Bread Pudding

     Recently, Paige loves hanging around with me in our modest kitchen and I remember when I was her age, even earlier, kitchen is my favourite place especially when somebody is cooking---  mostly my brothers and our papang (apologies to my two sisters who were always outnumbered in many ways, ssshhh, but on the lighter note, they don't get to do dirty kitchen  clean-up on the side, Yey!)  My ultimate motive then being in the kitchen is not to learn how to cook but  to get the first taste and the first bite! As they say, early bird catches the worm! Anyway, so much for nostalgic moments. 

      Paige got her first cookbook last Sunday and picked her first baking dish. She was so curious about the names of the dish and how does it taste like so she decided to pick one and bake it. But looking at the ingredients she's  a little bit unconvinced as how would it taste then she decided to search in my cupboard and made some tweaks... tadah! she made her own recipe and it turned out delish so I am sharing her recipe inspired from this book ...

BREAD PUDDING
makes 8 medium size ramekins

Ingredients:

8 slices of Bread (Loaf)
2 tbsp melted unsalted butter
200 ml whipping cream
200 ml fresh milk
2 whole eggs
1 1/2 tbsp sugar cinnamon
1/3 c caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
icing sugar for dusting

Baking Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees with fan.
Manually cut the bread slices into small pieces and place on a ramekins. One slice for each ramekins. Press the bread into the ramekins if you must. Place ramekins on a baking tray.
Next, manually whisk all the ingredients in a bowl except for the icing sugar.
Pour pudding mix into each ramekins until all the bread cuts submerged.
Let it stand for 30 minutes or while waiting for the oven.
Then dust the puddings with icing sugar and
When oven is ready,  place the tray of ramekins into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until pudding is lightly brown on top.

Serve hot with tres leches on top or just serve it plain and warm like what we had immediately after we took it out from the oven. The top is crunchy and sweet!

Enjoy the goodness of this simple pleasure!

Ribs BBQ

One of the favourites... No longer aiming for outdoor grilling when indoor is possible.
I would like to share this recipe to all who wish to go baking and enjoy a greater satisfaction of sumptuous meal than what the best rib restaurants can offer...


PORK BBQ RIBS

Ingredients:

1-1.5 kg ribs

 Marinade:
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tbsp paprika
1 big onion minced
1 whole garlic crushed and minced
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp coarse ground pepper
3/4 tsp ground black pepper

Note: you can use powdered garlic and onions but i like mine natural so i use fresh G&O.

Mix all ingredients and dry rub over the ribs.
Cover the ribs in foil and place in ziplock.
Let it stand in the fridge overnight or at least 4 hours
before baking.

BBQ Sauce:
1/2  can coca-cola
1 c tomato ketchup
1/4 c worcestershire sauce ( the silver swan is the best, but Lea & Perrins will do)
1/2 c smokey steak sauce (has to be with smokey sting)
1/4 c light soy sauce (LKK)
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 c EVOO

Place all sauce ingredients in a pan except EVOO, then simmer until thick.
When thickened, add EVOO and heat up for a minute.  Cool and ready to use.

Baking:
Pre-heat oven at 350 deg with fan ( 175 deg).
Remove ribs from the fridge and let it stand under room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Take the ribs, dust away the granulated onion and garlic.  Place it on a baking dish then cover the entire dish with aluminum foil making sure it does not touch the ribs to prevent it from sticking to the foil.
Bake for 45 minutes. After which, uncover the dish and baste the ribs with BBQ Sauce then return it back in the oven. Bake uncovered for another 45 minutes with constant basting every after 15 minutes until the ribs is nicely browned but not dry. When done remove from oven then cover cooked ribs with foil for about 15 minutes before serving. Giving it a rest under foil will keep it moist.

Enjoy with your favourite rice, bread with salad, pickled vegetables and fresh fruits.

Bon appétit! ;-)

SOUR CREAM ENSAYMADA

I have been keeping a cup of sour cream for a cheesecake craving but the absence of "baking adrenaline" causes delays.  With its expiration date draws near, I decided to make use  rather than waste it but not on cheesecake. As they say, reducing calories is a key to weight loss, huh! so I am thinking of ensaymada instead. Still cheesy but lesser evil. {wink}

Since it's been a while since I made ensaymada for our little rascals, so I decided to knead some to salvage my cup of sour cream. So here we go...

Ngo Hiang (五香粉, ngó͘-hiong-hún)

I developed a liking to this chinese delicacy referred to as hokkien spring roll or ngo hiang, 
( usually in different spellings and pronunciations ) but are all physically-- the same from the outside. With that specific chili sauce on the side, who could ever resist! 

Out of curiosity, i wondered how they made this delectable side dish or main dish? Oh, that bean curd made all the mystery, so to make your Chinese New Year giddy--yapping or simply vary your repertoire... try this recipe...



NGO HIANG


Ingredients:

300 g minced pork marinated
500 g minced shrimp/prawn marinated
bean curd skin
fried shallots
1 medium carrots, minced
3 stalks spring onions 
1 pack water chestnuts
1 c fried shallots ( you can make your own or just buy the ready made one's which I did cause i don't want to end up wasting )
1 egg
Bean curd sheets
Oil for pan frying

A delicious and nutritious ingredient in any of my mix meat!

Pan Milk

BreadTalk becomes popular in the Philippines i think sometime in 2004 at Glorietta 4, Makati. I can't forget this since I was so amazed with its green tea cake --a small size cost about 700++, well the price struct me actually.  Made me wonder who would patronize their cakes when we have Red Ribbon and Goldilocks or even Becky's Kitchen to turn to. That green tea cake hit me like... You had me at green!  Ssssshhhh... the truth, I only bought once and never did it again. My naiveté disregards the value of the cake not even its elegance, or probably my fondness of green tea as a concoction supersedes the vast possibilities of this flavour.  Though i love its physiognomity but that's all there is.

Going back to BreadTalk, it never fails to amaze its fans with its innovative baking. The soft, moist delicious breads magnetized anyone in just one bite. Now its my quest to discover or at least mimic its bread in my own addictive way.

Pork Asado Filling

Have you tasted the famous pork bun made by Paradise Group or Tin Ho Wan? Oohh that bun tastes de-lish ... so far (wink, wink!) .   With that inspiration, I challenged myself into baking one of those buns in a series of variations, but first "i have to get to the filling of this" ;-). This version is the simplest, easiest asado filling to go with my pork buns adventure...

PORK ASADO FILLING

Ingredients:

200 g minced pork
1 medium onion minced
2 gloves garlic minced
spring onion
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
dash of ground black pepper
1 tsp cornstarch dissolve in 1 tbsp water
2 tbsp water for the sauce


Method:

Heat pan and sauté garlic and onion.
Add minced pork and pepper.
Pour hoisin and oyster sauces.
Mix cornstarch with 1 tbsp water then pour into the pan.
Stir continuously until well combined. Then add the remaining 2 tbsp water, simmer until sauce thickened.  When done set aside to cool.
Ready to use.

Hawaiian Pizza

     You don't call it lazy afternoon when you have nothing to do but bake!  You won't deny it once you see those pans and bowls on top of the other, and its never ending. Believe me when I say, I should have been busy reading a book instead.  But kids have convincing power of pulling you off out of your potato couch--ing!  What can I do???  Well, roll those sleeves and let's start mixing ;-).

Pork and Cheese Empanada

Another day of pampering and spoiling.  For those days when kids hated vegetables, here is a great trick. Another empanada recipe --

Dough
     Use flan pastry or  pâte a foncer.

Shortcrust Pastry

There are several dough recipes which you can use for your favorite pastries and none of it is wrong.  The texture and tastes may vary but all of them are as good as the other. So I gathered and tested a few to make comparisons. Each of these are delectable, so why not try them.  The ingredients are easy to remember and the preparation is as good as 1-2-3...since you will be following 7 similar steps for these pastry doughs. Just get acquainted with the ingredients, memorize them and your good to go. From my kitchen to yours, sharing these recipes --

Apple-Blueberry Pie

Paige is exploring her tastebuds and starting to immerse herself to "foodography." I wouldn't be surprised if one day she will replace me in my kitchen or would wish for  a kitchen showcase (instead) for christmas {wink, wink}.  Well, not bad though.

These past weeks have been busy for the school kids and it's us--the parents who ensure that days will be a little lighter as much as possible. We so called spoiled them for the time being =D.  So when Paige requested for an apple pie (she specifically wanted the one in pie crust not in puffs of Mc Donalds ), I instantly say yes!, I will bake you one.  Checking our stock, I saw this punnet of blueberry and a bunch of candy apple (this is a kid size version of granny smith) so I thought why not bake a medley:  Apple and Blueberry instead. So here it is... the ABP--

Roasted Chicken in Coconut Mushroom Chardonnay Sauce

       There are times that dining out is imperative.  It will immerse us to various food hubs of cultural origins and arrays of ingredients. I remember back in Manila, whenever our time permits, some of us siblings (whoever is in Manila and available)-- all food enthusiasts,  meet up on weekends and pig out to our hearts desire after watching a movie or simply after a day's malling.  We food hop especially to those newly opened dine-ins and restos  and scrutinise our new discoveries. We add our best food choices to our archive and defy those rejected by our palates.  But the next great thing is -- recreating those new discoveries in our own "dirty" kitchens. Aahhh brings back memoirs.