My go-to cake recipe

This is my favorite cake recipe. It's so simple and so reliable. It can be frosted, eaten on its own, made into cupcakes, and made into birthday cakes. In the picture above, I baked it in a 9x13 pan, cut in in half, put one half on top of the other half to make a layer cake, I frosted it with some sweetened whipped cream and put a layer of macerated strawberries between the two layers.

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs

1. In the bowl of your mixer, mix the first four ingredients on low just until well mixed.
2. Add the butter and mix on low for about a minute.
3. Add 1/2 of milk and the vanilla extract and mix for another minute.
4. Add eggs and the rest of the milk and mix on low-medium for 2 minutes.
5. Pour batter into pan, tap on counter to minimize bubbles and bake in a 350 oven.

Options:
one 9x13 pan - 35-40 minutes
24 cupcakes - 20-25 minutes
two 8 inch round pans - 35-40 minutes

Salmon bulgogi

I based this dish on a recipe I found in Bon Appetit. DH is not a big fan of salmon, but I was hoping that by giving it an Asian twist, he would warm up to this fish which is as ubiquitous here in Toronto as tilapia is in Manila!

4 pcs. skinless salmon fillet
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp. grated ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. Chinese rice wine
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/4 tsp. chili garlic sauce

1. Mix all ingredients (except for the salmon, of course!) in a small food processor to make a marinade.
2. Marinate salmon for about 5-10 minutes.
3. Remove salmon from marinade and place in a baking dish.
4. Bake in 500 oven for about 5-7 minutes then switch oven to broil and broil for about 3-5 minutes.
5. Meanwhile reduce the marinade until it's thick and syrupy. This will be your glaze.
6. When the salmon is done, place on a plate and pour about a tablespoon of glaze.
7. Serve with whatever sides your heart desires. I did Parisienne potatoes and steamed Chinese broccoli.

All in all, this dinner was a success! DH said he enjoyed it much more than he thought he would. The two boys loved it. This is definitely a make-again dish. Healthy, yummy, and above all easy-peasy!

Roasted Branzino

Roasted branzino with salsa verde and fried capers served with garlic broccolini and roasted heirloom tomatoes with balsamic reduction:


It seems like branzino, or Mediterranean seabass/European seabass, is the new "it" fish. Every restaurant I go to seems to have some version of this fish roasted, salt-crusted, grilled, etc, etc. So tonight, instead of paying $30 for one dish, I went to my local fish-monger, bought 3 pieces of branzino ( each about 1.25 lbs) and fed 3 people for the price of one restaurant dish :-)

BRANZINO (we had 3, one for me, one for DH and one for son #2...son #1 is away)
1. Have your fish-monger scale, gut and clean the fish. Mine even removed the backbone. I love my fish-monger...
2. Pat fish dry and season generously with salt and pepper.
3. Stuff the fish with 2 slices of lemon, 2-3 sprigs of parsley, and 2-3 sprigs of thyme.
4. Lay the fish on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pour about 2 tbsp. of olive oil on each fish.
5. Bake the fish in a 450 oven for 8 minutes.
6. Turn the oven to broil and cook another 8 minutes more until the skin is blistered.

SALSA VERDE
1. In a food processor, place 1 cup parsley, 1/4 cup olive oil, zest of one lemon, juice of 1/2 lemon, and 1 tsp. salt.
2 Pulse until smooth.

FRIED CAPERS
1. Take 2-3 heaping teaspoons of capers from the jar.
2. Squeeze as much moisture out with paper towels.
3. Pan fry in a bit of oil until slightly brown.
4. Drain well.

ROASTED TOMATOES
1. Cut tomatoes in half.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Drizzle with olive oil.
4. When you put the oven to broil (as you cook the fish), put the tomatoes in as well. The tomatoes will be done when the fish is done.
5. Meanwhile, reduce about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar until syrupy. Pour over tomatoes before serving.

GARLIC BROCCOLINI
1. Saute 2 tsp. of garlic in oil.
2. Add broccolini.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook until wilted.

This dish was excellent! The fish was extremely fresh...the mild, sweet flesh redolent with the aroma of herbs and citrus. Yum!

My go-to brownie recipe

Mama, as requested :-)

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Mix dry ingredients together.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk oil, eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla together.
3. Add to dry ingredients.
4. At this point, you can add up to 1 cup of whatever: nuts, chocolate chips, marshmallows, peanut butter chips, m&m's, etc, etc.
5. Bake in a 13 x 9 pan at 350 for about 25 to 30 minutes.

Lost thoughts

I found this entry in one of my long un-touched social networking sites. I wrote it a year ago and still the feelings ring true...

TORN

Here I am, back from a four-week trip back home. And I've been vacillating between the feeling of relief of being home, in my house, my bed, away from Manila heat and traffic, and the feeling that I've somehow left a piece of myself behind.

Being away for years and years makes one forget how one is truly connected to his or her family. When we first came here, it was exciting, and new, and full of promise. Missing the family I had left behind was the last thing on my mind. The preoccupation with the endless possibilities before me made the sacrifice seem inconsequential. But now, those possibilities have become realities, and although they are good realities, the fact still remains...the rest of my family is half a world away.

For the past four years, missing them has become a constant reality, a steady undercurrent that stays in the background of every little thing. You get used to the feeling. And after a while, you don't even notice that it's there. But going home and going through the separation once again brings those feelings to the surface and makes the longing so acute.

And so I sit here torn. I love my life here. The opportunities, the peace, the conveniences, the uncomplicatedness of it all. But I can't shake the feeling that something, a huge chunk of something is missing.

Creme Brulee

I am such a custard girl. Make me choose between any custard-based dessert or chocolate and it will be the custard one every time. Pie or custard? Custard. Cake or custard? Custard. Fruit or custard? Custard. Anyway, you get my point. From leche flan, to creme caramel, to creme anglais, to brazo de mercedes, to canonigo, to portuguese egg tarts, to creme brulee, I love them all. Especially creme brulee. There is something about the purity of eggs, cream and vanilla...smooth and velvety against the tongue, accented by the occasional crunch of the caramelized sugar. Heaven.

I don't know why I never attempted to make this dessert. I always thought that it would be hard. I don't know why. I was really surprised at how simple it was! Mix the cream, eggs, sugar and vanilla. Bake in ramekins in a water bath. Top with sugar. Caramelize the sugar. That's it!

I used Mark Bittman's recipe from his book How to Cook Everything. His recipe calls for:

6 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups cream
1 cup sugar

1. Heat the cream just to the brink of steaming. If using the bean, let the split bean steep in the hot cream for about 10 minutes. I used extract so I skipped the steeping step.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the yolks and sugar until the sugar is dissolved.
3. Gradually pour in the hot cream and mix well. Add the vanilla extract at this point if you're using extract.
4. Pout the custard mixture into ramekins. I think that wide, shallow ramekins work best since there's a larger surface area:volume ratio, which means more crunchy sugar topping. Yum!
5. Bake the creme brulee in a water bath in a 300 decree oven for about 30 minutes until set.
6. Cool in fridge.
7. Just before serving, sprinkle top with sugar and caramelize under the broiler or with a kitchen torch (which I hadn't bought then and just procured today).

I made 2 batches to bring to our Christmas dinner with S&A (which is why I used disposable ramekins). To one batch, I added 1/2 cup of Bailey's. It was good but I prefer the plain one. This will definitely make many more appearances on our table!

Macarons

I overcame one of my culinary fears...the macaron. This French confection has been taunting me for quite a while now. And I've always been scared to try it. I've read other people's blogs and have heard the horror stories and the tales of utmost failure. I was petrified.

But, the holidays gave me the perfect opportunity. I used the egg yolks to make creme brulees (more on this in another post) and I had the egg whites sitting on the counter. I had almonds. I had icing sugar. And most of all, I had time. Precious time. Time to finally take on this challenge.

Recipe:
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 cup finely ground almonds
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsps egg whites, let sit at room temperature overnight
pinch of salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar

* Before you start, prepare your pans. Take a sheet of parchment and draw circles about 2 inches in diameter, spaced about an inch or so apart. Turn the parchment paper over and set it on your baking sheet. You will need about 3 baking trays.

1. With a food processor, pulse the ground almonds and icing sugar together. Sift to make sure there are no lumps. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Gradually add the granulated sugar until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
3. Gently fold in the icing sugar/almond mixture in 4 batches.
4. Mix gently until the batter "flows like magma." Apparently, this step could make or break your macarons. It has to be magma-like. Because we've all mixed magma before and we all know how magma flows when you mix it with a wooden spoon. Whatever.
5. Put mixture into a piping bag with a plain, large round tip.
6. Pipe the mixture onto your prepared pans, using the circles as your guide.
7. Let sit for 1-2 hours at room temperature until a skin forms or until the batter loses a bit of its shine. This will form a tougher shell which will prevent the macarons from breaking when you handle them later.



As you can see, I made ones that were about two inches in diameter and the excess batter I piped into small bite sized dots. Cute, eh?

Here's a close up. See how they're not very shiny anymore?



Anyway, on to the baking...

Bake the macarons in 325 oven. About two minutes into the baking, open the oven door and keep it ajar using a wooden spoon. Bake the macarons for about 10-11 minutes. Let cool.

Now I didn't have time to make the filling so I used Nutella instead. That's why there's a bottle of Nutella behind the macarons in the first picture. I also had some dulce de leche, so I filled some of the macarons with that too.

All in all, I thought the macarons were pretty good! Not perfect, but they exceeded all my expectations!