Cranberry Pear Gelatin Mold

Every year for Thanksgiving I make spiced cranberry sauce to go with turkey. This time I wanted to try something different without the usual spices and found a recipe for Jello molded salad. I like it and I'll probably make both sauce and gelatin mold for this year's Thanksgiving Day dinner. 

The original recipe uses bottled cranberry juice. I made my own sweetened juice with fresh cranberries, sugar, mandarin orange peels, and a chopped teeny tiny Seckel pear.  

Read more »

Pumpkin Brioche

I'm still in my pumpkin love period and added puree into a brioche dough. To half of the dough I added pumpkin seeds and shaped into a medium size "brioche a tete" and a few teeny tiny ones. I divided the other half into eight portions and filled them with sweetened and pie spiced pumpkin puree. I love them both. They're fragrant and slightly sweet; very autumn-y.

Read more »

Cherry Tomato Confit

Had I known earlier that confit of cherry tomatoes is so good, I would have made it and often. The tomato confit is slightly sweet and has intense tomato flavor with a hint of garlic and herbs. I just love it on top of slices of freshly baked crusty bread or pasta.

I found a recipe for Italian clam soup with added tomatoes but instead of making soup I topped a few steamed clams with the cherry tomato confit and had them for lunch with a few slices of bread smeared with the oil and garlic from the confit. What a wonderful delicious lunch I had.

Read more »

Egg White Kimchi Omelet

My refrigerator and freezer have lots and lots of egg whites. I've already used a few cups for cookies and other desserts but the containers always seem full. Omelet to the rescue! I added chopped kimchi and scallions to the beaten egg whites, cut the omelet into rectangles, and layered with roasted nori (seaweed) and rice for a healthy meat-free lunch. Simple, delicious, and satisfying.

Read more »

Calamansi Macarons

It's been a long while since I made macarons. They are time consuming to make and the process gives real meaning to "labor intensive". Even writing down the recipe is a chore. Hahaha. But the end result is very rewarding, specially this batch flavored with Philippine limes, calamansi. The recipe is adapted from Piere Hermé's Lemon Macarons from his book MACARONS. They are sweet and tart and utterly delicious. I urge you to try making them at least once. You won't be disappointed.

Read more »

Fried Milk (Leche Frita) and Fried Corn Soup

creamy and moderately sweet with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla Leche Frita
Have you heard about thedeep fried corn potage or soup introduced at KFC Japan early this week? It's crazy, I know, but it certainly got my attention. Looking at the photo of the of the fried "soup" nuggets, a Fillipino snack/dessert pudding called Maja Blanca which is made of coconut milk, sweet corn kernels, and cornstarch immediately came to mind. It also reminded me of the Spanish sweet snack Leche Frita, literally fried milk, but is actually chilled pudding, cut into squares, dipped in egg and bread crumbs, then fried.

Read more »

Apple Slab Pie

The last week of August, I noticed that some trees in my area have their leaves starting to turn already. We've had very cool mornings and only had few 90°F days all summer which explains the early autumn feel. And, of course, at the first whiff of autumn airs, apple pie had to be baked although officially autumn doesn't start until September 22.

>

Read more »

Food Friday: Puto Pao

are they puto or siopao?, they're both, sort of

  

Check out Maiylah's blog for more FoodFriday

Puto Pao

puto
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
¾ cup sugar  
2 tablespoons baking powder
1½ cups milk
7 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
8 tablespoons sugar

filling
2 cups flaked or finely chopped char siu (Chinese roast pork)
2 tablespoons hoi sin sauce


topping
grated cheese
thinly sliced salted duck eggs, optional

• Grease puto molds or cups with vegetable oil or spray.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder. Slowly stir in milk and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth. Set aside. 
• In a stand mixer with the balloon whisk attached, beat on low speed the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat on high until stiff but not dry. 
• Fold in the flour mixture into the beaten egg whites. 
• Mix flaked char siu and hoi sin sauce.
• Fill molds half full with batter, spoon 2 tablespoons pork filling, top with a little more puto mixture to just cover the filling. Sprinkle with cheese and add a slice of egg on top.
• Steam in rapidly boiling water for 20 minutes. Remove from molds and serve while hot.