Lemongrass Martini – Chef Juan’s Style

The word is out, “Chef Juan is making Lemongrass Martinis!” Anytime someone hears those words, it’s time to head to his house, to a party or dinner featuring his drink, or to his Panamanian cooking class!

What makes Juan’s martinis so AMAZING??? The taste, of course.

We are lucky to have a lovely clump of lemongrass growing in our garden, and we’re able to pluck nice stalks of lemongrass the year around. This is how we learned to make this very tasty and habit-forming drink.

LEMONGRASS MARTINI

4 oz vodka or seco
1 oz lemongrass extract
1 oz lemongrass syrup

Place ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake well. Serve in a chilled martini glass with a lemongrass stirrer. You can alter these measures to your taste, if you like a stronger drink add more vodka or seco, if you like it less sweet reduce syrup, if you want more lemongrass flavor add more extract.

LEMONGRASS EXTRACT: in a blender place 1 cup of lemon or lime juice, 2 cups of chopped lemongrass stalk (no leaves, no root). Blend at high speed to liquefy; strain blend through a fine sieve or cheese cloth or similar; put in a container, a plastic squirt bottle is ideal; chill extract.

LEMON GRASS SYRUP: boil 2 cups of water with 1 cup of sugar until it reduces about 1/3; add 2 cups of chopped lemongrass root and 1 bark of cinnamon , boil 2 minutes, turn off heat and let cool completely. Strain into a container and chill. Lemongrass root is the woody part below the stalk, it must be scraped clean with a knife and washed before using.

LEMONGRASS STIRRER: cut a stalk (no root, no leaves) lengthwise and peel sheets from around the lemongrass stalk. These make lovely stirrers to garnish the martinis.

Once you have your extract in the fridge you can make martinis any time, the syrup is very good to sweeten coffee. To harvest lemongrass with the stalk and root, grab the stalks at the base and pull; discard leaves and any sheet of the stalk that is dried or damaged. You can use green leaves to make tea, it will help you sleep. You can chop the leaves to dry and keep for tea.

This drink will relax you and it actually is good for you, as lemongrass is loaded with antioxidants and vitamins. But, Juan warns us not to drink too many of these martinis, two are just right.

Thanks for your recipe, Chef Juan! On August 26, you will be able to watch Chef Juan prepare one of his recipes from the Boquete Gourmet Community Cookbook in the kitchen of the Boquete Gourmet, in Boquete, Panama. See details on the calendar at the right, click August 26 to register. You won’t want to miss the upcoming “Cookbook Party #2″, which includes cooking demonstrations, tastings, live music, and a copy of the cookbook, 2nd edition.

You can also read more about Chef Juan’s recipes and upcoming classes at www.latinamericancook.com.
See you at the party!
Cora

What Do You Mean “Thai Food”?

Thai food is the national cuisine of Thailand, which borders Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Myanmar, formerly Burma. It’s no wonder I had to look up its location, I thought it bordered China, and therefore “Thai food” was basically Chinese cuisine. Oh, no!

Thai cuisine places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components. This cuisine is known for being spicy. Balance, detail and variety are important to Thai cooking.

Thai food is known for its blend of the four fundamental taste senses in each dish, or in the overall meal: sour, sweet, salty, and bitter. And, it also can be quite hot and spicy.

Host Executive Chef Lauretta Bonfiglio, owner of Boquete Bistro knows all about Thai foods and how to prepare authentic Thai cuisine. She brought together 12 excellent cooks, all very eager to learn her techniques to bring real flavor and spice to their tables here in Boquete, Panama.

The menu for our “Thai Won On” evening of preparing, tasting and dining on cuisine originating half-way around the world began with making “Pineapple My Thais”, of course.

Lauretta’s recipe for this exotic drink includes pineapple juice, orange juice, lime juice, dark and light rums, triple sec and grenadine, all mixed to perfection and served over ice. If you’d like to try a “My Thai”, stop in The Bistro Boquete and ask Lauretta to mix one for you.

This is Karen very carefully laying out the fresh ingredients on a rice paper wrapper. You can barely detect the wet wrapper in the photo. The results were magnificent, as you can see from the finished work. Along with the Spring Rolls, the cooks enjoyed blending ingredients to make 3 authentic Thai dipping sauces that complimented the taste of the fresh, colorful rolls.

Chicken with Green Curry was the main entree dish, served with Coconut Rice. Finally, Thai Fried Ice Cream was removed from the freezer and fried.

Yes, each participant fried their own ice cream for dessert, and then topped it with chocolate syrup and toasted coconut, a very popular dish in Thailand.

The completed dishes were served with flare, with Chef Lauretta and all the cooks enjoying this fine, very special cuisine of Thailand. All the flavors were there; sour, sweet, salty and bitter, with a bit of hot peppers thrown in.

Nancy is having fun adding chombo hot sauce to her Thai Peanut Butter Sauce. The combination of hot and sweet was new to most of the cooks. and so delicious!

The only photo not included here was one of everyone finishing off their fried ice cream, a very unique experience, indeed!

Thanks very much to Sandy and Betty for these perfect shots of this eventful evening. We hope to have more International cuisines presented in Boquete soon.
Keep watching!
Cora

Come Join an Artistic Day of Creativity: Pure Silk and Fine Food

Most of us love the look of fine hand-painted silks and enjoy the taste of fine foods, but we’ve never thought of mixing the two “delicious” art forms together at the same time.

On Thursday, July 21, fine artist, Barbara Rabkin, and I, the Boquete Gourmet, will join forces to present a full day of creativity for folks wishing to experience and to learn to create lovely works of arts in both fields.  Participants will design and paint a one-of-a-kind pure silk scarf and, at the same time, taste and learn to make several spectacular  and unusual gourmet dishes.

This all-day class will begin at 9:30 am at Kent’s Cantina in El Santuario, Boquete, with a “mini-brunch” of fine pastries, coffee and assorted teas.  Barbara will acquaint everyone with the “seri” procedures of designing and painting a fine pure silk scarf using delicate paints, the same medium of silk artists all over the world.

A full gourmet lunch will be served with a variety of fine wines. Recipes will be available throughout the day, and a couple of dishes will be prepared using the Boquete Gourmet Community Cookbook. This cookbook is available for ordering and mailing on this site.

Attendees will complete their fine scarf and prepare it for wearing, right down to the steaming and pressing.  The group should conclude this afternoon of tasting and creativity about 4:00 pm. 

Everyone will be able to return home with the knowledge of not only how to make and finish a fine work of art, but each participant will bring home a unique, hand-painted silk scarf, ready to wear or frame.

$70 fee includes a full day of events mentioned above, all materials and supplies, with lots of fun and camaraderie thrown in. Click July 21 on the calendar at the right to register now.

Barbara and I will be happy for you to come join us for our “Artistic Day of Creativity”, no experience needed!

Cora

Grilling in the Highlands of Panama

Living in the high mountains of Panama has lots of advantages, especially when it comes to outdoor grilling. It’s easy to stop by the fresh, open markets, then fire up the gas grill, and prepare the best backyard meals imaginable anywhere in the world.

My shopping list is short, a whole chicken or rack of baby-back ribs, whatever fresh vegetables are plentiful, and a pineapple.

The weather is always pleasant for firing your grill, even if it’s a rainy day, because the temperature is usually just right, about 72 degrees in the late afternoon. A 5-dollar gas tank will last for months of grilling, and they’re available at almost every mini-market in Panama.

Our favorite meat to grill is chicken, it never fails to please everyone. Chicken is low in calories, high in nutritional value, and very reasonable in Panama, as everyone knows. David loves to buy a can or two of Panama beer, punch holes in it along the top rim and perch the whole chicken atop of it. It cooks in about an hour on the closed grill, just in time to have your vegetables grilled and ready to eat.

The vegetables can be pre-cut and ready to toss in a grill pan.  Any kind of vegetable can be sliced thinly, tossed in a bit of olive oil and your special blend of herbs and set above the flames. Each time you glance into the grill, give the vegetables a little stir. The top photo shows our favorite grilling pan to use for any small ingredients. They cook slowly and never fall on the flames.

Dessert is easy when you’re grilling in the Highlands of Panama. Just slice off the bottom of a juicy, fresh pineapple and stand it on end. Holding the green top, slice off the skin from top to bottom. Divide in half from top to bottom and lay on cut side. Slice lengthwise again into quarters and remove the core.   Cut each quarter into 2 or 3 long pieces, depending on the size of your pineapple. Lay the long pieces on the hot grate after you remove the chicken. Wait for grill marks to appear, then turn over to brown.

You will have a luscious, grilled finish to your fresh, healthy and tasty dinner. Boquete Gourmet Host Chef, Greg Henry, on Sippitysup.com, inserted a skewer into the ends of his spears of grilled pineapple and placed them on a dessert plate with a small dish of dipping sauce similar to Dulce de Leche.

The sauce is easy to make the day before your dinner. Simply boil an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk for about an hour and a half. When you’re ready to serve your pineapple, open the can and fill small dishes with your “homemade” Dulce de Leche sauce.  You may need to thin it with a bit of white wine.  Shave chocolate or sprinkle coconut flakes over your pineapple and serve.

You can enjoy this spectacular grilled dinner wherever you are, but it’s especially good when you’re in the Highlands of Panama!

Cora