felis pasgua

felis pasgua yan añu nuebo; may you have a warm, wonderful and blessed christmas season. i'm off to manila, so i'll see y'all in the new year!

holiday indulgence.

i've been pretty good about staying away from the sweets and treats i've been baking and those that have been given as gifts, but all this running around has made me hungry! my big overindulgence this holiday has been eggs--poached, boiled, fried, scrambled, salted, you name it. it's sort of funny because during my college days i was not a fan of eggs at all, and recently i've had a bad case of mayonnaise aversion. but i've been having one a day for the past week, and i can feel the cholesterol sludging up my system, so i know i better cool it and soon. still, there's something about a warm runny yolk on a pile of hot rice, a soft-boiled egg smashed onto a chunk of buttered wholemeal toast, or egg whites with a bit of sea salt and fried minced garlic....mmmm.

so then two of my favourites: a chorizo hash with sweet potatoes and white potatoes, onion, celery and carrot, topped with a poached egg. simply chop everything up, crumble the chorizo, sautée and yr done. a little harissa adds a little complexity to the kick, but it's fine on its own.

and of course, the loco moco, made a little more luxurious with a grilled sirloin beef patty on steamed red-grained rice, topped with a fried egg and gravy made with oxtail and shank stock. after making a standard roux i whisked the hot beef stock into the mix until it became a thin gravy; i shredded some of the oxtail and shank meat, added it in and seasoned with salt and pepper. really, nothing to it workwise, but flavourwise, it's on a whole 'nother level of loconess.

gaah, where has the time gone? recipes in a bit (maybe after xmas if you'll forgive me--'tis that time of year after all)!

'tis the season.

i don't think i've ever made a fruitcake before. i've never been a huge fan of it, but i've had some that have been very good, so i'm not of the type who chucks it out of windows when one crosses the threshold--mainly because most of them are so heavy, i'm sure to kill an unsuspecting passerby. i do, however, get the urge to bake them, even though i know they are a hard sell. i brought one to the guys at the bank today and they were all like, "so what goodies did you bring us today?" and i carefully said "oh. a cake." pause. "with fruit." dingdingding! oh, the disappointment and the accusation hanging in the air! "a fruitcake?!"

yeah, well, there's really no hiding it. i can't even claim it's not like a traditional cake made with all fresh or dried fruit, or some sort of pierre herme creation. it's not lightweight, it's not soaked in tequila--it's a number-one-bona-fide-brick of butter, sugar, eggs, and fruit. i adapted a recipe from jeffrey steingarten--the other one who ate everything--that was adapted by annie over at bon appegeek; she is a hardcore fruitcake fanatic, so if she liked the recipe, and if jeffrey steingarten liked the recipe, there's a pretty good chance that i...might not. hey! like i said, i'm not a big fruitcake fan. i don't know why i wanted to make it, maybe it's some sort of sick manifestation of holiday spirit or something. (you know what? it probably is. i mean, i've been watching straight-to-basic-cable holiday movies all week--diva whose ghost of present is the bass player for duran duran? seen it. sabrina the teenage witch kidnapping the cha cha king for a family dinner? seen it. also, who's been scanning the FM dial for a chance to hear mariah carey for the fifteenth time? that day? nyahh. say what you want, it's teh awesomeest.)

so anyway. i've never read steingarten's book, don't really know the exact mods that annie did to his cake, and there's talk of some sort of "fatal flaw" in the crust. i wasn't worried too much about it, though, because the ingredients list reads like a french pound cake recipe with the addition of a lot of stuff--i can do that. the french pound cake--quatre quarts, literally "four fourths"--is made with equal amounts of four ingredients: flour, eggs, butter, and sugar; only a little variation on that, and some advice taken from one of the dozens of googled fruitcake recipes i've looked at for weeks: the addition of 3.5 pounds of fruit. yeeeeeeahboyyyy. can't mistake that for anything else then. i used a mix of dried and candied fruits, chopped them up to 1/4-inch anonymity to protect the innocent, which made the cake more like a jammy poundcake than dough studded with sugary unidentifiable lumps. walnuts added some needed texture, and like annie and jeffrey, i didn't bother to liquor it up. didn't need it. also didn't get the hard crustiness as described by both, but i baked them in smaller loaves, so the cooking time was reduced significantly; what i got was a beautifully golden, sugary-coated shell that made the cake irresistible directly out of the oven. of course, all that fruit and sugar makes it molten-hot, so perhaps you'd like to wait for it to cool completely, or even refrigerate it for easier slicing.

i know you're sceptical, but i stand by it, like i stand by mariah carey's christmas song--it's sugary, it's sweet, it's definitely seasonal, but it also has substance, quality ingredients, and darn it if it doesn't make you want to dance around the christmas tree.

oh, you humbuggers you. here's some darlene love for you then.

fruitcake

3 1/2 lbs of any combination of dried fruit and candied fruit you like--i highly suggest using a lot of citrus peel in the mix (i used 8 oz each of candied orange peel, lemon peel, and pineapple, golden raisins, chopped dates, 4 oz of finely diced candied ginger in syrup, and made up the rest with a dried fruit blend, then chopped down to 1/8"-1/4" pieces)

1 lb of nuts, your choice (i used roughly chopped walnuts)

1 lb of flour, sifted

1 lb of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 lb of white sugar

6 eggs

2 teaspoonfuls of vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoonful of salt

preheat oven to 325˚F.

in a large bowl, combine all fruit and nuts, mixing well. set aside. cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. add vanilla and salt. fold in flour until completely incorporated. mix fruit/nut mix into batter. transfer batter into well greased pans. bake until golden, and toothpick inserted in center comes out relatively clean (roughly 35 minutes for small muffins, 1 hour for small loaves, and 2 hours for large ones).

the stress of the season...

has caused my gingerbread cookies to break out in hideous, sugar-encrusted boils.

baking by the bushel.

i am at the tail end of a cookie baking marathon--mexican wedding cookies, an odd hazelnut chocolate cookie with which i was experimenting, and chocolate chippies. new to this year's lineup: bill clinton's oatmeal cookies, from chef sherry yard's "desserts by the yard." i make a lot of oatmeal cookies, and even though they don't look like much (when do oatmeal cookies ever do?), they might be some of my favourite--possibly the only favourite anything i share with the former president. they are crispy on the outside, but chewy with oats, brown sugar, and wine-soaked golden raisins (i added some dried cranberries as well) on the inside. you can futz about with the temperature and time if you want a softer, chewier cookie, but imho, they don't turn out quite so well. stick to the plan, stan, and enjoy.

menu for hope IV

three years of giving, almost $100k in total going to worthy charities. it's time for the fourth campaign, as spearheaded by the lovely miss pim. money this time goes to the UN world food programme, for the school lunch program in lesotho, africa. chez pim has all the details on who gets the money and how you can contribute. prizes galore for your generosity! you can also check out grab your fork for the asia pacific prize roundup and all the deets as well.

fa-la-la ludo's pain d'épices.

yes, it's from heem again, what of it? with the way things are going this holiday season could be a ludo christmas or a ludacrismas --it could go either way.

*

it's (eeeep!) only tweeks away from the 25th, and i'm still trying to decide what my christmas cake gift will be. truth be told, i'm not entirely sure anyone around here appreciates gingerbread, spice cakes, or fruitcake, but i so want to do one. or all. or, in the case of this ludo recipe, a spice and fruitcake rolled into one.

pain d'épices--"bread of spices"--is a specialty of the bourgogne/burgundy region of france, possibly adapted from a chinese honey cake in the middle ages to satisfy marguerite de france's penchant for honey cake, depending on what you read. a combination of ideal geography and shrewd calculations gave the burgundian dukes control of the spice trade through europe, which accounts for the exotic, redolent spices found in pain d'epices: anise, cloves, cinnamon, sometimes ginger. since chef lefebvre is from burgundy, i thought, what better source is there? (of course it has nothing to do with the fact that the cookbook is at my bedside, no not at all.)

it is a simple recipe, despite the 20 item ingredient list; the majority of those are spices, and only in small quantities. rather surprising to me, though, is that ginger is not one of those ingredients, but with fresh orange and lemon peel, star anise and cloves among them, who needs it? also unnecessary are eggs and fat--this is a dairy-free dessert. unlike many of the other pain d'epices receipts i have found, this one has candied fruit in it, making it very much a fruitcake. i substituted traditional glacé fruits with a dried fruit blend to great effect--the candied texture is still there, but with much less sweetness. there is also a bounty of pistachios, hazelnuts, and almonds within. once all the ingredients have been assembled--dry items in one bowl, wet in another, nuts and bolts to the side--it really comes down to just mixing them all and baking, in the easiest possible way. whoo!

the cake is dark, dense, moist, intensely aromatic and flavoured; a thin slice is better than a thick one to savour all the flavours going on within it. i find it exotic and appealing, very we-three-kings frankincensey and jewellike. however, the gingerbread jury thought otherwise: "omg, is that a fruitcake?! bleurgh" or "blarrgh! wtf? is there cumin in this?!" pfftpfftpfft. why, ho ho ho, yes, there is cumin in there--a mere fraction of a teaspoonful--but apparently enough to make staunch cuminyfruitycake-haters fuel up on haterade (who knew there would be so many). *sigh* i could leave out the cumin. or, get new friends. but do i really want to do either?

back to the books.

bring me some figgysomething.

okay, now that i've got the figs, what do i do with them? i've looked at a bunch of figgy pudding recipes but they all seem to call for dried figs. does anyone have a nice recipe for fresh ones (pudding or otherwise)?

name that fruit!: figs.

about a year ago, i bought a little fig tree cutting from a local growers' market. i was surprised to see it there, because i didn't think figs grew in tropical places, mainly because i never saw fresh figs in the market, nor any recipes utilizing them. the grower really didn't know anything about it, except that he had always had trees on his family's land; however, he had never actually tried the fruit, and wasn't sure if it was the same as any of the varieties sold in mainland markets or if it was some sort of asian variation.

so, i took it to my parents' house and my dad planted it in the backyard. i didn't hold much hope for it, but it grew steadily, and even managed to produce a couple of fruit sporadically over the next couple of months. i didn't really think about it much, but lately i've realized that in the past year, the tree is now over ten feet tall, and is finally yielding enough fruit to actually use in a recipe. whee! i figured it was time to actually look up what kind of fig tree it is.

i still don't know, but found another surprise: fig trees--Ficus carica--are believed to be native to western asia, distantly related to breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis Fosb.); jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam.); and chinese mulberry (Cudrania tricuspidata). it is a deciduous tree that is typically ten to 30 feet in height, but can grow up to 50 feet. the branches are soft, twisty and vine-like, spreading wide rather than tall. the leaves are bright green, fuzzy, have an easily recognizable shape and grow out to nearly a foot in length. the fruit has a thin peel of varying colours (from green to dark purple), with and interior white rind holding in a mass of gelatinous seeds. they must be left to ripen on the tree, but once picked they only last for a few days.

perhaps this fragility, along with the fact that there aren't many birds on island to spread the seed are the reason why i haven't seen them before, but i'm still surprised i haven't seen it as an ingredient in asian recipes. perhaps a little more research is in order.....

merry meringues.

yes, i know it doesn't seem like i know any other holiday-esque adjective besides "merry" but yah maybe i don't. i saw big, beautiful raspberry meringues on doc18's flickr photostream, and found them very appealing. doc18's meringues were from ottolenghi in london; i've never been, but it looks very much like a place i'd like. however, it doesn't look like i'll be getting to the uk any time soon, so again, i must make do with make at home.

upon some reflection, i've realized i don't really like meringues all that much, but i do like aspects of them a lot--fat freedom and texture mainly; that they are overly sweet and not particularly flavoured with anything, not so much. also, i wasn't very good at making them. however, with a little patience, a vat of egg whites, and some help from baking 911, i've learned some tricks for success in a humid, tropical kitchen. the main thing, of course, is to try to keep the humidity at bay, but making a swiss meringue--which cooks the egg whites and sugar before beating--allows for the sugar to melt thoroughly (no graininess or weeping--on the meringue's nor cook's part), and stabilizes the mix more for a lighter, fluffier texture. also, in more humid climates, longer oven times are necessary, but at a lower temperature--lower, slower. whoo. barry white meringues!

still working on flavour. vanilla is nice, but want more variety. for these i simply whirred some freeze-dried strawberries in a food processor to make a ruby red dust for decoration and a bit of tartness. holiday gorgeous, certainly, but if anyone has any other flavouring suggestions, please let me know!




big baked meringues, humid weather formula (aka barry whites)

2 egg whites (from large eggs)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoonful vanilla extract
pinch of salt

preheat oven to 300˚F. over a pot of simmering water, stir the egg whites and sugar together until the sugar melts and the mixture feels quite warm (but not hot!). add vanilla and salt. take the mixture off the heat, and whisk (or use a mixer) until thick, glossy and doubled in volume. plop big blobs of the stuff onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then bake in oven for 1-1 1/2 hours. drop the temperature to 250˚F, bake for another 1-2 hours, then turn off oven. leave the meringues in oven overnight to continue drying.

makes 4 to 6 big bazonking meringues.

happy (c)hanukkah!

love that cnn. i was looking up the significance of the jewish holiday, hanukkah, which began last night after sundown (thanks, bramble!), and came across this:

During Hanukkah, Jewish people celebrate the miracle of the tiny bit of oil that miraculously burned for eight days. This miracle is remembered by lighting a menorah for eight days and eating fare cooked in oil or laden with cheese.

um, i think there might be more to it than that. but hey, food is important in religious holidays--that a celebration should include deep fried dough and dairy goodness can only be a good thing, right?

this isn't fried in oil, but it is definitely laden with cheese: a dark chocolate chocolate chip cheesecake from the whimsical bakehouse by kaye and liv hansen. the recipe was adapted from this mocha chocolate chip cheesecake--just omit the espresso. also, all the fiddly decorative bits and chocolate glaze are nice but unnecessary--this cake is good enough on its own. it is creamy, not too sweet, rich, but not too heavy. a lovely addition to any holiday feasting.

merry, bright.

the simplest of ice cream recipes, as brought to you by the man, made slightly more festive with the addition of milk chocolate covered rice crispy bits. the chocolate coating helps keep the puffy rice crispy, and adds a lovely bit of light texture in this velvety rich ice cream.

if you don't have the powdered milk, you can leave it out. if you don't have an ice cream maker, just pour the mix into a zippered freezer bag, then place in the freezer; squish it about every half hour or so until it has a soft-serve like consistency. to make the chocolate rice crispies, melt a bar of milk chocolate (i find leaving it on my car dashboard to be the most effective method--if that's not in your plans, try one of these methods), add approximately one cup of puffed rice cereal to the slightly cooled chocolate, mixing gently until coated well. spread out onto wax paper or silpat sheet to cool, then fold into the prepared ice cream.

joining the christmas countdown.

miss zarah of food and thoughts is in the holiday spirit and planning on offering a new post for the next 24 days. i love the idea of her christmas countdown, but doubt that i can match her largesse. however, it doesn't hurt to try, does it? so, hopefully, for the run up until the 'mas i will attempt to double my output--from one post a week to at least two. >gasp< i know. it's mind-boggling, innit. i've just read that cathy from my little kitchen plans to join in as well--anybody else up for the challenge?

a little more ludo love.

i recently had a very memorable meal at an event called ludobites in los angeles; i highly recommend it to any readers in the area, as chef ludo lefebvre's stint at breadbar ends in a mere four weeks. one of the highlights of the meal was an apple cake with mashta ice cream--a cool wedge of slowly cooked, beautifully layered apples slices served alongside a snowy white quenelle of ice cream barely flavoured with mastic, a resin from a mediterranean evergreen. i knew i couldn't go back to have this again, but needs must when the devil drives, so one way or another i had to recreate this dessert myself. [rant] because of an ongoing battle with the post office, i have yet to receive my copy of lefebvre's cookbook "crave: the feast of the five senses". i would complain louder and longer about it arriving on island not once but twice, yet never making it to my office directly across the street and instead returning to some random book returns warehouse in ohio. however, the postal workers know where i live and frankly, some of them scare me. so, i've made do with a borrowed copy whilst i await a third try. [/rant]

i suspected the apple confit cake found on soul fusion kitchen was what i wanted; it is from lefebvre's cookbook, as adapted by the la times. 8.5 pounds of granny smiths sliced on a mandoline, and five hours of cooking time. um, sure, i can do that. i followed the recipe as written, only to find that it didn't quite match up to the dessert in my experience. it was much paler, and not as compact and yielding as i recalled. the flavour was very close, but i wanted the texture--soft but not mushy--as well. it only took a little bit of tweaking to get it right--actually, all it really took was a lot more time. i kept the ingredients the same and borrowed time from both pierre herme's 24 hour apples and jean-georges vongerichten(ichtenichten)'s own apple confit recipes: after coating the pan in a sugar caramel then layering 1/8"-sliced apples with sugar and a citrus confit, i covered the 17-18 layers of apples and left it to sit in the refrigerator for 12 hours. after baking it in a bain-marie water bath at 250˚F for 12 hours, i covered it again, weighted it down with heavy dish, then refrigerated it for another 12 hours. seriously, if you think about it, there is very little work involved, considering 36+ hours go into it-- just a lot of slicing (disguising obscene gesturing) and a little crafty arrangement. the apples, despite the baking time, still manage to retain a freshness of fragrance and texture i do not expect from preserved foods; the flavour is still subtle, despite its concentration.

the mastic needed for the ice cream is native to greece, and is still an uncommon ingredient. i thought procuring it would be difficult, esp. considering my usps troubles; but no, two minutes on ebay and ten days later, i received the pale golden crystal nuggets in the mail. i could not find an ice cream recipe from chef ludo on the 'nets, but stumbled across harold mcgee's article that featured dondurma, a turkish ice cream which relies heavily on mastic, which led me to a concurrent article by mark bittman on cornstarch ice cream. bittman says that ice cream made with cornstarch as a thickener instead of eggs is lighter, and the eggs do not impede the flavours added in--exactly what i was looking for. i didn't really know how much mastic to add, so i tried a scant 1/2 teaspoonful, ground in a food processor with some sugar. perhaps it was too much; i think the mastic added some elasticity to the ice cream that wouldn't have been there otherwise, but it bordered on tasting like exterior latex paint. although i have yet to try it again, i suspect 1/4 teaspoonful of the mastic crystals (before grinding) should be enough to get a that lovely greeny taste without going overboard.

*

the online recipe for the confit described does not match the grapefruit one tried in the restaurant, nor does it quite match the confit in the book either. i went with the one in the book, which calls for more fruit and bigger pieces of zest, but is basically the same. it is far less "jammy" than i expected--less a jelly and more like a syrup--and not particularly sweet, yet not very bitter either. i can't imagine eating this on its own, but it makes a fine ingredient in both sweet and savoury dishes.

and the recipe makes a lot of confit. i used some of the leftover for another lefebvre recipe, this one for a citrus marmalade. again, not as congealed, bitter nor sweet as one normally expects. this is a marmalade for marmalade haters: lots of fresh grapefruit, orange, and lemon segments mixed in with the citrus confit, a spoonful of good, fruity olive oil and a sprinkling of fleur de sel and freshly cracked black pepper to taste, then served warm. the olive oil seemed an unlikely yet obvious pairing with the citrus--the fruitiness obvs complemented the citrus, and also added extra depth. seriously, you could eat spoonfuls of this stuff--i did.

*
you can purchase the book from the usual suspect.

i have too many onions anyway.

how to charge an iPod using electrolytes and an onion

mangan keni!: abé in serendra.

typically when we go to the province, there's really not much to do except eat; however, we do that exceptionally well. most of my relatives are very good cooks, and the region we're from, pampanga, is considered the "culinary center of the philippines" (at least according to wiki, ha!). you say chukchak, i say chenes! whether you consider this to be true or not, pampanga has a varied cuisine, mainly due to the fact that in the pre-spanish and early colonial times, pampanga bay used to be a major route for commercial vessels from other countries; as the center of trade, many nationalities would pass through and bring not only their various wares and foodstuff, but their culinary expertise as well. this, along with the abundance of native comestibles from the land and sea created a rich and varied cuisine.

having said all that, it is somewhat surprising to me that there weren't many restaurants that specialized in kapampangan cuisine until recently. even those that did exist were...well, not necessarily bad, but mostly if you wanted to eat kapampangan food, it was better to just get it at home. or a friend's house. so, it was quite nice to find abé (ah-beh) restaurant in the serendra complex at fort bonifacio. not only does it specialize in the provincial cuisine, but it also doesn't suck. huzzah! abé means "friend", so it's like going to your friend's house for a lovely dinner. your friend will a really, really nice house and an incredibly well-stocked pantry, that is. and a full-time staff.

the food is more refined and maybe a little modernized than what you would actually find in the province, but the taste generally remains the same. there is a nice mix of vegetables, seafood, and meat on the menu; there is also a good mix of filipino standards, dishes for people who are trying filipino cuisine for the first time, and those for diners with a more...adventurous palate.

some of my most favourite items on the menu are the vegetables. the pako rainforest fern salad with tomatoes and salted eggs are every-so-lightly dressed in a palm vinegar dressing and garnished with a just as lightly pickled red shallot. crunchy, salty, fresh. the bicol express is a mix of various vegetables--okra, long beans, sweet peppers and chili peppers sautéed with onion and garlic and simmered in coconut milk. the vegetables were just south of al dente, with the tiniest bit of give without being overcooked. bicol express is considered to be a spicy dish, but i have yet to find a restaurant version in the philippines that registers as such to me. adobong puso ng saging is shredded banana blossom stewed in palm vinegar; it tastes not too much unlike a freshly marinated artichoke or a palm heart. the lumpiang picapica is not a regional speciality but a family recipe from the author gilda cordero; it is a fried spring roll with a lightly spiced, cooked garbanzo bean/chickpea filling which, truthfully is a little bland, but not as heavy as one would think. i don't know exactly what flavours it, but i reckon it's a little onion, garlic and turmeric--combined with the vinegar dipping sauce that is sharp with raw garlic and fresh chilis, it makes an interesting appetizer.

most of the seafood dishes are very simply prepared: the tiniest of squid (squidlets!) are stewed in its own ink and a little onion and garlic, just enough for it to cook through without losing its tenderness, the hito are baby catfish, fried, and served with fresh mustard greens and balo balo, a condiment made with small shrimp and fermented rice. the pla-pla (a sort of large, flat tilapia) comes simply deep-fried and butterflied. probably the star of the seafood menu is tiger prawns cooked in a deep, earthy, rich sauce made with aligue/taba ng talangka, or the roe and fat from tiny mud crabs. i don't really know how to describe the taste of it, but it's like the perfect cross of caviar and foie gras. rich, fatty, fabulous. the prawns are merely a vehicle for the sauce, although they do provide a nice sweetness.

i like the adobo at abé's a lot; it is made with lamb, stewed in a rich vinegar, garlic and onion sauce, and covered in deep-fried and cracked cloves of garlic. this along with mounds of white rice could sustain me for months. i don't know about my blood pressure, but i'd die happy, i reckon. and thirsty.

the thing is, i could probably make that at home if i thought about it and took a little care. there are a couple of things on the menu that i know i couldn't make, and of these, i give big love to the camaru (káh-mah-roo), or mole crickets (Gryllotalpa orientalis Burmeister). the crickets live in rice paddies and feast on the young grasses and rice husks (okay, okay, and probably the occasional larvae). they are collected from the fields, cleaned, then sautéed with tomatoes, onion, and olive oil. abé's are great because they are still quite small and some unlucky sod in the kitchen has already removed the head, legs and wings--no woody exoskeletons and furry barbed forewings to deal with. heeee.

desserts are quite traditional, so happily, always exoskeleton free (no chance of it, really). i haven't actually tried many of them because there is rarely any room, but i have tried their halo-halo, which tops shaved ice with preserved fruit, ube, sweetened red beans, pandan gulaman gelatin, a creamy chunk of leche flan, and evaporated milk. it is generous in both quality and quantity, which distances it from the middling norm.

so, there's definitely room for the adventurous palate here, but should you be looking for a more traditional meal, certainly abé's can accommodate you. it may not quite be like home, but then again, you don't have to do the dishes!


abé
g/f serendra circle,
fort bonifacio, taguig
856.0526.

oh noes! no mo' jojo's

sad news for all the folks who got to enjoy one of my favourite food places on island, jojo's adobo. owner jojo santo tomas has decided to go back to work at the local paper, so he's closed up shop. no more sage-rubbed adobo or green fish or even the infamous man meals in the near future, but he says he might consider taking catering jobs one day. let's hope that day comes soon!

happy halloween!

i saw these pumpkins at salcedo market the other week. pumpkins aren't common in the philippines, especially the decorative variety. although, i'm pretty sure someone's going to try to eat these....

banguera.

one of my favourite features in our family's ancestral home: bangueras. these are decorative ledges that jut out from the windowsills in the dining area and kitchen, and served as drying racks for the freshly washed dishes and glasses.

which, in this case, is one of my grandfather's favourite types of drinking vessel: an old nescafé coffee jar :)

back to the old house (again).

i'm still blogging at third and fairfax, but i've actually left the big city, and went to another big city :) i did spend some time in the province, though, as i hadn't been since...well, since the last time i blogged about it. i am constantly surprised with how much the province has developed in the last few years, but remain delighted that life in our little town pretty much remains the same.

our families in the province do not have very big refrigerators nor freezers; almost everything is bought fresh from the markets for cooking that day. whenever we need ice, we have to go to the ice house in the center of town--thankfully for my cousin minky, it is a very short bike ride away. it is a small, open-fronted shop (without electricity) lined in galvanized steel, with giant blocks of ice covered in rice hulls for insulation, stacked on the floor. the blocks are hand-sawn down to these manageable blocks to take home, where we further chisel them down with an ice pick into jagged rocks to cool off our drinks. i know they are essentially the same as premade ice cubes, but somehow the quartz-like chunks do seem to make our drinks taste better than the ones that required so little effort.

where did september go?

hi! i'm eating over in la at the moment, come follow me there--i've got LOTS to share with you!

in a pickle.

we've been in monsoon season for the past few months which means lots of wind, lots of rain, and the end of the current fruit crops (boo). we had a couple of weeks of tropical storm-strength wind earlier, which was bad for most of the crops, but with all the unripe, green mangoes that fell, i had the perfect opportunity to make one of my favourite snacks/condiments, pickled mango. unripe mangoes (as you can imagine) are sour, acidic things, but pickling mellows the acidity and well, sour is what you want in a pickle anyway. there is a discernible mango taste, but if you've never had a green mango, i'm not sure i can describe it to you (anyone want to take a stab at it?).

generally on island mango pickles are pretty basic: large spears of green mango are marinated in a white vinegar and water mixture, along with some boonie peppers/thai bird chilis, or a generous dose of chili pepper of choice. i like my pickled mangoes to be sour-sweet, so i add sugar, and try to play around with the spices and types of vinegar so it's not just solid heat and pucker. the ones above were made with apple cider vinegar boiled with sugar and salt, a random assortment of chilis and whatever was in the spice pantry--bay leaves, fennel seeds, star anise, cinnamon sticks. three days in the fridge seems to be enough to get a good saturation, yet keep the mangoes firm and crunchy. like any good pickle, i reckon.

if the ones above are 'good' pickles, then maybe koolickles qualify as 'evil' pickles. i read about them for the first time at the beginning of summer (cathy also posted about them), and i have to say i was both repulsed and attracted. 'koolickles' are dill pickles that are partially marinated in a sweetened drink product, and take on an unearthly reddish sheen, along with a pronounced artificially and naturally flavoured fruit-like flavour. mmmmm. boy howdy! where do i sign up? actually, i, like cathy, wasn't sure if i would actually like them, but i suspect our reasons are different--i just don't like cucumber pickles. however, i do like a number of other fruit-based pickles like ones made with watermelon rind, green papaya, and (of course) mango. so, it stood to reason that other pickled fruit besides cucumbers would probably be a better vehicle for the soft drink mix. colourwise, it is already similar to a type of hawaiian pickled mango, and flavourwise, well...we'd just have to see.

'struth, so help me, these mango koolickles were awesome. much like artificial sweeteners in li hing mui/preserved plums amplify the flavour of the preserved fruit, the soft drink mix's artificiality amplified all the natural flavour of the pickle--the sourness and fruitiness were sharper, the sweetness tempered nicely by the citrus edge. the mango itself still tasted like mango, but a little like pineapple too, and slightly candied to boot. it reminded me so much of a type of hawaiian crack seed product, that i decided to add some li hing mui powder for a bit more savoury flavour.

honestly, how this isn't a staple here on guam or in hawaii already, i don't know. it has all the familiar components: mango, pickle, bright artificial dye, fruit punch (yes, red fruit punch is actually popular in hawaii. and guam.)--in fact, these pickles could easily be made with the red fruit punch syrup that is a staple here, instead of the powdered drink mix for a more "authentic" feel. (ha!)

i might get you to try this, but i'm sure this might be a hard sell to some: pour a generous slug of the koolickle juice into a glass of ice, top with some fizzy mineral water or club soda, and you'll have quite a refreshing, piquant soda. or maybe a more appealing sell: instead of carbonated soda, how 'bout vodka? maybe you'll forget what you are drinking and enjoy it :)

**

pickled mangoes

4 cups/1 qt. of green mangoes, peeled, de-pitted, and cut into spears (note: you'll want unripe ones, not immature ones, which will be too acidic)
1 pint vinegar (i use apple cider vinegar for something more piquant, rice wine vinegar when i want it mellow)
1-1 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown, your choice)
1/4 cup of kosher salt (you can omit the salt if you want, and use less sugar)
water
*optional spices, to taste:
fresh chili peppers (i use green arbol or serranos)
slices of fresh ginger
whole star anise
fennel seeds
cinnamon sticks
cracked peppercorns

pack mangoes into clean, widemouth jars. tuck a couple of chili peppers in with the mangoes. set aside. mix vinegar, sugar, salt and any spices you'd like to use in a saucepan; bring to a boil. stir constantly, until all the sugar and salt has dissolved, and the mixture becomes a bit syrupy. pour evenly over mangoes (if they are divided between jars, put equal amounts of syrup in each jar). fill the jars with enough water to just cover the mangoes. seal tightly, shake to mix, then refrigerate for several days, turning bottles intermittently. three days seems to be fine, but can take up to a week. keeps for an indeterminate length of time.

**

mango koolickles

2 cups/1 pint of green mangoes, peeled, de-pitted, and cut into spears (you can also use partially ripe or ripe but sour mangoes)
1 packet unsweetened kool-aid® drink mix, preferrably red--tropical punch, cherry, strawberry and 1 cup white sugar
or
1 cup hawaiian punch concentrated syrup or generic fruit punch syrup
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
*optional li hing mui powder, to taste

pack mangoes into clean, widemouth jars. mix drink mix and sugar (or fruit punch syrup), vinegar and water until completely mixed and dissolved. add li hing mui powder, stir. pour mixture over mangoes, add extra water if needed to completely cover fruit, shake to mix. seal tightly, and refrigerate for several days, turning bottles intermittently. when mangoes turn a radioactive red, they are most likely ready to serve.

DIY fondant

i don't use a lot of fondant in my kitchen, and i was always under the assumption that it was difficult to make--that's why everyone buys it to use for their cake decorations and confections. i used storebought fondant in some previous efforts, but it was always a somewhat annoying experience, because i never knew if i was going to find it locally, and i would have to buy a big, costly package, yet only use half the contents, leaving the rest to dry out before the next project arose. so, when this petit fours project came up, i really made an effort to find an alternative, which i did, thankfully; a very, very simple recipe that doesn't involve corn syrup, candy thermometers, loads of money, nor time. all you need is a package of marshmallows, a lot of powdered sugar, and a liberal glop of vegetable shortening. the recipe with step-by-step instructions is here, along with a lot of other questions answered and some lovely photos.

it's basically this: melt marshmallows with a little water in microwave. add powdered sugar. mix with liberally greased implement (spatula, spoons, hands), until smooth and pliable. fondant! not only is it cheaper than the prepackaged variety, it's also much tastier. you can keep it in your fridge for weeks, although you might be tempted to play with it instead of keeping it for a special project.

i have some ideas in mind, but i don't think i'll ever get as fancy as my friend veronica gets (albeit, she makes her fabulous cake creations for a living). she made this great tokidoki/le sportsac-inspired cake for my birthday, isn't it fab-yoo-luss?

the figurine is made with coloured fondant and a zillion toothpicks, whilst the cake itself is wrapped in rolled fondant (the hearts and crossbones were made with piped royal icing). her harry potter-inspired mandrake cake featured a sculpted fondant root embedded in milk chocolate, on top of a base of devil's food cake and cake crumbs.

way cool. and now equipped with a cheap and tasty fondant recipe, you too can try your hand at such decorating wizardry.

simple and pleasing petit fours.

even though i grew up on a tropical island, the elementary school i attended was run by a southern colonel and his colourful wife. they were a social couple who enjoyed organizing events for the children and their families, including a headmaster's tea at the beginning of the school year, where he would formally introduce himself to "the troops." i have to say, i enjoyed these rather genteel events, which passed for exotic in our world, and absorbed all the details of finery and frippery that were presented to us.

so, i was rather excited to learn that the headmaster's tea was to be resurrected, decades after the colonel and his wife retired, with some of the trademark confections to return, including the petit fours that were the precious jewels of each of the silver platters of assorted cookies and biscuits that were served during the tea. they were nothing more than bite-sized cubes of sponge cake covered with fondant, but they were gaily coloured in easter pastel colours, with a tiny piped rosette on top, like a lovely little gift, just for you.

petit fours are typically small decorated cakes that are served at the end of a meal, but can also be any number of diminutive pastries. the name is french for "small ovens," and they were created as a way for bakers to use up leftovers at the end of the day, as the ovens were left to cool for the night. i've only tried making them a couple times previously, one of them being a white chocolate sponge creation for miss deborah. they turned out tasty, but i had difficulty in covering the cakes with something that could withstand the humid weather and remain adhering to the cake. although many petit fours can be quite elaborate, i knew i had to make 12 or more dozen, so i decided to go with a very simple iced cake confection, with a minimum of steps.

deciding what kind of cake was easy; i went with a pound cake, as it is sturdier than sponge, and with the amount of sugar in the icing, i thought the buttery, eggy cake would be a better balance. i used flo braker's recipe for apricot pound cake (obvs without the apricots), from her book, "the simple art of perfect baking." the cake was excellent--a beautiful, fine crumb, dense but not too heavy, fragrant with vanilla, and not too sweet (even if you do not make the petit fours, this turns out a great loaf ).

after quite a bit of research on the nets, i thought the best covering would be poured fondant, as it would dry to a smooth, hard finish. pre-made poured fondant isn't sold here, so i knew i would have to make it myself. i really wanted to find a recipe that was easy, fool-proof, and hopefully didn't involve corn syrup (which i don't like to use), nor a candy thermometer (eeek. not good with those either). i came across a few recipes, but they all involved the dreaded corn syrup and/or candy thermometer, or they were poorly reviewed. luckily, i did find a suggestion to thin out pre-made rolled fondant with simple syrup for a poured fondant icing, and that worked out remarkably well.

these petit fours are easy to make, but there are quite a few steps; i've broken it down into three sections: cake, icing, assembly. once you get these down, it will be a breeze. you can add more (layers of jam, chocolate, sugar syrup laced with liqueur, more decorations, whatever), or substitute cake or icing to your liking; the possibilities are endless, and the product almost always charming.


simple petit fours

semi-special equipment you will need:

rectangular baking pan (9"x13" or thereabouts)
ruler
microwaveable bowl
drying/cooling rack set on top of baking sheet lined with silicone mat or wax/parchment paper (for easy cleanup)
mini-muffin/cupcake liners (optional)

for the cake:

1. bake cake (here's the recipe for flo's pound cake) in rectangular baking pan that is greased, floured, and lined on the bottom with parchment. top tip: pound cakes will rise and crack in the middle; you can minimize (but not completely eliminate) the dome--in both a sheet cake and in a loaf--by pushing some of the batter towards the sides, or creating an even, shallow well in the center with a spatula (same difference).

2. after cake has cooled down, put in refrigerator or freezer for at least three hours, or overnight--a cold cake is easier to cut, with less crumbing and crumbling. you can level the cake if doming on the cake is significant; if you are not too worried about the difference in the height of your cakes, then don't sweat it. i almost always ice my cakes bottom side up because it is a smoother, more even surface.

3. use a ruler as a guide to cut your cakes to size. i can't really recommend the best knife to cut cakes; i use a cheap OXO chef's knife because it has quite a thin blade which i find helpful. petit fours are about one inch square and 2 inches high, but feel free to cut them to whatever size with which you are most comfortable. my petit fours were 1 1/4-inches square and about 1 1/2-inches high, just because.

**

for the icing:

you will need:
rolled fondant
granulated sugar
water
lemon juice (optional)
other flavourings or extracts (optional)
food colour (optional)

1. make or purchase rolled fondant--i made mine (that'll be covered in the next post), as well as the simple syrup. cut the fondant into one ounce pieces. note: the difference between simple syrup and sugar syrup is the ratio of sugar to water--simple syrup is 2:1, whilst sugar syrup is 1:1. use the simple syrup for this fondant icing recipe (sugar syrup can be mixed with liqueur or juice or any flavouring to brush on top of the cake for extra flavour if you want). i don't really know how much icing you'll need, but i made approximately one quart of icing for six dozen cake pieces (with quite a bit to spare).

2. heat simple syrup in a microwave, on high for 2-3 minutes in a microwaveable bowl. the syrup should be bubbling slowly. add fondant pieces, 1 or 2 at a time, stirring after each addition, until the fondant melts, and the icing reaches a sort of school glue-like consistency. you will use roughly one ounce of fondant for every 1/4-cup of simple syrup. if the icing is too thick, thin it out with warm water or lemon juice--added a teaspoonful at a time--until it reaches desired consistency. if it's too thin, you can add powdered or icing sugar to thicken it.

3. tint the icing with food colouring and/or add any flavouring; mix well.

assembly:

1. skewer cake pieces onto a bamboo skewer, or fork, or use your fingers if the icing is cool enough for this next step. dip the cake into the fondant icing; one plunging dip works better than a couple of shallow ones. allow most of the excess to run off the cake before placing it on a cooling rack fitted on a baking pan to dry. don't worry if you don't dip the cake completely or if it runs down too gloopily; once the petit four is in a decorative paper sleeve, you won't really see any blemishes on the sides.

2.while the cakes are drying, place any decorations you may want on top of the cake. non-pareils, sugar sprinkles, and candy work well, or you can cut out shapes from tinted rolled fondant. if the icing has already dried completely, brush a tiny bit of water on the surface of the cake so the decorations will adhere.

3. after the icing has set, place each petit four in a mini-cupcake liner. pack away in a clean, dry container.

you can make the un-iced cake several days ahead and keep it refrigerated or frozen. any fondant decorations can also be made ahead, but kept in an airtight container in a cool, dry area. you *shouldn't* refrigerate the fondant as the colours tend to run once defrosting sets in. it's best to make the poured fondant icing just before use, however, as once cooled, the icing turns into a strange candy concrete; it can be reconstituted with a few drops of water and a quick zap in the microwave, but timing and amounts can be tricky. the petit fours themselves should be made the night before or same day as they are to be consumed; store them in a cool, dry place or in an airconditioned room, but not in the refrigerator.

see? it's not all that difficult to create, and so totally worth the effort.

boiled peanuts.

boiled peanuts are a popular snack throughout asia, but not so much anywhere else except for the southern united states (and hawaii!), where the nation's peanut production is centered. generally, peanuts are served roasted which brings out the nuttiness, but once boiled, it takes on a beany flavour--unsurprising, considering peanuts are not in fact nuts but legumes. peanuts that are used for boiling are the same for roasting, but generally the younger, fresher legume (called 'green' in the us, even though they aren't literally so) is preferred for a sweeter, more subtle taste.

in the united states, boiled peanuts are still considered somewhat of an oddity, and yet boiled edamame soy beans can be found quite regularly. there is quite a similarity in taste, although i find the peanut to be sweeter and a little more complex. perhaps one of the reasons why they aren't as popular as they could be is because it does take quite a bit of boiling time to get the peanut tender; however, with a slow cooker, you can pretty much get away with dumping some raw peanuts and salt into the pot, cover with water, set it and forget it. have a good night's sleep. clean the garage. take the dog on a long, long, long walk. return to a tasty and relatively healthy gem of a snack.


boiled peanuts, slow cooker method

(for a 6-qt. slow cooker/crock-pot)

1 qt/4 c. raw peanuts
4 qts water
1/2 c kosher salt

*optional: star anise, cinnamon sticks, fresh ginger, szechuan peppercorns, dried whole chilis (for a little asian flair, use at your own discretion. personally i prefer to add just a few whole star anise for a lovely licorice tinge)

dump everything in the pot, cover, and set on 'high'. ignore for 6 or 7 hours. sleep, go to a movie, clean your room. return to tender p-nutty goodness.

back in the kitchen

...and ready to raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahck!



my new purchase. good colour, yes?