I stumbled upon an awesome recipe for Equatorial Guinea; a Spanish Guinean Grilled Fish with peanut sauce. It made sense that I would find a Spanish influenced dish, since Equatorial Guinea was under Spanish rule for 190 years, up until the mid 20th century. It seemed like the perfect choice; a nod to the Spaniards, cooking with fish as they do on the coastline, while still incorporating that prevalent peanut sauce. In addition, the ingredients were pretty straightforward. Or so I thought...
The recipe called for two items that I don't traditionally cook with. One was scotch bonnet peppers, the other was tuna. Easy, right? Wrong.
No hot peppers outside of jalapeños at Shaw's. Tuna steaks were labeled "previously frozen" and did not have that red fleshy look that fresh tuna should. In fact, I had a hard time telling the difference between the swordfish steaks and the tuna steaks - bad sign.
I ended up at two more grocery stores in two different towns, then back to the fish market in Medfield before I finally had those two necessary ingredients. A wild goose chase, I think they call it. All the while, unbuckling and re-buckling two toddlers at each stop, quelling their pleas for a "fun cart", and trying to gently deal with the wild tantrums that were thrown when I would not buy them the Blues Clues stuffed dog at check-out.
If we were still in Southie, one quick trip to the South Bay Stop n' Shop in Dorchester would have had it all. As much as I loathed the crowds there, they always had what I wanted. Even pig's feet. Something tells me there is not a high demand for pig's feet here in Medfield...
Despite the effort it took to procure the ingredients, the meal itself was fairly effortless to prepare. The peanut sauce was delicious. I simmered onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, peppers, diced shrimp, water, and a bay leaf for about five minutes, until the shrimp turned pink. I pulled the bay leaf, then added a half cup of chunky peanut butter and let it simmer for another ten or so minutes, until the sauce was getting thick. A little salt and pepper to taste, the sauce was ready.
Meanwhile, the tuna steaks had marinated for about an hour in lime juice with minced hot peppers and garlic. Ted rubbed them with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper before throwing them on the grill until they were perfectly seared. I served the fish with white rice, and we ate every last bite.
Equatorial Guinea scores a 3.0.
And in case you're searching for scotch bonnet peppers, here is what they look like:
*photo courtesy of www.chilipeppermadness.com
And my Spanish Guinean Grilled Fish with Peanut Sauce and Rice:
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