I Can Do That!

Scones and Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0000

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host.. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones or what we call biscuits here in the US are the simplest and easiest baking powder breads to make. It takes just a few minutes to put together and they cost very little too. Thanks Audax for the enjoyable challenge. I had lots of fun making scones/biscuits.

I made the basic recipe using half-and-half and had them for breakfast topped with Philippine citrus (calamansi) curd and also mascarpone cheese with a drizzle of honey. Sooo good.

so good with mascarpone cheese and honey

or sweet and tangy citrus curd

Scones/Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons very cold butter, diced
¾ cup cold milk or half-and-half
2 tablespoons milk for glazing the tops of the scones

Preheat oven to 475°F.
Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones will be!
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. Knead very gently about 4 or 5 times until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture.
Pat or roll out the dough into a ¾ inch thick rectangle. Using a well-floured 2-inch scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out, without twisting, 2-inch rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch layer and cut more scones. Or use a well-floured sharp knife to cut squares or wedges as you desire.
Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden color on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes until the scones are well risen and are lightly colored on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

I added 1 cup grated aged Vermont cheddar cheese to the basic recipe and cut them into larger pieces, about 3 inches and made ham and egg sandwiches for lunch. Yum!

I also had them with Lamb Stew with Dried Plums (recipe inspired by the novel The Hunger Games). Really delicious together.

Download the recipes, tips, and photos that Audax prepared here.

Kimchi Fried Rice

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:38:00 +0000

I had kimchi fried rice today...twice...for lunch and dinner too. So simple to make, so delicious!

Kimchi Fried Rice

serves 1

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup thinly sliced onion

¼ cup diced cooked chicken, pork, or ham

1 cup cooked rice

½ tablespoon soy sauce

1 cup coarsely chopped kimchi
½ tablespoon crispy fried scallions, optional

1 fried egg

In a small wok, heat half a tablespoon of oil and saute meat until almost crispy; remove to a small container and set aside. Add the rest of oil to the wok and saute onion until soft and translucent. Add rice, soy sauce, and the meat and stir fry for 2 minutes. Stir in chopped kimchi and stir fry for 3 minutes. Stir in crispy fried scaliions, if desired. Transfer into a bowl and top with the fried egg. Enjoy while hot.

Egg White Leche Flan

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:47:00 +0000

How do I make a healthy version of a dessert or any food that I want to have on my birthday? This month's Kulinarya Cooking Club challenge was a toughie for me. I couldn't think of any Filipino dish that I can tweak into something healthier but still delicious as there are several yummy healthy vegetable dishes or ice and fruit desserts that don't need any improvements, in my honest opinion. As much as I love tofu and seitan, I can't imagine myself enjoying a plate of tofurkey lechon or seitan mechado on my birthday.

My creative juices ran dry for this challenge so forgive me for my uninspired Leche Flan using all egg whites and fat-free sweetened condensed milk. I used whole milk because I want the flan to be edible, at least. The flan is actually good; it's soft and smooth although not creamy with a texture similar to gelatin. Buuut, I won't be having this on my special day which for me is a time to indulge in food I really really love, food that will certainly make me happy, unhealthy they may be.

Egg White Leche Flan

3 tablespoons sugar

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

5 tablespoons fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1 cup milk

1½ teaspoons calamansi or lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional

macapuno preserve, optional

In a small stainless steel pan, caramelize sugar until golden. Pour into a leche flan mold or 4 ramekins. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the rest of ingredients except macapuno. Strain into the mold/ramekins and steam over medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Let cool completely at room temperature. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Unmold into a serving plate, scraping all the caramel from the bottom of the mold. Serve with a teaspoon of macapuno if desired.

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Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney who are passionate about the Filipino culture and its colorful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino Food as we do.

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Check out KCC [healthier] birthday party food here .

Last words on egg yolks: Contrary to what the food police would like us to believe, egg yolks are very nutritious specially from free-range chicken eggs which supposedly have more of Omega-3 fatty acids and a long list of vitamins and minerals.

Egg Morcon

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:53:00 +0000

Hard-boiled egg wrapped in sausage then deep-fried is a dish called Scotch Eggs. I found a similar recipe, Egg Morcon, in my Filipino Seventh-day Adventist vegetarian cookbook. The boiled eggs are wrapped in embutido made with textured vegetable protein (dried tofu bits).. Reversing the recipe from vegetarian to a meaty dish, I seasoned ground beef with a little powdered garlic and onion, soy sauce, and sea salt, and added a little milk, soft bread crumbs, and an egg for binder. I rolled the morcon in panko before deep-frying until golden brown and crispy. I love them with steamed rice, banana ketchup, and cherry tomatoes.

Butterscotch Bars with Dried Mangoes

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:46:00 +0000

I "borrowed" the idea of butterscotch bars with dried mango from a Filipino snack with the same name. The package says it's from Iloilo; they're very good, somewhat chewy, and not overly sweet too. I adapted the Butterscotch Bars recipe from Betty Crocker cookbook using only half cup of sugar instead of one whole and substituting chopped dried mangoes for the nuts. I love these copycat bars. Delicious!

Butterscotch Bars with Dried Mangoes
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup fine raw or golden brown sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
¾ cup chopped dried Philippine mangoes

Preheat oven to 350°.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar, egg, and vanilla. Beat with a rubber spatula until well blended. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; add to the sugar mixture and stir until well combined. Blend in dried mangoes.
Spread batter in a greased and floured 8-inch square pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Cut into bars.

Katniss's Favorite Lamb Stew with Dried Plums

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:45:00 +0000

The Hunger Games novel for young adults kept popping up as recommended reading and I have been ignoring it because I'm not into books written for young people. I tried that with Harry Potter, didn't like that I felt like a 5th grader, and only was able to finish a few pages. After a few months I finally gave in, read the book in less than a day, and surprise surprise I love it. The story has some similarity to the violent Japanese novel and movie Battle Royale but not as gory or bloody. The story will probably make some people cringe. Here is the book description

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

One of the things I love about the novel is the incorporation of food throughout. Katniss loved the lamb stew with dried plums served on a bed of wild rice, that when she was asked what impressed her most about the Capitol, she blurted out: the lamb stew. It must be really good.

I was tempted several times to stop reading to prepare one of the dishes. I even considered buying the unofficial cookbook inspired by the novel but there probably would be many recipes on there that I won't be making like grilled squirrel or "groosling" (wild turkey). The 2 recipes I was dying to make were the lamb stew and [the Boy with the Bread] hearty raisin nut bread, the recipes are available from the cookbook's Amazon page.

Although the stew has 2 ingredients, lamb and prunes, that I particularly don't care for, I went ahead and made half a recipe and to my surprise (again!) I loved it This time I didn't find the lamb very game-y and the sweetish sauce is so good with steamed rice.

Katniss' Favorite Lamb Stew with Dried Plums

adapted from The Unofficial Hunger Games Cookbook

2½ pounds lamb shoulder or leg, cut into 1½ inch cubes

1½ teaspoons sea salt

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup chopped onion

¼ cup water

2 cups beef stock

1 tablespoon raw or brown sugar

2 cups diced carrots

1 small zucchini, diced

1 cup diced celery

1 large onion, diced

1 large potato, cubed

2½ cups dried plums

1 teaspoons dried thyme

1½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley

1 bay leaf

½ cup ginger ale

Place lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in a large mixing bowl. Toss to coat meat evenly. Heat olive oil in a large pan and brown the meat, working in batches. Remove lamb to a plate. Pour off fat, leaving ¼ cup in the pan.
Add the garlic and onion and sauté until the onion becomes golden. Deglaze frying pan with the water, scrape the bottom of the pan to stir up all of the tasty bits of meat and onion. Cook to reduce liquid slightly, then remove from heat.
Place the lamb and garlic-onion mixture in a large stockpot. Add beef stock and sugar, stirring until sugars are dissolved. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1½ hours. Add the vegetables, dried plums, herbs, and ginger ale to the pot. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until meat and vegetables pierce easily with a fork.

Calamansi Curd

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 20:16:00 +0000

great on buttery biscuits

I've made lemon and lime curds before and loved both flavors on toasted English muffins or biscuits and thought calamansi would be great too. After a bite of the warm biscuit topped with calamansi curd, I can honestly say it tastes way better than lemon or lime. Or maybe being Filipino I'm just biased. ^__^

The recipe here is very simple to prepare but takes a bit longer to cook. I just love the vibrant yellow, almost orange color the calamansi juice adds to the curd and of course its mild tangy flavor.

Calamansi Curd

makes a little less than 1 cup

2 egg yolks

5 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons soft butter

50 ml fresh calamansi juice

In a small non-stick saucepan, whisk egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Add butter and juice and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Cook on lowest heat, stirring, for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and transfer curd into a jar or ramekin. Leave on the kitchen counter to cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Crispy Pork Belly Roll

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:36:00 +0000

We didn't have ham for our 2011 Christmas dinner; we had roasted pork belly roll with its glistening golden crispy skin. I changed our usual Christmas menu when I saw JMom's crispy skin pork shoulder and I adapted her recipe together with the one from Serious Eats. Slow roasting made the meat juicy and tender and the high heat during the last 40 minutes made the skin crispylicious. This pork roll is finger-lickin' good and doesn't need any sauce.

Crispy Pork Belly Roll

8 to 10 pounds whole pork belly, skin on

2½ tablespoons sea salt, divided

1 tablespoon finely minced garlic

1 teaspoon cracked black red peppercorns

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon baking powder

12 pieces foot-long kitchen twine

Place cut kitchen twine on a large baking sheet 1 inch apart.
Wash and dry belly thoroughly with paper towels. Score the meat side half an inch deep in a crisscross pattern 1 inch apart. Mix 1¼ tablespoons salt, minced garlic, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and rosemary, and rub the meat side all over. Form into a roll and place on top of the twine. Tie the roll beginning from the outside. Mix the remaining salt and baking powder; rub all over the skin. Leave in refrigerator uncovered for 1 up to 3 days to dry out the skin.
On the day of roasting, preheat oven to 400° F. Place pork roll on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast for 10 minutes; lower heat to 300° F and roast for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Increase heat to 500° F and roast for another 40 minutes.
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and let the pork roll rest for 15 minutes before slicing.

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Check out more Christmas food from Kulinarya Cooking Club members.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 18:46:00 +0000

Pianono, Pionono, Pio Nono

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Filipino Pionono filled with sweet Star margarine

Spanish Pionono filled and topped with custard

The internet is a wonderful thing. I found out while searching for a Spanish dessert that the Filipino jelly roll called Pianono came from the Spanish Swiss roll cake Pionono. According to this website the Spanish Pionono was created in honor of Pope Pius IX; Pio Nono is Italian for Pope Pius IX. It's not hard to understand why the cake exists in the Philippines as many of our cakes, desserts, and candies came from the Spanish.

Pianono isn't one Flipino cake that I crave. I think I've only had it maybe 3 times at the most. I remember when I was in High School, I was asked a few times to fetch a tray of pianono from the nuns' kitchen on the third floor of the school building to bring to the school store just before the morning break. [BTW, the nuns in our school, Mothers we call them, were mostly Italian.] The smallish cake roll is simple sponge filled with margarine or butter then sprinkled with sugar and once rolled is rolled in more sugar. It is sold by the slice and takes just 2 bites to eat. I looked online for a recipe but most have coconut and I don't remember eating pianono with coconuts. My cookbook RECIPES OF THE PHILIPPINES compiled and edited by Enriqueta David Perez has the recipe and to my utter surprise is called Pionono. Why it became Pianono is anybody's guess.

Filipino Pionono
recipe adapted from RECIPES OF THE PHILIPPINES
4 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons cake flour, sifted
sugar for sprinkling
soft butter or jelly

Preheat oven to 375° F.
In the bowl of a standing mixer with the wire whisk attachment, beat egg whites until almost stiff. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue beating until glossy. Beat the egg yolks well and add to the whites and stir until well blended. Cut and fold flour into the egg mixture. Spread evenly on a parchment paper-lined jelly roll pan.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Invert cake onto a towel sprinkled with sugar. Remove parchment paper and roll immediately with the towel from the long side. Set aside to cool completely. Unroll and spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar all over. Re-roll and roll the whole cake on sugar. Slice into 1½ inch-thick pieces and serve.

This is the Spanish Pionono I adapted from the recipe given by the website mentioned above. I love the thin custard filling and the broiled custard and sugar topping.

Spanish Pionono

syrup

5 tablespoon sugar

¾ cup water

¼ cup rum or brandy

custard

2 cups whole milk
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1½ tablespoons cornflour
6 egg yolks, well beaten
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

sponge

4 eggs, divided
6½ tablespoons sugar
10 tablespoons cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

Syrup: Place ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool.
Custard: Put milk and sugar in a pan, stir over medium heat until it starts to steam. Remove a half cup and mix into both flours; return into the remaining milk in the pan. Cook for a few minutes. Stir in rum and vanilla, add beaten egg yolks and keep stirring until mixture is creamy and thick. Remove from heat and cover with plastic wrap.
Sponge: Beat egg whites into peaks, slowly add sugar then broken yolks while mixing. Fold in the flour, spread mixture in pachment-lined jelly roll pan; bake for 10 minutes at 340º F. Turn sponge upside down onto another piece of parchment paper and peel off paper. Allow to cool then pour syrup over sponge. Spread with a thin layer of custard. Carefully roll sponge from long end Swiss roll style. Cut into 2 inch lengths, placing each on cut end in a paper cake case. Top with a spoon of custard, sprinkle with sugar and caramelize with a blowtorch or broil in oven. Sprinkle with cinnamon, chill in fridge for several hours before serving.

Dog Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:49:00 +0000

My food blog has gone to the dogs. ^.^ . I wanted to get my son's dog Sonoma a bag of duck jerky treats for Christmas and I found out almost ALL of them come from China. And we know dog food from that country are toxic. So I baked biscuits instead and if I still have time next week I'll make chicken jerky treats.

My recipe is adapted from the one on the card that came with the giant bone dog biscuit cutter replacing less than half of the flour with all-purpose and the bacon dripping with duck fat and coconut oil. I used rabbit, duck, bird, elephant, cat, star, and of course the bone cutters.

Dog Biscuits
1½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon raw sugar
½ teaspoon sea salt
4 tablespoons duck fat, cold
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ cup ice water

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, and salt. Work in the fats with fingertips. Stir in egg and sprinkle ice water. Knead lightly a few times until smooth. Pat or roll into a ½ inch-thick rectangle. Cut into desired shapes; transfer into a sheet pan and bake in preheated 350° F oven for 25 minutes. Turn off oven and leave biscuits in for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and transfer cookies on the kitchen counter. Keep in airtight container.

Sweet Potato Sourdough Challah

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:55:00 +0000

I've had challah before, both store-bought and home baked. It's one of our favorite sweet breads and I always serve it on Christmas morning and Christmas lunch too. I didn't think it will taste any better using sourdough starter and then I saw the beautiful photos of sourdough challah, adapted the recipe adding a large steamed and mashed sweet potato. I love the slightly tangy flavor and the soft tight crumb that reminds me of sponge cake.

But the bread got 2 thumbs down from my husband who doesn't like anything sour-y specially sweet bread. I will make this again with sourdough starter but will add a pinch of commercial yeast to cut fermentation time by half and reduce if not eliminate the tang.

Sweet Potato Sourdough Challah

starter

2 tablespoons mature sourdough starter

6 tablespoons warm water

1 cup bread flour

final dough

3 eggs, room temperature

¼ cup light olive oil

¼ cup warm water

5 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup mashed sweet potato

3½ cups bread flour

1 egg for egg wash

Starter: In a large bowl, mix ingredients until smooth, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and leave on the kitchen counter for 8 to 12 hours or until tripled in volume.
Final Dough: In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix eggs, oil, water, sugar, salt, and sweet potato until well incorporated. Add 3 cups bread flour and mix on low until incorporated. Cut up sourdough starter into 6 pieces and add to the bowl. Switch to dough hook and knead on medium high, adding more flour if dough is too sticky, until dough leaves sides of bowl, very smooth, and silky, about 8 to 10 minutes, . Transfer dough into a greased container, cover with plastic wrap, and let ferment in a warm place for 2 hours.

Remove the dough and cut in half. Divide 1 half dough into six pieces and shape into ropes for braided challah. The shaping is not too complicated if you follow this Maggie Glezer video:

Place each braid on a large greased baking sheet, cover, and let ferment for 8 hours or until doubled in bulk.
Beat egg and brush on risen braids. Bake in a preheated 350° F oven for 45 minutes or until golden to dark brown.

Chocolate-Dipped Peppermint Sticks and Other Christmas Candies

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:34:00 +0000

chocolate-dipped mint sticks, Italian torrone, and candy cane flavored cotton candy

It's that time of the year again when we indulge in sweet stuff, specially mint candy canes, Spanish turones, Italian torrone, and a variety of candies and cookies that come out during the Christmas season. I couldn't resist getting a container each of candy cane flavored cotton candy and of chocolate-dipped peppermint sticks. The small tub of peppermint sticks is really expensive compared with plain candy canes but these are really crunchy and the chocolate coating is so good. I didn't find any Spanish turon but boxes of Italian torrone are available in most grocery stores.

The Daring Bakers: Sans Rival and Bibingka

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

cashew sans rival

fluffy soft bibingka baked with slices of salted duck eggs
and Filipino white cheese

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers's host and she challenged us to make traditional Filipino dessert - the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Thank you Catherine for sharing with the Daring Bakers two of our Filipino cakes. They are my personal favorites and I have been baking them for many years now because these are not commercially available in my neck of the woods.

The recipes provided by Catherine are here. For this challenge I didn't follow the recipes for both Sans Rival and Bibingka. I used the Sans Rival recipe from my Filipino cookbook and the bibingka from a combination of various recipes that only have regular rice flour.

Sans Rival
recipe adapted from Favorite Filipino Recipes by Pat Limjuco-Dayrit

the perfect combination of crunchy nutty and smooth creamy

meringue
5 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1½ cups chopped cashew or almonds
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F.Beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the sugar gradually, continue beating. Fold in nuts and vanilla. Divide mixture into five and spread on five parchment-lined 9-inch round pans or 9-inch rounds drawn on parchment paper (flip paper so the pencil marks are facing sheet pan). Bake in a 350°F oven until golden brown, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on thickness. Turn off oven, leave in the oven for 2 hours or longer until layers are dry to the touch and very crispy.

buttercream filling
5 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1½ cups butter, room temperature

Boil water and sugar until it spins a thread, 225°F on candy thermometer. In the bowl of a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat egg yolks until very thick and pale yellow in color, about 6 minutes. Pour the hot syrup gradually over egg yolks and continue beating until mixture has thickened. Transfer to a bowl and chill in the fridge for an hour. In the same bowl, cream butter then add the well chilled egg mixture. Beat on medium high speed until buttercream is light and creamy.

assemble the sans rival

½ cup coarsely chopped cashew or almonds

Spread a very thin layer of buttercream on smooth side of one meringue round, place on a parchment-lined plate, place another meringue on top; repeat until you have spread the filling and stacked all the meringue rounds. Fill the gaps, sides, and top with buttercream. Sprinkle sides (and top, if desired) with chopped nuts. Refrigerate overnight before cutting into slices. Or leave in the freezer for 2 hours before slicing.

BIBINGKA

Baked Bibingka is just one of the many forms of bibingka we have in the Philippines. Bibingka are flat cakes that can be made with regular whole rice or rice flour, whole glutinous or glutinous rice flour, pounded young immature greenish glutinous rice called pinipig, and grated fresh cassava. Bibingka are either baked or steamed; some are pre-cooked then topped with coconut jam before baking.

baked rice flour bibingka

baked black and white glutinous rice bibingka topped with coconut jam

baked cassava bibingka

The bibingka chosen for this challenge are traditionally baked in round clay dishes lined with wilted banana leaves set over individual clay bakers filled with hot coals. A piece of galvanized iron fitted with a wire handle is filled with more hot coals and placed on top of the dish with the batter. The bibingka is baked quickly with equal heat coming from below and above. These gluten-free cakes should be very soft, airy, and fluffy just like a cake made with wheat flour and they shouldn't have a hint of stickiness at all.

native Filipino clay ovens and round dishes

made specifically for baking bibingka

To mimic the heat from below and above method, I bake bibingka in a toaster oven at a very high setting. If you have one I recommend using it rather than the regular size oven.

Bibingka

cake

banana leaves, optional
1½ cups rice flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
¾ cup superfine sugar
3 eggs, beaten until thick and lemon-colored
1¼ cups coconut milk, whole milk, or water
4 tablespoons melted butter
kesong puti (farmer's white cheese), sliced into 1 inch x ¼-inch thick pieces

topping

butter
sugar
grated fresh coconut

Preheat toaster oven to 425°F. Line three 8-inch round pans with banana leaves.
In a medium bowl, mix all the rice cake ingredients except cheese and salted duck egg, until well incorporated. Batter should be slightly loose; add more milk or water to adjust consistency. Pour 1/3 of the batter in the first prepared pan, arrange white cheese and salted egg on top; bake for 12 to 14 minutes until top is golden brown.
Remove from oven; spread some butter and sprinkle sugar on top.
Fill the next pan and bake, repeating for the third and last time.
Slice into wedges and top with desired amount of grated coconut.

SALTED DUCK EGGS
Traditional Filipino salted duck eggs have no other ingredients but sea salt mixed with clay or mud and the eggs are cured from 15 to 30 days. The eggs when fully salted and boiled have very oily and bright orange yolks and the whites are firm but not rock hard. In the Philippines the salted egg shells are colored with red vegetable dye to distinguish them from unsalted ones. I salt duck egg using the brine method with boiled filtered water cooled to lukewarm before mixing in the sea salt. We love them served with diced or sliced tomatoes as a side dish or salad. Chicken eggs are not suitable for salting because their whites are more watery and don't have the viscosity of duck egg whites.

salted duck eggs and tomato salad

1 dozen duck eggs

2 cups sea salt

6 cups filtered boiled water cooled to warm

a plastic container to accommodate the eggs and water

a gallon freezer bag filled with water

In a large bowl, dissolve 1¾ cups salt in water. Add enough salt until they don't dissolve anymore. Scrub and clean duck eggs with soap and water, rinse very well, and place in the container. Gently place the bag of water on top of eggs. Lift one corner a bit and slowly pour the salted water over the eggs making sure they are submerged completely. Cover and leave undisturbed for 30 days. Rinse eggs with water and boil for 15 to 18 minutes. Drain and immediately rinse under cold water. Keep salted eggs in refrigerator until ready to use.

I hope you don't mind the long post. I'm just very happy and excited for the opportunity to write about our Filipino native cakes and desserts and to share with you, my fellow Daring Bakers and all my readers.

Kabocha Mascarpone Pie

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:55:00 +0000

For our Thanksgiving pie this year I used kabocha squash instead of pumpkin and mascarpone cheese instead of evaporated milk. The pie is delicious and creamy and I love its flavor specially with a tablespoon of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of superfine sugar. It's the perfect ending to a satisfying dinner of turducken roll, gravy, bread stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts and orange cauliflower, baked green beans casserole, and mini brioche rolls.

Kabocha Mascarpone Pie
flaky pie crust
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
½ cup very cold diced unsalted butter
½ cup ice water with a few ice cubes

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt. With fingertips and working quickly, rub the butter into the flour. Sprinkle ¼ cup water, adding more if needed, ½ tablespoon at a time, and stir with a fork until the dough comes together and gathers into a ball. Flatten the dough, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours. Roll to fit into a 9 or 10-inch pie plate. Trim and crimp the edges using the back of a table knife. Refrigerate while preparing the filling.

filling
¾ cup fine raw sugar
½ teaspoon flaked sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup steamed and pureed kabocha squash
8 ounces mascarpone cheese

Preheat oven to 450°F.

In a small bowl, mix sugar, salt, and spices. In a large bowl, beat eggs well and add puree, vanilla extract, and sugar mixture, mix thoroughly. Add mascarpone cheese and mix until smooth. Transfer into pie crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° and continue baking for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Transfer pie to rack and let cool. Serve with creme fraiche or lightly sweetened whipped cream. Dust top of slices with powdered sugar if desired.

even my son's dog Sonoma wants a piece of that pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Arroz Caldo

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 03:51:00 +0000

arroz caldo topped with crispy flaked chicken, chicken chicharrones,
crispy fried scallions and shaved garlic

Arroz Caldo, a favorite comforting and restorative Filipino rice dish was chosen by our host, the indefatigable super Mom Joy for November 2011 Kulinarya Cooking Club. Arroz Caldo comes from the Spanish arroz for rice and caldo for broth. I have featured Arroz Caldo once before and am reprinting 2 paragraphs from that post.

Arroz Caldo, translation is rice broth, is the Filipino version of Chinese congee. Arroz caldo is not soupy and the consistency is more like porridge. Er, it IS rice porridge flavored with chicken, garlic, ginger, and Spanish saffron and simmered in broth. It's one of many Filipino dishes representing the mixture of Filipino heritage combining Spanish, Chinese, and Filipino flavors.
When I make this dish I add the coloring agent called kasubha which is dried safflower. It is sometimes called fake saffron because it resembles saffron although it doesn't taste at all like saffron. In fact, it doesn't taste of anything, but it is great in adding color to food without imparting a distinct or strong flavor.

I was cooking the usual chicken arroz caldo the day Joy announced the theme, the photos are below and the recipe is here.

I cooked a smaller batch two days ago that didn't have chicken pieces and saffron. I made stock with one chicken breast, lots of chicken skins, bones, and vegetables. The boiled meat was flaked then dry-fried until super crispy and the skins were made into chicharrones. I topped the meatless arroz caldo with the crispy meat and chicharrones together with more crispy stuff, fried shaved garlic and fried scallions. With the juice of one or two calamansi, I had bowlfuls of comforting and warming crunchylicious arroz caldo.

Arroz Caldo

rice

4 to 5 cups hot well-seasoned chicken stock

1 to 2 teaspoons dried safflower (kasubha)

2 tablespoons light olive oil

4 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and finely grated

2 shallots, thinly sliced

¾ cup Japanese medium grain rice

1 tablespoon fish extract, or to taste

toppings

chicken or pork chicharrones

crispy flaked chicken or floss

fried shaved garlic, optional

fried scallions, optional

calamansi or lemon juice

Sprinkle safflower on hot stock; set aside. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium high. Add garlic, onions, and ginger and saute for 2 minutes. Add rice and fish extract and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add 4 cups of the stock all at once, let come to a boil, lower heat, cover, and let simmer for 25 minutes. Check and add more stock if necessary. Ladle into individual bowls. Add toppings. Enjoy.

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And now, my thoughts on the incorrect translation of Arroz Caldo becoming prevalent in food blogging sites. I have noticed that more and more Filipino bloggers have declared that Arroz Caldo literally translates to Hot Rice. Growing up in the Philippines and having eaten perhaps cauldrons and cauldrons of the stuff, I have always known since age 5 that Arroz Caldo meant Broth Rice or Rice Broth (lugaw). Apparently a popular and highly regarded Filipino blogger wrote Hot Rice translation about 6 years ago and other bloggers repeatedly followed making the same mistake. Although I don't speak and write Spanish, I can read and understand a litle bit and know the Spanish words for hot is caliente and for broth is caldo. The Spanish people in the Philippines at the time enjoying a bowl of Chinese congee would have called the dish Arroz Caliente if they had meant it to be a hot dish but since they, or maybe the Chinese, named it Arroz Caldo, it obviously means Broth Rice. Some wise guy tried to argue by pointing out that caldo in Italian translates to hot or fervent but then Arroz Caldo should have been called Caldo Riso or Risi if he wants to insist on the Italian translation which doesn't make sense since the Italians don't have historical connection with the Philippines and the only Filipino culinary slang word I can perhaps attribute to the Italians is the word chibog (food or eat) which could have come from cibo (food); or maybe it came from the Spanish cebo (fat or to fatten), I don't know. Recently I read that the Philippine government during Arroyo's term proposed to restore the Spanish Language as mandatory subject in High School which was removed in the mid 70s. I think it is a fantastic idea for younger Filipinos to learn basic Spanish because many many everyday words including food items and terms such as sibuyas-cebollas-onions, mansanas-manzanas-apples, apritada-fritada-fried dish, barbecue-barbacoa-barbecue, bistek-bistec-steak, pastel-pastel-pie, etc all came from the Spanish. Learning the language and our history would be a great help in using the correct cooking terms specially for widely read blog posts.

Root Beer Float Fudge

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:33:00 +0000

On September of this year, I received a cookbook gift from The Daring Bakers; thank you Lis, Lisa, and Mandy for choosing my Chocolate-coated Brown Sugar Meringue and Caramel Candy as one of the top three candies. The book is CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONS from the Culinary Institute of America by Peter P. Greweling.

I have made a few of the candies in the book and they are really good and easy to make too. Today I made half a batch of Root Beer Float Fudge. I've never used root beer extract/flavoring before as candy or cake flavoring. I got curious and also, after reading the ingredients, it's hard for me to resist anything that has marshmallows in it.

I bought 2 different brands of root beer extract, both have natural and artificial flavors and some additives. I would have liked pure extract but they are only available from online stores. The penuche-like fudge is simple to make and I love it but I can only eat a piece at a time because it's much too much sweet for me. I'm not sure how to make the fudge less sweet without altering its consistency.

Root Beer Float Fudge
adapted from CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONS

4 cups sugar
½ cup heavy cream
½ cup light corn syrup
1 cup whole milk
1½ teaspoons flaked sea salt
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 teaspoons root beer extract or flavoring
2 cups mini marshmallows
soft butter for pan

In a 4-quart saucepan, combine sugar, cream, corn syrup, milk, sea salt, and vanilla bean seeds and pod. Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly until candy thermometer registers 236°F. Remove from heat and stir in root beer extract. Transfer into a 13 x 9 inch sheet pan. Remove the vanilla bean with a fork [rinse, dry, and keep for another use]. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature to 120°F.
Butter a 9-inch square pan; set aside.
Transfer the mixture into the bowl of a standing mixer with paddle attachment and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes or until candy has lightened in color, has lost its sheen, and has thickened slightly. Stir in marshmallows and stop mixing. Transfer into the prepared pan; spread with an offset spatula. Leave on the kitchen counter to crystallize for 1 hour. Cut into 1-inch squares.

Cooking with Tea

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0000

lapsang souchong tea-smoked duck ham

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

Thank you Sarah for the challenge. It was fun and a great way to use up the various teas I have in my pantry and I ended up preparing 4 dishes.

Beef Braised in Rooibos Tea with Sweet Potatoes

I didn't have regular sweet potatoes and used Okinawa blue. Thank you Sarah for the yummy recipe.

Lapsang Souchong Tea Smoked Duck Ham

On the day the challenge theme was announced, I had duck breasts that were seasoned 2 days before and ready to be smoked. I decided to use lapsang souchong tea mixed with raw sugar instead of the apple wood chips that were already soaking in water. The duck breasts were smoked in a small outdoor smoker at 210°F for about 2½ hours. The ham has a very strong smoke flavor, a real treat for Sunday brunch with sliced fruits and dinner rolls.

Hot-Smoked Duck Ham
adapted from CHARCUTERIE by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

brine
2 quarts water
¾ cup kosher salt
¼ cup sugar
4 teaspoons pink salt
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup Madeira
1 bunch fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1 tablespoon chopped sage

duck
6 boneless Long Island duck breasts, skin on

Brine: Combine all the ingredients in a large pot. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the salt and sugar. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until completely chilled.
Duck: Add to the chilled brine and weight down with a plate. Refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours. Rinse the breasts under cold water and pat them dry. Refrigerate them on a rack set over a small baking sheet and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Hot-smoke: Set smoker to 210°F and cook the breasts for 2½ hours or until internal temperature registers 160°F.

Mussels Soup in Lemon Ginger Tea Broth

This delicious lemon ginger tea-based soup was seasoned with fish extract, vegetable bouillon granules, and scallions. The tea has lemon and lemon grass and is excellent for a quick Thai-style soup.

Pork Hocks Stewed in Darjeeling, Earl Grey, and Assam Tea

This is a Filipino-Chinese pork hocks dish usually stewed in soy sauce, chopped onions, brown sugar, and star anise. I omitted the soy sauce and used brewed tea from a mixture of Darjeeling, Earl Grey, and Assam. I added dried lily blossoms and roasted chestnuts to the stew. We loved it!

Thanksgiving Day-Style Turkey Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Thanksgiving Day-style turkey sandwich

with a layer of cranberry sauce, slices of roasted turkey breast,

turkey gravy, crumbled corn bread croutons,

I got the munchies for Thanksgiving-style turkey sandwich after watching Food Network's Guy Fieri downing one. The sandwich has fresh cranberry sauce, roasted turkey breast, turkey gravy, and crumbled corn bread croutons which give the sandwich a good crunch. As expected the copy-cat sandwich I made is so good and satisfied my craving for Thanksgiving turkey dinner. Woohoo, just 2 more weeks until Turducken feast.

Pan de Cadiz

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:09:00 +0000

Early this year, while browsing La Tienda's catalogue, a small dessert loaf called Pan de Cadiz caught my eye. It's marzipan baked with a filling of candied sweet potato, normally sold and eaten during the Christmas season. Of course, I had to find a recipe for it, found one online written in Spanish, and this one in English.

My cake came out a little bit dry and crumbly on top because I overbaked it but I love its moist interior specially the candied sweet potato portion, and my husband says it tastes exactly like the ones he had years ago back in the Philippines. I'll bake another batch and will closely watch it to avoid drying out the top portion. I will also make at a later date just to compare the Philippine version, masapan or mazapan, which are baked in tiny paper or muffin cups.

Pan de Cadiz (Marzipan)

cake

250 grams almond flour

250 grams superfine sugar (measure, then blend in blender to a powder)

100 grams candied sweet potato

1 large egg, separated

syrup

90 grams of water

50 grams sugar

In a food processor, process almond flour to a fine powder, add the sugar and egg white and process for 2 minutes. Remove and divide the almond paste into 3 pieces. Return a third into the food processor together with the candied sweet potato and egg yolk. Pulse to mix.
Flatten the remaining 2 parts into rectangles. Place the candied potato portion on top of one rectangle. Place the other flattened paste on top of the yam. Smooth and shape into a loaf. Place on a small cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a small sauce pan, combine syrup ingredients, let boil until sugar dissolves. Turn heat off. With a pastry brush, paint the loaf all over with syrup. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn on broiler and broil loaf until top is golden brown.

Iced Guinatan Halo Halo with Mochi Pearls

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

iced guinatan with mochi pearls

I saw these cute mochi pearls from Yummy online magazine as topping for ice cream or frozen yogurt. I made half a recipe, divided it into 4 portions and added pink, teal, yellow, and chocolate food dye. Instead of ice cream, I blended coconut milk and sugar with ice cubes and added some of the usual guinatan halo-halo ingredients, candied sweet potato, saba banana, and jackfruit and topped the iced guinatan with the mochi pearls. It's so delicious. Again thanks Yummy for a great dessert idea.

Mochi Pearls
adapted from Yummy Magazine

1½ cups glutinous rice flour
1 cup glutinous rice flour for kneading plus ¼ cup for dusting
pinch of salt
1 1/3 cups water
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup light corn syrup
any flavoring
gel food dye

Mix together 1½ cups glutinous rice flour and salt; set aside.
Place water, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and continue to simmer for 4 minutes.
Pour the sugar syrup gradually into the rice flour and stir until a sticky dough is formed. Immediately turn dough onto a work surface dusted with glutinous rice flour and knead until smooth and elastic. Add more of the rice flour to prevent sticking. Sprinkle desired flavoring and knead into the dough. Knead in food dye if desired.
Roll dough into long thin ropes, about quarter-inch in diameter, and with a sharp knife or scissors, cut ropes into ½ inch pieces. Sift glutinous rice flour over them and toss to coat each piece.
Place mochi pearls in an airtight container. Store in freezer until ready to use. Place on top of ice cream, frozen yogurt, or iced guinatan.

Date Sesame Seed Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 14:10:00 +0000

nice with a cup of hot jasmine tea

This is the easiest no bake dessert to make. They are good to snack on with a cup of hot tea or to eat as candy/dessert.

I was cleaning out the pantry and discovered a bar of date paste which was meant for Food for the Gods and several bags of sesame seeds. I wasn't in the mood for butter rich cakes and decided to go "healthy" and mixed the date paste with the sesame seeds. The bars were done in no time at all and they're so yummy too.

Date Sesame Seed Bars

1 pound finely chopped dates (or paste)

1 to 2 tablespoons honey

1 cup sesame seeds

In a medium bowl mix dates and honey with hands or a wooden spoon. Knead in sesame seeds. Flatten on a piece of parchment into a half inch-thick square. Cut into 1 inch bars.

Povitica

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

with walnut filling

The Daring Bakers October 2011 challenge was Povitica hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is lovely to look at as to eat!

This is the first time I've heard of Povitica which I think is similar to but isn't too rich like Babka. I really love this dessert bread. It's soft, moist, and delicious. Jenni says

Povitica (pronounced po-va-teet-sa) is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. It is also known as Nutroll, Potica, Kalachi, Strudia, just to name a few. Family recipes, and the secrets on how to roll the bread so thin, was passed down through generations of families. However, the tradition of baking this type of bread has become somewhat of a dying art form, and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to learn to make this wonderful sweet bread.

Thank you Jenni for choosing Povitica for this month's Daring Bakers Challenge. It was indeed a wonderful opportunity for us to learn to bake and enjoy this sweet treat. I will surely make them again with a variety of fillings.

I baked a quarter batch and followed the recipe except I used dry milk for the dough, adjusting the amount of water, and I ground the walnuts to almost nut butter consistency. This dough doesn't need a machine to put together. It's soft and pliable to knead by hand. Stretching the dough was not too difficult either and I found it really easy if it was made to rest for a few minutes between stretching to relax the dough. Rolling/shaping the dough was a bit tougher because it's thin and I was worried it will tear to expose the filling, fortunately it didn't.

Povitica
quarter batch dough
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons warm water
1½ teaspoons yeast
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, measure then sift, divided

quarter batch filling
1¾ cups finely ground walnuts
¼ cupmilk
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 beaten egg yolk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

topping
2 tablespoons cold strong coffee mixed with 1½ teaspoons sugar
or 1 egg mixed with 1 teaspoon water
melted butter

Prepare the dough: In a small bowl, stir together first 4 ingredients, cover with plastic wrap, and leave for 5 minutes.In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling, stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F. In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk, 3 tablespoons sugar, and the salt until combined. Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 1 cup of flour. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half until doubled in size.
Prepare the filling: In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Heat the milk and butter to boiling. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.
Roll and assemble the dough: Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour. Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly 10 -12 inches in diameter. Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer. As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it is not sticking. The dough should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath. Spoon filling evenly over dough until covered. Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.

Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced. Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
Bake the loaf: Preheat oven to moderate 350°F. Remove plastic wrap from dough, brush with coffee mixture or egg wash and bake for approximately 15 minutes. Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter. Turn down the oven temperature to300°F and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done. Check the bread after 30 minutes to ensure that it is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if needed. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 40 minutes.

This one is filled with cream cheese, yogurt, and crumbled freeze-dried strawberries and baked in a 7-inch round pan. I like that it is sweet and tart from the yogurt and dried strawberries.

The Daring Bakers' [Jenni's] recipe and step-by-step photos are here.

Toffee Apples and Pears

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 22:03:00 +0000

These crunchy Fall treats are a bit different from their American caramel apple cousins. The coating on these apples is hard caramel instead of the sticky chewy kind. I used mini apples that are a tad sour, they are really tiny at just a third the size of a medium apple...easier to sink my teeth into. I also coated with hard caramel and dipped the bottom in malted crisps one tiny pear called Fragrant Pear; it's almost like the Asian variety in texture and flavor. I love it more than the apples for the triple crunch and the pear is very sweet and juicy. ♥ ♥ ♥

my new favorite: crunchy caramel and malted crisps on crunchy juicy pear

Toffee Apples and Pears

6 mini apples or small pears

6 thick candy pop sticks

2 cups sugar

½ cup water

2 tablespoons butter

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

6 drops of red food dye

Wash apples and dry thoroughly, remove stem and push in the candy pop stick at the top end. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, water, cream of tartar, and food dye until sugar is dissolved. Clip a candy thermometer and boil rapidly to hard crack. Turn heat off and dip each apple, tipping the pan to coat completely. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and leave for a few minutes to harden.

Dark Rye Bread and Corned Beef Tongue

noreply@blogger.com (Oggi) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:21:00 +0000

delicious with slices of warm corned beef tongue topped

with barbecue sauce, Dijon mustard, and creamy horseradish

Rye bread is not one of my favorites specially the sour dense variety but I was willing to give it a chance to wow me. I baked a small batch and surprisingly this time, it did. I used a 3 to 1 ratio of rye/bread flour with a rye sponge in place of sourdough starter. The dense dark bread has no flavorings nor seeds like caraway that in my opinion mask the earthy somewhat smokey flavor of rye flour. I love that it has a bit of chew and is sweetish too. I prefer the bread untoasted with just a little butter or duck liver paté and with corn chowder, but I love it even more with thick slices of corned beef tongue.

yummy with duck liver paté

and with corn chowder

Dark Rye Bread

sponge

1 cup rye flour

a pinch of instant yeast

¾ cup water

dough
1 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1¼ up to 1½ cups warm water
1 tablespoon barley malt syrup
2 cups rye flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1½ tablespoons caramel powder

In a small bowl, mix sponge ingredients with a spatula until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the kitchen counter overnight or at least 12 hours.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together bread flour, yeast, and sugar. Stir in warm water and barley malt syrup; mix until smooth. Add sponge, rye flour, salt, and caramel powder. Mix with a wooden spatula until fully combined. The dough will be very sticky. With lightly oiled or wet hands, knead dough on kitchen counter for 6 minutes; it will still be sticky. Form into a ball and place on a lightly greased container, cover with plastic wrap, and let ferment on the kitchen counter for 3 hours. It may or may not double in size.
With lightly oiled hands, knead dough a few times, flatten into a rectangle and roll to fit a 9 x 4-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise up to the rim of the pan. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 1½ hours.

Corned Beef Tongue

1 beef tongue

½ cup kosher salt

water

2 tablespoon pickling spice
1 teaspoon sea salt, optional

Wash and brush tongue; dry thoroughly with paper towels. Place in a container with lid and rub all over with salt. Cover and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.
Rinse tongue, place in a pot with pickling spice and 1 teaspoon sea salt, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, skim off top, lower heat, and simmer, covered, on medium-low heat for 3 hours or until very tender. Remove from broth; discard broth. Let cool slightly; peel off tough skin and discard skin. Let cool before slicing. Re-heat slices or serve at room temperature to fill sandwiches.