baby rambutan

have you ordered your copy of this cookbook yet?
i want to make it easy for you if you haven’t…with an easy chicken recipe that my kids enjoyed thoroughly.
i want you to order this book because it has all these beautiful recipes from their restaurant chain (yah, i know it sounds incongruous, but everything i’ve tried has been wonderful!)
i want you to order because all profits from the sale of this cookbook go to children’s charities particularly the Starbright foundation…. go on then!

an easy midweek dinner, boneless chicken thighs breaded and fried (seasoned with salt and pepper, dipped in beaten eggs, and then breaded with plain bread crumbs and pan fried). i think the secret is to season the chicken well before frying.

i told #2son when he asked “what’s for dinner mom?” : giant chicken nuggets, sonny! and he was quite happy to wait.

i served my kids’ dinners (yah, all three! college boy called and rode the train home immediately when he heard)
with thin spaghetti and vegetable marinara sauce.

i had mine with no pasta or rice or bread but with checca: a tomato salad flavored with salt, pepper, basil, garlic, and ribbons or shreds of parmesan cheese, then drizzled with olive oil. scrumptious!
the kids want the extra chicken cutlets on their sandwiches tomorrow…

officially these are “chipster-topped brownies,” once again from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours.
i call them “jack-en-poy“* brownies.

you know the scene.
kid1: brownies.
kid2: no. cookies.
kid1: brownies!
kid2: cookies!
BROWNIES!
COOKIES!

there used to be a third kid to break the impasse so we sort of had a democracy.
this kid’s away, at college.
i thought of making them do a *rock-paper-scissors contest.
then i saw this recipe: a perfect treat to greet my little students back home after their first day, a long long day, according to #2son.

(the college kid came running home as soon as he heard…or smelled???)

anyone want the recipe?

from Dorie Greenspan.

for the brownie layer:
6 ozs. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ozs. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup walnuts (i used pecans), coarsely chopped

for the cookie layer:
1 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 ozs. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, OR 1 cup chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350 with the rack on the center.

butter a 9 by 13 inch baking pan, line it with wax paper or parchment paper and butter the paper. put the pan on a baking sheet.

brownie batter:
put both chocolates and butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. stirring occasionally, heat just until the ingredients are melted, shiny and smooth. if the mixture gets too hot the butter will separate from the chocolates. remove the bowl from the heat.
working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs on medium high speed for about 2 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. beat in the salt and vanilla extract. reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and butter, mixing only until incorporated. scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then, still on low speed, add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the batter. using the spatula, fold in the walnuts, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. set aside.

the cookie dough:
whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
working with the stand mixer in the cleaned bowl or with the hand mixer in another large bowl, beat the butter and both the sugars together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about3 minutes. one at a time add the egg and the egg yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. beat in the vanilla. reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. still on low, mix in the chopped chocolate. drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls over the brownie batter and, using a spatula and with a light touch spread it evenly over the batter.

bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the cookie top is deep golden brown and firm and a thin knife inserted into the brownie layer comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate. transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

when the brownies are completely cool, carefully run a knife between the sides of the pan and the brownies, then invert them onto another rack, remove the paper and turn right side uponto a cutting board. cut into bars about 2 inches by 1 inch.

notes from your cook:
i forgot the parchment paper called for in this recipe, but i did use a glass pyrex baking dish, which was generously greased with butter.
i also HAD to slice these while warm (you know why!) directly from the dish…no problem with sticking at all!

half of the pan was spirited away by #1son to share with his new roommate

a millionaire?
a supermodel?
a CIA assassin??? (kidding, i think i’ve watched too many Jason Bourne movies…)

no really. i wish i were ubiquitous.

Pronunciation:
\yü-ˈbi-kwə-təs\
Function:
adjective
Date:
1830

: existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered : widespread “a ubiquitous fashion”

this morning i had to be in two places at the same time:
dropping off my 3rd child to meet his class and teacher and ease him on the transition to third grade from a nice long languorous summer vacation.

i also had to be in a freshman orientation meeting at my daughter’s high school…she’s a freshman now! my baby girl!

we all woke up extra early so i could drop off the girls (daughter and friend, high school starts earlier, and it’s farther from our home). it ended up being too early but they were game enough to be let out of the car and hang around at the entrance to wait for their friends.
#2son had to ride in with us of course, but he was a good sport, albeit constantly yawning, in his spiffy first day of school outfit.
i was so excited that we had plenty of time, i was even able to grab another cup of coffee from home!
then off we went to his school.
i waited till the last possible moment at the class line-up, then said goodbye to #2son, skipping out of greeting his marvelous teacher (who was also daughter’s teacher when she was 8).

herein the story takes a turn for the BAD.
there in the parking lot, someone had left their car double parked right in front of my mommybus, and there was no way out for me.
i frantically searched for the vice principal whose job it is to make sure kids are dropped off safely into school.
he did try to help, instructing the school secretary from his cellphone to page the driver (”will the owner of the silver Nissan Altima….?”)
i felt like weeping in frustration and exasperation. i so wanted to be there for my daughter. i should have just stayed with my son at his line!
i flagged down the policeman who was there but socializing not at all helping out with all the parking and traffic violators all around.
really, it is quite understandable, i know most parents are all excited to see their children off to the first day of school! i do know, i do!

but you could just have parked on the street and walked up a little way.
you could have spared me this anguish of feeling like i let BOTH my children down because of your rude and inconsiderate uncivilized behavior!

and it’s not like i was going to be late to a Doctor’s appointment, that could be easily explained or rescheduled.
or to work, where i could have grovelled before my boss and asked for forgiveness and promised overtime to make up for the skipped work.

i missed a convocation that will never happen again. i missed the first 45 minutes of orientation for freshmen, for my daughter who will never be a high school freshman on her first day of high school ever again.

when the parent finally showed up, while i was pleading to the policeman for help, or a tow truck, (”i can’t help you, you’ll have to talk to the school, you just have to wait, they’ll be back”), i ran up to her, she was about to speed away from the vice principal who was trying to talk to her…i rapped on her window and shrieked at her.

i am just glad i didn’t break down and cry right then and there.
to be fair, she looked stricken with guilt, and apologized heartily.

i wanted to split my body in two. right then and there.

once again, it was move-in day for the college kids this weekend…three round trips on I-93 did it for all his things.
i must say it is a lot easier than it was last year! the “unknown” then made usme quite apprehensive, just a tinge. okay, i’ll admit, a lot.
anyway, this year, #1son is very comfortably settled into a nice “house” instead of a dorm building. and once more we are very happy about his choice of a university that is just a hop on the train away !
i’d better be ever-ready when he calls, “what-cha cookin’ tonight Ma?”

#2son reflecting on big brother’s new accommodations…

i managed to cook the zucchini blossoms as planned, except i decided not to deep-fry them because they were very delicate. i just put them on top of the vegetable marinara i stewed. they were stuffed with a seasoned ricotta, parmesan and egg filling.
they were gorgeous delicious! peppery in flavor with a sweet sort of crunch. i was so pleasantly surprised that the kids fought over them. i had to promise more for next time! hopefully next time too i will have a nice photo…

i used my new pastry filling tube and coupler from Bakers’ Tools… it made the filling easy, with minimal disturbance to the soft petals.

they also need sandwich bread now that school is about to start…yes my late nights watching old movies and sleeping in late (as much as the raucous other next door neighbors allowed…sigh!) mornings are over sigh! sigh!

the younger kids are embarking on the next phases of their personal journeys, high school and 3rd grade for daughter and #2son respectively.
whoa, time is flying flying flying .

i shaped their favorite burger buns into a 14-inch lovely loaf–it turned out really swell and perfect for those school lunch bags…

bring it on then…

yes!!!
the farmer guy remembered.
i went straight to the organic farm stand and there it was, my bag of zucchini squash blossoms (the male flowers, apparently they are the ones better for eating?).
i was also able to get a phone number to call in case i want to order before the next farmers’ market day, Fridays only in my town, until late October.
do you have a favorite recipe for these pretty flowers? i have to cook them quick, no later than tomorrow. i’ve got a vague idea of stuffing them with cheese, before dipping in a light batter and briefly deep frying, then serving with a tasty, pesto-ey and vegetable-laden marinara.
any suggestions would be most welcome!


a cook’s rainbow, delight!

so nice to see so many people at the farmers’ market

a new family has moved in right next door, and wonder of wonders, joy of joys, they have an 8-year-old boy!

whenever new neighbors arrive, especially this one with a kid the same age as mine, a boy!–it matters very much, you know? at this age they don’t want to hang out with kids of the opposite gender, ahem, YET– i try to do something to welcome them, because i never want anyone to feel the way we did when we first moved here. long story kept short, some of the folks nearby were openly hostile to us.
but we’ve outstayed most of them, so that’s the happy conclusion of that.

a dozen or so of Dorie Greenspan’s chocolate malted whopper drops should do it…i renamed it malteser to signify my preference for the less-sweet UK version of malted milk balls, also i used alkalized unsweetened cocoa; the recipe does not specify the oven temperature so i experimented with a batch at 350F(resulted in thin, chewy soft cookies) and all the rest i kept at 375F (resulted in thicker puffier yet still chewy soft; i kept the remaining batter chilled at all times before baking). (recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From my Home to Yours, Houghton Mifflin, 2006).

before smashing, in a sturdy ziploc bag
smashed!

Read the rest of this entry »

up to that point i was cooking beef tongue from a cook book.
then this summer when i went to LA with my kids to celebrate my dad’s 73rd birthday, and my ma threw him a sort of big giving thanks kind of party for his friends and family in the area…she asked me to help with some of the cooking and i happily obliged.

especially since i got to know the secret behind her beef tongue.
basically it is a matter of peeling the tongue, marinating, preferably overnight, in soy sauce, calamansi (lemon only as a last resort), garlic, and fresh pepper; browning to sear the flesh and prevent over drying; sauteeing in onions and mushrooms, with some of the broth from the peeling in pressure cooker part up to the point of almost tenderness;
browning butter and flour into a medium dark roux; browning the thinly cut slices of tongue in the roux, then putting back into the reduced and somewhat thickened broth with a bit of sherry or Madeira if necessary.

arrange thinly sliced tongue into a platter and pour some of the mushroom-roux-sherry sauce over the top…

at first, with all the steps necessary for this dish i was tempted to skip the part about the roux but remembering how my ma’s dish turned out i just had to complete all the steps to the last detail. i only skipped the serve w/ mashed potato part, i think my kids have had a potato overload by now…

the original plan was to make arroz con pollo again. kids’ favorite you know.
but i didn’t have any parboiled rice. Uncle Ben’s, in particular.

so off to the recipe bookshelf, straight to the Spanish section. i had red peppers, chicken, tomatoes…hmmmm. no more potatoes! kids ate all the fingerlings with their last steak dinner….then send husband off to buy yukon gold, they really truly love potatoes.

the dish: just a wonderful choice for an easy yet filling and satisfying Sunday supper.

and the secret ingredient…

pollo en chilindron: (from Recipes from a Spanish Village, Pepita Aris, Simon and Schuster, 1990)

3 &1/4 pound chicken, quartered and backbone removed, cut up (i used leg quarters, divided)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsps. paprika (i used smoked)
2 tbsps. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1/2 lb. smoked or raw ham, chopped
3 sweet red peppers, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 cup drained canned tomatoes (i used fresh)
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

rub salt and paprika into the chicken. heat the oil in a flameproof casserole into which the chicken will fit comfortably and put in the chicken portions, skin side down. fry over medium-low heat, turning until golden on all sides.
while the chicken is cooking, distribute the onion and diced ham in the gaps in the casserole and fry, stirring every now and then, until soft. chicken gives off its fat, so you may be able to remove a couple of spoonfuls of oil at this point. remove chicken to a platter and cover w/ aluminum foil.

pour boiling water over the chopped sweet pepper and let it soak 10 minutes. drain well, then blot on paper towels. if you have a food processor, pulse briefly (this is not crucial, however). [or use chopped bottled roasted red pepper.]
add the garlic, sweet peppers and chopped tomato to the pan, with the dried chili flakes. return the chicken to the pan. cook and let it reduce 4-5 minutes, adjust seasonings with salt and pepper, then cook covered 10 minutes.
serve with oven fried yukon gold potatoes.

from the farmers’ market, these food finds:

and the sweetest juiciest corn on the cob…
what to make?
why, corn ice cream of course!

based on chef Joseph Margate(of Clink Restaurant, Liberty Hotel, Boston)’s recipe, published in the Boston Globe Food section, August 20, 2008.

one sweltering summer afternoon, picture this:

town fiesta, Orani, Bataan. hot and sticky and sunburnt from a day at the beach chasing waves and dipping juicy pakwan into the sea-salty waters of Mariveles, a 7 year old girl marveling at…

a long long glass-topped, dining table surrounded by wide open windows, and perhaps three dozen relatives, great-aunts, titas and titos, first and second cousins,
flies being swatted away by blue and red plastic shreds tied together in sticks,
a wonderful meal of steamed crabs, tubs of oysters, platters of grilled fish, sinigang, pancit palabok from the Orani town market, lechon de leche special ordered, bibingka and puto and…

then tita Lu rolls out a serving cart with a large bucket of homemade pinipig (roasted pounded rice) and corn and cheese ice cream.
aaaah! sublime! freshly churned carabao(water buffalo)’s milk, when i close my eyes i can still see it and taste and crunch on it.

i was tempted to add bits of cheddar cheese into chef Margate’s recipe but i figure i’ll give my children their first taste of just-corn ice cream, and break it to them gently, that cheese has to be in it. i’ve seen Mexican grilled corn rolled in butter and crema and sprinkled with manchego cheese, and i’m toying with incorporating it into an ice cream, just like that fiesta lunch years and years ago.

i only added back some of the strained corn, about 2 tbsps. worth, for a bit texture, and used the juice of half a lime. this earned a thumbs up from everyone, and for the encore, maybe the manchego cheese bits.

so that’ll be a future project, especially with the abundance of freshly harvested corn this summer….

sweet corn ice cream:

5 ears of fresh corn on the cob, preferably from the farm stand, shucked
3 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of half-&-half
1 cup of sugar
6 egg yolks
pinch of sea salt
juice of one lime

in a large heavy saucepan, combine the corn, sugar, cream and half-and-half. heat the mixture stirring constantly, tuntil it is hot but not boiling. remove from the heat.
in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and salt, slowly whisk in about q/e cup of the hot cream mixture. gradually pour the warmed yolk mixture back into the sauce pan, whisking constantly.
return the sauce pan to low heat. stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, cook the custard for about 8 minutes or until it coats the back of a the spoon. pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.

seat a strainer over a bowl. strain the corn to extract all the juices.
discard the corn. stir the lime juice into the custard.
freeze the custard in an ice cream maker, using the manufacturer’s directions. transfer the ice cream to a plastic container and freeze until firm.

“at Clink the chef serves the ice cream topped with a sprinkling of freeze-dried corn kernels and a crisp cookie…”
–Lisa Zwirn.

i think grilled corn kernels and lime zest works too!

yah.
husband said my site looks really weird on internet explorer.
yah i know that i says to him. firefox is the thing to view it with.
so he says you’d better tell everyone.
so here it is.
this site is best seen with mozilla firefox…

and on a happy weekend note…
our farmers’ market is only on on Fridays, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
so i rushed over there at 12:30, in between my errands and picking up #2son’s friend for a play date….just to get my first glimpse of it, all this summer. it’s been an unexpectedly busy summer, and we’ ve only just started to settle back in. and now… it’s almost over?!
recap:
#2son’s summer camp
swimming lessons, simultaneously
trip to California for dad’s 73rd birthday
trip to Baltimore and Washington DC
family week, daily “smorgasbord” of food and family reunions for mom-and-dad-in-law’s 60th wedding anniversary
daughter’s summer theater camp
and finally, the hazy lazy last days of summer vacation.

Asian ladies with gucci and louis vuitton replicasbags haggling for honey….and the honey retailer trying to be patient: “the price is what it is…” i think both sides need some cultural orientation .

a place to get pastries, bread, goat cheese, fingerling potatoes, freshly harvested corn, tomatoes, squashes, blueberries, stone fruits, fresh cut flowers…hopefully squash blossoms for stuffing and frying and stewing with marinara sauce…i hope the nice farmer guy remembers for next week. let’s see, shall we?