Chicken Tinola, a little bit of childhood.

I made chicken tinola, a filipino dish with chicken, chayote, and ginger with chicken broth. My mother used to make this dish a lot when I was a child, especially during winter. Considering the weather in San Jose has been a mite chilly of late, this is definitely a dish that warms the body. :) My hubby who is still getting used to filipino food ate it. My two babies love it. It's really easy on their little tummies.

Chicken Tinola

3 to 4 lbs. chicken, cut into pieces (I used about 8 bone-in thighs.)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced.
4-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced.
5 c. water
2 tbsp. of vegetable oil or in my case, canola
2 tbsp. of fish sauce, I used squid brand.
4 green chayote squash,peeled and sliced
5 potatoes,peeled and quartered
dash of pepper

Peel and cut the chayote into sliced. Peel and quarter the potatoes.

In a 6-quart stock pot, heat the oil. Add the garlic and saute. Add the onion and ginger. Saute until onion is translucent.

Place the chicken into the pot, stirring occasionally to meld the flavors. Stir in the fish sauce and pepper. Brown the chicken a bit, 4-5 minutes.

Pour in the water and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer for about 30 minutes, until chicken is throughly cooked.

Skim off the fat that comes up.

Add vegetables and bring it to a boil once again. Cook for about 10-15 minutes until chayote and potatoes are tender but firm.

Serve with rice.

I like to season my tinola with a combination of fish sauce and lemon juice. :)

Blueberry Muffins!

I am sad. My camera batteries are dead. :/

But, I baked some BLUEBERRY MUFFINS...which were mostly devoured by my two-year old. lol. They were very moist and tender.

Here is the recipe, from the Good Home Cookbook, edited by Richard J. Perry.

Blueberry Muffins

2 c. AP flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) butter, softened
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. (1 pint) fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12-cup muffin pan or line the pan with paper baking cups.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl until creamy and light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then beat in the milk and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the flour mixture and stir until moistened. Fold in the berries.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pan, and cool briefly on wire racks. Serve warm or cooled.

I'm a brownie.

You Are a Brownie

Decadent and intense, you aren't for the weakhearted. Those who can deal with your strong flavor find out how sweet you really are.

What Dessert Are You Most Like?

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2006/06/langues_de_chat_au_the_vert.php
http://vanillagarlic.blogspot.com/
http://bakespace.com/
http://weblogs.thingsasian.com/tablogs/page/cheiter

Tasty, tender Salmon. :)

My husband came home from Costco and brought back this package of center cut atlantic salmon fillets. Fresh frozen, individually packaged, skinless, boneless...very convenient, especially for me since I hate gutting fish. Packed with Omega-3 fatty acids and other yummy healthy goodness, salmon is one of my favorite fish. These salmon fillets became our dinner yesterday.

Seasoned Salmon Fillets in Lemon Butter
Serves 4 or 2 with big appetites.

4 salmon steaks, skinless and boneless*
kosher salt
ground pepper
cayenne pepper
1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tbsp, 4 oz.)
1/4 cup of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a glass baking dish, place fillets about 2 inches apart.

Pour about three-fourths of the lemon juice over the fillets. Season the salmon with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Pour the rest of the juice on top of the salmon. Don't worry the seasonings will stay on the fillet.
Add butter to the pan. You can either let the oven melt the butter or premelt it before hand if you want to control the amount of butter used.
Place the dish in the center rack. Bake the fish for about 25 minutes, until the fish is opaque or about 160°F.

The fish should tender and flake away with a fork when done. You can use the lemon and butter mixture in the dish as a sauce.

Cook's Notes: Just be warned there are small bones that were probably not discernable to the eye, so proceed with some caution when serving to small children.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

okay, this is my first try at my own food porn. lol. the pictures are terrible,especially where the ice cream scoop is about to melt over the bowl.haha.

Chocolate Bread Pudding( adapted from Martha Stewart's Chocolate Bread Pudding)The ingredients with the starred notations are my substitutions.

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk ( i used 2%)
1 1/2 tsp of madagascar burbon vanilla extract*
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon*
5 mini baguette (not sourdough) loaves*
8 ounces BAKER'S semi-sweet chocolate plus 2 ounces BAKER'S unsweetened*
8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar*

Heat the oven to 325°F. Place the cream, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes to infuse flavors.

Cut the baguettes to into 1/4-inch thick slices. Reserve the end pieces. Then, cut the slices into quarters. Fill a 9-by-12 glass baking dish with the quartered pieces.

Return the milk mixture to a boil, remove from heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour chocolate mixture very slowly into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until fully combined.

Slowly pour half the chocolate custard over bread, making sure all the bread is soaked. Arrange the reserved bread on top in a decorative pattern, and press firmly so bottom layer absorbs the chocolate mixture. Spoon remaining custard over bread until it is completely covered and cracks are all filled in. Place plastic wrap over the dish: press down to soak bread throughly. Remove plastic and wipe edges of dish with a damp towel. Allow dish to sit for 30 minutes.

Bake for 45 minutes. Cool slightly for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream (I used Breyer's Chocolate-Vanilla-Strawberry) or creme fraiche.

Notes:

The original recipe noted 1 whole vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped, 3 cinnamon sticks (optional), 1 loaf brioche( about 1 pound, or substitute white bread), 12 ounces roughly chopped valrhona or other bittersweet chocolate, 3/4 cup of sugar. The last step for baking the bread pudding was to set the glass dish into a bain de marie, baking until set for about 35 minutes. I tested this pudding for the first time without the bain de marie and found out it came out a drier product that was still yummy. LOL. The next time I make this using the hot water bath.