St. Croix Seafood Platter

3 lbs raw seafood, skin removed (shrimp, clams, lobster, and fish like mahi mahi, halibut, etc.) rinse and cut in chunks; this is  your choice, we use a variety of whatever is on sale when we make this.
    *if using, remove shells/tail from shrimp/lobster and scrub clams then give a salt water bath  (1 gallon water with salt, soak 20 minutes, drain, rinse, & repeat 3X total) I have included a photo below of the washed seafood we used. It was 3 lbs plus about 10 clams.
1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, swished with water as needed
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce swished with water, as needed
4-5 cloves garlic, diced
1 medium onion sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
4 cups cooked brown rice
Pepper to taste
Caribbean jerk seasoning (about 3T), thyme (about 1t), onion powder (1-1/2 t), to taste
Sea salt & pepper
4 cups chicken broth
Olive oil

Rice
2 cups uncooked brown rice in 4 cups chicken broth, boil, then simmer 50 minutes. When done, set aside.

Seafood
When rice is about half-way done, start the seafood. Saute garlic, onion, and mushrooms in skillet in olive oil until soft. Add tomatoes and water, if necessary. Bring to a boil. Season with Caribbean jerk, thyme, onion powder, and pepper. Add fish and/or shrimp. Bring back to a boil. Re-season as needed. Simmer about 20 minutes, half uncovered.

Add about 1 cup broth to rice along with jerk seasoning and mix.

Serve seafood over rice. I served this with a salad and sugar-free cornbread.

This is a weekend recipe, as it takes a bit of time to cook the rice (although most is hands off) but I think you'll be busy cooking for about 30 to 45 minutes hands on with this recipe. Also, the recipe above makes a lot (could probably serve 6-8) and could easily be halved.

Comments: My husband and I love to visit St. Croix and when we went last year we ate at a little restaurant in downtown Christiansted that served a "seafood platter". This recipe is inspired by that experience. Our meal in St. Croix was served with sweet potato fries, a salad, and bread. You might really examine your Carribbean Jerk seasoning ingredients as I had a very difficult time finding one without sugar. If you cannot find, you could make  your own (combine red pepper, allspice, tumeric, onion powder, and thyme).

Please be mindful of mercury content and environmental considerations when selecting fish. The NRDC has recommendations on their website (www.NRDC.org/mercury) that will offer advice based on mercury content and environmental concerns. For example, many fish that are highest in mercury are also perilously low in numbers or are caught using environmentally destructive methods (for example, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, tilefish, and bigeye/ahi tuna).

Raw Seafood (mahi mahi, snapper, medium shrimp, & clams), cut in chunks and rinsed -clams were scrubbed and given 3 salt baths

Finished product with cornbread