Meet your

new secret
ingredient.

Food

LIVE
I really like to dominate
my kitchen, Kelis says
jokingly. There is an
invisible line that people
just don't cross.

From smoothies to baked goods and

beyond, Silk Unsweetened Coconutmilk
makes any recipe sing. Pure magic in the
kitchen at 45 calories a cup.

In the Kitchen
with Kelis
2014 WhiteWave

HER 'MILKSHAKE' WAS SO LAST DECADE. NOW THIS SINGERS

CARIBBEAN CUISINE AND FLAVORFUL NEW LINE OF SAUCES BRING
ALL THE FOODIES TO THE TABLE.

Visit Silk.com for recipes

ood is the title of rock/soul singer Kelis

sixth studio album, and fans may be surprised to know that its food, not music,
that is her first love. Growing up in Harlem,
Kelis often stepped in as sous chef at home and for her
mothers catering business.

Photo-illustration by NICOLE WILKINSON

H . A R M S T R O N G R O B E R T S / C O R B I S ; F AY E S A D O U / U P A . / R E T N A LT D . / C O R B I S

Thats how Silk Helps You Bloom.

Food

My mom would always tell me to

go wash my hands and help out in the
kitchen, says the singer. Whether
she was cooking for our church to feed
the homeless or for a massive gala, my
mom treated it all with the same care
and precision. That was the birth of my
love of food.
It wasnt until years later when Kelis
Rogers, now 34, was on the outs with her
record label that she enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu to become a formally trained
chef. Although she rolled her eyes at the
requirement to wear a stupid hat and
chef s getup, Kelis loved cooking seven
hours a day, five days a week and working in a restaurant. Now cooking for
her close-knit group of girlfriends is a
frequent ritual, in addition to her 24-7
Mommy duties for Knight, 4, her son
with ex-husband and rapper Nas.
My specialty is sauce, says Kelis,
who debuted a line of savory sauces
called Feast at last years Beverly
Hills Food & Wine Festival. The line
becomes available this spring on
TheFeastofLife.com, and she insists,
Sauces can transform any dish.
When it comes to developing her
own recipes, Kelis lets her tummy do
the talking. I get inspiration for recipes from what I want to eat, she says,
laughing. I plan my life around what
Im eating next. After moving to Los
Angeles, Kelis was on a mission to find
good jerk sauce. Surprisingly, the options were few and far between, forcing her to head into the kitchen. Once
she perfected her own jerk sauce, Kelis
poured it over every kind of meat she
could get her hands on. Wondering
what to try next, the huge carnivore
tried a dry-rub rack of ribs finished off
with her famous jerk sauce. She shared
the spicy rack with her band during a
studio session, and the crew could not
stop raving about the dish. That day,
Jerk Ribs, which is also the title of
her latest single, was born.
Other singles on the album that
dropped in April include Friday Fish
Fry, Biscuits N Gravy and Cobbler. Each is a testament to her insatiable appetite and the fact that she
often wrote songs while chopping veggies or frying food. And like her 2003
smash hit Milkshake, Kelis food is as
irresistible as her music. This summer,
invite friends over, turn up the tunes
and head into the kitchen to whip up
Kelis tropically inspired dinner.

64

V I S I T E B O N Y. C O M / M A Y 2 0 1 4

MASH
3| PLANTAIN

SWEET & SPICY

SERVES 68

INGREDIENTS

810 sweet plantains

stick butter
cup whipping cream
Salt
Black pepper
DIRECTIONS

Peel plantains and dice into

1-inch pieces. Place them in
a pot of salted water and boil
until soft. Once plantains are
cooked, strain them. Add
remaining ingredients and
mash by hand until smooth.

PORK
RIBS
4| JERK

JUMBO SHRIMP WITH

STRAWBERRIES
1| SPICY

SERVES 68

SERVES 68

INGREDIENTS

2 giant Spanish
onions, sliced
2 large heirloom tomatoes,
chopped
1 bunch (approx.
1216 ) organic
small baby carrots, halved
lengthwise
6 bell peppers,
sliced (2 red, 2
green, 2 yellow)
5 garlic cloves,
sliced thin
2 rosemary
sprigs
teaspoon
ground cumin
1 teaspoon
achiote paste

2|

SOFRITO

1 ounce smoked
paprika
3 tablespoon
Mongolian chili oil
1 pound jumbo
shrimp, unpeeled
but deveined
2 cups water
1 pint large strawberries, sliced
Salt and freshly
ground black
pepper
Sofrito (recipe
below)
DIRECTIONS

In medium saucepan, sweat onions

until translucent.
Add tomatoes and
season with salt

INGREDIENTS

and pepper. Cook

down and add
carrots, bell peppers and garlic.
Once peppers
are soft, add
rosemary, cumin,
achiote and paprika. Mix thoroughly and adjust
seasoning with
salt and pepper.
In a separate
saut pan, add
chili oil, sofrito and
shrimp. Then add
2 cups of water.
Once shrimp have
color, add to
vegetables. Last,
add strawberries
and serve.

Ground black pepper

Splash of distilled vinegar

SERVES 68

INGREDIENTS

bundle chopped
cilantro
1 large onion, diced
1 tablespoon oil

DIRECTIONS

In saut pan, sweat

onions in oil until translucent.
Add cilantro, season with
pepper and deglaze with
vinegar.

3 slabs pork ribs

RUB:

cup brown sugar

1 cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon cayenne
pepper
2 tablespoon garlic
powder
1 teaspoon whole caraway
seeds, toasted
JERK SAUCE

teaspoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 fresh thyme sprigs
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bunch scallions, chopped
2 tablespoons molasses
1 Scotch bonnet pepper
or habaero pepper (use
more for added spice)
DIRECTIONS

Cover the slabs of ribs with

rub on both sides. Place in a
hotel pan or shallow flat
pan and cook completely
covered at 400 degrees for
approximately 2 hours.
Check throughout cooking
time for doneness.
While ribs are cooking,
blend all jerk sauce ingredients in blender/food processor until completely smooth.
Pour over ribs when done.

64

h oBtEo R
g r 2a p
S E P T EPM
0 h1 1b y/ D
E BOONNT
Y .EC OTMA T U M

STOCKFOOD / FOTOSEARCH RM

LIVE