Hey There...!

Hello! 

I am doing my best to resurface from drowning in my self-pity. Ugh, feeling pathetic is awful. I am falling in a hole. The weird hole of unemployment… When I was working full time I allowed my imagination to go places and I fancied myself opening my own bakery like my friend, Angela (Ethos Bakery), or owning a yoga studio (Yoga Hut) like these Jen(n)ifers. But now that I actually have time to make things happen, I'm not doing much except for sitting around while dreaming away.  When I wake up (figuratively), the day is almost over and all I have accomplished is cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry. Yoga practice is a given since I pretty much practice every day and perhaps a walk if the cold doesn’t scare me from stepping outside.

The proverbial question of what to do with my life constantly looms over my head. What is it that I really want to do? I can get lost in my own world chopping vegetables, stirring a pot of soup, kneading bread, cracking open pistachios, and chopping chocolate to roll in cinnamon buns. These are the things that I have been doing every day of my unemployment (except during the time when I was at yoga teacher training). But, I need to earn some dinero and hiding in my kitchen listening to podcasts and Pandora will not get me anywhere.

This would have been the best time to record all the amazing stuff I have been cooking up and share with you guys. But I have been very selfish with my cooking lately and unwilling to disrupt the process by recording everything and snapping photos. Forgive me for that. Do allow me to share some humble pieces of advice though. I believe in cooking instinctively and I live by these simple rules that I have learned in my kitchen adventures:

1. Buy seasonal ingredients and utilize whatever you have on hand.

2. Cook with lots of garlic.

3. Salt (noun and verb). Don’t be modest with salt BUT always make sure to use just a little bit to start and then add according to your taste.

4. When something is amiss with whatever you are making, a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice always helps.

5. Save the last wedges of hard cheeses (Parmesan, Pecorino Romano, extra sharp cheddar) and add it to soups especially tomato based ones. It is a wonderful flavor enhancer!

6. A handful of fresh herbs never hurt.

7. Poach eggs on soups (especially tomato-based soups, minestrone, or any soup with beans and legumes). Makes for really great, heart-warming meals.

8. Use full fat Greek yogurt in lieu of sour cream. Or add a big dollop in a bowl of chili that accidentally got doused with a little too much chili powder.

9. Olive oil is a magical elixir… for cooking, roasting, and baking. 

10. Keep tasting as you cook. Maybe add more salt, maybe some cumin (this ingredient is a great flavor enhancer like MSG, only it’s not bad for you), or maybe some lemon!

A peek at what I’ve been up to in my kitchen and loose bits of recipe information:

Lemony Crab Pasta… This was quite amazing. I bought some fresh (kind of) crabmeat from a local fish monger and paid a big amount of money for a tub. The price almost gave me a heart attack when he rang it up but I was too embarrassed to say “Uh, I don’t want it anymore, muy expensivo ”. The main ingredients are crabmeat, lemon, garlic, fresh parsley, rotini, and of course a generous heap of freshly grated Parmesan. The cream sauce is made of leftover heavy cream and some cream cheese.

Leche Flan is one of my most favorite Filipino desserts. It is so rich and so melt-in-your mouth wonderful. I had to make this because DFJ left me a dozen egg yolks after he made me an angel food cake for my birthday. I adapted this recipe slightly by using 12 eggs instead of 10.

 Rough and Ready Turnip Potage from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating From America’s Farmers’ Markets. Talk about delicious, comfort food for these cold cold days!

Creamy Ginger-Coconut Sweet Potato, Cauliflower, and Kale. The made-up recipe name tells you exactly what is in this bowl of sweet, earthy, warm-spicy goodness.

Joy The Baker… she is so, so, so BONKERS AWESOME! I spent most of my afternoon a few days ago baking these Pistachio, Orange, and Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls. These are the best cinnamon rolls ever! The dough itself tastes really good and can stand alone as a perfect breakfast or dinner or snack roll. And seriously, how much better does it get when you add in some fancy dark chocolate, salty pistachios, and orange zest? The strong chocolate flavor complements the cinnamon sugar and the salty pistachio bits are super fun to bite into… unfurling the rolls with all of these good things is a special treat.

Lemon, Rosemary, and Olive Oil Shortbread… Oh, these are super addictive in a really good way. I over-baked mine and it ended up too hard to bite into. So, I stabbed edges off inch by inch with a small, sturdy, sharp knife and ate one shard after another of rosemary infused shortbread heaven. This is definitely something I would eat for dessert every day and not feel guilty about. There’s nothing too overbearing about this cookie and it is soooo good in its simplicity.

Ruby Red and Rosemary Honey Cocktail… I fully intended to have DFJ make this exact concoction for me, except for I accidentally grabbed navel oranges instead of grapefruit. It still tasted pretty damn good! I might have one again tonight… with navel oranges. 

Roasted Brussels sprouts, amazing roasted onions (recipe here), mashed avocado (in lieu of mayonnaise), and apple slices on an open-face sandwich. The bread is recipe is Ken Forkish’s Overnight White Bread from Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast. Of course what is a sandwich without french fries??? This is my take on homemade oven-baked rosemary, garlic, Parmesan fries. 

A lonely girl’s lunch of leftover roasted Brussels sprouts, the mind-blowing (sweet and tangy) roasted onions, and a hard-boiled egg, with the homemade artisan bread. YES, I’m baking artisan bread at home again. I plan on baking all the bread recipes in Ken Forkish’s book and then opening my own bakery (yeah right on the latter but truly planning on the former).

Writing all of that just made me feel so much better! It is almost dark out and I will try to get that walk in before the day is over.

I am grateful for this space and its ability to remind me to breathe. Breathe… it feels good.

Blueberry-Ginger Scones

I love, love, love scones! If I could eat one type of pastry for the rest of my life, I would choose scones, especially Alice Waters’ scones… they’re light, soft, and totally melt-in-your-mouth goodness.

Whenever I make scones, I usually go for Alice Waters’ recipe and put my own spin to it, so it’s kinda-sorta different each time. Over the number of times that I have used her recipe, my favorite flour blend is half whole wheat and half whole wheat pastry. It makes for a delicate scone with good substance.

This time, I decided to toss in some blueberries and crystallized ginger in the mix. The combination of both is heavenly! The freshness and sweetness of the blueberries makes you think of sunny fields while the warm and spicy flavors of candied ginger reminds you of burrowing under the covers. The blueberries and ginger bits enveloped in the orange-infused scone dough is simply delightful.

Blueberry-Ginger Scones (Makes 8 large scones)

Adapted from Alice Waters’ Scones, The Art of Simple Food

Scones:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sugar

zest of 1 orange

½ cup fresh blueberries

¼ cup crystallized ginger, minced

1 and 1/3 cups heavy cream

Vanilla-Cream Wash:

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon sugar

Move an oven rack to the middle slot and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet, by covering it with parchment paper or rubbing it generously with a bit of butter.

Whisk the flours, baking powder, and salt well together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, massage the orange zest into the sugar granules using your fingertips. Whisk the orange infused sugar into the flour mixture. Toss in the minced ginger and whisk well. Add the blueberries and use your fingertips to gently sift it in the dry mixture, make sure you don’t crush them.

Pour in the heavy cream and using a flexible, rubber spatula, gently mix the cream and the dry ingredients until a scraggly dough forms. Tip the dough onto a clean counter and gently form into a circle. Pat the circle into an 8-inch disk. Divide the disk into 8 wedges using a knife.

To make the vanilla-cream wash, stir together the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and sugar in a small bowl. Brush the scone wedges with the wash using a pastry brush.

Carefully move the wedges onto the prepared pan. You might want to use a very flat, plastic spatula to peel them off the counter. Bake for 20-24 minutes until the top turns into a nice, golden brown.

Pairing these scones with a cup of coffee, a good latte, or your favorite tea is highly recommended. Sit back, smile, and enjoy!

Appetizer Party, Fall 2013

DFJ and I invited some new friends over last Saturday. We had a lovely time getting to know each other and running after babies. Who knew that the spider webs your vacuum cleaner missed could entertain two-year old twins?

We served the following foods along with some good cheeses and crackers. These appetizer recipes can also be great additions to your Thanksgiving menu! Just click on the links to find the recipes.   

Molly O’Neill’s Roasted Squash Soup with Cumin (The Wednesday Chef)

I am in love with this savory butternut squash soup! It is rich in flavor, creamy, and has a very slight kick that slowly creeps up on you. This will make you feel warm and cozy all over. The toasted sunflower seed topping is a must-make (so, don’t skip them) they are perfectly crunchy, salty, and cuminy (that’s a new word)! There were two things that I slightly adapted in this recipe: 1) adding torn sage leaves on the butternut squash before roasting it and 2) using half chicken stock and half vegetable stock.

Sweet Potatoes with Pecans, Goat Cheese, and Celery (Smitten Kitchen)

As always, Smitten Kitchen, never fails me. A few years ago, my artisan baker friend, Angela, told me to make this particular recipe from Deb’s blog and I obliged. This is the third time I made this recipe for a party and it never fails to please the crowd. It is something that is made with all too common ingredients that one would never think of putting together. Perfectly roasted sweet potatoes are topped with minced shallots, celery, pecans, goat cheese, and cranberries seasoned with mustard vinaigrette. That’s a party right there!

  

Beef Meatballs with Fava Beans and Lemon (Jerusalem, Ottolenghi and Tamimi)

 If you have the Jerusalem cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, do yourselves a favor and cook up these amazing meatballs. If not, the recipe for these meatballs is a good enough reason to invest in this cookbook. (All the other recipes that I have made from this book turned out great too, it’s worth it!) I know that some people may think meatballs are meatballs. So not true! Ottolenghi has a knack for bringing out the best in everything and turning something simple like meatballs into a complex blend of flavors that play so well together. These meatballs are spiked with exotic spices, it makes you feel like someone’s grandmother from Jerusalem invited you in her warm kitchen for dinner. The herbs loaded in these babies give them a dose of freshness. The tangy lemon juice adds brightness and makes them even more flavorful. I also love the smooth texture and the saltiness of the beans. And all that chicken stock helped keep the moisture in the meatballs.

We substituted some ingredients to accommodate what we had on hand. Instead of fava beans, we used frozen lima beans and skipped the blanching part (which caused our beans to lose the bright green color). This recipe calls for some ground lamb but since we didn’t have any, we used all ground beef. For the herbs, we doubled the fresh parsley and cilantro, used dried dill, and skipped the mint. Baharat spice mix is easy to make at home and Ottolenghi has a recipe for it in the book. 

DFJ Carnita Tacos (Let’s Cook and Be Friends)

These are ultimate crowd pleasers! We served this at DFJ’s parents’ Christmas party last year and it was gone in less than 5 minutes. That’s how good it is! First you have to make some carnitas, of course. You can make it a day or two ahead of time as it keeps pretty well in the fridge. Right before the party, fill some mini taco shells with carnitas, top with a few drops of salsa, and sprinkle on some shredded cheddar cheese. Pop it in an oven preheated to 350 degrees F and bake until the cheese melts, approximately 8-12 minutes.

My Anything Goes Crostini

This crostini is really good and perfect for the foodies and the picky eaters in your party. It is easy to make and the toppings can be made ahead of time. Just stir fry diced leeks, mushrooms, half a bell pepper, and a bit of ham steak in olive oil and season it with salt and pepper. On the day of the party, put a bit of Dijon mustard on some small slices of good sourdough, add a spoonful of the stir fry mix, and top with a slice of Swiss cheese. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees F and cook just until the cheese melts. Serve warm. Comfort food in the form of a miniature cheese steak!

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake (Smitten Kitchen)

I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen (again) and she got this recipe from one of Ina Garten’s cookbooks. The funny thing is, I have all of Ina’s cookbooks but for the one that has this recipe in it. Orange and dark chocolate is one of the best food combinations out there… it’s a classic and it just can’t go wrong. I kept it simple and skipped the syrup and the ganache. It seemed like too much work, with everything else that we were making. The cake in itself is just perfect. Beguilingly simple, this cake will surprise you with its rich orange flavor and the delightful chocolate bites. I cut the sugar quantity back by ½ a cup and the cake is still wonderful. We’ve been eating the leftovers for breakfast and dinner dessert AND loving every bite. The cake is pretty dense, so a small slice goes a long way...

I hope this recipe round-up will give you some ideas on what to serve at your next party! 

Happy cooking!