Buco Pie

My sister M came to me last Friday with a special request. She wanted to bake buco pie with me--she said she was going to be home on Monday because it was a holiday here in the Philippines. Everytime any of my sisters or brothers come to me with a request that combines two of my favorite things (family and baking) I always cave in.

Buco is the meat of a young coconut. It's widely available in markets here in the Philippines. Buco pie is a staple dessert in many of the restaurants here. Some are really good while the others are filled with cornstarch thickened goo with a few pieces of buco meat. My sister asked me to make this recipe which they did in Home Economics class (...I miss highschool) This one is promising because it doesnt contain cornstarch at all and there's lots of buco meat :)

BUCO PIE

crust:

All-purpose Flour 3 cups

Salt 1 1/2 teaspoon

Shortening 3/4 cup (I used real butter)

Water, iced 1/3 cup

Sift all purpose flour, set aside. Dissolve salt in water. Cut butter into small pieces and cut into flour. Rub butter between hands and continue until butter is the size of peas (I'm making a mealy pie dough). Add water, do not knead dough. Just combine until dough comes together. Pat into a disc and wrap with wax paper. Refrigerate while making pie filling.

filling:

Buco meat 2 cups

Granulated Sugar 3/4 cup

All-purpose Flour 1/2 cup

Coconut water 1/2 cup

Evaporated milk 1/2 cup

Dissolve sugar in Coconut water, Add flour and continue whisking, pour in evaporated milk. Whisk until no lumps remain, transfer to a pot and cook over medium heat stirring the bottom of the pan with a silicone spatula. Cook until thick about 5 minutes. Add in buco meat and continue for another 5 minutes until very thick. Take off heat and cool.

Divide dough. Roll out half of dough into 1/4 inch thick round. Making sure dough does not stick to bottom by moving it. Dough has to be rolled out from the middle outwards. Carefully lift dough and drop carefully onto prepared pie pan. Do not pull sides. Pat to adhere to sides. Pour in cooled filling.

At this point you can decorate the top of the pie any way you want. I made mine a lattice. I rolled out the remaining pie dough and cut it into equal sized strips

and made a lattice design for my top crust. Brush with egg wash and bake in a preheated 350 degrees farenheit oven for 40 minutes.

Turon with Caramel Sauce

Turon (Fried bananas wrapped in lumpia or springroll wrappers) is a definite Pinoy comfort food. There's nothing like eating turon right after a meal of liempo and rice. I tried making my turon more to my liking by adding a caramel sauce and drizzling it on top.

TURON

Saging na Saba 3 pieces

Canola Oil 1/2 cup

Lumpia wrappers 6 pieces

Jackfruit 6 pieces, cut into strands

Sugar 1/2 cup

All purpose Cream 1/2 cup

Peel and cut bananas lengthwise. Cut wrappers into halves. Preheat pan with canola oil. Lay one piece banana on a wrapper, put jackfruit strands on top. Wrap securely and seal with water. Fry turon until golden brown.

Make sauce by cooking sugar in a heavy pot until cramelized, do not stir. When no lumps remain, take off heat and add cold cream, whisk until smooth. Drizzle over turon.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tweaked a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe and made it my own by adding powdered coffee, this always disappears faster than I can bake them. Im going to post the pictures later on but here is the recipe :)

MOCHA CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Butter, unsweetened 1 cup (1 bar)
Brown Sugar, firmly packed 3/4 cup
White Sugar 3/4 cup
Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
Eggs 2 pieces
All-purpose Flour 2 1/4 cups
Baking Soda 1 teaspoon
Salt 1/4 teaspoon
Powdered Coffee 1 tablespoon
Chocolate Chips 1 cup
Walnuts, chopped 1 cup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit, line a baking sheet with wax paper. Using paddle attachment of Kitchenaid mixer beat butter, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy. Add in flour, baking soda and salt and coffee. Mix well. Remove from mixer, scrape sides and stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from baking sheet and cool.

Dark Fantasies

Whenever I have a craving for chocolate, it's always the dark ones that tempt me. I love all kinds but when I really really want chocolate, I find myself rummaging through my dad's stash in the fridge...look what I came up with today!!! So I'm going to indulge myself and hopefully not finish all these by myself!

Curried Carrot Soup

Rainy days always make me want to stay home and curl up with a good book (I can always read the Twilight series again) but of course I can't do that, I'd still have to go to work--the responsibilities of being an adult :)

I just need a really hot soup (preferably thick and filling) before I head out the door with my umbrella and brave the rain. This carrot soup hasn't failed as a rainy day comfort food.

CURRIED CARROT SOUP

Carrots, peeled, diced 1/2 kilo

Onion, peeled and minced 1 piece

Garlic, minced 2 cloves

Chicken stock 750 ml

Tomato paste 15 grams

Curry powder 2 teaspoons

Bayleaf, dried 1 piece

Canola oil, 30 ml

Preheat heavy pot with canola oil, saute onions, garlic and carrots, add in curry powder, bayleaf and tomato paste. Cook for a further 2 minutes until fragrant and paste is cooked. Pour in Chicken stock, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 45 minutes. Take off heat, and puree using blender. Strain through a sifter making sure that soup is smooth and lump-free. Bring back to heat, taste and season. Serve hot with a slice of warm focaccia.

When Toast Isn't Enough

I usually just have toast and egg for breakfast but there are days when toast just isn't enough and that's when a hot plate of eggs (over cooked until the edges curl up in golden brown perfection) and our family's version of carne frita is the best alternative. I don't remember not having this kind of breakfast while I was growing up. My grandmother used to marinate a big batch and just fry as needed. Waking up to the smell of frying carne frita brings me back to my childhood.

CARNE FRITA

Sirloin, thinly sliced

Soy sauce

Pepper

Calamansi (a type of Philippine lemon)

Garlic, minced

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until meat is coated with the mixture. Marinate overnight. Fry in very hot oil and serve with eggs for a great breakfast :)

Almond Gateau with Praline Buttercream--July Daring Bakers' Challenge

...I finally made it!! Because of my crazy schedule I wasnt able to post my Almond Gateau in time but I persevered and I finally did it. It was a very complicated cake, with so many components but it tasted really great. I probably won't be making this cake anytime soon again but I have to admit it's one of the best tasting cakes I've ever made!!

I used almonds instead of filberts because they're hard to find here in Manila. I used rum for my flavoring. I almost cried when I was making the buttercream because it looked like curdled cheese at first but I kept on mixing it with the paddle attachment and the final product looked great.