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

Recently, I’ve heard of folks making “really good hamburgers”, the ones with chopped onions and herbs mixed into them before they’re grilled, but I never thought of them as “gourmet”. Then, along came Spike Mendelshon, the “Burger Guru”, who is setting the culinary world on its heels. As a finalist on Top Chef and writer of the new “Good Stuff” cookbook, Spike has taken the burger to tremendous heights, even to the point of “gourmet”!

I first heard of Spike and his hamburgers from Chef-owner of Bistro Boquete, Lauretta Bonfiglio. Upon further investigation, I learned that Spike grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida, my home town, and I just discovered that his parents own Pepin, a very popular restaurant I’ve visited many times! Little Spike must have been cooking in the kitchen at the time I was enjoying the fine cuisine at Pepin years ago.

The other day, Lauretta shared her copy of Spike’s book with me and I immediately wanted to learn some of Spike’s recipes. I wanted to duplicate them in my kitchen. Spike’s luscious burgers inspired Lauretta to present a cooking class for Boquete Gourmet, teaching some of the many tricks and secrets that are making hamburgers the newest, trendiest “gourmet” entree.

Below is the cover of Spike’s perfect, all-American cookbook for anyone who loves great casual comfort food like burgers, fries, and shakes, but wants to shake things up with a gourmet touch, like me. Spike opened his new restaurant in Washington D.C., “Good Stuff Eatery”, and it’s always full of customers who enjoy truly gourmet dining.

As you can see, Spike also makes fantastic milkshakes, sides and salads, some of which will be included in Lauretta’s menu for her “Gourmet Burgers & More” cooking class to be held on Friday, September 24, beginning at 5:00pm. The class will be held in my El Santuario, Boquete, Panama kitchen, where I’ve recently added a couple very unique kitchen appliances you’ll soon see.

The $25 fee includes the hands-on class, recipe book, full-course dinner including 3 entrees, Lauretta’s twist on one of Spike’s famous shakes, and a glass of wine. Make your reservations today at boquetegourmet@gmail.com, as seats are limited.

You won’t want to miss learning how to make Spike’s “good stuff’ in your own Boquete kitchen.
Talk about inspired!
Cora

Tables were set with tiny shirts, bright flowers and twinkling candles and the affair began with drying off umbrellas, uncorking wine and getting to know each other. Guests were very adventurous, coming to a dinner with an unknown menu at location only disclosed the day before the event. Their excitement was tempered by knowing the chef, renown for her expertise for preparing many world cuisines, and her desire to always bring forth the finest available in culinary circles.

This night was extraordinary, not only because of the lavish menu, but it rained and the dinner was held on an open patio, deep in one of the finest coffee plantations in Boquete, Panama. The atmosphere was cool and cozy with the fire roaring.

Lauretta presented her menu beautifully, serving course after course in perfect rhythm. This was her menu, including dishes from six countries around the culinary “Pacific Rim”.

PACIFIC RIM – UNDERGROUND
Sushi California Rolls with Spicy Mayonnaise and Wasabi

Thai Coconut Ginger Chicken Soup with Fresh Mint

Chinese Noodle Salad
Sesame Peanut Dressing

Hawaiian Grilled Fish Filet with Asparagus
Basmati Rice

Korean Barbecue Pork Chops
Hot Pot Vegetables

Green Tea Mousse with Sake-marinated Dried Plums

Country cuisines represented from the Pacific Rim were Thailand, USA, Japan, China, Hawaii and Korea.

The Green Tea Mousse with Sake-marinated Dried Plums was a dish from Ming Tsai’s “Blue Ginger” cookbook, an example of “where east meets west”, as Ming says. Lauretta’s twist on Ming’s recipe used dried plums instead of dried cherries, as the original recipe prescribed. This photo shows Lauretta plating these luscious, rich, little desserts.

You can see how beautifully the patio at this famous coffee plantation was decorated, but you must have been there to truly appreciate the fine food, impeccable service and friendly atmosphere of this second-ever underground dinner in Boquete.

If you’d like to enjoy one of Lauretta’s extravagant, gourmet, 5-course dinners, please let me know and I’ll send you an invite soon.

Happy dining!
Cora