BENGALURU: When we were on our trip to Thailand, we tried lemongrass for the first time and we were really amazed and impressed by its taste and aroma.Lemongrass is a herb typically grown in Asia, Africa and Australia and is used in their traditional cuisine. Lemongrass is a very fibrous grass and comes in long, slender stalks about a foot long and is used for different purposes across countries. In African and Latin American culture, lemongrass is frequently used to make tea, while in Asia it’s largely used in the traditional cuisine. It has as an invigorating aroma and citric flavour which makes it a refreshing ingredient, idle for hot or cold preparation.
Our restaurant La Locanda Di Pietracupa serves a variety of meats as we are located in Chianti Classico which is famous for Florentine steak and other meats. Our menu also features codfish based dishes which are another representation of traditional Tuscan cuisine and we thought lemongrass would be a perfect ingredient to match that preparation so we experimented with our codfish dish. We tried making codfish with three peppers using the lemongrass.
Our guests liked the contemporary twist to the codfish but it gave it an oriental flavour. Since we are known to serve authentic Tuscan cuisine, we decided to retain the authenticity of the preparation but we personally like the aroma and flavour of lemongrass, so we continue using it in our personal kitchen.
The flavour is citric but elegant. It is not as aggressive as lemon, so it helps give a citric flavour to a dish but avoids prominent acidity. As Lemongrass is an aromatic ingredient with a hint of citric flavour. Hence we did not face any challenge in preparing the dish.
– Chefs Monica and Franca
The Italian chefs were in the city for the first time for a ‘Tuscan Pop-Up‘ at Shangri-La Hotel.