Bonding Over Cognac Truffles

A while back my baby sister asked...no, actually more like begged me to help her make these. I really cherish the times I have with my family especially my younger sisters, having lost our mother 10 months ago made me feel more maternal and protective towards them so when I found time (long weekend because of Holy Week) I grabbed the chance and we set aside an afternoon making these yummy treats. I love anything chocolate, and one of the best ingredients to combine with chocolate in my opinion is alcohol, which this recipe both have. It's quite easy to make and only took about 3 hours of the afternoon, including refrigeration.

COGNAC TRUFFLES

500 grams chocolate (we used unsweetened, but you can use bittersweet)

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup cognac

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup ground walnuts

Chop chocolate roughly, set aside. In a glass or stainless steel bowl melt butter and cream over a double boiler. Take off heat and pour the cognac. Add to chopped chocolate and mix until combined. Refrigerate until firm (about 2 hours).

Form into balls and roll in powdered sugar or cocoa powder or chopped walnuts. Flavors can be combined as well.

Cognac Truffles in Powdered Sugar

Cognac Truffles in Cocoa Powder
Cognac Truffles in Ground Walnuts

Yummy truffles all lined up ready for eating and giving away to friends!

And here is my sister after we made the truffles :)

Braised Pork in Oyster Sauce

Everyone needs weekends for relaxing...I especially love Saturdays because it's market day at home and lunch is usually better than usual. There are extra special saturdays when we decide to splurge, like last week when my sister bought crabs and prawns which we made into chili garlic crabs and prawn sinigang. She also asked me to cook braised pork belly which came from last month's Daring Cooks' challenge.

BRAISED PORK BELLY

1.5 kilos pork belly, skin on

250 ml orange juice

1 onion, peeled and sliced thinly

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt

pepper

Wash pork belly. Pat dry, rub with salt and pepper. Place on an oven proof dish (I used a baking pan) pour the orange juice on the belly and scatter the onions and garlic. Cover with aluminum foil, which I completely forgot but had a delicious consequence--the skin became crispy! Roast in a preheated 350 degrees farenheit oven for 4 hours. Take out of the oven, cool in pan and refrigerate overnight.

1/4 cup Oyster Sauce

1/4 cup Stock or water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Take out the belly from the refrigerator, remove the garlic and onions. Chop into cubes. I had to pry off the crispy top and chop it separately. Take about a spoonful of fat from the pan where the belly was roasted, and use that to saute the garlic until fragrant. Mix the Oyster sauce and water and pour it on the garlic, add the chopped pork belly. Cook just until the meat is coated with the sauce and season with salt and pepper, I had to cut back on the salt because the Oyster sauce was flavorful enough. Serve hot.

*Set aside the solidified fat from the baking pan for future use(I will post separately about it).

And there you have it...the pork belly was tender and the skin was crispy. I was hoping there would be leftovers for dinner, but it was wiped out!

THE DARING BAKERS' MARCH 2012 CHALLENGE: Lions, Tigers, and Bears, oh my!

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

This is the first time I've heard of this so I am sure, I am not the only one who is wondering what exactly is Dutch Crunch? According to Sara and Erica: "Technically...doesn't refer to the type of bread, but rather to the topping that is spread over the bread before baking. In Dutch is called Tijgerbrood or "tiger bread" after the tiger-like shell when it comes out of the oven. The final product has a delightful sweet crunch to it that makes it perfect for a sandwich roll. It's a coomon option all over the Bay Area, and is often one of its breads to run out. "

Ooooh...okay tiger stripes like what our beloved cat Hipster has?

Dutch Crunch Topping

Servings: This recipe should make sufficient topping for two 9x5 loaves (23cmx13cm) or 12 rolls. If you make only 6 rolls in the first soft white roll recipe, you can cut the topping recipe in half.

We’ve provided this recipe first because it is the mandatory aspect of the challenge. Note, however, that you should not prepare the topping until the bread you’ve selected to bake is almost finished rising (~15 minutes from baking).

2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice flour)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.

3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.

4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Crunch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Soft White Roll

Servings: Six sandwich rolls

1 tablespoon (1 packet) (15 ml) (7 gm/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
1 cup (240 ml) warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (20 gm/ ⅔ oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (9 gm/⅓ oz) salt
Up to 4 cups (960 ml) (600 gm/21oz) all purpose flour

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty).
2. Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together. (The photo to below is with the first 2 cups of flour added).

3. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl (For us, this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.

5. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size (see photo comparison).

6. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp knife or a dough scraper works well). Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough too much at this point).
7. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
8. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them directly into the oven.
9. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

We had to make sandwiches out of our Dutch Crunch bread and the first that I made is this new-ish (at least for me), healthier egg salad made with yogurt instead of mayonnaise and organic, free-range hardboiled eggs. I spread pesto on the inside and topped it with the egg salad and alfalfa sprouts...

(Healthy and Yummy!!--perfect for breakfast)

The second one was made of roasted peppers and pumpkin, and feta cheese, this one is my favorite! I put it in the microwave for a minute to melt the cheese...so good!

Maybe it was the time in the oven but for some reason my Dutch Crunch didn't brown as much as the other Daring Bakers. But thank you Erica and Sara, this challenge was both fun and delicious!

KULINARYA COOKING CLUB March 2012 Theme: FROZEN TREATS

So it's officially summer here in the Philippines...but the weather is very erratic, it could be a full week of sunny days and then without warning, we wake up to a gloomy rainy morning. But even when it rains, it's already scorching hot. Our hosts for Kulinarya Cooking Club's theme for this month Arnold of Inuyaki and Jun of Jun Blog decided to let us make frozen treats...popsicles, ice candies etc. But what could be more Filipino than ice candy? The kind you make with small plastic bags--memories of childhood!And what could be more summer-y than strawberries and mangoes, that are selling very cheap at the market nowadays--so I decided to make ice candies out of these two summer fruits. When I was little, these fruit purees would have added milk and/or sugar but now that I've become more health-conscious, pure fruit is the only option, aside from the fact that they are sweet and delicious as is.
I pureed 2 mangoes in the blender and a basket of strawberries, I was hoping I could combine them to make swirls in one bag but I ran out of time so maybe I will do it again. But they came out really pretty, and delicious!

Thank you Arnold and Jun for this month's theme, it was a nice way to remember my childhood summers!

Oh and don't forget to check out the other frozen treats of my fellow KCC members.
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 along 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're 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' March 2012 Challenge - Brave the Braise!

The March 2012 Daring Cooks' Challenge was hosted by Carol a/k/a Poisonive--and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman's technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book "Ruhlman's Twenty".

So what exactly is Braising? Carol gives us this definition: from the French word "braiser" offers us a combination of cooking method...typically the meat is seared in hot fat which adds flavor and aromas, improves color (browning) and texture (crust). It is then submerged in liquid and cooked slowly and gently at low heat.

Carol gave several recipes to follow, but she also encouraged us to be creative. I based my Braised Beef Shank in Red Wine and Tomato Sauce on one of those she gave.
This came out really delicious-- the sauce was rich and thick after I braised it for 2 hours, and the beef shank was tender and dripping with flavor.

Thank you Carol for hosting this challenge, it was fun. For the other Daring Cooks' versions of this month's challenge, click here.

Smoked Salmon Waldorf

I'm so easy to please...just give me food and I'm a happy camper. This week, I received food gifts from my friends--talk about the gift of friendship! I will be making posts for the other stuff I received but this afternoon I chose to prepare half of the smoked salmon that I got. So I was thinking what to do with it, honestly speaking, I can eat smoked salmon on its own but my friend said, make something with it and give her the recipe...

It's a lazy Saturday afternoon and I didn't want to be bothered going to the supermarket so I looked in the chiller and decided that based on the ingredients on hand, I could make a Waldorf Salad. Except that I won't be using chicken...I will be using the smoked salmon.

I wanted to make this salad more healthy so instead of mayonnaise (aside from the fact, that I didn't have it at home) I used Greek yogurt. I sprinkled about a teaspoon of sugar to balance the tartness of the yogurt. This is how easy it is...I flaked the salmon, added some chopped celery, grapes, and fuji apples and topped it with my yogurt-sugar mixture....looking good so far...
...oops wait, I almost forgot to add walnuts and I also had some dried goji berries on hand so I added that as well. Mix it all together gently...

...and voila--Smoked Salmon Waldorf Salad! I love how easy it is to make and how perfect it is for lazy Saturday afternoons when the farthest thing from my mind is to slave over a hot stove!

So thank you gorjuschik for the Smoked Salmon and thank you for the gift of friendship! And stay tuned for the recipe of the other half :)

THE DARING BAKERS’ FEBRUARY, 2012 CHALLENGE: Quick! Gimme a Flavor! ;)

The Daring Bakers' February 2012 host was--Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

So what are quickbreads? Lis shared Epicurious' definition as: Bread that is quick to make because it doesn't require kneading or rising time. That's because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

This challenge was really fun because we were given pretty much a free hand and I decided to experiment with some of my favorite ingredients. Apples, beets, chocolate chips, cheese etc...yes, I just wrote beets. I made apple-beets muffins and they were delicious and very pretty...and I'm sure healthy too!

The muffins came out really delicious...the texture was great. The whole house smelled yummy while I was baking them.

So I followed the Basic Loaf recipe that Lis shared, and added about 1/2 cup of Chocolate Chips. It came out delicious tasting, although the crumb was not as I expected.

The second loaf I made to which I added Quezo de Bola (Edam Cheese) and Spring Onions produced a crumb that was a lot better.

Thank you Lis for this challenge, it was fun experimenting and really delicious! Check out the other Daring Bakers' quickbreads here.