Squid Inked

When a good friend asked me last week what my favorite pasta was, I thought immediately that it is spaghetti.  For sauce my number one is anchovy and garlic oil, close second is puttanesca.  Pesto and Marinara are tied at third.

I told her that I remember feeling down when I found out that one of the cafes that I frequent stopped serving squid ink marinara.  Suddenly, I don't feel like eating their new marinara anymore.  It doesn't taste (and look) as much as coming from the sea with the standard linguine as it did with squid ink spaghetti.

Incidentally, another friend who attended a pasta making class told me that the chef taught them two variations, one was with spinach and the other with, you guessed it!  Squid ink.

These two incidents got me thinking about making squid ink pasta.  So I searched high and low for squid in where I live.  NOT EASY.  

After securing the coveted ingredient I made pasta dough.

What lies beneath?

The dough was so dark and so rich that I could not help but laugh like an evil queen.  

hung

I would have wanted to make spaghetti, but for some reason the idea of black velvet ribbons changed my mind.

happily eaten after

My husband loved the texture and managed to eat three servings.  I struggled to stop at a serving and I half--but a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do :)

I still have packets of Squid Ink, I am thinking of other fun pasta projects I could do with those.

Chicken Roulade

Chicken is my cooking nemesis.

There was a time that I stirred clear of cooking chicken, well it was not too hard as I don't really like chicken.  In fact, it would be the last thing I order unless I am in a chicken place--obviously.

There was too many beef, pork and fish recipes that I wanted to try anyways.

If I really NEEDED to cook chicken, I'd boil it first.  Then I'd brown it in the oven or on a pan.  That was that.  No baked chicken. 

However, as with life there will come a point when you need to overcome your past failures.  It was funny how my meat thermometer decided to bail on me the first time I wanted to cook chicken without the pre-boil ceremony I had gotten accustomed to.

I picked (I was not going to make it easy) Chicken Roulade.  I have not done roulade anything, so this was exciting.

I also was not too ready--I did not have cooking twine.  I'm sorry to say that I used silk yarns to tie around the flattened, stuffed and rolled chicken breast!

The spices I had were my favorites, chives, butter, garlic, crispy chicken skin, rosemary and salt.  I kept it pretty simple.  Today, it was about cooking moist chicken that is brown outside.

just roll with me, roll with me.

I can't be happier with the end result.  I was surprised on how it came out.  Admittedly I was a little scared slicing through and you can see the hesitation I (and my knife blade) had slicing through.


Looking forward to cooking more chicken--though probably still not as much as other proteins :)

Molasses and Oatmeal Cookies

I had been cooking and baking like a madwoman, however I was not really taking photos and writing about my kitchen adventures.

I was also away for some time travelling where I went to bistro after bistro after bistro, drank coffee and wine (not together) everyday.  I had the loveliest time doing everything and nothing with my husband.

Surprisingly, I even cooked twice while on holiday.  With the holiday stretching relatively long, I missed the high I get out of meal preparation.  

Today, I baked cookies.  It is only my second time to make cookies but with my ever growing fondness for molasses, I decided to give it a go.

recipe here

I omitted the nuts and raisins, cut the sugar by half but using palm sugar, doubled the salt but using rock (sea) salt, cut the butter by one and half tablespoon and added two peanut butter morsels on top of each cookie--just to be cute.

FIRE!!!!!

bite me.

let's marvin gaye and get it on...

FIGHT CLUBish Project: Rendering Lard

So what did you do over the weekend?

Well... I tried two new restos. Watched a musical.  Went to a yoga class.

BUT, I feel the highlight of my weekend was, rendering LARD.

Yes.  LARD.  LARD.

Pork fat.  Solid at room temperature.

What people typically associate heart attacks with. 

While there is reasonable material on lard versus vegetable oil--at how it leads to debunking the common  belief that the latter is better, I am not about to write about health and nutrition.  There is much literature out there, if you want to read more.

The drivers for me to do this mini project are:

(1) Curiosity :)
(2) Enhanced food flavour 
(3) Experience using 'new' ingredients
(4) Healthier Option (can't hurt)

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I like learning how to do things "from scratch". 

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I got the idea when my cousin in law posted about my cousin's much improved health screening reports after making a switch in fats used on their food.  I was so happy for him that he was getting in better shape.

There were photos of the 'before' and 'after' screening results, as well as images of lard and the process that my cousin in law took to render it.

I KNEW, I HAD TO TRY IT.

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While I am grateful that both my husband and myself were congratulated by the doctor after our annual exams, I thought that making small changes here and there won't hurt.

AND I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to try this whole lard thing :)

I did some reading on how to do this 'the right way', as in no rushing and keeping the temperature low.




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It is not an easy road to two jars of lard, but what I got should last us a couple of months. 

My steps would like be MUCH different from those you can find online.  


Step 1: Cut the fat, the smaller the better, but don't obsess.  

It doesn't need to be perfect.  Keep them reasonable small.  If you miss some, there won't be any catastrophic repercussions.  

Step 2: Place fat in your favorite pumpkin shaped Dutch Oven set on low heat.

You can add some water, if you like.  I did, a little.  It will all evaporate anyways.

the first rule of Fight Club is... err..

Step 3: Wait (and wait).  Read the book your best friend gave you for Christmas in the meantime.

It took me four hours to get to the state where I was comfortable to saying it was done. 

This should be based on the colour of the crackling (heaven's gift).  

Step 4: "Harvest" into the jamming jars you bought even if you don't plan to make jam (remembering how 3 jars of grape jam sat there forever), and don't really like jam.

I ended up going back and fourth steps 3 and 4.  I didn't want to risk 'burning' everything if I fell asleep! 
 
You are supposed to strain the oil / fat though a cheese cloth on top of a well, strainer.  

I had neither a strainer nor cheese cloth.  I just poured the oil into my jars.

No biggie.  Not the end of the world.

Step 5: Watch the oil cool into a solid state :)

This was my favorite part!  

Snow White
can't be happier with the end result.

Step 6: Collect the crackling and store.

Don't let anything go to waste!  I got the "remains" of my pork fat, pressed then down and cut them into strips.  These will go to my stir fry bee hon, I think.  Or my porridge.

the 'healthiest' chicharon option

Is it worth it?  I'd say the whole experience and the excellent turn out made it worth the effort.  

Who knows?  Maybe it will be a staple in my kitchen.

Pancit: For Long Life

Happy new year!

Coming back from our holiday, our ref is close to empty of fresh ingredients.  We were quite successful clearing our stash before flying out.  

This meant alternative ingredients, which is always a lot of fun.

Since it was the 31st, I thought I'd surprise my husband by cooking a Filipino dish I have never cooked before.  PANCIT.

There are a lot of variations to this dish.  In Singapore they use the beehoon as the carbs component of a dish then you get to pick the viand such as egg, luncheon meat, stir fried string beans... a wide assortment, really.

In the Philippines, all the ingredients are already mixed into the noodles, think fried rice.

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Equipped with hazy cooking instructions from my sister, brown rice vermicelli, carrots, onion, garlic and chinese sausage, I started cooking.  

I added the sliced lettuce in place of cabbage, I thought it worked bringing some freshness to the dish.  Like I said, I didn't have the 'correct' ingredients... 

calamansi please

This sat in front of my husband for late lunch.  He takes one bite, smiles, looks at me and says "Thank you, it is so good... like real pancit".

Yogurt Pancake with things I have at home

start the day right
yogurt pancake with dried strawberry and dark choco chips

I decided to wake my husband up with the smell of browned butter and pancakes.

I had used a simple base recipe that found online and added  things I had at home--always making a conscious effort to clear our stash.  

I did not have enough milk, so I had to replace the milk in the recipe with yogurt.  I also only had wheat, semolina and cake flour.  I used cake flour instead of all purpose flour that the recipe called for.

I also skipped the butter in the batter, instead I only used butter to pan fry.

I chopped some walnuts, dried strawberries and added them in.  I also gave the batter a generous dose of dark chocolate chips.  I just knew my husband would love it!

I took the opportunity to garnish the pancakes with stuff I put into the batter, just before I poured dark maple syrup all over.

Sleepy smiles and Mmmmmms from the barely woken one made all my effort worth it :)

señorita french toast

ba-na-na & cheese french toast
with walnuts, french vanilla almonds, maple syrup

As I was asleep before 9PM last night (yes, feeling feverish still!), I was up early this Sunday morning.

I looked at my sleepy husband and asked him if he wanted breakfast.

"Yes!  French toast!" he said with his eyes half closed and a smile on his lips.

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Thirty minutes later, I put this in front of him.  He is now wide awake and ready to eat.

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In the past, whenever I made french toast, it was the traditional way/ingredients.  Ever so often I'd put some cheese, making it savoury.  I like the creamy, stringy texture too!     

Today came in with extras.

Bananas were actually just sitting on our dinning table waiting to be eaten, these are that of the small variety called señorita.  I like to call them baby banana too :)

The nuts were part of a haul from an online store my husband's friend recommended.  

For breakfast, I was just obvious, they all had to come together!

Change Request: Implemented

I love chinese sausage.  In Manila, people refer to it as Chinese Chorizo--it is the only reason I could think of why in my mind, that is what it is called.

chinese sausage pocket I made from scratch
(a loooong time ago)

My Mom would put this in Traditional Filipino dishes where you won't expect to find it.

I always loved finding one as I scoop food out of the serving dish to my very own plate.  Truth be told, I do dig for these treasures on specific dishes.

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My husband is not into it.  Maybe, I can even say that he hates it.  

And hate is something that is not quite common to him.

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When it comes to cooking, my husband pretty much lets me take the lead, he is most often happy with anything and everything I serve him.  

However, every time I mention wanting to recreate some of Mom's dishes--the ones where she introduced Chinese Sausage, he would say something along the lines of 'Chinese sausage isn't really one of my favourites'.  

Some days he would say sure, but because suggest against a dish is so rare with him, I end up making or planning for something else.

Compromise.

(He however, loves Spanish Chorizo.  We both do.)

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote Chinese Sausage in our grocery list.  It wasn't a test or anything, I was just craving for it.  I was prepared to make two dishes, or have it as a side for myself.

Putting away the groceries, I was surprised when I saw the packet.  I had forgotten that I listed it out.

That Saturday, I was going to make proper fried rice.

I prepared the Chinese Sausage as a side, but at the last minute, just before we were about to eat, he asked me to mix it in--as if to say, he is giving me (or the chines sausage) a chance to change his mind.

That Saturday, I cooked what my husband now refers to as 'the best fried rice ever'.

While it was A LOT of work, but seeing the look on his face told me that it was well worth the effort.

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Cooking a-simpler-version-of-the-best-fried-rice-ever (lacked some ingredients) earlier today, I asked him if he wanted me to add in some Chinese Sausage, he said that it was actually okay when cut to small pieces and mixed with rice.

Victory.

zzzzebra

One of the first things we got when we got married was a cast iron grill pan, and while I love the char it puts on everything, it was just such a hassle to clean it after use.  It had not been touched since last year.  Sorry.

A month ago, I asked my husband if we could get an enamel coated cast iron grill pan--it will allow us to pimp our bread, meat, pepper, tomato--everything, without the hassle of getting our sink messed up. 

The rest is history.

suddenly, it's magic!

I like the stripes so much that for a moment I forgot just how much I hate, hate, hate, hate while bread!

who are you calling 'chicken'?

basics

my favourite

So this is my chicken balls post.  

I made some refinements in my balls making processes based on lessons learnt making beef balls and falafel.  

What I can truly say though is that it is a lot of fun!  I feel like a child given a box set of play-doh.  And as I never truly owned a set, you can imagine my excitement.

processed food?

Yin and Yang.  The vegetables and the seasoned minced chicken.

Did I mention that I love how after vegetables come out of the food processor, it smells amazing?

hunger games

I arranged the balls on baking sheets in rows.

When my husband saw me halfway through he said two things.

First was that he didn't realise I could make so many balls.  Second was that maybe I was trying to trick him, that these were in fact all veggie.

domino effect?

I did a trial batch.  I placed some chicken balls into a glass baking dish and popped it into the oven.

When I took out the meatballs, this.  

Polka dots.

New Year food?

i'd like to swim in spaghetti

Finished product.

I have a feeling my husband will dip these in tomato catsup.  Unless of course, I throw them into a bowl of spaghetti.

what matters is who you are inside

While I still have what could be two batches of chicken balls, I can't help but think about my next ball recipe.

Happy Saturday :)

tokwa!

I decided it was time to make (my version of) tokwa't baboy.

Direct Translation: Tofu and Pig (Pork)

For the tofu, I sliced them thin, painted it thinly with olive oil, sprinkled it with rock salt and parsley.  It went to the oven at 180C.  

I waited.

Patiently.  At first.      

baking in progress

I am guilty of hovering over the oven window, watching things bubble, turn brown, soften, rise.  I love watching the magic happen.

My husband always reminds me that I don't have to do that.  Things will cook.  And he is right, but it is exciting for me.   Watching.

Not productive, but I had time :)

golden

The pork dish was simple.  Using all the standard ingredients for tokwa't baboy like onion, soy sauce, vinegar and black pepper, I something similar to a chunky stew.  I thickened the sauce with some corn starch.

ebony and ivory (of some sort)

My husband and I ate this with brown rice.  Lots.

hummus me

 It is funny how my Mom and I prepared similar dishes for New Year's Eve.

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Hummus.  Somewhat.

naked

I don't have a food processor or a mixer.  No special gadget to make the task easier.  With that, I anticipated that mine will be chunkier, but that's cool!  I am all about the taste.

facade

I did take the extra step of taking out the skin.  

That took longer than I anticipated, taking out the skin.  It would be worth the effort through.  Plastic texture is definitely unacceptable!  

Did I mention, I didn't even have a masher?  (I think I'd get one, together with a new apple corer.)

hardwork

I knew at the beginning that it won't be the traditional hummus, and in fact purists would definitely hate this.  

I wanted to clear ingredients I have, so I decided to put in some sour cream.

Of course, Cumin remained to be the star of the show.  I also added Paprika.  The other ingredients were typical hummus players.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  

alien

In the end, I had a silky somewhat chunky bread dip.  

Not too easy, but A LOT less work compared to mashed potato.  Somehow, I think I have not gotten over how troublesome mashed potato preparation could be.

party ready

dynamite-ish

My good friend, Oli told me about this thing he and his friends cooked for a party once.  It was called, dynamite.

It was deep fried (crispy) spring rolls with green chilli, minced beef and cheese.

I love the meat, chilli and cheese combination, but I was not sure I was up for some deep frying.

I decided to, make it my own :)

As my brother and sister in law were coming for lunch, I decided it was the best time to try something out.

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For the chilli, I picked the same type used for dynamite.

I sliced off the top, made a slit and pulled out the seeds.  I don't think I'd be able to down one with the seeds intact.

heat

I  bought a pack of green chilli, but was surprised when I opened the bag, there was a smurfette.

more color = more fun

I started to think that I should have gotten traffic light chillies as well.  Maybe next time.

effect of a cold shower

Instead of minced beef, I decided to use the (homemade) chicken and pork longanisa that I had in the freezer.  

I sliced the patties thinly and fried them till they were crispy.

longanisa strips?

Here comes the tough part, assembly!

I used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella cheese.  it was the lining of the chilli.  It will also hold the meat in place.

an experiment on 'proximity theory'

It looked so good that I was tempted to serve it this way!

I think I made twelve.

At this point I was getting tired, after all this wasn't the only item in my menu.  I also had Carbonara, Jalapeño Chicken Wings and Mashed Potato with the latter, deserving it's own blog entry.  Coming soon.  

ready to bake

Popped it into the (overworked) oven and after twenty minutes… this.

party time

I really enjoyed cooking this and it was just a bonus that everyone loved it.  

We had no leftovers!

something sweet

I missed baking.

Since it is Christmas, I decided to bake butterscotch.  It is an old recipe that I had been using countless of times.  I thought I'd change it up for today.  Instead of nibbly squares, I'd make it more pie-ish, that way we can put vanilla ice cream on top.

I baked it in a pie dish and tweaked the recipe just a little bit.  And that is our Christmas dessert :)

pacman

 My husband who is not a big fan of sweets, had already eaten two portions!

crunchy and chewy

I think I just discovered what I'm bringing to the next potluck I'm invited to!

Merry Christmas :)

suka and PATTIES

I was on leave yesterday--and what a day it was :)

It is always nice to have an extra day.  Since getting married, things I do during these days had change dramatically.  

I woke up the same time as I do during weekdays.  I watched and talked to my husband as he was getting ready to head to work.  After seeing him off, I tried to sleep some more--by 10AM, I could not sleep any more.

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I went to our kitchen and set out to do what I had been excited to do since the day before.

Longanisa, the filipino version of a sausage.  

I was using my mom's recipe, only I tweaked it a little bit.  One of the changes I made was to put MORE garlic.   My sister told me that she does the same, adding more garlic. 

Instead of the usual cylindrical shape, I decided I would make  mini burgers instead.  I lined a baking tray with aluminium foil then I used my hands (making this is always so much fun!) and a spoon to make balls.  Each ball went to the tray and I almost immediately flattened it.  

Did I mention that it was so much fun?

I then placed the tray in the freezer and left it there for around thirty minutes.

When it was ready, I took it out, cut the aluminium foil and placed the patties in a plastic container that went back to the freezer.

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Okay, I lied.  I also made a few typical skinless longanisa pieces.

But it was so boring rolling the meat mixture.  Plus mini patties are cuter ;)

today's breakfast

one chicken, one meal

Last week, I decided to use my new dutch oven (at my fiance's flat) to bake a whole chicken.

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When I got back from the store I started by warming up the lemon and poking small slits.  This lemon would go into the chicken cavity together with salt and herbs.

So far, so good.

I peeled the cling wrap from the chicken so I can wash the bird.

OMG!

I jumped back. 

The head was still attached!

AND THE FEET! 

The feet were in the cavity.

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I called my fiance and he came into the rescue but cutting the monster's head and feet off.

He was also kind enough to wash the chicken for me--I think that was his apology for cutting off the leg the from calf rather than the ankle.  No wonder it looked funny!

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With adrenaline pumping into my veins from the fright I just had, I continued seasoning the chicken.

I laid it over a bed of onions inside the dutch oven, turned on the heat and prepared to bake potato and sweet potato in the oven.
 

missing 'calves'

The chicken came out super juicy and tasty! 

Only...the onions were burnt!  There was no burnt taste at all.  Nor burnt smell. 

I'd research on how not to burn the lining.  I know my dad uses a bed of sea salt, but where I live that is not really very practical.

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My Fiance loved the chicken.   He ate 3/4 of the bird! 

We finished it all in one sitting--even with all the baked sides.

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For next time, I need to figure out which chicken for sale no longer have a head and feet.

And how not to burn the ingredients that touch the bottom of the pan.

COOKING monster

I am getting consumed gathering, trying and tweaking recipes for when my fiance and I start living together after our wedding.

The idea that I can control all the dishes at home is empowering for me.  Really.  


That idea had always made me smile a little bit.  Even a lot.

To be fair, in our current household we all "chip in" suggestions when listing out what our menu would be for the week.  And we do take into consideration each person's preference or dietary needs.

When I was still living with my parents, I could always "request" for certain dishes to be cooked.

So it isn't really that I felt powerless to influence food in the past.

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To be honest I am getting the 'mad scientist' feeling right now.  This moment.  Just thinking about it.

It's near!

(Evil laugh)

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What are the things I want to cook?

A LOT.

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I think what really excites me about this is that I can make a my own curriculum taking into consideration skills I want to learn and improve on while churning out food our consumption :)

My fiance pretty much eats everything.  I love how he is expressive about general things including his appreciation of my cooking.  He also makes 'requests'.

I sometimes tweak things so that he would like it more.  There are other times where we have the same main and different sides.

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I'm keeping this feeling from my mom--for now.  And only because I don't want her to stress herself documenting all her recipes in time for our wedding. 

child's play

I had finally secured a 9-inch round shallow pyrex and I can't wait to put it to good use.

I really don't know where to begin.  Part of me wants to make shepherd's pie so that I can use my giant icing decorator my sister got me for the mashed potato on top.  But if I'm being truthful to myself, I really imagined a rich pie sitting on the dish.  Something caramel, sticky and sweet, maybe with nuts.

I am looking forward to cooking more this year.  After we get married, I have more opportunities to experiment :)

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I'm quite curious how life truly changes after marriage.  I was chatting with a good friend who recently got married and she says that she loves married life and that it still feels like playing house.  I love how she said that, playing house. 

I remember how when I was young and we played lutu-lutuan or pretend cooking, placing flower petals and leaves into miniscule pots--a master chef in a child's mind.  Sometimes I still feel that way when I'm cooking.  I can't help but smile when that certain feeling takes hold of me.  I can't say it is dead on nostalgic, but I would say that that child in me makes me a happier adult.

Playing house.  That is one point for the team that I'm rooting for.  The team that believes.

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Happy New Year! :)