Lunch at the Bird Sactuary and Another Dinner in Copan

As you go to different restaurants around U.S. cities there are always different levels of restaurants; diner, fine dining, chain, drive thru, etc. In Honduras they have all of these too but the quality of flavor that I have found has been very good and very consistant. For example here at the Bird Sanctuary in Copan their have a little restaurant that was closed for the day when we arrived but just for us they opened up. Now I know that when someone comes in a few minutes after close in a restaurant the cooks do not always make the food with “love”. But in this case they did. This dish was so good. Every thing eaten at the same time was much better than just the main dish alone even though there are many items. Tonights dinner will show you too that even though the restaurant was “closed” the food was still wonderful.

The first photo was from the Bird Sanctuary and it was the best thing that I have had in a long time and I think it was like six bucks! That is like the price of a Mickey D’s “value” meal. Lorocco is some sort of local flower that I have not been able to find any info in english yet ?maybe another name in english?.

The second photo is the dinner that we had that night in Copan this restaurant originally said that they were closed even though there was a couple inside eating. After a minute or so they said come on in but order quickly. We ended up not being the last table and we also did not order quickly. I ordered jalapeno mantequilla churrasco which is a giant piece of beef that is very thin with a mantequilla (creme fraiche like cream) all over flavored with jalapeno. For a restaurant that is almost closed they did a damn fine job on the temperature of my meat and the flavor and seasoning. Of course the sides were frijolitos (refried beans) and a little fresh salsa.

  Grilled Chicken Breast with Lorocco Flower Cream Sauce,

                                                            Fresh Cheese, Steamed Rice, Frijolitos, Fried Plantains

 

The wonderful fruits of Honduras

Since I have arrived here in Honduras I have been able to see many things that you do just not see in Kansas or the United States for that matter. For example the giant avacado that you saw in the previous blog is from my fiances yard! Yah they have an avacado tree and a mango tree right in their yard. Imagine how much these fruits especially avacados cost in the states. In Honduras money literally grows on trees.

                                   Here are three photos of coffee beans (first photo), mangos (second photo), and cocao (third photo) all in their natural enviroment doing there job in nature and waiting to be served on a plate near you. The coffee plant and the cacao tree (the bean is the little pod right in the middle of the two branches) were growing side by side inside the open courtyard of our hotel. Since Honduras never really gets cold and right now is what they consider the winter or the rainy season these plants fruit all year but I am sure that there are specific seasons that are better than others.

Oh yah and if you have not noticed I got a new much better camera.

 

Dinner in Copan

Copan is an acient Mayan City that at one point had over 35,000 residents and has been being excavated since around 1869. They say that they have about only 15% excavated and it will take about 400 years to finish the enitre 24 sq. km. There is also a town right next to the ruins that is also called Copan. It is a nice peaceful town with cobblestone streets and old buildings. The central park is where all of the kids meet after school and where the adults hang out just before dark.

Where we had dinner the first night was at Carnitas Nia Lola Restaurante. It was in a really old building that was decorated with all sorts of old mayan replicas, but the coolest thing about this resaurant was the grill.

This woman pumps a hug fan all day to keep the fire going. Of course I had to order something from the grill. I got a common Honduran meal that was grilled filet (filet of beef but not tenderloin. It had at least 5 toothpicks holding it together!), but none the less it was really tasty. The appetizers for the table were corn tortilla chips in an earthen pot that kept it hot. One had frijolitos (refried beans) and the other had braised pork with chees on top mmmmm.

 

It came with sides of rice, carmalized fried plantains, encurtido (pickled vegetables including cauliflower, carrots, broccoli, jalapenos, and white onions), chismol (fresh salsa like pico de gallo with smaller chunks, and the addition of bell peppers, lime, vinegar, and jalapenos). It also came with a mushroom “pan sauce”. I think this sauce was for the gringos!

Oh yah and check out the Honduran petit fours. Fresh watermelon and banana slices with chocolate sauce.

Im in HONDURAS!

Hey guys sorry the lack of blogs recently but I have been in Honduras since the 13th. I will be here until the 10th of August. I will be sharing with you pictures of my travels here. I hope to go to Nicaragua and Guatemala and maybe Belize while I am here. For those that know me personally I just proposed to Soraya while my parents were down here last week! I dont know yet when the wedding is but I will let you know soon.

The first culinary related experience that happened to me when I arrived here was my fiance woke me up to this massive avacado!

Provencal Tasting Menu

      When I first started working at The American Restaurant we did a Spanish tasting menu of five courses (from what I can remember there were dishes like braised rabbit paella and chorizo stuffed squab breast, housemade golden raisins and wilted local spinach.) My friend Alex and I brought up the fact that we had the menu and that we should do it again. I said Mediterranian and Alex said Provencal. I am really happy that he said a more specific region than what I did and it made for a wonderful menu. We are doing a six course menu. Cold (salad), fish, shellfish, game, cheese, dessert. I think that we are charging 80 dollars. After we had talked about menu we decided on having a meeting the next day to talk about the overall set up and try some rose’ wines that we could pair with the food, that night I came up with a menu because I did not know what dish I was going to do. I studied the cuisine of Provence and the summer ingredients and the few hours that I had that night I wrote this menu. Keep in mind that I had to write the menu based on the food that we do at the American and classic French cuisine. Of course I had to but a little my flavor in a couple of dishes.

Thousand Tomatoes, Garden Basil,

Tarragon Carbonated Green Zebras in Mint and Tomato Water

 

Pan Seared Foie Gras

Panisse (chickpea beignet) filled with White Peach Marmalade,

Apricot Vinaigrette or Gastrique, Fresh Tarragon

 Or

 Foie Gras au Torchon Sprinkled with Fresh Almond

Provencal Preserves

Cherry and Black Pepper

White Peach and Basil

Apricot and Tarragon

 

Trio of Rabbit

Roasted Rabbit loin, Zucchini and Compte’ Au Gratin

Rabbit Racks with Tomato Coulis

Aubergine Farcie

Thai Eggplant Stuffed with Braised Rabbit and Olives

Topped with Raw Quail Yolk

 

Spiny Lobster Eau de Fleur d’Oranger

Butter Poached Spiny Lobster Tail,

Lobster Hand, Preserved Lemon, and Basil Mousse Agnoletti,

with Lobster Coral, Blood Orange and Floral Broth

When we had the meeting I was “too” ready I had a dictionary of provencal terms and this menu with copies of both for everyone. This was when we were asigned our plates. I was offered the shellfish dish and I was really excited because I wanted to make the eau de fleur d’oranger. I was going to do the same dish then we found that spiny lobster was not in season until the end of the first week of this month so we are using signal crayfish. (I really liked the way the crayfish looked and tasted maybe more than when we get the spiny lobster). Here it is!

“Lobster Hand Mousse Agnoletti with preserved Lemon and Basil,

Maillarded Zucchini, Butter Poached Signal Crayfish,

Eau de Fleur d’Oranger, Corriander Citrus Blossoms, and Fine Herbs”

     I added these awesome flowers from chef gardens that have a wonderful citrus flavor and a great long corriander flavor that matched the dish perfectly. I had the servers pour the flower and lobster broth at the table and the aroma of the flower engulfes the guests.