Working with local produce

 Its a fishermans dream here. In fact most of the guys I know here go off at the weekend and land enormous fish, personally I can catch them with my hands. The Tuna I'm holding is around the 35kg mark and the season for this and local Lobster has just started. They are quite like a large crayfish in taste, no claws and the lack of any purification makes them quite earthy. They call this a red tuna (despite the yellow fins) The flesh is really light pink, some of the best tuna I've ever had.

Believe it or not this is local Asparagus! Bear in mind that the brat pan behind it is about 6ft wide!!! Bears little resemblance to any asparagus Ive eaten before. More like a palm heart really. Bastard to prep as there is loads of sharp shards to stick in your hands.

Below is Manioc, its made from manioc tuburcle, Ive yet to see how its made from scratch but comes in warm and I believe its fermented and then baked in its own leaves. It really is void of any taste but fills you up. If youve never tried manioc its like a sour taste with a rubbery texture.Each area of Gabon has a different manioc this is the Bateke Manioc of the Presidents region. I will do a separate blog on manioc as its such an integral part of the diet here. There also must be some other ways to eat it but the preference here is cold and sliced.

Sweet potato is great. Its the white variety rather than the bright orange one the Aussies put with everything. Local Avocados are the size of your fist and again really nice although they insist on bagging them in 15kg sacks which does nothing for the flesh.

Koumou is a local herb, it comes really finely shaved and usually served with a smoked chicken and peanut sauce. One of my favorite local dishes.

Deep fried Bananas or Aloko, is more of a treat here. The younger green bananas are steamed or boiled.

Lastly Piedmont  super hot chillies much like a scotch bonnet. I couldn't understand how anyone could eat something as hot as this but after drinking Vin de palme you need something to take the taste away.
I've had a few ideas on how some of these flavours could work in a modern way, Nitro banane vapeur may be a bit of a way off but more to come..

Foie Gras terrine and Polaine toasts

 Whilst I am keen to use the local produce and sex it up a bit, whats not like about  Foie Gras. We get regular deliveries from France so pain polaine is no problem, but in truth the Gabonese make great bread.
The Foie gras terrine I made last week, still looking for nitrate salt but had a great bottle of sauterne and a cheap cognac for the marinade.
Blood orange fluid gel for a bit of sweet and tartness, apple blossom and some fine grated salted pistachio praline.

 

Salad Nicoise Gabonese style

Its been ages since my last post, for a number of reasons. In part its a new job here and i'm learning the ropes. In part I dont have internet readily available and mostly because Ive been learning the local produce of Gabon.
The great thing here is that there is a real local trade from market and some really interesting produce, those that have been to Gabon have probably sampled a few of them.
Manioc, Oseille, Aukoumo and the list goes on. The fashion in the UK when I left was to work with foragers and use the local produce that perhaps is wild and hasnt been cultivated. Here that has never changed and the vast amount of the African produce I use comes from local markets.
So the trick now is to use these ingredients in a modern way but still retain a bit of recognition for the guests.
My first attempt was a Salad Nicoise and whilst we have great tuna in Gabon ive done this with local smoked Mackerell.

Yet to work out what wood they use to smoke with  but its pretty strong stuff, even a good wash doesnt effect the flavour!!

Picked down and pin bones removed its a really tasty fish and gets used a lot here mostly cooked with manioc leaves. I have semi dried local tomatoes as on their own they are a bit bland , sliced banana shallots and halved french beans. The potato element I have replaced with Igname which is a tarro root like potato.

Semi dried local tomatoes,cant wait for my dehydrator to come!!

the beans and tomatoes are dressed with a good quality olive oil as is the kalamatta black olives which is as good as I can lay my hands on for the moment finished with micro cress, endive, boiled eggs and balsamic caviar which I will demo in a separate post.

Smoked Tuna Nicoise