Rundown

There was this place in the coastal town of Cahuita, Costa Rica called Restaurante Miss Edith. They made a dish they called "Rondon" (more commonly known as "rundown") with white fish and starchy vegetables. I ate it. It was delicious. More on Miss Edith's later, though.

Rundown is a Caribbean dish referring to coconut milk that's been cooked down until all the water evaporates and the custard separates from the oil. Other stuff is cooked into it at this point, like onions and thyme and chiles, maybe some fish... I don't know why it's called rundown. Actually, that's kind of low on my list of things that I care about.

Anyway, I wanted to make this dish that I remember eating... so from a photograph, my spotty memory, and a few online references, Robert and I concocted this.

Oh, and you might be able to use canned coconut milk, but... I'm sure it's inferior. Or maybe I just like doing things the hard way. No, I'm pretty sure mine is the right way. :)


RUNDOWN

2 large, fresh, mature coconuts full of water (you should hear lots of sloshing when you shake them)
water
3 lbs root/starchy vegetables (yuca, potato, green plantain, taro, carrot, etc), peeled and chopped into 1" chunks
1-2 lb filleted white fish (cod, rockfish/snapper, or mackerel)
1/4 cup lime juice
1 habañero
1 large yellow or red onion
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
salt
pepper
2 tbsp lime juice

1. Break open the coconuts over a bowl (catch all that good coconut water!). This can be done by hitting them repeatedly with the back of a large knife along the equator. Be careful. Coconuts can be tough to crack elegantly. Strain the water through four layers of cheesecloth to get all the dirt and hairs out. It should look pleasant. Like this:

2. Now for the fun part... crack each coconut half into several pieces. Remove the whites from the shell. There will still be a hard skin over it - a vegetable peeler pulled toward your hand does the trick for removing it. Make sure you know how to use a vegetable peeler this way. Don't sue me if you shave off your skin.

3. Chop up all the white bits into manageable pieces for the blender, and chuck them in. You should blend in at least 4 batches - coconut is extremely fibrous and it will burn out your blender's motor if you're not careful. Add some of the coconut water to assist in blending (if you need more, just add regular water), and be patient. Once the coconut is all shredded by the blender, there should be a milky liquid in there. Surprise! It's coconut milk. Squeeze the shredded coconut, wrapped in cheesecloth, over a bowl. You should end up with some of this:



...and some of this:



Save the beautiful shredded coconut for something else. Dry it out in the toaster oven for easy storage, or freeze it. Once it's dried, you can mix it with brown sugar and toast it in a heavy skillet. Makes great ice cream topping. But that's neither here nor there.

4. You should have about 3 cups of coconut milk. Simmer it, uncovered, in a wide saute pan or wide saucepan for about an hour to an hour and a half. In the meantime, place the fish on a plate with the lime juice to sit until it's ready for the pan. Then prepare your starchy vegetables. Boil them for a good long while, until they're falling-apart soft. At this point, your coconut mixture should be almost ready.



5. Seed and mince the habañero. Wear gloves - I cannot stress this enough. This is a potent pepper with potent oil. If it gets on your hands, it is very tough to wash off and if you so much as think about touching your eyes, picking your nose, or licking your fingers, you will pay dearly. So just be careful.





6. Slice up the onion. Add this, along with the garlic, chile, and thyme, to the simmering coconut milk. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. Season to taste with salt and pepper.



7. Dump in the boiled starchy vegetables, taking care to submerge as much as possible. Add the fish on top. If it is not in the liquid, make space for it. You just don't want it on the bottom of the pan, because then it just gets smushed by everything else.



8. Simmer the rundown with the fish in it for about 20 minutes, taking care that the fish is sumberged. This keeps it from toughening. Give it a shake or a gentle stir every so often to keep everything from scorching.



9. When the fish is tender and the liquid is thick, give it more lime juice. It's ready for eatin'. What a treat.

PROS: so Caribbean, so full of flavor and delicious...
CONS: well, if you don't like coconut... this isn't for you.

This is a reasonable approximation of what I remember eating at Miss Edith's. In any case, it's an awesome way to eat your fish.