Conch Stew Recipe

Conch stew is a common dish on Anegada. It is very tasty - one of our favorites. In our opinion, Anegada's best conch stew is at The Big Bamboo (Loblolly Bay).

The recipe below makes enough to serve two people.

Ingredients:

1 whole cleaned conch

1/2 stick butter

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/4 bell pepper, chopped

4 to 6 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

12 oz. tomato juice (11.5 oz can is perfect)

6 to 8 tbsp. ketchup (Note: do NOT use high-fructose corn syrup ketchup!)

Hot sauce (we use Matouk's with the green label)

Seasoned salt (see instructions)

Adobo criollo (see instructions)

Rice

Method:

1. Pound conch inside skin until tender.

2. Chop conch into pieces - about 1/2 to 3/4 inches maximum size on any side.

3. Pressure cook chopped conch in 4 cups water for 45 minutes. Drain and reserve water that conch cooked in.

4. Start a pot of rice - enough to serve two people.

5. Melt butter in skillet. Saute onion and pepper in butter for a few minutes.

6. Add garlic and continue cooking for another couple of minutes.

7. Add cooked conch and continue cooking for another minute or two.

8. Add tomato juice and ketchup.

9. Add hot sauce to taste.

10. Add about a cup of the reserved water from cooking the conch.

11. Add seasoned salt and adobo to taste. Be conservative with spices!

12. Cook until sauce thickens. Add additional reserved water if necessary,

13. Spoon cooked rice into bowls.

14. Cover rice with conch stew.

Note: If you cannot get conch, you might use calimari or shrimp (or both). I have a Lousiana Cajun friend that uses redfish instead of conch.