The week prior to the live cooking demonstration, Doug E Fresh and McCormick partnered together to deliver a flavor-full song and new music video. The collaboration, as they say in the Hip Hop world, was formed to celebrate the milestone of 50 years of Hip Hop alongside the king of Fresh himself and with the iconic seasoning brand, McCormick, releasing its first newly designed bottle in nearly 40 years. To our surprise, the beatboxing champ not only keeps it fresh on record, but inspired the dish of the evening. Doug E and Cindy Gilbert led the way as we mixed and matched up spices to try his new original recipe with the use of McCormick.
The ingredients for the Spiced Cod and Mashed Plantains were inspired by the love for his heritage and his instinctual cravings for Caribbean cuisine. The delicious dish was super easy to make, only needing a prep time of 15 minutes and cooked in under an hour (45 minutes to be exact).
The recipe for the Spiced Cod with Mashed Plantains, included:
- 4 Cod filets
- and began with boiling 3-4 medium sized plantains, peeled and chopped in a pot of water
- and ½ a cup of coconut milk
Once placed on the stove, the newbie cooks were instructed to redirect their attention to creating the spice blend for their dry rub to add to their Cod.
The spiced Cod would be covered in (or sprinkled, based on individual palate preference) with the following herbs:
-
- 2 teaspoons of McCormick Garlic Powder,
- 1 teaspoons of McCormick’s Thyme Leaves;
- ½ teaspoons of McCormick’s Crushed red pepper;
- ¼ teaspoons McCormick’s Ground Allspice;
- ¼ teaspoons McCormick’s Ground Cinnamon;
- ½ teaspoons of salt;
- and 2 teaspoons of oil
Shortly after, the chefs were instructed by head chef Cindy Gilbert, to remove the boiled plantains, add a cup of the boiled coconut milk and water to the plantains and mash them into a mashed potato-like consistency. Once plated, our dishes held a generous portion of mashed plantains and were topped with our flavor packed Cod. To enhance the natural flavors of the plated dish, garnishes of pickled red onions, diced red peppers and cilantro were accented on the Cod. To compliment our Spiced Cod and mashed plantains, the Institute of Culinary Education prepared and served sides of braised kale.
Following the demonstration, we sat with Doug E Fresh and McCormick team to relish in and savor our meals. The evening closed with a surprise “Happy Birthday” song and vegan chocolate cake presented to Doug E Fresh and the guests departed with take-home gifts of utensils and spices courtesy of McCormick. We also received a cool bluetooth speaker in the shape of an old school cassette tape, loaded with Doug E Fresh’s new, “Get Fresh” song for McCormick’s 40 year Red Cap re-design. Try out the Spiced Cod and Mashed Plantains recipe out for yourself and let us know what you think. Enjoy (and, in the words of Doug E Fresh, “Get Fresh ya’ll”)!