Kulinarya Cooking Club June 2011 Theme--White Food

For this "marry" month of June, our hosts Adora and Diona chose white food as our theme. Any food that is white or off-white, or white food such as rice or noodles with toppings or food with white edible wrapper will do. I have been thinking of making ginataan (cooked in coconut milk) but I've done that here on my blog, ditto for rice or noodles with toppings and same goes for white edible wrapped food (lumpia etc.) So I decided to choose an iconic Filipino dish but done in a manner that would make it white.

Adobo is usually cooked with vinegar and soy sauce which gives it the usual brown color. I came across adobo that is white or Adobong Puti when I was living in Singapore and one of my flatmates cooked white Lamb Adobo which was heavenly! And so I decided Adobong Puti would be my dish for this month's White Food theme.

ADOBONG PUTI

Pork (adobo cut) 1/4 kilo

Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 5 pieces

Bay leaves, dried 2 pieces

Cane Vinegar 1/3 cup

Pinakurat Vinegar 1 tablespoon

Water enough to cover the meat

Ground Pepper

Salt

Patis (Fish Sauce)

Put all ingredients in a pot and cook over medium heat until meat is tender. Do not stir until boiling or the vinegar will taste raw. Water may be added if it boils down too quickly and the meat is not yet tender, I did this about 2 times. I cooked my meat for 1 hour. And seasoned it with salt and patis according to taste.

I cooked the liquid to almost dry because I want my adobo to be on the oily side. Cooking the liquid down will render some of the fat from the meat to come out and give the adobo a nice golden color.

Thank you to Adora and Diona for hosting this month's Kulinarya theme. I enjoyed exploring this other side of adobo. It really tasted delicious and not at all vinegary as I was thinking it might be.

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about Filipino culture and its colorful cuisine. Each month we will showcase a new dish. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our food blogs and leave a comment. We would love to hear from you!

The Daring Cooks June 2011 Challenge-Healthy Potato Salads from Around the World

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

For this month's challenge, I chose to make a cold potato salad with a yogurt based dressing. I wanted a lot of textures in my salad so to balance the softness of the boiled baby potatoes, so I mixed in jicama to provide crunch.

JICAMA and BABY POTATO SALAD
Jicama 1 piece
Baby potatoes 5 pieces
Red bellpepper 1 small
Spring Onions
Dried Cranberries

DRESSING:
Greek Yogurt 2 tablespoons
Turmeric 1/2 teaspoon
Himalayan Pink Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste

Wash and boil baby potatoes (do not peel) until fork tender. Take out of water and cool. Peel jicama and dice. Dice red bellpeppers, cut spring onions (green part only). When potatoes are cold enough, cut into halves.
Mix all dressing ingredients together. A little water can be added to thin out the dressing. Pour over potatoes, jicama, red bellpeppers, spring onions and cranberries. Mix well until vegetables are coated, chill.

Serve cold.

I don't know if sweet potatoes can be added to this category but I have a current obsession, salad with raw sweet potatoes and beets! It's just a mixture of mixed greens, carrots peeled and ribboned, cubed fuji apples, raw sweet potatoes and raw beets sliced thinly with a mandoline. Some alfalfa sprouts and dried cranberries and drizzled with a simple vinaigrette. Delicious!

Thank you Jami for hosting this month's Daring Cooks' challenge! For other Daring Cooks' potato salad recipes, click here.

Marcia Adams Tuscany in Tagaytay

I don't usually write about restaurants here on my blog except for places which have really impressed me. Last April, my friends and I drove all the way to Tagaytay (about 2 hours from Manila) to celebrate a birthday.We were off to a whimsical place called Marcia Adams Tuscany which I read about from another blog and I wanted to see for myself. It was just called Marcia Adams' Restaurant but people have been calling it Tuscany because it reminded them of that part of Italy. The restaurant was all the way to Alfonso, Cavite way past the usual Tagaytay row of restaurants. And as we drove through the meandering roads looking for the restaurant I was thinking if it was really worth it...I wasn't disappointed!

When I was growing up I spent most of my summer afternoons reading books instead of playing outside with my friends and one of my favorite novels was The Secret Garden, and as soon as I stepped into Marcia Adams restaurant, I felt like I was in my own secret garden. It was beautiful and I was tempted to explore the garden before we had even settled on our reserved table.

The menu at Marcia Adams changes periodically and she cooks according to what is freshly available at from the market. The Main Course price includes an appetizer, a dessert and a non-alcoholic drink. And this my friends, is a very good bargain. The main courses range from PhP 700-1650.

We wanted to order the Amalfi Prawns for our starter but we were told by Neil, Marcia's husband that they were not able to get fresh shrimps so that was not available. He asked if we wanted the soup of the day instead. But we opted for the Agean Salad which could be a starter (+PhP75). And let me say that this is one delicious and filling starter! There was a grilled pear sitting on a bed of mixed greens with roasted Pistachios, grilled Italian Ricotta cheese and Cottage cheese drizzled with a herby, tangy dressing. Really delicious and healthy!

The birthday girl chose Moroccan Chicken Tagine (PhP 755)for her Main course, which is tender chicken with lemon, olive and saffron with a tangy taste, all of us chose couscous instead of rice.

I don't usually like fish kabobs but their Fish Souvlaki (PhP 700) which is Tanguige marinated in Olive oil, Lemon and herbs was delicious! No fishy taste at all and the fish was cooked perfectly, fork tender and juicy.
I ordered their Grilled Aromatic Pork (PhP 700) which I had read in other reviews of this restaurant was really good and yes I would have to agree! According to the menu description this pork liempo was massaged with aromatic spices and herbs, moist, tender and very tasty. Yummm. I was lost in my food for a while.

There were four choices for dessert: Grilled Oranges with Vanilla Ice Cream, Panna Cotta with Lemon Sauce, Fried Bananas with Dark Chocolate Dip and Banana Split with Chocolate Ice Cream.

We were able to speak to the owners after lunch and Marcia talked about how they built this place slowly taking their time to do what they really wanted, making sure that every piece of furniture, every part of the building was really how they wanted it to be. Marcia was gracious enough to show us around the garden, letting us smell the herbs she planted all over. We left this place at almost 3 in the afternoon and felt like leaving old friends as Marcia and Neil waved to us from the entrance of their beautiful garden. We settled in the car for the drive back with full stomachs and eyes that have been refreshed by the beauty of the secret garden.

Facebook: Marcia Adams' Restaurant

Telephone: 0917-8011456

THE DARING BAKERS MAY 2011 CHALLENGE: MARQUISE ON MERINGUE

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

I'm a certified chocoholic and when I read this month's Daring Bakers challenge I was hooked! Our hosts described it as over-the-top chocolate dessert and I wasn't disappointed, this is sooo good!

At first it was intimidating because of the various components which was supposed to be easier if it was done over two days which I didn't of course. I started my chocolate base and marquise at 7 in the morning this rainy Saturday and made my meringue at around 1 in the afternoon and because I still didn't buy a torch, I baked it for 2 hours in a slow oven. Oh and in between I made the spiced nuts. And finally before I plated it and took a picture--made my salted caramel sauce at 3 in the afternoon before finally plating it and taking a picture at 4! And it was all worth it...

Chocolate Base
Servings: n/a - this is an ingredient for the chocolate marquise, not meant to be used separately
Ingredients
12 oz (340 grams/ 1½ cups) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa)
12 oz (355 ml/ 1½ cups) heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup (60 ml/ 2 fluid oz.) tequila
1/4 cup (60 ml/ 2 fluid oz.) light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons/ less than an ounce) cocoa powder (we used extra brut, like Hershey's Special Dark, but any Dutch-processed cocoa would be fine. Do not substitute natural cocoa powder.)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black

1 oz unsalted butter (2 tbsps./30 grams), softened

*I omitted both the tequila and corn syrup
Directions:
Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl. In a double-boiler, warm the cream until it is hot to the touch (but is not boiling). Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Allow it to sit for a minute or two before stirring. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and is smooth throughout. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Set aside until cooled to room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as the base needs to be soft when added to the marquise mixture. If you make it the day before, you may need to warm it slightly. Whisk it until it is smooth again before using it in the marquise recipe.

Chocolate Marquise

Servings: 18 2.5"x2.5" cubes
Ingredients

11 large egg yolks at room temperature

4 large whole eggs

2/3 cup (150 grams/ 5.3 oz) sugar

1/3 cup (2⅔ fluid oz/ 80 ml.) water

Chocolate Base, barely warm

2 cups (16 fluid oz./ 500 ml.) heavy cream

2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (for rolling)

(Note: We used extra brut, like Hershey's Special Dark. Make sure it's a Dutch processed cocoa, not a natural cocoa powder.)

Torched meringue (recipe follows)

Spiced almonds (recipe follows)

Cacao nibs (optional)

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 - 15 minutes.When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F/115C). If you have a cake tester with a metal loop for a handle, the right stage for the syrup is reached when you can blow a bubble through the loop.
With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk. When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you've whipped into the eggs. We used the stand mixer for this, and it took about 1 minute. Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn't allow in any air).
Freeze until very firm, at least 2 - 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).When you're ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving. While it's still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment 'handles' or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.
Cut it into cubes and roll the cubes in cocoa powder. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don't do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, caramel, spiced nuts, cocoa nibs) are ready. The cubes need to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before the cubes are rolled in the cocoa powder.
Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled caramel sauce, and toss spiced almonds and cocoa nibs around for garnish. You want to handle the cubes as little as possible because they get messy quickly and are difficult to move. However, you want to wait to serve them until they've softened completely. The soft pillows of chocolate are what make this dessert so unusual and when combined with the other elements, you'll get creamy and crunchy textures with cool, spicy, salty, bitter, and sweet sensations on your palate.

Torched Meringue
Servings: Makes about 4 - 5 cups of meringue. If you aren't planning on serving *all* of the marquise at once, you might want to scale this recipe back a bit.
Ingredients

11 large egg whites

1 ¾ cups (14 oz or 395 gms) sugar

Splash of apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid. Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don't feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot. Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the vanilla to the meringue and mix thoroughly.When you're ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil.

*I piped my meringue into disks and baked them for 2 hours in a slow oven

Tequila Caramel
Servings: Makes about 1 cup of caramel
Ingredients

1 cup (8 oz.) sugar

1/2 cup (4 fluid oz./ 120 ml.) water

1 cup (8 fluid oz./ 240 ml.) heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons tequila

*I omitted the tequila and used Himalayan salt
Directions:
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water on medium-high heat. Boil until the water completely evaporates and the sugar caramelizes to a dark mahogany color.Working quickly, add the cream to the darkened caramel. It will bubble and pop vigorously, so add only as much cream as you can without overflowing the pot.Return the pot to the stove on low heat and whisk gently to break up any hardened sugar. Add any remaining cream and continue stirring. Gradually, the hard sugar will dissolve and the caramel sauce will continue to darken. When the caramel has darkened to the point you want it, remove it from the heat. Add the salt and tequila and stir to combine. Set aside until ready to serve.

Spiced Almonds
Servings: Makes about 1 cup of spiced almonds
Ingredients

1/2 cup (4 oz.) sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 large egg white

1 cup (145 grams/ 5 oz.) blanched whole almonds

*I used cashews instead of almonds and crushed them before adding to the spice mixture
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or foil. In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt.In a larger mixing bowl whisk the egg white until it's frothy and thick. Add the spice mix to the egg white and whisk to combine completely. Add the nuts to the egg white mixture and toss with a spoon.Spoon the coated nuts onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake the nuts for 30 minutes, or until they turn light brown. Allow the nuts to cool completely and they will get very crunchy. Set aside until ready to serve.

I would like to say thank you to Audax for the half-recipes which I used. And of course thank you to our hosts Emma and Jenny for this wonderful chocoholic's dream recipe! I am still in chocolate heaven!

Kulinarya Cooking Club May Theme--Flores de Mayo

I've always associated May with flowers not only because of Flores de Mayo (Flowers of May) but also because it is my birthday month and I was named after a flower--there's a little trivia for you :)

This month's hosts decided that for this month's challenge it was going to be flower or fiesta themed. I really wanted to make a flower salad but I didn't have any idea where I could get edible flowers and thanks to the warning of Ray about allergens, I chose to just go with the fiesta theme. But I had the opportunity to go to Bohol Bee Farm for my birthday and I made sure I ate their Spicy Flower Salad which not only looks gorgeous but tastes delicious too!

According to the tourguide, one way of knowing if a flower is edible is that if bees flock to it for it's nectar,then it must be safe for human consumption, the salad had bougainvillea, hibiscus and other gorgeously colored ones that I couldn't remember. See what I mean?

So back to my post...I still wanted to stick to the flower theme even if I wasn't going to make the flower salad so I remembered a childhood favorite of mine, Paksiw na Pata which had dried banana blossoms or bulaklak ng saging--perfect! Dried banana blossoms are plentiful in the supermarket so it was no problem sourcing them.

PAKSIW NA PATA
Pata Chops 500 grams
Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 5 pieces
Dried Bay leaves 2 pieces
Black Peppercorn 1 teaspoon
Water, enough to cover meat
Soy Sauce 1/4 cup
* I used Japanese Shoyu
Vinegar 2 tablespoons
*I used 4 spices vinegar
Brown Sugar 2 tablespoons
Oyster Sauce 1 tablespoon
Banana Blossoms, handful (soften in water for 5 minutes)
Patis (Fish Sauce) to taste

Place Pata Chops, crushed garlic, bayleaves, peppercorns and water in a deep pot. Boil and simmer until pork is tender, around 1 hour (the pata chops were thinly sliced so it took less than an hour). Add the soy sauce, simmer for 10 minutes, add the vinegar, cook for a further 10 minutes. Add the patis and oyster sauce, adjust taste and add the banana blossoms. Cook for 5-10 minutes more. Serve hot.

*I took out the meat after this but thickened the sauce by cooking it down and then pouring it over the meat on the plate.

Thank you to our hosts Connie and Sefie for this month's theme. I really enjoyed cooking and eating it :)

Kulinarya Cooking Club 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 with their family recipes. By sharing these recipes, we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

If you are interested in joining our Kulinarya Cooking Club, please feel free to drop by our food blogs and leave a comment. We would love to hear from you!

For more of Flores de Mayo themed food. click here

Eat a Rainbow!

Summer in the Philippines is really hot, we are talking 33 degrees celsius and the humidity can go as high as 99 percent--I mean it's really hot, even for someone who was born and bred in this tropical country, that is hot. Thank God for airconditioned rooms!

I've made a conscious effort to add more fresh fruits and vegetables to my lifestyle and I've been having lots and lots of salad as my main meals these days. Mind you, these are not the usual salads that I used to order at restaurants...I make them more interesting than usual and I try to vary the texture so I won't get bored eating them. I call this one my Rainbow Salad because of the vibrant colors from the fruits and vegetables I used.

RAINBOW SALAD

Mixed Greens

Broccoli, lightly steamed

Red Cabbage, sliced thinly

Red Bellpepper, seeded, and sliced into strips

Carrots, peeled and Sliced into matchsticks

Mangoes, cubed

Almonds, raw and chopped roughly

Pumpkin Seeds

DRESSING:

Tamarind Paste 1 tablespoon

Apple Cider Vinegar 1 teaspoon

Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 4 tablespoons

Salt and Pepper to taste

Whisk all dressing ingredients together until salt is dissolved and mixture is thick.

It doesn't even take 10 minutes to make this salad and it tastes unbelievably delicious. I make this for lunch and it's not only filling it also energizes me for the rest of the day!

THE DARING COOKS’ MAY 2011 CHALLENGE: GUMBO - LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL!

Our May Hostess Denise of There's a Newf in my Soup!, challenged the Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we'd need from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew's Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

Hmmm yes I have to say it's good to be back to blogging again, April was a non-inspired month for me and I couldn't or wouldn't write anything here that was worthy to be posted. But I'm back and what a challenge! I love gumbo!

Denise gave us the freedom to use whatever gumbo recipe we had, but I chose to stick to the recipes she provided.

There's Mr. Crab sitting on a bed of brown rice ready for his pictorial :)

SEAFOOD GUMBO

1 cup (240 ml) canola oil

1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) flour

2 large onions, diced

6 jumbo blue crabs, each cut into four pieces (if unavailable, omit, or substitute another type of crab)

1 pound (½ kilogram) spicy smoked sausage links, sliced ½ inch (15mm) thick (optional, but encouraged if you eat sausage)

1 stalk celery, diced

1 green bell pepper (capsicum), seeded and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup (240 ml) (160 gm) (5½ oz) sliced fresh okra, ½ -inch (15mm) thick slices (or frozen, if fresh is not available). If fresh or frozen is unavailable, you can leave it out because the roux will provide enough of a thickener.

Leaves from sprig of fresh thyme

3 quarts (3 liters) shrimp (prawn) stock

2 bay leaves

1 pound (½ kilogram) peeled and deveined medium Louisiana or wild shrimp (prawn) (Note: If you are buying whole, head-on shrimp, which you will need in order to use the heads and peels for stock, you will then need approximately 4 pounds (2 kilograms) of shrimp to yield enough heads/shells for the stock. Although the recipe only calls for 1 pound (½ kilogram) of shrimp, you will end up with a little over 2 pounds of cleaned shrimp (1 kilogram), which I found was perfect for this size pot of gumbo)

1 pint (475 ml) (450 gm) (16 oz) shucked oysters

8 ounces (225 gm) lump crabmeat

1 cup (240 ml) (100 gm) (3½ oz) minced green onions (scallions, or spring onions)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Basic Creole Spices, to taste, to taste

Tabasco, to taste

4-6 cups (1 – 1½ liters) (650 gm – 950 gm) cooked Basic Louisiana White Rice

Directions:
1.Prepare shrimp stock, if using.

2. Prepare homemade Basic Creole Spices, if using

3. Make sure all of your vegetables are cut, diced, chopped, minced and ready to go before beginning the roux. You must stand at the stove and stir the roux continuously to prevent it from burning

4. In a large cast-iron or heavy-bottomed pan, heat the canola oil over high heat. Whisk the flour into the hot oil – it will start to sizzle. Reduce the heat to moderate, and continue whisking until the roux becomes deep brown in color, about 15 minutes.

5. Add the onions. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir the onions into the roux. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue stirring until the roux becomes a glossy dark brown, about 10 minutes.

6. Add the blue crabs and smoked sausage and stir for a minute before adding the celery, bell peppers, garlic, and okra. Increase the heat to moderate and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes.

7. Add the thyme, shellfish stock, and bay leaves. Bring the gumbo to a boil, stirring occasionally.

8. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally, skimming off the fat from the surface of the gumbo every so often.

9. Add the shrimp, oysters, crabmeat and green onions to the pot and cook for 15 minutes. Make sure everything is ready to serve before adding the shellfish to the gumbo. DO NOT OVERCOOK your shellfish.

10. Season with salt and pepper, Creole Spices, Worcestershire, and Tabasco.

11. Serve in bowls over rice.

*I made only 1/3 of this recipe, didn't use crab meat anymore sinc

e I used crabs. I also didn't use oysters but the flavor of the sausage, shrimps and crabs was enough :)

*Instead of Basic Louisiana White Rice, I served my gumbo over steamed Brown Rice.

I had this for lunch today and I still have some leftovers for dinner. Thank you Denise for hosting this month's Daring Cooks Challenge!