Food Friday Sautéed Vegetables

green and purple yardlong beans, cherry tomatoes, and edamame beans

End of season vegetables from my garden: green and purple sitaw, cherry tomatoes, and edamame. I sautéed them in garlic, shallots, fermented anchovies (bagoong monamon), and a little chopped crispy pork rinds (chicharrones). Simply delicious.

Baked Empanada Kaliskis

Empanada kaliskis (fish scales) has been in my 'to make list' for as long as I can remember but even after getting a recipe with the procedure on how to make the layered dough (thanks again to Maricel) I was still hesitant because of the work involved and the dreaded deep-frying. A reader renewed my interest when he suggested making the Italian sweet pastry sfogliatelle into a savory one just like empanada. After reading both recipes and the one from Malta, pastizzi, which are all remarkably similar, I tested a small batch. Although I wasn't 100% successful in rolling the dough paper-thin and the empanadas don't have the thin layers of these ones, I still think it is worthwhile because they came out flaky, tender, and delicious.

How to Make Empanada Kaliskis Dough
5 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cold lard or butter, diced
1 tablespoon rock sea salt
1 cup water
4 tablespoons sugar, more or less to taste
3 egg yolks
filling of choice

The following is Maricel's complete procedure for mixing and shaping the empanadas. The thickness of the slices is not specified; 1-inch thick is okay. I didn't soak the slices in oil, I brushed the dough with melted lard, sfogliatelle style, before rolling into a log. I baked the empanads in a 400°F oven for 40 minutes, brushing them with melted lard every 10 minutes to open up the layers.

Cut in lard to flour until cornmeal in texture. Dissolve salt, sugar and egg yolks in water. Add to flour. Knead until smooth, adding up to ½ cup of flour if dough is sticky. Let rest 10 minutes. Using a rolling pin or pasta maker, roll until dough is paper thin. Roll jellyroll fashion around a piece of fresh coconut tingting until desired diameter is reached (bigger diameter for bigger empanadas). Be sure to roll tightly. Pull out tingting. Cut into crosswise slices. Soak in oil for 30 minutes. Roll out each slice on a piece of banana leaf using a center-out, center-out motion until circle widens. Invert onto another piece of banana leaf. Roll dough trimmings thinly. Put trimmings on top of inverted rolled, oiled dough. Add filling. Fold in half. Seal edges by twisting and turning. Deep fry in hot oil. Flush with oil to make scales open.

filled with flaked chicken pork adobo

Italian Sunday Gravy

I don't watch much TV these days but when I do, it's some cooking show or contest. I always catch just the last part of Cook's Country episode on Italian Sunday gravy. I got curious as to why it's called gravy and not tomato sauce. After a lot of web searching I found one recipe that has pigs feet and immediately forgot why I was searching for it. Of course, with the pigs feet how can I resist so I made a very small quantity combining the Cook's Country version and the recipe from one of Serious Eats readers. This is one delicious tomato sauce and I love the soft gelatinous skin and meat of the pigs feet. One serving with some, okay lots of meat, over a cup of whole grain penne for lunch was so filling I had to skip dinner.

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Pain Meunier

Oh boy, I bought yet another baking book and I promise this would be the last, really...for the rest of the year. The book is called ADVANCED BREAD AND PASTRY A Professional Approach by Michel Suas. It's a big and heavy book with lots of beautiful photos and recipes for yeasted and quick breads, cakes, pastries, candies, fondants, and all sorts of confectionery. The book is definitely not for beginners but I recommend it to someone who is thinking of starting a baking business. Although I have been baking breads, cakes, and pastries for years now, it will take me many more to make them as professional looking as the ones in the book. Maybe I'll just read, learn a little, and admire the photos...or bake some of the yeasted breads that look and sound good. Like Pain Muenier or Miller's bread. This delicious and nutritious bread has all the components of the wheat kernel: bread flour, whole wheat flour, cracked wheat, and wheat germ. It's easy to make too, nothing too complicated or time consuming.

Pain Meunier history and a recipe that's almost identical to the book's is here.

shaping fendu: make a thin 1½-inch indentation down the center of the batard, then fold one side into the center