simple celebration

june 1, 1997, cebu city... k and i became officially on. from then on, we always see to it that we could celebrate our monthsary (so to speak) for the first year and our yearly anniversary for the following years. today, even if we are already married, we still somehow celebrate the day we became boyfriend-girlfriend even in little ways... cooking food or eating out. this time, i chose to prepare a simple pasta dish with my first time-to-make frozen brazo.

this was our dinner, for the 3 of us. still quick and easy to make, my spaghetti with shrimp and tomato sauce.

ingredients:
a handful of spaghetti, cooked as per package direction
1 cup shrimp, cleaned, shelled, deveined, heads discarded
1 tbsp. garlic, minced
1 onion, minced
1 cup spaghetti sauce
1 cup chicken broth
1-2 large tomatoes, seeded and diced
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup cheese, grated
1/2 cup cheese, grated for the topping
2 tbsp. cooking oil

procedure:
season shrimps with salt and pepper. heat oil in a wok and fry the shrimps for 2-3 minutes. set aside.

using the same wok, saute garlic and onion until aromatic. then add chicken stock. let simmer until the stock is reduced in half. then add the spaghetti sauce and tomatoes. let boil. season with salt and pepper, sugar and cheese. mix well. then add the cooked shrimps. simmer for another 3-5 mintes more.

pour over the cooked spaghetti and topped with the grated cheese.

then for the dessert, something special for a special occasion... frozen brazo de mercedes. i saw this recipe in a cooking show at qtv11, true confection and seemed to be easy to prepare... just changed an ingredient and then instead of using a 4x7 pan, i used 2, 2-1/2x6-1/2 pans. k and m loved it so much that they kept on asking for more. hehehe...

ingredients:
for the meringue:
4 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp. confectioner's sugar

for the graham crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter
2 tsp. sugar

for the custard:
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup butter, cubed

for the ice cream layer:
1 liter vanilla ice cream

procedure:
for the meringue:
preheat oven to 250ºF.

grease and line the bottom of an 8x12 inch pan. grease and flour the paper again then spread the meringue on the pan.

beat the egg whites with cream of tartar in a bowl of an electric mixer on high until fine bubbles form. then gradually add the sugar. whip to stiff peaks but not dry.

using an offset spatula, spread the meringue over the prepared pan making sure to fill even the edges. use a cake comb to create texture on the meringue.

bake in the oven for 30 minutes. dust with confectioner's sugar and allow to cool until ready to use.

for the graham crust:
combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar in a bowl. mix well. place the graham cracker crumbs in a 4x7 rectangular baking dish and evenly spread on the bottom of the pan.

for the custard:
in a double broiler, mix the eggs, condensed milk and vanilla. stir for about 30 minutes or until pouring consistency.

add butter a little at a time until melted and blended in. cook longer to make it thicker. pour over the graham crust and allow to cool to room temp.

for the frozen layer:
leave ice cream at room temperature for about 15 minutes or until softened. mix until consistency of soft serve ice cream. place over the custard layer.

finish off by cutting a 4x7 rectangle from the meringue to fit the size of the container and placing over the ice cream.

place in the freezer for at least 4 hours or until stable before serving.

• • • • • • •

happy 12 years of togetherness to us... xoxo

leche flan cups

category: dessert
serving: makes 14 mini flans

yesterday, i made puto with 4 egg whites. today, i made leche flan with the remaining 4 eggyolks using my puto molds. hehehe...

i have an old leche flan entry last year. i did it in a super easy way... using the powdered cream caramel i bought in the grocery and no need of steaming and caramelizing sugar. however, this time i followed pinoycook's mini leche flan recipe. still the easy way since i used molasses sold in the grocery. hopefully next time i'd be able to do this again and by that time be able to caramelize sugar. hehehe...

ingredients:
4 eggyolks
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh milk
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
3-4 tsp. molasses

procedure:
spread about 1/2 tsp. of molasses on the bottom of each mold.

beat the eggyolks. pour in the milk and the sweetened condensed milk. mix until well blended. add the lemon extract and stir a few more times. strain trhough a fine sieve.

fill each mold with egg-milk mixture until almost full. it doesn't overflow as it cooks since it doesn't rise or expand during cooking... it just becomes firm.

steam for a bout 15 minutes. start timing as soon as the water boils. on the other hand, i cooked my leche flan for a total of 45 minutes. i cooked it for 15 minutes but it was not yet firm but still liquid. then i added another 15 minutes and still the same... and i added again 15 minutes. it was then that it bacame firm. i knew it was already done because i inserted a tip of the knife at the center of the flan and it came out clean.

cool before inverting. you may have to run the tip of the knife around the mold to loosed the leche flan before inverting.

puto cheese

category: dessert
serving: makes 24 mini puto

i asked a friend to buy me this puto molds that i saw in ms. connie's foodblog. they are indeed cute and colorful. and when she saw it, she said she has like those also which she bought in manila. so, when she went for her yearly vacation in philippines, i asked her to buy me a bunch ans so she did. that's the reason why i was eager to make puto even if i have failed a couple of times before.

the fact of the matter is, this is my third attempt in preparing puto... embarrassing really but i want to document this one since it came out and tastes like puto. although it's not like the real one that you buy in the market but it's good enough for me. maybe my fourth attempt will be much, much better and even more puto-like already. i'm sure that i will be making puto again one of these days since makuy likes it because of the large chunk of cheese i placed on top of each puto.


i am much more confident now (i still had my fingers crossed though) since i already have electric mixer which kim bought me two months ago. before i was using wire whisk and my puto was a failure. you really have to have strong muscles in order to mix the eggwhites well untill it forms stiff peaks. using wire whisk was terrible, my arm still hurts until the next day. so, better use the mixer instead. my puto molds (it's like small planggana made of hard plastic) measures 2-1/4" in diameter and 1" in height. with these recipe i got from ms. connie's special puto i was able to make 24 putos.

ingredients:
1/4 cup butter, softened but not melted
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
5 tbsp. sugar
3/4 cup fresh milk
4 eggwhites
slices of quickmelting cheese

procedure:
in a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.

in another bowl, cream the butter with 3 tbsp. of sugar. "cream" maens to beat until light in texture.

add the flour mixture and milk alternately into the butter-sugar mixture, mixing as you add.

beat the egg whites until stiff. "stiff" means that when you lift the beaters, stiff peaks are formed on the surface of the egg whites. "stiff peaks" means the tips do not bow down.

when peaks start to form, sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp. of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

fold the egg whites into the flour-milk mixture. "fold" means to mix lightly ans carefully so as not to break air bubbles. when you beat egg whites, the volume triples because of air bubbles which will make the puto light and soft, so you do not want to break them.

fill the puto molds ubtil about 3/4 full. top with cheese slices.

steam the puto about 20 minutes. if you're using metal steamer, you may have to place a towel or katsa cloth between the pan and the cover. the cloth will catch the steam and prevent the condensation from falling into the puto which will prevent them from rising properly. start the 20 minutes as soon as the water starts to boil.

cool before removing from the molds because the edges are still a bit wet and soggy while the puto is hot. if you remove them from the molds in that condition, you will disfigure them.

easy leche flan

category: dessert
serving: 7 mini leche flans

as always, i got this easy dessert recipe from http://www.pinoycook.net/ from her mini leche flan. you can do shortcuts in making leche flan, as she said. bottled molasses in lieu of caramelized sugar for the syrup. so, i decided to try, why not, since i couldn't caramelized the sugar right the few times i prepared this dessert.

with this, i used muffin cup mold instead of the usual llanera. it came out as mini leche flans which were attractive to look at. the diameter of the muffin mold was 2-1/2" and the height was 1-1/2". i was able to make seven mini leche flans using the following...

ingredients:
4 eggyolks
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup fresh milk
1/2 tsp. lemon extract
3-4 tsp. molasses

procedure:
spread about 1/2 tsp. of molasses on the bottom of each mold.

beat the eggyolks. pour in the milk and the sweetened condensed milk. mix until well blended. add the lemon extract and stir a few more times. strain trhough a fine sieve.

fill each mold with egg-milk mixture until almost full. it doesn't overflow as it cooks since it doesn't rise or expand during cooking... it just becomes firm.

steam for a bout 15 minutes. start timing as soon as the water boils. cool before inverting. you may have to run the tip of the knife around the mold to loosed the leche flan before inverting.

note:
if you couldn't find a bottle of molasses you can always opt for the traditional way of caramelizing the sugar. in a pan, caramelize 1/4 cup sugar and coat each mold with it.

on the other hand, there's this super easy way of making lecheflan:
in groceries here in uae, they have this food called caramel cream which is so close to our leche flan, only not that sweet as ours. what i did was i bought a box; inside was a pack of the caramel cream powder and a pack of the coating. i coated my 1 large mold with the coating. i placed the powdered caramel creme to a pan and added 500gm. fresh milk and 250ml sweetened condensed milk. i brought it into a bol stirring continuously. then pour over the coated mold. i let it cool on room temperature before chilling. simple... no more steaming. and... the taste? same as our sweet leche flan.

maja blanca

category: dessert
serving: 6

maja mais or what we usually call maja blanca is one of the easiest dessert to make. it is basically made of coconut milk with condesed milk and cornstarch. i got this recipe from ms. connie veneracion's foodblog where i constantly visit to get inspiration in cooking... this dessert was inspired by her maja maiz entry.

i remembered the first time i prepared this dish, it was an instant success... yes... because it's really easy to prepare. you can even add pineapple tidbits to it for a more fruity taste. some of the maja recipes i searched in the net used fruit cocktail and some added cheese. but i prefer the simple one, the original one. For an even richer maja, double the amount of coconut milk and omit the water... but this is not for those with ultra-sensitive digestive systems. for the coconut milk, i used the powdered one since it is readily available here in uae and it's much more aromatic compared to the fresh or canned coconut milk. it will always be a matter of preference - fresh coconut milk with more time consumed or preserved ones with less effort.

"if you opt to use fresh coconut milk, you’ll have to start with freshly grated mature coconut. in the philippines, we call it niyog. place the niyog in a glass bowl and add a cup of lukewarm water. use as much or as little water, depending on how rich you want your coconut milk. some people have low tolerance for it. with your hands, squeeze the niyog tightly to get the milk. or, you can put the niyog in a piece of cheesecloth (katsa) then wring the cheesecloth to get the milk." (http://www.pinoycook.net/)



ingredients:
1 c. of cornstarch
1 250 ml. can sweetened condensed milk
1 c. of coconut milk
1 c. of water
a pinch of salt
1 425 g. can of cream-style corn
1/2 tsp. of butter, softened

directions:
grease the bottom and sides of a 6″ x 10″ ceramic baking dish with the softened butter.

disperse the cornstarch in the water until completely dissolved. add the coconut milk, salt and cream-style corn. set over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until thick and no longer cloudy.

remove from the heat and add the sweetened condensed milk. return to the stove top and cook over low heat, stirring until the milk is fully incorporated into the cornstarch mixture.

pour into the buttered dish and leave to cool for about 30 minutes before cutting and serving.