Homemade Lattes that Kick Butt

Being half-Brazilian, I have had a close relationship with coffee since I was a toddler. In fact, one of our favorite family stories was when my mom got called into the principal’s office when my first grade teacher discovered that my mom was putting coffee in my thermos for lunch. I distinctly remember the principal telling my mother that it’s simply not good for children because it will stunt their growth (one look at me today and you know that was a lie). What was even funnier was my mom going home and then recounting the story to her sister and mother (two other Brazilians). They all looked at each other and wondered “If it’s not coffee – what DO you put in your kid’s thermos??”

Fast-forward 30-odd years and I was living in Tampa, FL with my wife (a tea drinker) and my kids. Our first floor flooded because of a burst pipe and we had to live without a kitchen for several months. During that time, we discovered the various Cuban cafés as we went on a quest to find good breakfast. La Teresita, Pipo’s, El Fogón, Arco Iris and our absolute favorite: El Pilón (since bought by Pipo’s). The Cuban toast at El Pilón was crispy and fresh, but what was truly to die for was the café con leche (a.k.a. latte). In that short period of time, my tea-drinking honey became addicted to Cuban café con leche and we frequently indulged ourselves since El Pilón was right near our kids’ school. All fine & dandy until we moved to Raleigh, NC – a wonderful place to live, but hundreds of miles away from El Pilón.

So this is the story of how I came to make a respectable café con leche at home with my humble drip coffee maker. And I assure you – if I can make this, anyone can. The key is in the details.

The key to a good latte is the coffee, the milk and the process. All three are critical, so try not to improvise until you’ve made your first perfect cup.

The coffee:

• Use an espresso roast coffee – dark and finely ground. The brand I prefer is “Café Bustelo,” which is available at most grocery stores. “Lavazza” and “Illy” are two Italian brands which will also deliver similar results.
• For each cup of water, use a rounded teaspoon (not level and not heaping). You can find the strength that works best for you, but we use one rounded teaspoon per cup.
• If your city has good water (like Raleigh or Tampa), you can use tap water. You might even want to filter it like we do, but I am not sure that matters for the best flavor. If your tap water tastes bad, no amount of filtering will help – use bottled water in that case.

The Milk:

• Pour milk into a pyrex measuring cup – 2 oz for every one cup of coffee. My travel mug holds appx. 2.5 cups of liquid, so I use 4 oz. of milk per travel mug.
• If you sweeten your coffee, put the sugar/splenda/equal/whatever in the bottom of the mug before you put any liquid into it. Once you’ve poured the coffee, do not stir it. The way you pour will do the stirring for you.
• Microwave the milk until it boils and almost overflows with bubbles. On our microwave, it takes 1 minute 20 seconds on power level 9.
  • Once boiled, remove it from the microwave and let it sit on the countertop while the coffee finishes brewing.
  • In order to get a true latte flavor, you have to scald the milk fat and aerate it. In order to do that, you need at least 2% milk. 1% and skim milk do not work – not to mention soy “milk,” non-dairy creamer or any other milk substitute. If you use any of those, don’t read further because this won’t work for you.

The Process:

• Once the milk has sat for a minute or so, it will form a skin on the surface. Pull the skin off with a fork and throw it away.
• Place your mug into your kitchen sink and then slowly pour the milk into the mug from at least 18 inches above the mug. Bubbles will form on top, so leave them alone and do not stir them.
• Next, pour the coffee into the mug from the same height – at least 18 inches above the mug. That will cause still more bubbles so that there is a frothy head on top like a beer.

Pouring the liquids from such a height allows them to become aerated before they land in the mug. The bubbling of the milk in the microwave and the aerated pouring are the steps that complete the distinctive latte flavor that begins with the scalding of the milk.

If you follow these simple steps, you can serve a delicious latte that will turn your tea drinker into a coffee addict. Be sure to serve the coffee freshly poured with the froth still on top, or enjoy it yourself.

Rosemary-Lemon Rice

So my cousin from Virginia called this morning to let me know that she was coming to visit with our other cousins who came in from California and somehow we all ended up at my house. What to do with 10 people suddenly coming for dinner?

I took a bunch of split chicken breasts and dry-rubbed them with a little salt, garlic powder and cumin and then grilled them. My half-Greek cousin made the salad (awesome as usual), and my wife took ciabatta rolls and smeared them with her cream pesto, added sliced tomatoes and then melted mozzarella on top. But even with all that coming together for dinner, I felt that something was missing.

Since rice is such a staple in our family, I wanted to serve rice but somehow it needed to be special. Since it topped out at 95° today, I thought it should be something light and summery (but as usual, I wanted it to be easy). Here's what I did:

I grabbed 4 sprigs of rosemary from the garden, stripped the leaves off the stems and then chopped them finely. I minced 2 garlic cloves and put the garlic-rosemary mixture in a pot with some olive oil and a half-pat of butter and slowly heated them. Then I zested one whole lemon into the pan and let it heat slowly as well while I rinsed two cups of jasmine rice. I drained the rice and put it into the pan with the rosemary-garlic-lemon and stirred it up. After about 30 seconds of sizzling, I put 4 cups of water into the pot and brought it to a boil. At that point, I zested another lemon into the pot, added a couple of pinches of salt, and then finished it out over a long simmer.

When it was finished cooking, I tasted it. It seemed to be missing something, so I put about 1/3 cup of coconut milk into it and it took on a creamy, risotto-like consistency. I transferred it to a serving dish by flaking it with a fork and it became a light & fluffy mound of delicious rice with a delicate lemon and rosemary flavor. The rosemary added green flecks to the rice, making it pretty on the table.

Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

Killer Caipirinhas

Caipirinhas are the national drink of Brazil. They are made with cachaça (ka-SHAS-sah), which is a liquor made from sugar canes. Cachaça is a very strong liquor and most restaurants serve caipirinhas too strong - good for getting very drunk very fast and not at all enjoyable.

I am much more interested in the flavors and textures of what I put in my mouth than getting “schiffaced” (that’s French for drunk), so here is my take on how to make a caipirinha that is both flavorful and refreshing.

Ingredients:

Cachaça
Like most liquors, there’s a variety in quality of cachaça. Chances are in most places outside Brazil, you’ll only find one variety at the liquor store. So buy what you can and enjoy it. Grab it off the shelf with gusto because you’re on your way to a great caipirinha.
NOTE: If you are unable to find cachaça, use vodka instead. In that case, you’re making a “Caipiroshka” (Kie-pee-ROSH-kah). [I know – that sounds like what might be the name of a Russian exotic dancer, but I assure you that it’s a common drink in Brazil.]

Limes
Get the fattest, juiciest little limes you can buy. I’ve found that the rounder ones with thin rinds usually have the most juice. But make do with what you have readily available because you won’t know for sure until you cut it open. If they are not very juicy you’ll just have to use more of them.

Sugar
Plain-jane granulated sugar is what you need. You can substitute Splenda if you want.

Water
If you live in a place with decent tap water, use that. If your local tap water tastes or smells funny, you have my condolences because that’s a quick way to ruin coffee, caipirinhas or anything else. If so, try a Brita filter or use bottled water. Either way, make sure it’s cold and that you have as much water as cachaça.

Ice
The traditional way to serve caipirinhas is with crushed ice, but unless you have an ice crusher it’s a very tedious to crush your own ice. In my humble opinion, it’s just as effective to use reguar cubes as it is to crush the ice. No matter what you do, just be sure to use some form of ice and you’ll have a great drink.

What to do:

1. Chill the ingredients. At least 2 hours before you start mixing, put the cachaça in the freezer and put the limes in the fridge.
2. Before you start mixing, put on your favorite music and turn it up loud. A caipirinha maker in a festive mood will make a great-tasting drink.
3. In the glass of your choice, mix 2 – 3 ounces of cold cachaça with equal amounts of very cold water. The exact amount doesn’t matter, but the proportion does, so mix accordingly so it’s equal.
4. Add 3 full teaspoons of sugar (not rounded and not heaping either). If the sugar bothers you, use Splenda instead, but do not skimp on the sugar because it’s important to get the right taste.
5. Stir it vigorously with a spoon so as much of the sugar dissolves as possible.
6. Now take one entire lime for each drink and roll it in your hands to release the juices. Let it feel the love. Slice it into wedges, and if possible remove the white fibrous center because that can add bitterness to the drink that throws off the flavor. Take each wedge of lime and hand-squeeze it into the liquid, dropping each wedge into the drink. Get as much of the pulp into the drink as you can so it turbo-charges each sip. If your limes are not very juicy for some reason, go ahead and cut up another one and add wedges with abandon. The limes are critical!
7. Stir it again vigorously and get it all mixed up.
8. Then fill the rest of the glass with ice, giving it one last stir.
9. Serve, enjoy and repeat as needed.

Variations:

Just as vodka might be a good substitute for cachaça, you can use grapes instead of limes to make “Caipiruvas” (Kie-pee-ROO-vah).

If you can get your hands on some passion fruit, you can try passion fruit instead with seeds and all. While this drink is not unheard of and Brazilians are well familiar with passion fruit, or maracujá (Mah-rah-koo-ZSAH),there is a no ready-made variation on a name for the passion fruit version to my knowledge, so make up your own.

Please feel free to let me know what you think and if you have any ideas to improve on this recipe. Share your comments whenever you like.

Thanks and enjoy!