Are You “Crazy for Chocolate”?

Several years ago, David and I went to Sarasota, Florida to a “Chocolate Convention” and I’ll never forget it. We each had a card with 20 numbers on it and each numbered station offered servings of a different chocolate treat. We stayed at the convention until all 20 numbers were punched on our cards! It was an incredible experience and we’ve been “crazy for chocolate” ever since.

In Boquete, there is a “new” pastry chef in town, Richard Meyer. He opened Sugar & Spice Bakery in a new location on the main street, on the right side coming near the town center. Richard specializes in making delicious chocolate pastries using several varieties of chocolate. He also makes country breads, rolls, pies and almost every form of baked goods you’d expect to find anywhere in the world.

From the Sugar & Spice sign above the bakery door, you can tell from the loaf of bread and star-studded chef’s hat, that fine bread and a fine chef can be found there. Look carefully at Richard’s sign, it’s handmade and full of information.

I am very happy to announce that Richard will be the next Boquete Gourmet’s guest chef for April’s cooking class. He’ll make three very special chocolate desserts using 3 different chocolates and 3 different techniques to use with chocolate. His class will be held on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, beginning at 1:00pm at the Sugar & Spice Bakery.

The registration fee of $25 includes not only the class instruction, a serving of each of 3 desserts and unlimited “Boquete Gourmet” coffee, but a recipe book, paired wine tasting and “goodie bag” to take home.

If you love chocolate, or are actually “crazy for chocolate”, you won’t want to miss Richard’s very special “Chocolate Class” coming up April 7.

There are only 12 seats available, so email boquetegourmet@gmail.com, call 6614-9514 or pick up your ticket today at Sugar & Spice. First come, first served.
Chocolate lover,
Cora

Filled Nubes de Chocolate

Guest Chef Renny Karnich presented a fun-filled cooking class in my kitchen earlier this month. Her menu included fajitas hot off the griddle, Pico de Gallo, and all the accompaniments. The fajita ingredients were sizzled on a red-hot griddle and stacked to make a steaming volcano. You can see her recipe for fajitas in a previous article.

For anyone not knowing, Boquete is situated high on the side of Volcan Baru, the tallest volcano in Panama, so Renny’s fajita technique is apropos. Then, she used her “volcano” technique in a totally different manner, to make Nubes de Chocolate, or “clouds of chocolate”.

At the end of the class, Renny piled filled cream puffs high on a footed cake plate and dribbled them with hot icing.  It was like another volcano had erupted, spurting hot chocolate all down the sides of the mountain.  Everyone cheered in delight as the chocolate kept flowing. “The more hot chocolate, the better!”, exclaimed Renny.

Here’s how Renny made the cream puffy clouds and put it all together:

Eclairs or Cream Puffs

½ cup water
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup flour
2 eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine water and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add flour and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until the dough leaves the sides of the pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat and cool 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time beating hard until the dough is smooth.

Place 12 rounded tablespoons of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and bake 30 minutes or until golden. While still warm, carefully slice the tops off the puffs. Pull out the soft insides and discard them. Cool the puffs, then fill with cream filling and dust with sifted powdered sugar.

Creme Patissiere Filling

1 cup milk
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks, beaten
2 teaspoons flavored extract, vanilla, cherry, almond, etc.
OR 2 tablespoons liquor, Abuelo rum, Tia Maria, Curacao, etc.

Heat the milk in a saucepan until hot, not boiling. Whisk the sugar, flour and salt together in a medium bowl, then add the hot milk until well blended. Pour mixture back into the saucepan and continue to stir vigorously over low heat until very thick and smooth. Add the egg yolks and cook for a few more minutes. Cook, stirring from time to time, then add flavoring. You may add color, to make the filling more festive.

Now that you have the cream puffs filled with your favorite flavored filling, stack them on a pedestal cake plate and sprinkle them with slivered almonds. Heat half a container of ready-to-use fudge or double-chocolate icing in the microwave until it is runny, only about 15 seconds. Slowly drizzle the filled puffs (nubes) with hot icing. Wait for the compliments, then serve with a steaming cup of Boquete coffee.

Delightful!
Cora

Renny’s Red-hot Fajitas Off the Griddles

Yes, the word is “griddles’, because Chef Renny Kranich had three (3) griddles all fired up to make her special formula of red-hot Fajitas. Twelve students learned Renny’s griddle techniques in the “Fajitas – Hot Off the Griddle” cooking class held last week in my gourmet kitchen in Boquete, Panama.

The Fajitas were made “volcano-style” on all three griddles at once! It was fun to see. Each participant’s assignment was to make Fajitas in their own kitchens during the coming week, so they were watching intently.

Before Renny prepared the Fajitas, she hand-made 24 flour tortillas by using this recipe:
Flour Tortillas

3 cups of all-purpose flour, unsifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup very hot water

Mix dry ingredients quite well. Add the 1/2 cup shortening and cut it into the dry mix. Slowly add 1/2 to 3/4 of the hot water, begin to knead. Continue adding water until the dough becomes slightly glutinous. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead, adding slight dusting amounts of flour until it makes a ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 10 minutes. Pull off little mounds of dough and roll them out into tortillas. Cook on a medium hot griddle (Cure the griddle).

Then, Renny piled up the ingredients on 3 red-hot griddles and completed the Fajitas like this:
Fajitas

1 whole strip of filet tenderloin of beef
3 small-medium Zucchini squash
1 Jalapeño pepper chopped
1 large white onion
1 large purple onion
1 large green bell pepper
1 large red bell pepper
1 large yellow bell pepper
2 medium cloves of garlic
2 cubes of ice
1/2 packet of McCormick fajita seasoning
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
3 fresh limes cut in wedges
Sour cream

Heat a very large iron griddle on two burners on the stove, or do the same on a Jennair. While the griddle gets very hot, julienne cut the vegetables. Slice the tenderloin bacon thin, and make the slices narrow. Pour 2 tablespoons of oil onto the griddle and let it get very hot. Add zucchini squash and garlic to the griddle and move it about for less than a minute. Add both types of onion and move them about for a minute or more. Remember, your griddle should be HOT. Push the vegetables to a place on the griddle that is less hot. Add the three colors of peppers. Cook the same. With 2 spatulas, combine and mix all the vegetables. Push them to one side.

Pour the remaining olive oil onto the griddle. To this, add the meat, see photo above. Salt, pepper to taste. Add the McCormick fajita seasoning and mix/cook only the meat on the griddle for about 2 minutes. Pile the vegetables on top of the meat in a hill or heap and open a little “volcano”- hole in the top. Drop 2 cubes of ice into the hole and close the hole up. The steam from the ice will make everything cook very fast. With 2 spatulas, combine and mix all the hot ingredients. Turn off the heat. Squeeze some limes into your ingredients, but do not cook the lime juice because it will turn bitter.

On a fresh, warm and pliable tortilla, scoop a generous serving of the hot mixture and place a dollop of sour cream in the middle. Fold over and serve with Pico de Gallo, lime wedges and sliced jalapeno peppers on the side. Invite a couple friends over for dinner soon and try making Renny’s “volcano-style” Fajitas yourself.

Everyone will love them!
Cora

The Boquete Gourmet Signs Up

It’s really fun to become a member of various food and travel blogs, as I have done over the past few months.

I’ve signed up for Foodbuzz.com, SippitySup.com, LivinGlobal.org, CarrieandJonathan.com, ProfitSpecialist.net, Boqueteguide.com and many more.  I enjoy getting the new articles from these sites automatically when one is published.

So, I’ve decided to add this publishing feature to my site and I’d like to invite you to become a member by subscribing now.

You can sign up to get The Boquete Gourmet news, posts, offers and promotions sent right to your inbox.  As The Boquete Gourmet becomes more popular, there will be more opportunities to get involved in activities only available to fans of this site.

Don’t miss out on future cooking class announcements, sales items, advanced invitations and new recipes being sent to members of The Boquete Gourmet site  prior to being published elsewhere.  Our last cooking class filled up in only 4 days, so quickly that no general announcement was ever made.

The newly installed button on your right that says “Subscribe”, will guarantee that you receive every post automatically in your inbox as soon as it’s published.  So click the Subscribe button now, click on “email” and add your email address.  Complete the spam protector code by copying the numbers and letters and click “go”.  It’s very easy.

You’ll receive a message in your email that will allow you to activate your subscription.  You can unsubscribe at any time, of course.

You’re invited to join the party with friends having similar interests, share your talents and just plain have fun.

Let’s keep in touch!  Cora