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Thursday, July 05, 2001

By Virginia Phillips

I want you to meet my Latin heartthrob. His name is Coco Lopez. He's Puerto Rican --just as sweet as he is rich and always ready for a fiesta. I met him on the Internet.

	The tang of curry mingles with the sweetness of coconut cream in this Caribbean-influenced grilled shrimp. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

Why share? Might as well. Other surfer girls have found him, too.

He first made a name for himself in the tropics where (so he says) he invented the pina colada. He's progressed way beyond a bartender's helper since.

He hangs out with everyone -- makes the rounds of recipe swaps on the Net, contributes to Gourmet and Bon Appetit and pals around with trend-setting cookbook writer Steven Raichlen, author of "Miami Spice."

You can find Coco-and some of his rivals -- Goya is one -- among the bar mixes in supermarkets and specialty stores.

He is canned, sweetened coconut cream, luxurious and smooth, with a pour like warmed honey. You might be surprised at all the things he helps people with.

Three people close to me are loco for coconut.

If I really want to see them salsa, I call out Coco Lopez. Our first joint effort was a coconut lime ice cream for my niece's birthday dinner.

As it is with many recipes where Coco has a hand, making this was such a snap I feared for the outcome. How wrong.

It was a matter of warming the opened can of coconut cream for a few minutes in a saucepan of hot water, emptying the cream into a bowl, mixing it nice and smooth with a whip, stirring in lime juice, lime zest and water and freezing the mixture for 15 minutes in an ice cream maker.

	Cooking, shopping tips for coconut cream Coconut cream separates in the can. Warm opened can in a pan of warm water and stir smooth with a fork or whip. Looking for Coco Lopez? Check out the bar supplies section of the beverage aisle at your supermarket.

If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still got excellent results by pouring the mixture into a shallow lidded plastic container, putting the container into the freezer and beating it every half hour or so with a fork, for a couple of hours, keeping the ice crystals small, until it is frozen but fluffy. If you forget to stir and the cream freezes solid, just break it into chunks and whirl smooth in a food processor. Spoon the mixture into a smaller, deeper plastic container press plastic wrap on top, and return it to the freezer to firm up a bit.

No dairy product is involved, which makes this dessert technically a sorbet, but the coconut cream brings a lush, chewy creaminess, substantial and smooth. The lime, Key lime especially, imparts all its perfume and tang, cutting like a sharp breeze through the rich, sweet coconut. Flecks of zest add flavor and color.

The citrus coconut combo comes into its own as a partner to deep dark chocolate -- an oozy flourless cake, if you are ambitious, or a simple brownie, using bittersweet chocolate.

Coconut cream is good-natured and lets you play around. Skip the lime, for instance, and flavor the ice cream mixture when almost frozen with a quarter cup of rum. Or stir toasted almonds into the mix, freeze and top the co-co-nut-nut chiller with raspberry sauce. Or mix in toasted macadamia nuts and serve with grilled pineapple or mango.

	Coconut Lime Sorbet mingles the sweetness of coconut cream and the tartness of fresh limes. (Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette)

The repertoire includes other noteworthy desserts and entrees, too.

In the too-easy-to-be true category is a boxed white cake, made moist and tantalizing with coconut cream, toasted coconut, almonds and Amaretto. Its toasty crunch is heaven with the lime coconut sorbet.

In Steve Raichlen's spice-tinged brownies, coconut cream replaces the butter. He serves the dark beauties with "snowballs," rich vanilla ice cream rolled in toasted coconut.

A voluptuous coconut souffle, layered with toasted coconut, is the favorite of Raichlen's wife. You can organize this effort before dinner by preparing the baking dish and the egg yolk mixture, putting the whites in another bowl and setting them aside. After dinner, beat the whites stiff, fold them into the waiting custard and pop them into the oven. Fifteen minutes later, you will be a hero, especially when you pass the tangerine chocolate sauce that goes with it. Of course, a warm souffle with frosty, tart lime coconut sorbet would be a knockout, too.

But we can't have dessert before we clean our dinner plates. Some entree suggestions:

Spicy Coconut Sauce is a sweet/tart, chile-inflected sauce that performs as a basic marinade, glaze and spoon-on-more-at-the-table sauce. Reflecting coconut's cooperative nature, this versatile base of coconut, chilies, lime, cilantro and spice can be spiked with curry, peanut butter or Asian fish sauce, for a Caribbean, Indonesian or Thai flavor spin.

Don't be tempted to skimp on the cayenne, chili powder and chilies, though. The sweet sauce demands it, and both lime and sweet coconut temper the heat.

Divide the sauce, using half to marinate chicken, shrimp, pork or salmon for the grill, broiler or oven and to brush the pieces as they cook. Refrigerate the rest and heat it to pass when dinner is served. The dish in any of its guises is nice with black beans and rice.

Easier yet is a tropical sauce. Mix to your taste, starting with a half cup of coconut cream, a couple of tablespoons soy sauce, a squeeze of lemon juice, a clove of minced garlic and 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger. Pour over a cut-up chicken or a couple of pork tenderloins and bake, basting occasionally, at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Shower the finished dish with a fistful of chopped green onion tops and cilantro. Serve with steamed rice and a vinegary cucumber salad.

Another quickie: Your standby bottled barbecue sauce gains tropical appeal when combined with a few tablespoons of cream of coconut.

Related Recipes:

Coconut Lime Sorbet
Coconut Sour Cream Cake with Amaretto Glaze
Coconut Souffle with Tangerine Chocolate Sauce
Coconut Brownies with Coconut Snowballs
Spicy Coconut Sauce