My Chopsuey

The cold season has come upon us and what better way to spend a cold, lazy Saturday than with a bowlful of everyone’s comfort food? Chicken Mami, or more commonly known in the rest of the world as Chicken Noodle Soup.

I was craving for an authentic Pinoy Chicken Mami, not those that we get for a buck at the Asian store. Fortunately, the ingredients for this soup is something you likely have in the fridge and/or pantry, so it was a breeze to make.

A few slices of hardboiled eggs, fried garlic bits, and a sprinkle of scallions, and voila, Chicken Mami craving satisfied!

You know you’re Pinoy when an ideal breakfast is anything with “-silog” in it.

Longsilog (Longganisa-Sinangag-Itlog) - one of my favorite silog breakfasts, after DaSilog. Winner na winner.

I have this unrequited love for custardy and eggy desserts no chocolate could ever match. I always did say I have never met a flan I did not like, and I guess that pretty much says a lot, considering eggs, no matter how simple you use it, always have the possibility of being the culprit of a disastrous recipe.

This is Nick Malgieri’s Creme Brulee, one of the recipes distributed at ICE when I took a class last year for Rich Custards.

Ingredients:

14 egg yolks
2 Vanilla Beans split down the middle
1 Quart heavy whipping cream
1 C Sugar plus a few tablespoons more for topping

How-to:

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla beans in a non-reactive saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn off heat and allow vanilla beans to steep in hot cream for about ten minutes. Remove vanilla beans, scraping out the center in hot cream.

Return the cream to a boil. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks in a bowl. Pour the hot cream in a thin stream, whisking constantly.

Strain the custard into another bowl and allow it to stand for 5 minutes. Skim the foam from the surface and bring the bowl of custard to the stove. Place the pan of prepared dishes on the stove and fill them with the custard mixture. Place the pan on the oven rack and pour about 1/2 inch of warm water into the pan.

Bake the custard for about 30 minutes until it’s set. Refrigerate custards uncovered until ready to caramelize them. To caramelize, sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar, spreading it evenly. Brown the sugar using a propane torch.

This recipe yielded seven, almost-filled-to-the-brim ramekins. I’d say one ramekin is about 3.5″ and will serve 3 people well. So if you plan on serving this for several people, I suggest you get those thin/oval ones in multiples like this.

Enjoy!

Here’s a recipe for a simple pasta dish.

Ingredients:
1 box of Rotini, cook according to package
4-6 Italian sausage links, cut to 1″
2 pcs. of red bell pepper and 1 onion, cut in long strips
1 1/4 cup of beef or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp. cracked pepper corn
2 Tbsp. of olive oil

How-to:
In a medium skillet, cook sausages until half-cooked, add in the onions and peppers until sausage is browned. Add the pepper corn and broth, cover and let it come to a boil. Simmer uncovered in low heat until the liquid is reduced. Pour the sauce on the cooked pasta and drizzle with olive oil. Serve.

Tip: Don’t overdo the liquid reduction, visually it may seem that the sauce has too much liquid while being simmered, but it is enough to flavour the one box of cooked pasta.

Roti Chanai - Malaysian (or is it Indian) bread and a small bowl of spicy chicken curry from my one of my favorite Malaysian stores in the city.

Yuuuuuum.

Jaya
90 Baxter Street
New York, NY 10003
212-219-3331

The road less traveled, could be a rocky road. Unless it’s something as good as this.

More Wordless Wednesdays here.

#1. What kind of pretzels are your favorite?
Cinnamon Pretzels.

#2. What’s your favorite way to eat pancakes?
No stacks for me. A single pancake, with butter and syrup. On some days, with granulated sugar and milk.

#3. Do you make garlic bread from scratch or buy frozen?
From scratch. Softened butter with minced garlic or garlic powder. Heh.

#4. Share a recipe that calls for mozzarella cheese.
Insalata Caprese
Slices of mozzarella cheese
Slices of Tomatoes
Olive oil
Basil
Pepper

Line up tomatoes and mozzarella cheese alternately on a plate. Season with pepper and olive oil. Top with Basil. Dig In.

See more here!

When I was pregnant I tried to avoid baking anything, pregnant woman+summer season do not go well together. However, one of our friend’s daughter had her 7th birthday last July and I couldn’t not bake for the little girl so this is what I brought when we went to her party.

As you can see, the icing barely held its consistency. It was a sweltering hot day, and it was pretty much an effort to keep these babies from melting. But, the little girl happily licked off the icing off of the cupcakes so everyone, including the pregnant baker, was happy.

You know you’re getting old when you start shopping for things for your home, instead of clothes, shoes, etc. So when our dryer  showed signs of wear and tear a few weeks ago, I started to shop around and looked up reviews over the internet. I’ve been wanting those new front load washer/dryer because of its cool, slick look since I saw a commercial about it recently. More importantly, the newer models of this type of appliance are so much more energy efficient than their older counterparts. Energy efficiency equals less usage, which means less utility bills. Who doesn’t want that?

After visiting several online shopping site  and reading up on clothes’ dryer buyer’s guide, we ended up getting a Frigidaire washer/dryer combo at a local appliance store in our area. I know, I know, the brand isn’t exactly known for the appliance we got, but after seeing the good reviews and its energy efficiency, it was the right choice for us. Not to mention the rebates that came with it! Now, that’s grown-up shopping I don’t mind doing.

For this week’s topic, I am going fillet all the way (Uuy, rhyme!).

First up is a twist on the popular Thai dish, but instead of chicken I used Sole fillets. Any viand with spice and coconut milk is good in my book and this truly was a hit!

The second dish is Sweet and Sour Fish Fillets, and again I used Sole. One of my favorite dishes, because it reminds me so much of food served at Chinese fast food eateries at malls in Manila. Right?

Lastly, a simple Salmon dish seasoned with salt and pepper, topped with garlic bits and served with a side of asparagus spears drizzled with lemon and olive oil. Now there’s absolutely nothing fishy with that!