Our cookbook of the week is Belly Full: Exploring Caribbean Cuisine Through 11 Fundamental Ingredients and Over 100 Recipes by Toronto-born, Brooklyn-based author Lesley Enston.

Jump to the recipes: stew peas, calabaza pancakes and pepper shrimp.

Toronto’s Jamaican and Trinidadian restaurants and roti shops were part of the fabric of Lesley Enston‘s childhood. She grew up with tables at family functions “laden with food” — from the callaloo she avoided to the stewed kingfish she craved — and visited Trinidad often. Her mother, Merle Enston, was born in Princes Town in the south of the island and was known by the family as a legendary cook.