Swedish Meatballs

David Lebovitz wrote a hilarious piece about his recent visit to the Ikea store in the suburbs of Paris. He ended up buying the only thing that he liked, the candy Daim which is similar to English toffee. He also poked fun at the restaurant's food offerings, one of which is my favorite, meatballs with lingon berry preserves.

I LOVE Swedish meatballs and regularly make them either with gravy or lemon flavored sauce and always serve them with lingonberry preserves. The lingonberries are a smaller version of cranberries but they are sweeter and not as tart. They are perfect with the meatballs. The meatballs are served at Ikea with steamed vegetables, usually carrots and broccoli and a few buttered boiled potatoes. I had them with a buttered hot dinner bun (pan de sal).

Swedish Meatballs
3 slices bread, chopped and soaked in 1 cup half & half
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon freshly grated black pepper
1 egg
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• Mix all ingredients, form into 1½ inch balls. Bake in a 350°F oven or fry in very little oil until golden brown. Serve with Swedish lingon berry preserves and salad of your choice.

Halo-halo & Ube Macapuno Ice Cream

What's your favorite ice cream flavor: Halo-halo with bits of langka, saba, sweet macapuno, haleyang ube, and leche flan? or ube and macapuno? Well, I love them both.

halo-halo ice cream with bits of leche flan, saba in syrup, macapuno, ube, langka

I love the macapuno bits, and ube makes this ice cream so creamy

The basic vanilla ice cream recipe is here, just add your halo-halo ingredients after churning between layers of ice cream when transfering to a container. For the ube, omit vanilla and warming step, add 2 T sugar and 1 cup cooked mashed ube before churning, then add very cold bits of macapuno preserves the last 5 minutes.

With a new super-efficient and roomier freezer I am again making ice cream non-stop. And with David Lebovitz' book The Perfect Scoop how can I ever stop making ice cream when there are so many new and old favorite flavors to try?

Cuapa(o)wich

I found a cuapao sandwich in a Filipino Magazine called YUMMY. I think it's a great idea to make it into a cuapaowich instead of stuffing the dough before steaming. I did not follow the recipe for the pork, I have leftover pork roast and used plain roasted peanuts because their recipe for the mustard and the peanuts are loaded with sugar, too sweet, in my honest opinion.
I wanted to eat it with ramen soup but it's hot and muggy today and did not want to perspire while savoring this delicious treat.

Siopao Dough
1½ cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons lard or white Crisco
parchment paper

• In a small bowl, mix 2 tablespoons sugar and ½ cup of the warm water, stir and add yeast, mix well, let stand for 10 minutes.
• In a stand mixer bowl with paddle attached, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and lard/Crisco. Add the yeast mixture and the rest of the warm water. Mix for 1 minute. Replace the paddle attachment with dough hook and knead for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, turn the dough so that greased side is up, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 1½ hours.
• Remove bubbles by lightly kneading; divide dough into 16. Cut rectangular shaped parchment papers, set aside. Shape dough pieces into oblong (or round if making into siopao) placing each on the parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Steam in rapidly boiling water for12 minutes (15 minutes if filled).

It's sooo yummy, thanks YUMMY Magazine!

Red Lentil Patties

I promised to cook vegetarian dishes more often but I find it difficult to keep. There isn't much you can make with meatless ingredients. I can never be a vegetarian, I just love meat and fish too much.:)

Preparation of vegetarian meals is not hard but planning to have a variety of dishes is time consuming, if not totally boring. Today, I made red lentil patties, the lentils were boiled with bulgur, seasoned with tons of garlic, onion, lemon juice and zest, salt and finely minced parsley, then fried in hot oil. They are very tasty with tzatziki and buttered rice sprinkled with ground sumac. The skewered things on the right are lamb koftas.

I have to find more recipes for these red lentils. Any suggestions? No soups, please.;D