the tattoo on his leg of a little chef/elf with crazy eyes and an oversized knife. the other guys with the large gotis seemed to fit the mold as well.

i was traveling with my good friend and former pastry chef, jessie. she was a club med virgin and got a little freaked out by the clapping and singing that began the moment we drove up to the village…..told her she would have to get used to it quick as it was going to surround her all week long. those gos (the folks that work at a club med, visitors are gms) like to sing and dance…a lot.

after settling in our room we wandered over to the beach bar, and not surprisingly ran into the other chefs. chef erik joked throughout the week as he always was able to find us congregating at the bar. hey, it is open bar, where else would we be??

the week was filled with chef demos twice a day and multi-course wine dinners each night. i started off my week on sunday with a demonstration during happy hour out by the bar. i am a firm believer that one should have a cocktail by them when cooking so i was happy to grab a mojito to get the demo started. i went with something nice and refreshing and simple that reminded me of the islands: mango and almond gazpacho with spiced shrimp salad. all you really need is a blender to pull off this recipe. it makes a great starter, light lunch or even a passed hors d’oeuvre in a shot glass.

featured recipe: mango marcona gazpacho

joining us on the island for the week was a group of food bloggers from some of the most visited food and recipe sites on the web. on monday, i got together with them for a private cooking demo which was a lot of fun. i like cooking with small groups so we can go off on tangents about various foods and drink topics, or other random topics. for this demo, i did my mussels escabeche which has become one of my favorite recipes. it too is quite simple, yet has a nice balance of sweetness, spice and acidity. i was stuck with frozen mussels on this one, since they do not usually hang in the waters of the bahamas, but it still turned out nicely.

left to right:
sarah foster, deb (http://www.smittenkitchen.com ), diane (http://www.whiteonricecouple.com ) elise (http://www.simplyrecipes.com ), david (http://www.davidlebovitz.com ), matt (http://www.mattbites.com ) and jaden (http://www.steamykitchen.com )

featured recipe: mussels escabeche

all of the fish that the chefs used throughout the week for demos and dinners was to be self caught. i had been deep sea fishing once before in hawaii and swore i would never do it again….ten hours on a boat while all of us were getting sick and coming home with one 6# tuna was not my idea of fun. of course i got out of bed (well thanks to chef greg pounding on my door at the crack of dawn) and joined a group of the chefs for deep sea adventure. i was feeling a bit queezy already, combination of the six foot waves and the adventures of the night before, when a large fish caught the line. i hopped in the big seat and grabbed hold of the rod, having no idea what was going on. ‘lift and reel, reel, reel….lift and reel, reel, reel…’ it did not take long before my arms and shoulders were burning and i started getting turrets syndrome, swearing at the stubborn fish that was on the other end of the line. a couple of the guys had to join in and hold onto the pole while encouraging me (meaning yelling at me) to continue to reel in the line as best i could. i consider myself a pretty strong woman so i figured it had to be a larger than normal fish giving me all this trouble. then, after all of the hard work, just as the fish reached the surface, and i could see the light at the end of the tunnel….two sharks saw breakfast. we watched as they quickly devoured all but the large head of what was said to have been a 110# wahoo that i had come so close to catching. i swore i was going to jump in the water and kick those sharks’s ass. no fish for me….just spent the next few hours watching others catch king fish and throw back more barracudas while i tried to hold down my water.

of course as the story of our morning adventure spread throughout the village, it turned out to be a 300# fish with four or five sharks attacking, one of which almost came up on the boat with the line until i fought it off.

without fresh fish to serve for my course at dinner thursday night, i went with pork and shrimp: coconut braised pork belly with smoked pork tenderloin and olive oil poached shrimp. the shrimp came out really nice and was very simple. just peel and devein shrimp and marinate for a couple of hours in garlic and sambal (chili garlic sauce). then season well with salt and place in a baking dish, fully submerge in olive oil, then cover the dish with foil and poach in the oven at 300 degrees until just cooked through. after straining it is great cut up in chilled salads or served warm.

friday was sadly our last day on the island, so we filled our day with activities. the morning (well i guess it was closer to noon) activity was beach volleyball, of course with beers in hand. after a quick trip to lunch we decided to hit the water and go sailing. jessie and i put on our life vests (thankfully) and hopped on a boat with russel. we all just laughed continuously as we jumped waves and got soaked. then, next thing we knew, the boat was flipped and we were floating on the surface, waiting for the sharks to feast. somehow we were able to flip the boat back over, trapping jessie underneath for a minute, get back on and sail to shore. a few minutes later we were back at home base, the beach bar, recapping our near death experience.

after dancing the night away it was time to head home. the gos were once again lined up and clapping as we all sadly boarded the bus for the one minute ride to the airport (the island is so small that club med had to actually help build an airport). already looking forward to next year.

p.s. check out these sites of some of the great people i met on my trip!!

http://www.whiteonricecouple.com/blog
http://www.davidlebovitz.com
http://www.simplyrecipes.com
http://www.smittenkitchen.com
http://www.adamcpearson.com
http://www.steamykitchen.com