Kulinarya Cooking Club February 2011 : Morcon

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.  Each month we will showcase a new dish along with their family recipes.  By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's theme is aphrodisiac foods

When Pia chose this theme, she also gave us links to what foods are aphrodisiac.  I chose to make morcon. A Filipino Stuffed Beef Roll.  I changed the recipe a bit from the traditional one so that there are several ingredients in this dish that has aphrodisiac properties.  My version has 4 of the ingredients listed. I added asparagus to the filling along with the traditional carrot.  In the sauce there is garlic and a little bit of ginger.  I served this on Valentines Day dinner for Hubby, however you don't need an occasion to serve this delicious dish.

500g beef steak, cut and flattened into large sheets (I made 5 sheets)
2 tbs lemon juice
4 tbs soy sauce
Pepper
olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 onion diced
2cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated
1 cup tomato passata
2 bay leaves
3 cups beef stock
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs lemon juice

Filling
5 canned hot dogs or frankfurters, sliced into strips
1 small carrot
3 asparagus spears, split down the middle
2 hard boiled eggs, quartered
sharp cheddar cheese

1.  Marinate the beef for 20 minutes in the lemon juice, soy sauce and pepper.
2.  Drain the beef and reserve the marinade.  Lay the beef on a flat surface and arrange the filling in rows lengthwise.  Roll the meat and enclose the filling and tie with kitchen string in several places.  Roll the meat in flour and remove excess flour.
3.  Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and brown the beef on all sides.  Remove and set aside while you make the sauce.
4.  In the same saucepan, add the reserved marinade, garlic, onion, ginger, tomato passata and bay leaves and cook over high heat until the liquid is reduced.  Add the beef stock and bring back to the boil.
5.  Return the meat to the saucepan and slowly simmer for about 1 hour until the meat is tender.  Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
6.  When cooked, transfer the meat to a platter, remove the string and slice crosswise.  Drizzle the sauce over the meat and to freshen it up, squeeze the lemon juice over the dish.

Please go and check out what the other member of the Kulinarya Coking Club has cooked up.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Strawberry Ice cream Sandwich

This is my first time to join the Pinoy Foodista Cooking Challenge.  I am happy to join this group of fine Filipino Foodies.  You can find more about them here.  Please click here and vote for my sandwich.

This month's challenge is "Strawberries in a sandwich".  I have to credit my sister-in-law with this one.  She suggested doing an ice cream sandwich.  I ran with that idea and made a Strawberry meringue ice cream in a Triple chocolate cookie sandwich.

I don't have an ice cream maker so I had to find a easy ice cream recipe that I can make.  I found this recipe while watching a children's cooking show.  Yep, that's right.  The best thing about this recipe is that it's very simple and children can help you make it. 

I got Deanna to help me.  She loves cooking and as soon as I told her what I was going to make, she put on her apron straight away.

Strawberry Meringue Ice cream

250ml double cream

4 heaped dessert spoons natural yoghurt

4 level dessert spoons icing sugar

12 large strawberries, hulled and smashed with the back of a fork

2 meringue nest

1. whisk the cream in the bowl, until it’s light and fluffy. 

2.  Add the yoghurt and icing sugar to the cream and whisk it more.

3.  Place the strawberries in the mixture.

4.  Hold a meringue nest over the bowl and crush it in your hand and then drop it into the mixture and give it a gentle stir.

5.  Pour the mixture into the lidded container and put it in the freezer for at least two hours or preferably overnight.

Take out of the freezer about 30 minutes before sandwiching in the cookies to soften a little.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

125g unsalted butter, softened.

1 1/4 cups tightly packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180degC.  Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy.  Add vanilla and egg and stir to combine.  Stir in the sifted flour, cocoa powder baking powder and salt until just combined.  Fold through the  rocky road.

Place spoonfuls of cookie mixture on a lined baking tray, allowing room for spreading.  Cook for 15-20 minutes, until they turn pale gold.

Allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes before placing biscuits on a wire rack to cool further.

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie

Banoffee Sundae. An International Incident Party

This month you are all invited to our Sundae International Incident Party and as always, it's hosted by the lovely Penny from Jeroxie Blog.

I love ice cream, and who doesn't, right?  For this month's theme, I was dreaming up all sorts of combinations and concoctions.  I was feeling ambitious.  However, as usual, time got the better of me and so I needed to do something quick and easy.

For my contribution this month's theme I made a Banoffee Sundae.  A banoffee pie is an English dessert containing bananas, toffee and cream in a pastry or biscuit base.  This makes for a great combination for a sundae.

I don't have an ice cream maker but after some research and brain storming, I came up with a way to make a delicious no-churn banana ice cream.  It's very easy and it only uses 3 ingredients.  It freezes well.  Just remember to take the ice cream out of the freezer 30 minutes before you want to eat it so it softens a little.

Banana Ice cream recipe

5 ripe bananas

1 x 395g sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup cream

1.  Peel and chop the bananas.  Place in a snap lock bag and freeze over night.

2.  Whip the cream till soft peaks.  Set aside

3.  In a food processor, place the frozen bananas, condensed milk and cream.  Whiz till the ingredients are well combined and the bananas have been pureed.

4.  Pour into a container and place in the freezer.  Stir the mixture every hour for 2-3 hours. Freeze for at least 4-5 hours or even better, overnight.

Butterscotch recipe

150g brown sugar

150ml cream

125g chopped butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 mins.

Hot Fudge Sauce recipe

140ml cream

30g unsalted butter

45g coco powder, sifted

70g caster sugar

60g soft dark brown sugar

pinch of salt

Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the mixture is melted and smooth.   Let it cook for 2-3 minutes.

To assemble the sundae.

No churn banana ice cream

butterscotch sauce

hot fudge sauce

biscuits of your choice, crushed

fresh bananas

In a bowl or dish, place 2-3 balls of the banana ice cream.  Drizzle the butterscotch sauce and the hot fudge sauce all over ice crea.  Sprinkle the crushed up biscuits. Garnish with slices of fresh banana.

You can see my posts for previous International Incident Party themes here

Go and check out what everyone else brought to the party by clicking below or by going to our forum.

Chocolate Eclair Hearts for Valentines Day

To all my readers, I'd like to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day.

Hubby and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anymore.  When we first met, we used to go out for a lovely dinner.  Nowadays, I prefer to cook something at home for him and our children.  After all, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  And as you can tell, I love cooking and baking.  This year I decided to make my family, chocolate eclair hearts.

I've made choux pastry once before when I made my Hot Dog Cakes.  I used to be scared of making choux pastry but I'm glad that I have overcome that fear.  My piping technique, however, needs more work.  I drew heart shapes on the baking paper to use as a guide but some of my choux pastry hearts still didn't look like hearts. That's OK, it just makes my eclairs look rustic.  Anyway, the important thing is the taste.  And according to Hubby, it tastes great. 

Makes 12 (depending on size)

Choux Pastry 

40g butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup plain flour

2 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 220degC (200 Fan forced).  Prepare an oven tray by drawing heart shapes onto the baking paper.  (I used a heart shape cookie cutter as a guide)

2.  Combine butter with the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add flour and beat with a wooden spoon over the heat until the mixture comes away from the sides of pan and forms a ball.  Transfer to a small bowl and the beat in the egg with a electric mixer until it becomes glossy.

3.  Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube.  Pipe the mixture onto the heart shapes on the baking paper on the trays.  Bake for 7 mins.  Reduce the temperature to 180degC (160 fan forced) and bake another 10 mins or until they are browned lightly and crisp.  Carefully cut them in half and remove any soft center.  Bake for another 5 mins or until eclairs are dried out.  Leave to cool.

Pastry Creme Recipe
1 cup milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split or 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour

1. Bring milk & vanilla bean to the boil in small saucepan.
2. Discard vanilla if using the bean.
3. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar & cornflour in small bowl with electric mixer until thick.
4. With motor operating, gradually bet in hot milk mixture.
5. Return custard mixture to saucepan; stir over heat until mixture boils & thickens

To assemble, pipe the pastry cream into the bottom half of the choux pastry shells.  Place the other half on top.  Carefully spoon melted chocolate on top of the eclair.  Leave to set.

This post is also for Sweets for a Saturday for Lisa's Blog




















Happy Valentine's Day.
Cherrie

Zucchini and Walnut Loaf

I love this!  I've never had a vegetable in a cake/loaf before.  I wanted to try this because my brother @MrEdwardPuzon was abundant with zucchinis.  It's a little dense because it's a loaf.  And because it's dense, it's best served smothered with butter and jam.

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 finely grated zucchini

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted

1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted

extra chopped walnuts

1.  Preaheat oven to 180degC.  Grease 15cm X 25cm loaf pan and line the base and long side with baking paper with 2cm overhanging the sides

2.  Beat the eggs,m sugar and oil in a bowl with electric mixer until combines.  Add the zucchini, nuts and sifted flours in 2 batches.  Mix to just combined.  Pour into the pan.  Sprinkle the extra chopped walnuts.

3.  Bake the load for about 1 1/4 hours or until cooked through.  Let stand in the tin for 5 minutes then turn onto a wire rack and let cool.

note: when you grate the zucchini, squeeze a little to get rid of some of the liquid. 

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Cook Book Challenge : Bibimbap

Theme 3: Rice/Noodles

Cookbook : Jill Dupleix - Lighten up

Recipe : Korean Bibimbap

I was looking forward to this fortnight's theme.  I actually haven't had Korean Bibimbap before but Hubby had it once and really liked it and asked me to cook it.    I found the recipe in Jill Dupleix's book.  I have to admit I don't know much about Korean food so I also did a little bit of research and found a good recipe by Kitchen wench.  So below is a recipe by Jill with a little inspiration from Kitchen Wench' version.

250g beef mince
4 tbs soy sauce
1 1/2 tbs sesame oil
salt and pepper
100g baby spinach, washed
1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 small zucchini, cut into matchstick
1 medium onions, sliced
100g bean sprouts
sesame oil
fish sauce
hot cooked rice
4 eggs

1.  Marinate the beef mince in the soy sauce and sesame oil for 1 hour.
2.  Saute the carrots in a little bit of oil.  Add a small splash of fish sauce and sesame oil.  Remove and set aside in a bowl.
3. Saute the baby spinach, onions, zucchini and bean sprouts, the same as the carrots.
4.  Cook the mince, including the marinade, until well done.
5.  Fry the eggs, sunny side up.
6.  Divide the rice in 4 bowls and add the the meat and vegetables on top.  Place the fried egg on top.
7.  Serve with thick chilli sauce or Korean Gochujang.

Check out my previous posts on this year's CookBook Challenge

Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies for World Nutella Day

World Nutella Day is held on February 5th and was the brain child of Sara, and Michelle .  The idea behind World Nutella Day is to celebrate and get creative with Nutella. You can follow them on twitter or become a fan on facebook.

My family loves Nutella, especially simply on toast for Breakfast.   My contribution is Chocolate and Nutella Thumbprint Cookies.  This is yummy.  The cookie is chewy and soft and the drop of nutella on top is a perfect match.

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  In a bowl add the butter, sugar, egg yolk, milk and vanilla and mix til light and fluffy.

2.  Sift the flour, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl then gradually add to creamed mixture,stir to combine.

3.  Cover and place in the refrigerator one hour, or until firm enough to shape into balls.

4.  Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and shape into balls

5.  Using your thumb (or back of a 1/4 tsp) make an indentation in center of of each cookie. 

6.  Bake at 160degC for 10 to 12 minutes, or until center is just set.

7.  Let the cookies cool before filling them

Makes 24 cookies

 Fill the centers with Nutella.

 

I also made some peanut butter ones.

 There are many other fillings you can use but I think Nutella is the best one.

Bon Appetite,
Cherrie

Macarons and Food Bloggers

Looks can be deceiving. 

Nowadays, blog events and meetups all start over a conversation on twitter.  This is how our macaron session  was conjured up.  A few of us were tweeting our fear of THE Macaron.  I had made them before but they have never come up perfect.  This is when we decided that we will form a Macaron Support Group and have a mac tweetup session where we will, together make the perfect macaron.  The Mac support group consisted of myself, Thanh, Liz, I-Hua, Penny, Agnes and Kat

Hopes were high, that day.  We all turned up with positive attitudes, determined to make the elusive perfect macron and to be able to bring home some edible ones to our partners and families.

Before getting into it tho, we fed our tummies.  We all brought a dish each and we were all full after lunch.

I brought along pasta in a grilled tomato sauce

Kat brought Sping rolls

Thanh made lamb chops

Liz made chicken wings

I-Hua also made chicken wings

Agnes brought along lamb Biryani

Penny made beef empandas

For dessert, Agnes made custard tarts

and Liz brought along pineapple tarts.

I also brought along my daughter.  She loves to bake and she even made new friends.  **cough. Agnes. cough**  

Below are a few photos of us getting busy in the kitchen.

As you can see from the above photo, we didn't get the results we were hoping for.  After many speculations, we had a few reasons on why they didn't turn out.  We didn't mix the egg whites to the right consistency or we added too much of the liquid flavourings which made the mixture too wet or we didn't know the oven well enough that we couldn't control the temperature.  So, all or none of these could be the reason and we were disappointed but truth be told, in the end, we enjoyed ourselves and there was probably more laughter and joking around than cooking and baking. 

Having this failure hang over my head, I didn't wan't to be defeated.  The next day I decided to make more macarons but at home and with an oven I was familiar with.

I made coconut macaron shells.  One filled with pandan (top pic - filled with pandan buttercream) and the other, I called monte carlo. (bottom pic - filled with vanilla butter cream and triple berry jam).  They turned out better than the day before but as with my previous attempts, they are still not perfect.  So, I forecast more attempts in my future. 

Recipe :

Coconut Macaron shell:

4 large egg whites

120g ground almonds

220g icing sugar

40g fine caster sugar

1/4 cup dessicated coconut

2 tsp coconut essence

To make the shells

1.  Preheat oven to 150degC.  Finely grind the dessicated coconut, almonds and icing sugar in a blender or food processor.  Sieve the mixture over a baking tin lined with baking papar and cook for 5-7 minutes.  Let cool.

2.  In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites till soft peaks using an electric mixer.  When it starts to stiffen, gradually add the caster sugar, beating constantly.  Add the coconut essence.  Mix to combine.  Sieve the almond-sugar mixture over the egg white and fold carefully.

3.  Fill a piping bag using a round piping nozzle.  Pipe out 4.5cm circles onto a baking tray lined with baking paper.  Let it stand for about 30minutes or until a crust forms on the surface.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let the shells cool, then remove using a small palette knife.

For the butter cream, I used 1 cup of unsalted butter and 1/2 cup of icing sugar.  Mix to combine.  For the pandan one, add a few drops of the pandan essence and for the vanilla one, add the seeds from a vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste)

When the shells cool, spread the filling over half of the shells, then top them with the remaining shells.  Chill for 1 hour before serving.

Macarons

Bon Appetite,

Cherrie