I admit it. I love cocktails. I do. I like them limey and sweet. Tart and refreshing. Icey and strong. Please hold.
Sorry, I had to go make me one. I’ve tried a few different things in trying to recreate this drink. The first time I had it, I was on a business trip. Unfortunately, I can’t remember where I was or the name of the restaurant where I had it. I do know it was a walking city, because I walked back to my hotel… not always in a straight line, but I tried.
It’s a delicious cocktail, it was a hit at one my recent girl’s in out evenings. It packs a heavy ginger punch, but if you enjoy ginger, you’ll love this one. You do need some prep time to make some ginger simple syrup ahead of time. I make a big batch of the syrup and keep it in the fridge.
For the ginger simple syrup: In a medium saucepan combine 3 cps sugar, 2 cps water, 2/3 cp peeled ginger, chopped. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until ginger is soft when pierced with a knife. Allow it to cool, then put it in the blender to puree the ginger. That’s it, put it in a resealable container.
Cocktail hour
Juice from 3 limes
2 oz ginger syrup
3 oz vodka
Diet ginger ale
Ice
Mix lime juice, syrup and vodka. Strain it into 2 tumblers with ice, pouring the cocktail up to 3/4 of the way. Top off with ginger ale, stir and enjoy!
This is a keeper, trust me!
Meatballs, that is. My husband loves, loves this dish. He smiles, even giggles as soon as I say it’s on the stove. Albóndigas are the Latin American version of the Italian meatball. This dish, like most dishes with a pan sauce or gravy, improves overnight. All the flavors get to hang out, know each other and get happy. That doesn’t mean you have to make it ahead, just make enough to have some leftovers and have everyone in your office drool over your lunch.
The albóndigas are moist and flavorful as they are helped by the addition of bacon and seasonings. Then they’re simmered in pan drippings and beer on the stove top, leaving you with a light sauce that you can pour over your rice.
Albóndigas
For the meatballs:
2 lbs ground chuck
1/2 cp diced bacon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Jugo Maggi (or Worcestershire sauce)
1/2 cp onion, finely diced
1/3 cp red bell pepper, finely diced
2 tsp garlic puree (3 cloves)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cp bread crumbs
1/4 cp ketchup
For the sauce:
1 medium onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cp Italian parsley, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
2 cps tomatoes, chopped
1/2 tsp crushed garlic (1-2 cloves)
1/2 tsp habanero sauce
2 cp beer (about a bottle, minus a few sips for the chef)
Sea salt and pepper
Preparing the meatballs ~ Combine the ground beef, bacon, onions, garlic, bell peppers in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg, add ketchup, salt, black pepper, Maggi and mix thoroughly. This will allow the condiments to be mixed evenly when you add it to the meat. Once you have combined the meat and seasonings, making sure it is all well incorporated, mix in the bread crumbs. 
You are now ready shape the albóndigas. I like making them rather large-a little larger than a golf ball-you can make them as large or as small as you’d like. However, keep in mind that the fat from the beef and bacon will cook down, so don’t make the meatballs too small.
This amount of beef will make about 15 meatballs. You want to use a pan with a tight-fitting lid, once you’ve shaped your albóndigas, heat up the pan. Add about 1 tsp of oil to the pan and spread it around the bottom using a paper towel or brush. Gently place the balls in the pan, don’t crowd them. You need enough room between them to be able to turn them. When the meatballs are browned on all sides, remove them from the pan and set aside. You may need to brown them in 2 batches.
Some of the fat from the meat will have been rendered on the pan, add the onions and bell pepper and cook until the onions begin to get translucent. Add the tomatoes, garlic and parsley and stir; you may have some dripping at the bottom of the pan, don’t be afraid of these, they hold all the flavor from the meat. The moisture from the tomatoes will make it much easier to incorporate the drippings. 
Add the habanero sauce and beer. You need to have enough sauce to cover the albondigas; adjust your seasonings if necessary. Bring the sauce to a boil, then add the meatballs, spoon some of the sauce over the top of them. Cover and reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer for 35 minutes. Do give them a stir every once in a while, you want to make sure they albondigas are absorbing the flavors from the sauce.
Remove the lid and allow it to cook for another 10 minutes. The meatballs will be fully cooked by now, what you’re doing at this point is reducing and thickening the sauce.
Listo! They’re ready to serve over rice. I usually serve these with white or yellow rice. The last time I made them I served them with Arroz con Guandú; a very traditional dish in Panama. Follow the link for that recipe.
I hope you’ll enjoy this dish as much as we do, don’t forget to let me know how it turns out.
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris
It’s only natural for me to be the most comfortable cooking traditional Panamanian dishes. It makes sense for these dishes to have special meaning to me. That the mere thought of them takes me back home, to the house I grew up in on Calle L, to watching my mom busily stirring pots and pans. There are dishes that remind me of Sunday dinners with aunts, uncles, cousins.
Guandúes are also known as gandules, or pigeon peas and are commonplace in Puertorrican and Caribbean tables and generally combined with rice. In Panama it is usually made with coconut milk and rabito–salt cured pig’s tail. I don’t have the luxury of using freshly picked guandú, but I can find them in the frozen section or the Latin aisle of most of the grocery stores in my area. Goya is a well-known brand for Hispanic products, they have the frozen ones.
Arroz con Guandú
2 cps rice
1 cp frozen guandú (pigeon peas)
2 cps coconut milk
1/2 cp salt pork or bacon
1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sea salt
In a pot with a tight-fitting lid, brown the salt pork/bacon rendering some of its fat. Add the guandúes (pigeon peas), coconut milk and a bit of salt. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat until it simmers. Cook it until the peas are tender, about 40 minutes. Strain the liquid and measure, add enough water to make 3-1/3 cps of liquid, set aside.
This recipe uses the frozen peas, however, if you are using the canned variety, just skip the step above. Instead, strain the peas and measure the liquid in the can, then add coconut milk and water to measure 3-1/3 cups. Fry the salt pork or bacon just before adding the rinsed rice.
Add oil to the pan with the peas, rinse the rice and add it to the pot stirring all the ingredients. Add the liquid, check the salt, stir this well. Make sure you remove any drippings that may have been stuck to the bottom of the pan. Bring it to a slow boil; once the liquid boils do not stir it again. Keep the temperature on medium high.
Once the liquid is almost completely evaporated, bring the temperature to low and cover with the lid. Allow to steam undisturbed for 40 minutes. When you remove the lid, all the peas will be at the top, go ahead and stir them into the rice. You’re done!
Note: The flavor of the coconut milk will intensify with time. You can cook the peas a day ahead to allow the flavors to meld together.
So, how did your pot come out?
Cookingly yours,
Anamaris