Adventures in Sauces

I have to let you in on a little secret: as far as food is concerned, the only thing that I'm missing here in Boquete, Panama is good Mexican food. Not the ingredients for good Mexican food, mind you: just the ability to get in a car, drive somewhere, get out and be in a place that serves delicious Mexican cuisine. 

As far as great, high-quality ingredients and specialty products -- Israeli cous cous, spelt flour, brown Basmati rice, spirulina, flax seed, etc. -- we're covered. Don't even get me started on the coffee: some of the best coffee in the world is grown here, and I have gleefully enjoyed tasting all sorts of different brands and types. 

When it comes to fresh, organic produce, I am positively basking in possibilities. Each week I get an email from my favorite farmers, I send off my order and when I show up at the Tuesday morning market, there is a bag of goodies waiting for me in their truck.

In the couple months since I've been here, I have slowly but surely built up a friendship with Curt and Candice, owners of Palmira Produce, originally from Northern California and now farmers and -- wait for it -- sauce  makers for the lucky inhabitants of Boquete, "land of eternal spring." 

Although I had seen Candice's list of sauces every week, I mostly just stuck to the produce, with the occasional foray into the amazing things she had to offer. Her homemade Sriracha sauce is BETTER than the original. Her homemade dill pickles are DELICIOUS, and her peanut sauce is creamy and spicy and downright amazing. 

In four months of being here, though, that's very little compared to the list she has, organized by continent, and made mostly with ingredients from her garden.

So when she walked me to the cooler in the back of her truck a couple weeks ago and started pulling out sauces, what could I do but say yes to trying some? Well, it was less of a "yes" and more of a "HELL YEAH!"

First of all: Banana ketchup. Wha??

Pan fried noodles & vegetables with banana ketchup

Candice's sauce description:  
Caribbean Banana Ketchup:  This is really fun to use. It really does not taste much like bananas. Those who have sampled it have mentioned flavors like A-1 Pic a Pepper Sauce or Worcestershire with a slight sweetness (no added sugar) to balance out the flavors and texture like ketchup.


You heard right. Banana. Ketchup. The consistency of ketchup, with the same vinegar bite, but with a much less acidic consistency (regular ketchup often feels like it's burning my tongue). It pours like ketchup and is surprisingly less sweet. 

I wanted to put it on everything, so I did. I used it as a sauce for my pan fried chow mein and stir-fried veggies, and it went especially well with the purple cabbage I included, even MORE especially because I cooked it in coconut oil. Since the banana ketchup is less sweet than regular ketchup (in my opinion), the coconut oil's touch of dulce was perfect. 
And because my favorite combination is sweet and spicy, I also added some of her Sriracha to the mix. :)
Aside from my concoction, it would be a great accompaniment to sweet potato fries, patacones (the local fried green bananas) and I bet it would be REALLY good on a Hawaiian chicken burger with a slice of pineapple. Ooo, and you know what else it would be good on, even if it's already perfect the way it is? Caribbean Pork Tenderloin.

"I have Harissa," Candice said, her head in the cooler. 
Radio silence.
"Do you know what Harissa is?" she asked.
I had to admit that I didn't. 

Candice's sauce description:   
Moroccan Harissa:  A sauce / paste made from Dried Red Chiles, Roasted Sweet Red Peppers with lots of garlic and various spices, such as caraway, mint and cumin.

Oh thank the gods that I still get to learn new things about food! The Harissa was delicious: almost smoky in flavor, it would make a great better-than-barbecue-sauce topping for a burger, a broiled pork chop, or grilled chicken. I found a recipe online for a Harissa Bloody Mary, with balsamic vinegar. (Note to self: buy some vodka)
It had just enough kick to make me happy, and enough depth of flavor to make me swoon.
I made a phad-thai type dish, with rice noodles, all the vegetables I had on hand -- carrots, cabbage, onions, kale, etc. -- scrambled egg and harissa as the sauce. 
When it came right down to it, though, it was missing something: sweetness. Call me a one-trick pony, but I like my food to have the whole wheel of flavors: spice as in depth, spice as in hot, and sweet to play a little bit on the tongue. So...I added papaya.

Harissa Phad Thai with Papaya

It wasn't bad, but it could have been better. Papaya was what I had on hand, but the real answer that I was looking for is my favorite sweet ingredient that I put in pretty much any dish with savory vegetables: golden raisins. If I had had any, this new concoction of harissa phad thai would have been PERFECT. All thanks to a native Californian with a penchant for sauces that decided her paradise was the same place as mine. 

Feeding Creative Genius with Hummus

I came to Panama to write a book. I came to Boquete specifically because it seemed like a great place to do so...and also because it is the Panamanian mecca of fresh local food...and there's a Tuesday farmer's market that caters to gringa tastes like mine, with organic and hydroponic vegetables, export-grade local coffee, a used English book seller (who also sells stamps and will take your letters to friends in the States, stuff them in a bag and give them to the next expat with room in their suitcase to drop in a U.S. mail box once they're stateside), a honey lady (OMG, DELICIOUS local honey), and a guy who sharpens kitchen knives.

I mean, what else could I possibly need?

Oh. I mean, as long as I'm focusing on a "this, or something better" concept over at my other blog, I may as well ask for some perks. Let's see...how bout an English speaking local theater? OKAY.

First I got roped into bartending at a show by my landlady. It was called Rabbit Hole, and watching it gave me a lump in my throat that turned into open sobbing at the final performance. Then I got an email. They were auditioning for one act plays; did I want to try out?

Bench Warmers opened today. I'm in two shows. In one, I'm a depressed woman trying to jump to her death at Iguazu Falls on the Argentine Brazilian border, but I am thwarted by a super tourist who won't shut up or go away. In the second, I am a woman who leaves her husband and goes on the vacation they were supposed to have together at the Grand Canyon, only to break down sobbing and be comforted by an old lonely curmudgeon whose dead wife accompanied him on the trip she always wanted them to take together...but she died before they came.

And in between all my jumping and sobbing, I somehow also help feed the cast and crew.

Hummus goes great with all the local vegetables available here, and also with fresh bread, and crackers, and breadsticks, and...well, pretty much anything. I got at least three requests for the recipe, so I decided it was worth posting again.

So, without further ado, one of my favorite recipes from Savoring Chelan:

Terrie's Famous Hummus with a Kick 

Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves 4

1 can garbanzo beans (16 oz.)
2 tablespoons Tahini
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon or less African cayenne pepper
Small bunch cilantro

Open the can of garbanzo beans, pour out half the liquid, and put the rest in food processor. Add Tahini, garlic, honey and African cayenne; blend until smooth and creamy. Throw a handful of fresh cilantro in at the end for taste and color.

Recipe Tips
Try substituting peanut butter for Tahini.
Take the green growth out of the center of the garlic clove; it makes it bitter.

Contributed to Savoring Chelan: Pairing Local Wines with Regional Recipes by Terrie Holm-Nielsen.

Panamanian Summer Rolls

It's summer in Panama. In the small town of Boquete, that means that it's sunny and windy almost every day.
The rainy season starts in April, and I'm not quite sure what that will mean for my produce consumption. For now, however, I am thoroughly enjoying the mountains of fresh greens that I have to choose from, and the well-established farms and providers who make it easy for me to get otherwise hard-to-find items, like rice wraps. Access to international items is one of the advantages of living in an expat community, with international tastes like mine.

My neighbor stopped by on a walk with her dog and tasted one, then asked me if I might be interested in catering a house-warming party for her in May! Sometimes all it takes is a well-made meal to open doors, and hearts.

So here's my take on fresh spring rolls. Keep in mind that I used what ingredients I had available; create yours as you see fit.

Panamanian Summer Rolls

Dressing
1/4 cup goat yogurt
1 teaspoon fresh thinly sliced ginger
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Filling
Instead of measuring, I simply filled a medium-sized bowl with a mix of the following:
Fresh basil
Fresh arugula
Fresh salad mix (romaine, butter lettuce, and dandelion)
Shaved carrots
Cucumbers, sliced julienne style

4 Vietnamese rice wrappers
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
Make dressing and set aside to let the flavors meld.

Meanwhile, chop or tear filling ingredients until you've filled a medium sized bowl.
Hint: tearing instead of chopping will make the leaves last longer without browning.

Toast walnuts in a dry pan, stirring occasionally, until aromatic -- about 5 minutes.

Toss filling, walnuts and dressing in bowl.  

Fill a large plate with water. One at a time, dunk the rice wrap in the water, coating completely. Count to 10, remove the wrapper and place on a cutting board. Place filling in the middle of the wrap and fold sides to make either open-ended or closed summer rolls. Repeat until all wraps are filled or you run out of filling. Enjoy in the sun, perhaps with a glass of cold white wine.

Boquete Breakfast Smoothie

My new writer's retreat above Boquete, Panama

 About six weeks ago, I moved to Panama. I am here writing a book, and I chose Panama because I was looking for a cheap, quiet and inspirational place to do it that I had never been to before.
After moving for the third time, I settled into a small casita above the mountain town of Boquete, near Panama's only volcano. It's beautiful here: I have access to tropical fruit from the coast, plus organic local produce. There are tangerine, lemon and orange trees outside the door, and every morning so far I've been able to sit in the grass in the yard and watch the sun come up over the mountain as I drink locally grown coffee and write in my journal.
This morning, I made myself a smoothie for breakfast. I think it may quickly become my new favorite meal:

Boquete Breakfast Smoothie

1 mango from the Panamanian coast (to learn how to cut a mango, click here)
1 orange from the tree outside
1 handful locally grown organic basil
1/4 cup organic pineapple goat yogurt (just because it's expensive, and only comes in tiny containers)
1/4 cup water
ice

Blend ingredients until you have made a smoothie, or until the blender starts to smell like the motor might burn up. Enjoy in the sunshine on the porch.

Buen provecho!