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Friday, 21 August 2009 19:16 |
 By Nancy Backas
I have had some adventures. I used to cook for Sierra Club backpack trips. I traveled to Crete for a photography project. I once took a three-week driving trip by myself out East. But my adventures are nothing compared to those of Victoria Allman who has spent ten years working as a chef aboard luxury yachts.
Her book, “Sea Fare: A Chef’s Journey Across the Ocean” (Norlights Press, 2009), which includes 30 recipes gathered on her travels, chronicles the first eight years of her journeys. As a struggling chef, she dreamed of far off places, but didn’t have the means to feed her wanderlust.
Friends told her about the world of yachting where she could be paid to travel as crew. So, she quit her restaurant job and went to Fort Lauderdale where she was hired on the spot.
In her book she tells the tales of learning how to cook in cramped quarters on her first boat, how to figure out recipes that would please both the owners of the boat and the crew who were fed separate meals, and how to negotiate ordering enough food, as well as store it so that it would stay fresh and intact at sea.
She also writes about catching and preparing fresh fish and buying produce from vendors who bring their wares on boats to her.
Trained at a private chef’s school in Canada and at the Culinary Institute of America, Ms. Allman also worked as a chef at restaurants in Canada and at Norman's, Norman Van Aken’s acclaimed restaurant in Miami, FL. Her food knowledge, which expands as she travels, has depth and is infused with her excitement of all things culinary.
While she works long, hard days on duty, often stretching to 16 hours with few breaks, her time off is spent snorkeling in the exotic waters of the South Pacific, rubbing elbows with celebrities in ports where the well-heeled vacation, and taking side trips to Provence, Vietnam and South Africa.
Ms. Allman writes of learning how to cook callaloo from a Bahamian woman, how to catch spiny lobsters in Florida, and the perfect way to make conch salad. She fishes for marlin in Key West and travels down a muddy river in Papua New Guinea where she exchanges AA batteries for bananas with women who had breasts hanging to their waists.
Her story is personally infused with her very human doubts, triumphs and joys. She travels with a young, lively group of men and women. And along the way, she meets the love of her life, another adventurer like herself.
Clearly written, "Sea Fare" includes 30 simple, fresh recipes and while reading it, I felt like I’d taken a trip myself. Ms. Allman is now aboard a yacht in Barcelona, Spain with her husband who is the captain of the Cocoa Bean.
To place an order for the book, contact: NorLightsPress, www.norlightspress.com
Mahi-Mahi Corn Chowder
Victoria Allman
- 2 slices thick-cut bacon
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
- 1 cup onion
- 2 stalks celery
- ½ red pepper
- 1 Tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 potatoes
- ½ Serrano pepper
- 1 Tbsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. black pepper
- 1 can (400ml) coconut milk
- 4 ears of corn
- 2 lb. mahi-mahi
- 1/3 cup cilantro
Chop all vegetables no bigger than a kernel of corn. Slice bacon to similar size. Sauté bacon in a heavy bottomed soup pot, over medium-high heat, stirring often, for 5 minutes until crisp and golden. Add onion and garlic and sauté another 3 minutes until soft. Add celery, sauté 2 minutes. Add red pepper, sauté 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add thyme, chicken stock, potatoes, Serrano pepper, salt and black pepper. Bring back to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add coconut milk and fresh corn from the cob. Simmer 5 more minutes. Slice mahi-mahi into 1-inch squares and add to the pot. Simmer 5 minutes until fish is cooked through. Add chopped cilantro and juice of a lime. Taste for seasoning and serve. |
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