Callos

I have seen and eaten several versions of Callos, a Filipino-Spanish tripe and chickpea stew. Some have beef or pork trotters and others have cubed potatoes. The first time I cooked callos I was put off by the smell of the boiling tripe. My mom told me to boil the tripe for 2 minutes, rinse, then boil in fresh water until tender. It really made a difference and eliminated the strong odor of the tripe.

This recipe is my favorite because it doesn't have pig's feet but has ham as an added ingredient. It is seasoned with sweet smoked Spanish pimenton and bay leaves. The stew is very yummy with either rice or crusty country bread and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Callos
2 pounds honeycomb tripe
water
¼ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 cup sliced Spanish Chorizo
1 pound ham, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons Spanish smoked pimenton (paprika)
2 large tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 cup white wine
2 bay leaves
1 sprig thyme, optional
a pinch of crushed dried red pepper
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
3 cups cooked chickpeas

• Clean and boil the tripe for 2 minutes, drain and rinse tripe very well. Put back the tripe in the pot, add water to cover, and boil until fork tender, adding more water when needed. Remove the tripe and reserve broth. When cool enough to handle, cut tripe into 1 x 2 inch pieces. Set aside. 
• In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil and saute garlic, onion, and red pepper until onion is soft. Add the rest of the ingredients except chickpeas and 2 cups of reserved broth and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme, add the chickpeas and simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer into a large serving dish.

Double Espresso Roll Cake

Coffee flavored cake called Mocha cake is a favorite in the Philippines. It is sold at bakeshops as a round layer, sheet, or Swiss roll cakes and often served at birthday parties. These are chiffon, very soft, and spongy cakes unlike American-style jelly roll cakes. I love this not too sweet Filipino version that I adapted from this recipe, and for intense coffee flavor I used freshly brewed coffee plus espresso powder.

Double Espresso Roll Cake
1 cup sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup sugar
½ tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon espresso powder
¼ cup light olive or grapeseed oil
6 tablespoons hot brewed espresso coffee
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ cup sugar

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
• In a bowl of standing mixer, combine flour, salt, ½ cup sugar, baking powder, and espresso powder. Make a well in the center and pour in oil and hot coffee. With the paddle attachment, beat mixture on medium low for 3 minutes. Continue mixing, adding egg yolks one at a time, blending well after each addition, until thoroughly mixed. Transfer into another bowl and set aside.
• Wash the bowl very well and wipe dry, or use another bowl. Put in the egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat with wire whisk attachment at medium speed until frothy. Gradually add the ¼ cup sugar, beating until mixture is stiff and glossy. 
• With rubber spatula, gently fold one fourth of beaten egg whites into batter, scraping bottom of bowl, until lightly blended. Gently fold the batter into the rest of the beaten egg white. Pour evenly into the prepared pan and smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 
• Turn the cake out on a towel lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar. Peel off the parchment paper. Starting from the narrow side, roll the still warm cake with the towel and leave on a wire rack to cool completely. Unroll the cake and transfer onto a parchment paper. Spread with a thin layer of Espresso Buttercream Frosting and reroll the cake, frost the outside of the roll. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before slicing. Keep leftover slices in the refrigerator or freezer.

Espresso Buttercream Frosting
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup brewed espresso coffee
11 tablespoons plus 1 tablespoon sugar
12 tablespoons butter, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces and softened
1 tablespoon espresso powder

• Put egg whites and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer with the wire whisk attachment.
• Stir together brewed coffee and 11 tablespoons sugar in a  heavy saucepan until sugar is dissolved, then bring to a boil over moderate heat, without stirring, brushing any sugar crystals down side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water.
• When syrup reaches a boil, start beating egg whites at medium-high speed until frothy, then gradually add remaining tablespoon sugar and espresso powder and beat at medium speed until whites just hold soft peaks. Do not beat again until sugar syrup is ready.
• Meanwhile, attach candy thermometer on the saucepan and continue boiling until syrup registers 238°F. Immediately remove from heat and with mixer at high speed, slowly pour hot syrup in a thin stream down side of bowl into whites, beating constantly. Beat, scraping down side of bowl with a rubber spatula, until meringue is cool to the touch, about 10 minutes. It is important that meringue is properly cooled before proceeding. With mixer at medium speed, gradually add butter 1 piece at a time, beating well after each addition until incorporated. Continue beating until buttercream is smooth. Mixture may look curdled before all of the butter is added but will come back together by the time beating is finished.

 

Roasted Onion And Asiago Miche: BBAC#43

Woohoo! Stick a fork in me. I'm done! Here it is, ta-da

the last bread in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge #43: Roasted Onion And Asiago Miche.

First, thank you Nicole for creating this challenge, XOXO. I learned a ton from baking 43 breads, found out what works, and discovered new favorites and appreciation for sourdough starter. Lately I have been using my wild yeast starter for almost all the yeast breads I bake outside of this challenge. I truly enjoyed this virtual baker's apprentice experience.

Now, about the bread. I halved the recipe because it is just too large for me to handle. It took 3 days to make this beautiful loaf. First day was for making a wet sourdough sponge which I mixed very late in the evening and left it on the kitchen counter overnight in order to avoid putting it in the refrigerator. The next morning it had grown and ready to be made into the dough. I loved the feel of the dough which was elastic, soft, and silky smooth like a baby's bottom. I did 3 stretch-and-folds within 1½ hours, total fermentation was 2 hours. It was then shaped into a boule, placed on a piece of parchment, sprayed with oil, covered with plastic wrap, then made to rest overnight in the refrigerator.

The next day, the ginormous 11-inch wide miche with lots of air pockets was made to de-chill *is that a word?* for 2 hours on the kitchen counter. The top was oiled, dimpled all over, then sprinkled with more cheese and the roasted onion, and baked for 35 minutes. The bread is very pretty on the outside but the crumb although soft and moist is not open as described in the book. The large holes that were supposed to be in between the dimpled sections were missing. The bread is flavorful but not as awesome as my other favorite breads in the book, which is a surprise.

Having said that I will give this bread another chance, it has so much potential. Maybe I'll increase the amount of scallions and chives because their flavors seem to disappear in the bread or try another kind of cheese. I will probably let the dough rest more than 30 minutes after dimpling because this step deflated the miche which might have contributed to the tight crumb.

Rating:
flavor 4
texture 4
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 4
worth 5
Total: 27
Average: 4.5

My top 10 favorite breads in the challenge

1. Casatiello
2. Pain à l'Ancienne
3. Pizza Napoletana
   
4. Potato, Cheddar, And Chive Torpedoes
5. Italian Bread
   
6. Portuguese Sweet Bread
7. Vienna Bread
   
8. Kaiser Rolls
9. Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
10. Bagels
    

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Rolled

tamagoyaki, a sweet Japanese rolled omelet

LpaisSundays, a gallery of food photography, Pinoy style, is hosted by SpiCes and Feisty Cook.

4 large eggs
4 tablespoons dashi stock
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon mirin
½ teaspoon soy sauce
salt, to taste

• Beat the eggs and the rest of the ingredients very well until as smooth as possible.
  
• Pour about a quarter of the mixture into a well-oiled tamago pan or non-stick skillet and spread as if you are making a crepe. As the mixture cooks, bubbles and sets, roll it and move it to the back of the pan. Brush more oil on the pan and some more of the mixture, making sure to get some under the roll. As it cooks, roll the old roll back to the front of the pan, then again to the back. Repeat until you are out of mixture.
• Remove roll from the pan and roll as you would a sushi roll, squeezing out excess liquid. You can roll it into either a round or rectangular shape and slice it when it has cooled. The slices can be served as is, or as nigiri, atop a mound of rice wrapped in a thin sheet of nori.