My Dish - Trevis Boyd

Trevis Boyd - owner of Black Pearl Coffee

Roasting coffee and fly fishing are passions for Trevis Boyd of Black Pearl Coffee.

Conch (Konk): Lobatus gigas, known as the queen conch, is a mollusk. Harvesting is restricted to size and season. Conch may be hard to obtain in Winnipeg, so raw lobster or calamari are good substitutes.

Conch Salad
"Salsa of the Sea"

There is an endless variation of recipes and ways of serving conch salad. Trevis prepares it as a salsa to scoop up with chips or eat by the spoonful. Like a ceviche, the meat is cooked by the acid (lime juice) in the marinade. 

1 lb conch (or raw lobster or calamari)
4-6 whole limes, juiced (bottled lime juice is fine)
1 large onion, diced
2 large firm, ripe tomatoes with seeds removed, diced (or use green, almost ripe tomatoes)
1 green or red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeño pepper with seeds removed, minced habanero or “go pepper” to taste, minced–caution, these are killer hot
2 celery stalks, diced
Scotch bonnet hot sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
1 cucumber, sliced
1 cup dill sauce (or any chilled cream or sour cream sauce)

Use only the white meat of the conch. Make sure all the grey and orange skin is removed. Conch is slimy--halve a lime and use as a scrub brush to clean the conch. Rinse. Dice into 1/8 to 1/4 inch pieces. Take the time to finely and uniformly dice the ingredients. Add all diced and minced ingredients into a clean glass bowl. Pour over juice from limes, season with hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Blend well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 4 hours. Conch salad will keep refrigerated until at least the next day. Serve in small cups or on a bed of lettuce with chips for scooping. Serve cucumber and dill sauce on the side. Dip the cucumber slices in the dill sauce and eat to cool the heat of the salad.