A Trio Of Goodies

digestive biscuits, perfect with preserved fruits or creamy cheeses

jaffa cakes: yummy spongy cakes with orange jam and chocolate

buttery crunchy shortbread cookies

In our three-year stay in Hong Kong we developed a taste for snacks from the UK such as McVitie's digestive biscuits, St. Michael's jaffa cakes, crumpets, and salt & vinegar potato crisps, Carr's table water crackers, and other goodies with odd names. We love the digestive biscuits with a thin layer of caramel under a layer of milk chocolate or the ones with just a layer of milk chocolate. The jaffa cakes are our absolute favorite but I can't find in our area the McVitie's and the St. Michael's brands, I buy the LU Pim's which is also good.

The other day I made a small Strawberry Marshmallow Pie and used up the last packet of plain digestive biscuits. I want to make more of the pie (it was delicious!) so I made one batch of digestive biscuits and since I'm heating up the oven anyway, I also made jaffa cakes, and a few shortbread cookies too. The jaffa cakes are not bad but can't compare with the melt-in-your-mouth store bought cakes. The digestive biscuits however are very good and the shortbread cookies are superb, both make very good crusts for strawberry pie and for snacking. I can't stop eating the shortbread cookies, they are so yummy!:-)

Wheat Thins (Digestive Biscuits)
1½ cups fine stoneground whole wheat flour
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup butter

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Put all the ingredients in the food processor and process until the mixture starts to clump. Transfer into a flat surface, gather the dough together with your hands and roll out.
• Stamp out 18 round pieces with a 3-inch cutter. Place on silpat or parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes until the edges begin to color. Leave to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Jaffa Cakes
½ cup superfine sugar
2 eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup orange jam or marmalade
2 teaspoon water
½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin
4½ ounces semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a stand mixer bowl with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs until light and frothy, when the whisk leaves a ribbon when lifted. Sift the flour over the mixture and stir in gently using a large metal spoon.
• Divide the mixture among 18 regular muffin molds. Bake for 10 minutes until just firm and color is pale golden around the edges. Using a metal spatula transfer the cakes into a rack to cool.
• Heat the jam and pass through a fine sieve. Return the strained jam to the pan and add the water and gelatin and cook until gelatin has dissolved. Transfer into a small bowl and let cool in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until it has thickened a bit. Spoon a little of the jam in the center of each cookie. Melt the chocolate and spoon a little on top of the cookies, spreading gently to the edges. Leave to set for at least an hour.

Sugar-crusted Shortbread Rounds
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon rice flour
½ cup butter
¼ cup superfine sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
raw sugar
golden superfine sugar

• Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Sift together the flour, rice flour, and salt and stir into the butter mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Working quickly, gather the dough together and put on a work surface. Knead lightly until it forms a ball. Roll into a sausage shape, about 3 inches thick. Put in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Pour about 3 tablespoons raw sugar onto a sheet of parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and roll it on the sugar until evenly coated. Using a sharp knife, slice into ½ inch-thick disks. Place disks onto the baking sheets, leaving space in between and bake for 20 -25 minutes until pale golden in color.
• Remove from the oven and sprinkle with golden superfine sugar. Leave to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Pork And Chicken Adobo

I have been blogging for almost two years now and just realized I have written about adobo only two times, both with Cornish game hens. Considering adobo is our (unofficial) national dish, I should probably feature it more often. I make this dish once a month, a different version (and meat) each time. In the Philippines, the different regions have their own versions, some have onions and chicken livers, others add coconut milk with pieces of green papaya, and some in the Northern provinces don't use soy sauce and the result is a white sauce-less adobo which is really yummy. Another way to prepare adobo is marinating the meat and then browned in oil before stewing in the marinade. I also remember my mother used to cook frog legs adobo with annatto seed oil.

I don't have a recipe that I follow and I don't measure the ingredients. And just like my mother, I taste it after stewing for 15 minutes and adjust the seasonings right then, taste and adjust some more if necessary after the dish is done.

Chicken And Pork Adobo
2 pounds chicken, cut into pieces
1 pound pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch cubes
½ cup cider vinegar (I use the Filipino cane vinegar called sukang Iloko)
½ cup dry sherry
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorn
1 head garlic, peeled and pounded
2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bay leaf
½ cup water
pitted Spanish olives, optional

• Place the meats in a saucepan and add vinegar, sherry, black pepper, salt, garlic, soy sauce, bay leaf, and 2 T olive oil. Let stand for 1 hour.
• Turn the heat on high and let come to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes or until the sauce is almost dry. Add the water and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes until the meats are tender and sauce has thickened. There should be plenty of sauce but not too soupy.
• Add the olives, if using, and simmer for 5 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf and discard, drizzle the remaining olive oil and transfer into a serving dish. Serve with steamed rice.

I also love this Portuguese Turkey Adobado which is from my cookbook THE FOOD OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz.

Pavo Adobado (marinated Turkey)
one 5 - 9 pound turkey, cut into serving pieces
For the marinade
4 bay leaves
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, chopped
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
3 - 6 cups dry white wine, or enough to cover

• In a bowl large enough to hold the turkey pieces, combine the turkey with all the marinade ingredients. Refrigerate overnight, turning the pieces once or twice. Lift out and pat dry the turkey pieces with paper towels, set aside. Strain and reserve marinade, discarding the solids.

For the turkey
4 - 6 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1-inch piece cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
salt and freshly ground pepper

• Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet and saute turkey until lightly browned. Do this in batches, if necessary, adding oil as needed. Lift out the turkey into a casserole. In the oil remaining in the pan saute the the onion and garlic until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes and cook until the mixture is thick and well blended. Add to the casserole together with the cinnamon stick and cloves, and salt and pepper to taste. Pour in the reserved marinade, cover and cook in a preheated 350 degree oven for 2 - 3 hours. Serve with rice and a light dry red wine.

I have come across numerous adobo recipes using various meats and seafood and I'm thinking of putting together an 'adobo cookbook' and will print it in my home. If you want to contribute your family's recipe please post it in the comments section or email it to me at oggi.icandothat(AT)gmail(DOT)com. I will try to cook the different recipes as much as I can and hope to hear from you soon. ^_^

My Books Of The Month

These are 2 of the books I have read this month that are worth recommending



BELONG TO ME Marisa de los Santos A++

A follow-up to her best-selling novel LOVE WALKED IN. It's the story of newly married city couple, Cornelia and her handsome half-Filipino oncologist husband Teo, who moved to the suburbs with perfectly manicured lawns, beautiful people, and their equally beautiful children. It sounds like a shallow chick lit but the novel has so much more depth and meaning. All the characters are very well presented and developed, the wit and talent of the author are very evident. She deftly wrote about friendships, families, relationships, love, and death with her funny beautiful warmhearted dialog. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SHARP TEETH Toby Barlow A++



A fast-paced and bloody thriller about werewolves disguised as ordinary dogs living among the unsuspecting citizens of Los Angeles. Not for the squeamish, this novel has everything: action, rival gangs, murder, revenge, drugs, and romance written entirely in free verse. I am already imagining it being made into a 'biting' but cool film noir. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

lines from page 43

Lycanthropes first came out of the native tribes in the Northwest,
born, legends say,
from a native thirst for a superior warrior.
But when the weather turned,
their packs were wiped out knifed and skinned in fear
as native American witch hunts
took on their destruction
as a sacred, healing mission.
On a hundred nights,
surrounded and fighting mad,
pack after pack were driven into drought-dry woods
where they were all burned down
to smoldering stumps.
The howling shook leaves in distant trees
and rolled through the valleys

like the screams of lost birds

echoing the thunder.

Layer Cakes - Sapin Sapin And Kueh Lapis

I have never made sapin sapin nor was I enthusiastic about it before. To me it is just a three-color layered bibingka. The sapan sapin that I remember had only 4 ingredients: sweet rice, coconut milk, sugar, and food coloring, which probably is the Laguna style. The recipe in my Little Kakanin book uses three kinds of milk: coconut, sweetened condensed, and evaporated, and has ube and langka (jack fruit). Well, I made my sapin sapin with more flavoring, the ever present buco pandan and anise extract for a 4-layer sapin sapin. It was not easy to remove from the pan because it sticks everywhere but I love it!
While browsing the internet for the recipe I found several Malaysian layer cakes called Kueh Lapis and I was attracted by the thin beautiful layers. Looking at the ingredients and procedure, it's very similar to the sapin sapin. The finished cake has a firmer texture, more like a softer Chinese tikoy and not as sticky as sapin sapin, and therefore easier to slice and makes a lovely but yummy snack. I also love it.

Sapin Sapin

2¼ cups sweet rice flour
1¼ cup rice flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups coconut milk
red, yellow, and purple food coloring
optional ingredients:
1 cup finely minced buco
pandan extract
4 tablespoons ube powder
½ cup finely minced langka
½ teaspoon anise extract
banana leaf

• Line a 9-inch round pan with banana leaf, set aside. Mix flours, sugar, and coconut milk until smooth. Divide into four portions. Color one portion with red and add anise extract, add buco and pandan extract into the second, add yellow coloring and langka into the third, and add the ube powder and purple coloring, if a deeper purple is desired, to the remaining portion.
• Preheat the pan in the steamer for 5 minutes. Pour one color of your choice and steam for 15 minutes. Pour the next 3 portions, one at a time, steaming for 15 minutes each time.
• Cool completely before removing from pan. Serve with cooked until brown thick coconut milk (latik or budbod).

Malaysian Kueh Lapis

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950 ml coconut milk
400 gm rice flour
280 gm tapioca flour
½ teaspoon salt
550 gm sugar
10 pandan leaves
350 ml water
food coloring and flavoring

• Mix coconut milk, flours, and salt. Boil pandan, water, and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Remove pandan and stir into the flour mixture and mix well until smooth. Divide into 3 portions. Add green pandan paste to one portion and pink color to another portion, leave the third plain.
• Lightly oil a square baking pan. Steam pan for 5 minutes in boiling water. Pour 1 cup of white mixture and steam for 10 minutes. Pour 1 cup of green mixture on top of white mixture and steam for 5 minutes. Pour 1 cup of pink mixture and steam for 5 minutes. Repeat with white and green mixtures steaming 5 minutes each. Add more pink or a drop of red coloring to the pink mixture and pour on top of green. Steam for 10 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into shapes.

pretty yummy