Ghana – Chapter 12

Accra, May 12, 2005

 

"Tema fish market"

 

 

Hello and Akwaaba (You are welcome - the traditional Ashanti greeting - even if you're not),

It's Sunday and I'm getting ready for a big fish barbecue.  I went to the Tema fish market yesterday to get some fish to cook out on my grill.

Tema is the major port city of Ghana. It's about 30 miles from Accra.  Aside from a big commercial port, they also have a fishing port that is divided between trawlers (sardines, tuna) and day boats.  The day boats are made from huge hollowed out trees - about 45 feet long and 6-8 feet wide.  They are powered by an outboard motor and small sails and go out into the ocean overnight or during the day to catch all kinds of fish.  They carry 6 – 10 fishermen.

I think I've told you about my friend Jean Aouad who owns the La Magellan restaurant.  He goes to Tema every weekend to buy fish for his restaurant and I tag along sometimes.  Yesterday we took a couple of other friends who were in town for last week's big conference.  I also took my New Bedford fish filleting knife and my ice chest!

Here I am with one of my purchases.  That's a barracuda on the table (with the head cut off).  The head is about 25% of the length of the fish (mostly teeth).  The fish cost me about $12 ($5 per kilo) and this lady scaled and cleaned it for me.  I took it home and filleted it last night.  Today I'm marinating the fillet in a marinade of spices, water, oil, lemon juice, and vinegar. 

 
These fillets will go on the charcoal grill around 1430 when a half dozen friends are coming over to help me eat it.  I also got some large fresh sardines. They're about 8 inches (20 cm) long with the heads off and cleaned.  Those, I will grill whole (skin on), as well - just with salt on them.  I also bought a few pounds of fresh shrimp which I boiled up and will make a cocktail sauce for (I found some horseradish!).

For those of you who forgot what my charcoal stove looks like, here it is.  But I have added a new stainless grill from Weber and a domed Weber top that just fits it (21 inches). 


 
That's Megan Sibole (of the World Bank) helping the ladies skin the sole.  You put some salt on your fingers (for traction) and then grab lip of the sole and you can pull the skin off one side (if you're careful).   Jean is on the right.  He bought 20 kilos of fresh sole for the restaurant (48 pounds).  He also bought 20 large lobsters, about 10 kilos of king prawns (the large shrimp that weigh nearly a pound a piece) and some grouper fillets.  The African woman in the white blouse is Abigail.  Her mother owns two of the fishing boats (day boats) and Abigail runs a stall in the fish market by the harbor (that’s her stall where they’re skinning the sole).  She deals in all kinds of seafood and Jean can call her an hour or so ahead of time, tell her what he needs that day, and if she doesn’t have it, she’ll line it up from the other market women.  There are about 20 such fish sellers at the market (it’s a real small place).

 
After the fish market, we stopped at Southern Fried Chicken for lunch.  That's Jorge Oliveira on the left and Jean on the right.  Jorge is originally from Cape Verde (like most of our neighbors in Rochester, Mass.).  He eventually moved to Guinea Bissau and became an agricultural expert (particularly on cashews).  Now he works for the ag group in my USAID office as an agricultural specialist.  He is based in Bamako right now, but will be moving to Accra in July with his family.  We had just finished a big plate of fired chicken.

 




[Later…]

 

Sunday’s menu was:

 

First course:

Charcoal grilled sardines

Shrimp cocktail (I found some horseradish for the cocktail sauce!)

Fatoush (salad)

Beer

 

Second course:

Charcoal grilled barracuda fillets

Black beans (Cuban style)

Fried okra (southern style)

Cold salad of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, eggplant and basil (drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar). 

Wine

 

Jean brought the delicious fatoush - a Lebanese salad of lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, croutons (from pita bread) and other good stuff.  Everyone else brought their appetites (and some wine).

 

We ate for about 3 hours.  Sorry, no pictures.

Bon appetit!

Chef Gregoire

 

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