Paella in 15 Minutes

The Philippines was under Spanish rule for 300 years which inevitably has left the country a rich culinary heritage. One of the most beloved recipes is that of Paella. There are many versions of this dish in the Philippines depending on the region where the locals have modified it according to the abundant ingredients.

My Paella recipe has been handed down to me by family and friends and I have made it my own by incorporating their suggestions, not only do I use saffron (which by the way, is very expensive that some cooks here have omitted it from their recipe) but I also use tomato sauce to enrich the color and taste.

Here is the recipe of my own version of Paella

4 tablespoons OLIVE OIL

2 cloves GARLIC, peeled and slivered

1 piece WHITE ONION, minced

1 piece BELLPEPPER, cut into strips

1/4 kilo SHRIMPS, deveined

1/4 kilo PORK BELLY, cut into strips

1/4 kilo CHICKEN THIGHS

1 big piece CHORIZO DE BILBAO, sliced diagonally

4 cups RICE, uncooked

8 cups CHICKEN STOCK, boiling

250 grams TOMATO SAUCE

pinch of SAFFRON

salt and pepper

Preheat Paella pan over high heat, at the same time boil the chicken stock. It is important that the stock is boiling over high heat to speed up the cooking process. Pour oil in the paella pan and brown the chicken thighs and pork belly, add garlic and onion, saute until vegetables are soft but not wilted. At this point, the chorizo may also be added in the pan. Add in the saffron threads, stir. Add in the rice and make sure it is coated with oil, pour in the tomato sauce stirring until it coats the rice and the meats. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully add the boiling stock. Lay the uncooked shrimps and the bellpeppers on top. Cover with aluminum foil and let it cook at high heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, let it set for 5 minutes. Garnish with lemon slices and hard-boiled eggs before eating.

Crispy Pata 2 Ways

After 5 months of non-blogging...I am back! And what better way to celebrate my coming back than making the staple of all celebrations big or small in Philippine celebrations--the Crispy Pata!

This recipe is very easy but time-consuming although, it really is all worth it when you bite into the crispy goodness of the fat layer and tenderness of the meat.

CRISPY PATA

6 pieces GARLIC CLOVES, crushed

15 pieces WHOLE PEPPERCORNS

4-5 pieces of BAY LEAVES, dried

300 ml SPRITE or 7-UP

2 tablespoons of BAKING SODA

2 pieces PORK HOCK (about 1 kilo each) cleaned and trimmed

enough water to cover

1/4 cup good quality FISH SAUCE (patis)

In a big pot, boil pork hocks with garlic, whole peppercorns, bay leaves and sprite or 7-up with enough water to cover the meat for 30 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda and cover. Boil for 1 hour and 30 minutes or until pork hock meat is tender. Drain meat and score with a knife, brush with the fish sauce. Cool and wrap in cling film--freeze overnight. In the morning thaw in the refrigerator.

There are two ways of cooking the crispy pata. The first one which is the traditional way of cooking it is to deep-fry it in a big pot of oil (enough to submerge the meat). The oil should have a temperature of 350 degrees farenheit or higher. This is to make sure that the skin is crispy. If the temperature is lower than 350 degrees farenheit, the hock will not cook properly and will be soggy inside because the oil will seep through the meat. The deep frying will take 15 minutes.

The other way of cooking it, which is what I did with mine is to cook it in the broiler for 40 minutes. I prefer it this way because the oil will drip down from the meat making it less "sinful". I found out that cooking it this way also produces a crispy skin.

Crushed Garlic, Dried Bay Leaves, Whole Peppercorns

Cleaned and Trimmed Pork Hocks

The Crispy Pata!

February 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge-Flourless Chocolate Cake

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

When I read this challenge my mind went to overdrive trying to come up with complementary flavors for the cake and the ice cream. But after I had the flavors in mind, it suddenly dawned on me that the real challenge for me this month is making the ice cream without an ice cream maker! Thankfully the hosts and the other DBs included links to browse for people like me who would be making the ice cream manually.

I have done Nick Malgieri's flourless cake which I also blogged about so I wasn't too worried about the cake, however, I wanted it to have that something "extra"--I thought of mint but then I've always combined those two flavors. And then all of a sudden I looked at my spice shelf and the bottle of cayenne pepper winked at me (I swear, it did!) Voila! I had my flavor!! For the ice cream, I wanted it to be a palate cleanser so I chose Basil, my favorite herb.


Making ice cream manually is so rewarding, I am so thankful that I was able to dig up my ancient handheld mixer which I used on the ice cream every 2 hours. The final product was very smooth and the mouth feel was excellent, thanks to this challenge, I will be experimenting with more ice cream flavors from now on...

The cake was very dense and moist, it did not disappoint me. The kitchen smelled wonderful during and after baking it. The cayenne pepper combined beautifully with the rich chocolate flavor (I used Dark Sweet chocolate).

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)


Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.


* 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper was added to the melted chocolate and butter before adding the eggyolks for the cake
**I used Dharm's Ice Cream recipe infusing the chopped fresh basil leaves in the fresh milk
***I also made strawberry coulis as accent on my plate, using a brush to spread it and covered my cake with chocolate icing

A Very Good News!

I'm sort of laying low nowadays, my brother went galivanting in Dubai taking the faithful point and shoot camera that I use for my food shots. But wonders of all wonders, I opened my email this afternoon and ta-dah!!! I got an email notification that my site was added to www.alltop.com !!! I submitted an application a week ago and almost forgot about it. In case you were wondering what this site is, please check it out--I found out about it from one of my favorite blogs www.steamykitchen.com

Thanks Alltop!!!

Another Sweet Sixteen

February is a busy month for our household. On the first of this month, my baby sister celebrated her 16 th birthday, on the 7th-it was the 17th birthday of a sweet girl who is more like a sister than a family friend, today (which also happens to be Valentine's Day) is the 16th birthday of girl whom I consider to be my adopted little sister, and tomorrow (whew!) is my Dad's birthday! But that's another story...

I made red velvet cupcakes for C, today's birthday celebrant. I was thinking of frosting it with chocolate but at the last minute opted for the usual cream cheese frosting, I just beat 1 box of cream cheese with 1/4 cup of softened butter and 1/4 cup of confectioners' sugar. I packed 16 pieces in a box and sent it off.


Red Velvet Cupcakes
from foodnetwork.com

15 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
13 ounces granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 eggs
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 1/4 teaspoons vinegar (white or apple cider can both work)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup water
For the cupcakes:
Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix oil, sugar, and buttermilk until combined. Add eggs, food coloring, vinegar, vanilla and water and mix well. Add the dry ingredients a little bit at a time and mix on low, scraping down sides occasionally, and mix until just combined. Be sure not to over mix, or the batter will come out tough.
Line a 16-cup cupcake pan with paper liners, scoop the batter into the liners and bake at 350
degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.

Yearning for Something Very Sweet

I heart Saturdays, not just because it's kick-off-your-shoes day but also because of the Salcedo Weekend Market which opens just on Saturdays at the Salcedo Village Park in Makati City. There you can find all sorts of tempting things laid out for all to salivate over and if the craving is too great, give in and fork over your hard earned cash in exchange for these goodies.

I have to confess I don't have much of a sweet tooth but when I do get an intense craving for sweets, one of the few things that can satisfy it is this melt-in-your-mouth butter cake. It looks and tastes so yummy. I gobble it all up and later on pay for it on the treadmill. But hey, it is worth it!

And the other one of course is this stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth Brazo de Mercedes. It tastes so good, I can finish two giant slices in one sitting. And what do you know, tonight, I am craving so bad, I just might brave the traffic and go all the way to the Salcedo Market!

Pinakbet and Prawns

Our family had a quick getaway early this week. We chose a fairly new resort in the south of Manila www.acuaticoresort.com.ph. It was a very long drive because of roadside renovations along the SLEX or South Luzon Expressway but in the end it was all worth it. The resort was as breath-taking as the pictures on their website. And the food from the Menu was surprisingly good.

Here is another version of Pinakbet or Philippine-style Ratatouille. Instead of just pork crackling and shrimps, fried crispy fish was added to make it tastier. The usual vegetables, squash, string beans, okra and bitter gourd was still used.

We also ordered Prawns in Crabfat--doesn't sound so good but tastes divine! The Prawns were butterflied and then drizzled with sauteed crabfat and served with some vegetables which I didn't touch. But over all, our family enjoyed the time there and the food was very reasonably priced.