Tostones

We love it a bit burned!

This is one side dish that has become a staple in my house. Tostones is traditionally unripe plantains that are sliced thin and fried. I have seen so many ways to prepare this - the most popular is frying it twice and using a tostonera, but being the weird unique family that we are, we enjoy it a different way - instead of unripe, we actually enjoy it VERY ripe. Sort of like "black plantain" ripe.

So yes, I buy the blackest plantains I can find, and actually let them sit on the counter for a few more days before I use them. The reason is that ripe plantains (or bananas, for that matter) have more sugar content, making for a yummier treat. 

This dish was an "accidental" one, as it was originally a failed attempt to make plantain chips, the salty ones that you eat with pico de gallo. After realizing that we like ripe ones better, we switched and never looked back. ;-)

What you need:

very ripe plantains
Canola oil for frying


What to do:

Slice plantains into coins, about a quarter of an inch thick. Place on top of parchment or wax paper, then cover with another piece of parchment/wax. Gently pound with a flat item (in my case, the sides of my meat tenderizer!) until slightly flat. Continue doing so until you have used up all your plantains.

Meanwhile, heat a pan with canola oil over medium heat. Fry flattened plantains for about a minute, then turn over to fry the other side. Drain on a rack and enjoy!


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Do not pound too hard - or else you're gonna have mush! Just enough for the plantain to be flattened a bit.
2. You can also place the sliced plantains inside a resealable bag when pounding. Easier cleanup!
3. Oil must be enough to cover at least half the surface of the plantains. If you have a deep fryer, that is better!
4. Let fried plantains sit for about 2 minutes to cool and harden a bit.

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Tortang Talong (Eggplant Omelette)

I had to drive a long way just to get these Japanese eggplants. See, I have been craving for tortang talong (eggplant omelette), but it doesn't seem right to make it with the eggplants aubergines that are available in the local markets here. They are either humongous and fat, or pudgy and fat. They probably taste the same, but I didn't think I would have the right meat-to-eggplant ratio if I use them. 

So when I saw these Japanese eggplants in the Oriental store, I grabbed a pack of 3. I figured I could finally have my omelette, and possibly an extra piece to grill (another one of my favorites!).  

This recipe of eggplant omelette is easy to make and delicious. Dipped in (banana) catsup, it "hits the spot!"


What you need:

2 eggplants
1 pound ground pork
2 eggs
1/2 green bell pepper
1/4 of a large Vidalia onion
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt and pepper, to taste
olive oil (for frying)


What to do:

Grill eggplants until skin is almost burnt and peeling off. Let cool on a rack. When it is cool enough to touch, remove skin. Flatten the grilled eggplant with a fork.

In a flat container, beat the eggs. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Lay the flattened eggplant on top of the beaten eggs.

Meanwhile, heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a wok. Saute garlic, onion and bell pepper. Add ground pork and cook till brown. Season with soy sauce. Set aside.

Heat a large flat pan over medium-high. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Remove eggplant from beaten eggs and place into hot oil. Put some of the ground pork mixture on top of the eggplant. Cook for about a minute or two, then turn over so the other side would be cooked. Remove from heat. Enjoy with hot rice and your favorite condiment.

Yes, this is how your pan would look like too! ;-)

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Do not cut off the top of the eggplant. It is actually very useful in handling and transferring the eggplant!
2. Use a wide spatula to put the flattened eggplant into the pan. 
3. Don't flatten the eggplant too much. You're making omelette - not baba ghanoush!
4. Eggplants tend to soak up a lot of oil so don't use a lot!

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Chicken Updates

Time for some chicken updates! As of today, we think we have 5 layers. It is very exciting to go to the coop to collect eggs! These chickens are hilarious - watching them is so much fun! There's really never a dull moment in the ranch!

These hawks are always flying around. Makes me nervous, actually. I am afraid they would swoop down and snatch one of the chickens!

Funny picture taken by hubby. It looks like the chicken wants to be in the frame!

The ladder provides them with exercise and entertainment! In this picture, she's showing everyone who's "top chick."

This is how they get up in the morning. They make a beeline for the door and start the day!

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Scary Apple Mouths

How funny is it that after posting some cute smiling apples, I am now doing Scary Apples! Of course it helps that apples are in season and are cheaper than normal! 

Anyway, I thought the idea was cute when I saw it on the October 2012 edition of Food Network Magazine. And since I have all the ingredients, I gave it a try!


What you need:

1 apple
about a tablespoon of sliced almonds
strawberry jelly (optional)
lemon juice (optional)


What to do:

Cut a red apple in quarters and brush with lemon juice. Cut out a wedge from the skin side of each piece. Fill with strawberry jelly and insert sliced almonds to resemble teeth.


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Original recipe called for peanut butter, but I opted to use strawberry jelly.
2. Don't have sliced almonds? Try pepitas (squash seeds).
3. Lemon juice is used so the fruit won't brown easily. You can skip it, but you have to eat the fruit almost immediately.

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Smiling Apples

Thanks to my friend Peachkins for this cute inspiration! I told son that we were gonna make smiling apples with marshmallows and peanut butter but he had a different idea - he wanted caramel instead!

So I put a little twist in my smiling apples and used caramel butterscotch topping and it turned out extremely good. Well, maybe just a bit sticky and hard to eat since the darn marshmallows kept sliding! I am thinking that had I used real caramel instead of  syrup, it would have better in keeping the marshmallows from sliding. But I didn't want to buy caramel just for an afternoon snack. I would save that for when we make caramel apples again.  

Oh, and here is a link for Peachkin's cute creations!

What you need:

1 apple
about a cup of marshmallows (regular-sized)
squirts of caramel or butterscotch topping


What to do:

Wash the apple and dry with paper towels. Slice in thin wedges.

Place a wedge of apple on your plate, then squirt a small amount of butterscotch syrup on the side facing you. Immediately line marshmallows on top of the syrup.

Get another wedge of apple and put butterscotch syrup on the bottom side. Place it on top of the marshmallows to resemble a smile.

Continue doing procedure until you run out of ingredients (or patience!).


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. I used Red Delicious apples because the color resembles human lips. Feel free to use any kind!
2. To avoid apple discoloration, squeeze some fresh lime or lemon juice on them.
3. Use real caramel or peanut butter to make the marshmallows stick.

P.S. It is almost Halloween! Head out to my shop to get your Halloween cards!

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Capellini with Vodka Cream Sauce

 

So we were in the supermarket the other night and I saw hubby looking at a bottle of vodka sauce. It was rather interesting, I have never heard of "vodka sauce" in my whole life, and looking at the bottle, I thought it looked like crab fat (aligue). It was orange-y in color, not your typical red spaghetti sauce.

Needless to say, we were cooking it a few days later. Hubby just wouldn't stop talking about it (I promise, he was relentless) and I was also curious of the taste, so it was a win-win.

It was really delicious - and it reunited me with one of my favorite ingredients - shrimp! Yes, we are having shrimp again (cue music: O happy day!). Our self-imposed seafood ban has been lifted and I am now a happy camper! But enough about the shrimp - the sauce of this dish was the real star of the show. Try it! 


What you need:

1/4 of a large Vidalia onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 cup Vodka
1 cup chicken broth
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
dash of red pepper flakes
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
salt and pepper, to taste
fresh basil for garnish
cooked capellini (angel hair pasta) 


What to do:

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a pot. Saute garlic and onion for about a minute, then very slowly pour in the vodka and simmer over low heat. When vodka is reduced to half the amount (about 2 to 3 minutes), add chicken broth and cook for about a minute. 

Add in crushed tomatoes, whipped cream, then season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Let cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, or until heated through.

The heavy cream gives the sauce its orange-y hue

Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

Saute shrimps in 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil over medium heat until they turn pink. Set aside.

Place cooked noodles into plate. Top with vodka sauce. Garnish with shrimps and freshly torn basil. 


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Try using scallops or Italian sausage instead f shrimp.
2. There are so many ways of cooking this, some even add vodka after tomatoes and such. I prefer to cook it this way so as to cook off most of the alcohol content in the vodka.
3. This would also be good with penne or other thicker type pasta.
4. If you let the sauce simmer longer, it would be more flavorful!

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Tempura Fish

After what seems to be long hiatus, my blog is back! And I will try my best to update it regularly! Today's offering is yet another version of fish and chips. I know it is not very healthy (fried fish and fried potatoes!) but every once in a while, I give in. It is fish, after all. Think of all the omega-3 fatty acids that we're gonna take in! Kidding aside, the real reason of this dish was that hubby was on a "tempura kick" and he wanted everything dipped in it!

As the title suggested, there was nothing really fancy about this dish. Just fish in tempura batter. I tried fish with cornmeal, parmesan, mushroom, etc - so why not with Tempura? I love how tempura keeps food light and very crunchy!


What you need:

3 haddock fillets, cut in small pieces
Old Bay seasoning
Tempura mix
Canola Oil, for cooking


What to do:

Season both sides of fish pieces with Old Bay seasoning. Set aside.

Fish seasoned with Old Bay

In a frying pan, heat about 1/4 cup of oil (more or less, depending on the depth of your pan) over medium heat. 

Make tempura batter according to package instructions. Make sure you put the batter bowl over ice to help keep it cool. It will make for a crispier texture.

Dip fish pieces into the tempura batter, making sure the whole surface is covered. Transfer fish to hot oil and fry until golden brown. Place on paper towels or newspaper to drain oil. Serve with french fries and malted vinegar. Enjoy!

 
Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Not a fan of Old Bay seasoning? Just use salt and pepper.
2. Do not overfry! The fish would be chewy.
3. Use your leftover fish in fish tacos! Yummy!
4. If you are left with more batter than fish, use it with veggies! I recommend red peppers! 
5. When making the batter, do not over mix! It will activate gluten and will make the batter chewy. Not good! :-(

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Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno

This is my take on 4Rivers' delicious appetizer that hubby loves (and craves EVERYDAY!). It was so easy to make - only took me a few minutes to make them. And even a shorter time to eat them all up.

Since there were just 3 of us, I just used about 6 pieces of jalapenos. I should have known better and bought a lot. We will definitely make more of these in the future!

 
What you need:

6 pieces Jalapeno peppers
1/2 block (4 oz) of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
6 pieces of bacon

 
What to do:

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

Wash the jalapenos and cut them in half lengthwise. Using a paring knife, remove the seeds from the jalapenos carefully. Set aside.

Combine the softened cream cheese and the cheddar cheese. Make sure the cheddar is distributed evenly.

Slice the bacon strips in half (you only need about half a strip for each jalapeno). Set aside. Scoop about half a tablespoon of the cheese mixture into the jalapeno. Gently press so you fill in the nooks and crannies! Wrap the jalapeno by rolling a bacon strip around it. Continue doing this process until you use up all your ingredients.

Place the wrapped jalapenos on a metal rack and bake for about 20 minutes. Enjoy!

 
Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Want more heat? Don't remove all the seeds of the jalapeno.
2. Be careful - those seeds are hot! Always wear protective covering (like gloves) and avoid touching your face after handling seeds!
3. If you want more bacon, use a single strip for each half of jalapeno. Just add a bit more cooking time so the bacon would cook through.
4. When buying fresh jalapenos for this recipe, choose the bigger ones so you get more of the filling! However, you can still get the small ones for those one-bite jalapenos! ;-) 

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Our First Eggs!

Find the golf ball!

  
One of our pullets is finally a mom hen!

I saw these two eggs which were sandwiching the golf ball, and I gave out a little squeal of delight. It really was egg-citing. Hahaha.

For those of you wondering why there are golf balls in the nesting boxes, it is to train them to lay eggs in that spot. We were also hoping that it would stimulate them to start laying early, and I guess it did work. Buff Orpingtons are supposed to lay around 20 weeks, but one of our girls laid at 17 weeks. 

Look how small they seem in hubby's hand!

Surprisingly, the first egg was not jelly-like (as some "first" eggs are due to the lack of calcium in the pullets' diet). I think it is because they get a bit of sand every time they peck from the ground.

I am eagerly waiting for the other pullets to lay! Time to line up my egg recipes! 

P.S. Did you know that unwashed chicken eggs will stay fresh for up to a month without refrigeration? It is because of a natural substance called the "bloom" which coats the egg shells and prevents bacteria from getting into these shells. Market-sold eggs typically have been washed and their blooms removed, hence you need to refrigerate it.

So yes, those two little eggs in the picture have not been washed and are sitting in our kitchen counter waiting to be eaten. ;-)

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Blue-Billed Ducks

I was amazed when I saw these beautiful ducks. One can't help but notice their bright blue beaks. 

They are blue-billed ducks, a native of Australia. But these particular ones actually call "Sea World" home. 

According to this Australian website, the males have the blue bills which is most evident during breeding season. Ah, so even in the animal world, males have to look their best to attract the females. 

Aren't they cute?

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