Recipes

Libations / Recipes — No Comments
23
Mar 12

One Part Vodka, Two Parts Inspiration

My brother told me that he found some vanilla beans in Gourdo’s, a favorite retail store of ours. As vanilla beans are hard to come by in Manila, I was quite happy to learn he could source some. Bottles and bottles of imitation essence can be found on supermarket shelves there but the aroma of this locally-produced flavoring easily fades once incorporated in batters or drinks. That’s when the idea of making our own extract hit me.

Consulting trusty Mr. Google, I typed in ‘vanilla extract recipe’ on the search bar. Wow. 20 million entries. I settled with one. It called for vodka. Another idea hit me. Vanilla-scented poison. Haha! Just brilliant!

So off to Deira Spice Souk I went, got my precious pods, then to the bottle shop for a liter (oh, make that two) of vodi. It will be a long, two-month wait before I get to do my version of grown-up Vanilla Coke. And another month more to perfume my next batch of ice cream. But hey, patience they say is a virtue. In the meantime, I will pass this recipe on to my brother, dream of pouring this sweet, velvety elixir over a couple of cubes of ice and offering a toast to Bacchus. Dude, you may be the god of wine but we mortals take credit for creating this gorgeous ambrosia.

xxx

Karima

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Arctic Flavors — No Comments
14
Feb 11

Kissed by A Rose

The word Valentine conjures up images of chocolates, flowers, candlelit dinners and a deluge of red as though the love mountain of Eros erupted to scatter crimson hearts for him to pierce his arrows through.

Well… at least that’s how people in my country respond to the occasion. The confectioneries here take center stage during the month of February. The florists bring out their prized blooms. The restos whip up unforgettable meals. Heck, even houses of ill repute come alive with amazing ‘afternoon delight’ deals (think extended lunch break with bubbly, strawberries and your choice of skin flick)!

Now if open displays of affection come naturally to you, there really is no need to ‘celebrate’ St. Valentine’s Day. Like I come from a family of born huggers and kissers. PDA’s are as commonplace as eating to nourish yourself. But we decided to hop on the bandwagon anyway and come together for special dinner. Ok, it may not really be about making known how much we care about each other. More like unabashedly showing off our love… for food!

Pork liver crostini, grilled rib eye steak, short ribs in black pepper sauce, grilled salmon with lemon and dill, arugula and mixed greens with honey-kalamansi dressing. Sounds like a substantial meal already. Na-uh! There’s still dessert… which I am in charge of.

In honor of the love god himself whose name happens to be an anagram of the most popular flower during Valentine’s, I dove into my Middle Eastern and Indian pantries to put together a rosewater kulfi. Cool and luxurious, heady with the scent of roses, it’s the perfect last course to arrest that ravenous appetite. If my peeps find it cloyingly sweet, I’ve prepared a bottle of good crisp French rosé to refresh the palate with.

Hey Eros! We invite you to join us tonight. There aren’t any hearts for you to aim your arrows at but you are more than welcome to take a stab at the rib eye on the grill. Literally.

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Breakfast Sweets Series — 5 Comments
11
Sep 10

Comfort Food Meets Good-to-Go

For many years, vanilla has given me comfort. When I used to work in Dubai, I’d bake a batch of simple, un-iced vanilla cupcakes on Sunday mornings (the week there begins on Sunday), then take them to an office that pretty much devours me the entire day and leaves me for dead. But as soon as I return home, I could still smell the vanilla that had been trapped in my kitchen since my departure that morning. That alone wipes away the stresses of my day. When I’m not baking, I light vanilla candles. I normally don’t run out of them.

It was only early this year that I decided to pick up something new to go with my usual vanilla tealights from Ikea. They were bigger, heavier votives in glass, dark chocolate in color and gave off the sweetest scent of apples that had been cloaked in cinnamon.

I have since moved back to Manila. No Ikea candles here. The closest I can get to replicating that wonderful perfume is by cranking up that oven and making some good ol’ apple pies. Remembering that I seriously dislike doing the dishes, I’m making them strictly hand-held.

So with the apples, brown sugar and cinnamon bubbling away inside the oven, as expected I caught a waft of something decidedly familiar. Oh the memories resurrecting! Cliche as it may sound, I am wrapped in some serious fuzz right now.

xxx

Karima

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Recipes — 6 Comments
1
Sep 10

Easy Like a Sunday Morning…Not!

Our Sunday mornings aren’t usually lazy and relaxed. We don’t get to snuggle under the covers until midday like most people do. We consume the entire week preparing for this day – lots of scribbling and bouncing of ideas. Saturdays are reserved for trips to organic markets, local IKEA retailers or landscaping shops.

Food blogging has never been this difficult.

It’s 7 AM and I’m peeling myself off of the bed. The first thing I need to do is open the living room curtains. There’s no sun. Think it’s going to rain again. Darn! The weather has been like this for months now – overcast in the morning, rainy in the afternoon. How can the weather be so uncooperative on the day of our shoot? But it’s early, there is still hope. So let’s crank up the espresso machine and get on with the mise en place.

Today we’re set to shoot a variation of our mom’s corn soup. I remember when we were still little she would cook this soup during a cold rainy day. It was simple, delicious and hearty. There’s nothing like mom’s cooking. You can just feel the love rubbing your back with every slurp… keeping you all warm and fuzzy. But she seldom cooks right now ever since we took over the kitchen and stuffed it with gadgets she can hardly operate.

Enough with the drama and start chopping the onions! After doing all the needed prep work, the pan heats the oil and butter. The pork belly and bacon are thrown in. The first time you hear the pork fat sizzling, it is like listening to Joe Satriani’s fingers gracefully weaving notes with his guitar. Enter garlic and onions. The pungent fragrance released from these aromats tells you there’s magic happening in that hot pan. When the cooking is almost done, my sister Karima prepares the props for the shoot. She irons the table napkins, wipes clean the dishes, sets up the table… you know, very domestic stuff. But she’s my food stylist and art director as I am not that good with composition. The food is ready, the props are laid out and the camera is mounted on the tripod. The shooting begins.

A hundred clicks later, we’re absolutely knackered. We’re excited to post the photos in this blog hoping Tastespotting or Foodgawker will accept our entries. This is a good weekly accomplishment. We’re very happy and we think we deserve a pat on our backs. And the best part of it all? Eating every ounce of that dish we prepared today! That’s happiness. That’s my kind of Sunday mornings.

Jon

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Bacon Wrap Series — 1 Comment
27
Aug 10

Delightfully Odd Couple: Naughty Marries Nice

We’ve heard it all before – boy loves girl. Boy is rich (langit); girl is poor (putik). Boy’s mom is a high society monster (impyerno) who promises to ruin girl’s life if she does not leave her son alone. All too familiar? This is a classic recipe in Philippine movies. It has been used countless times already but we never get tired of watching movies with the same plot over and over again. Movie producers are able to rake in millions by making flicks like these! Not only do we love watching beautiful actors weep, scream, walk soaking wet under the pouring rain, we also get that ultimate high when there’s some bitch-slapping every 15 minutes.

In the end, the crying stops. So does the rain. It’s a bright sunny day when boy meets with girl again. The mom looks on from afar flashing her a big disarming smile – the seal of approval. Everything is OK now. Moviegoers can walk out with a glimmer of hope that one day they might just find the John Lloyd Cruz (or Tirso Cruz III, depending on the age bracket) they’ve been looking for.

The principle of opposites has been used in many ways  – yin and yang, beauty and the beast, May-December affair, naughty and nice. In cooking, the same principle can also be applied – sweet and sour, hot and cold, crunchy and smooth. The list goes on. The contrasting qualities of elements introduce an interesting vibe to the whole experience.

In this recipe, I used two ingredients with opposing characteristics – bacon and tofu. Bacon is a salty flavorful thin sheet of cured meat that is generally considered unhealthy because of its high calorie, high saturated fat content. Tofu, on the other hand, is bland but absorbs most of the flavors you mix with it. It is widely accepted as a meat substitute eaten by health buffs (think veggie meat). The combination of the two can be likened to an upscale tokwa’t baboy… which you can certainly serve to your future Mama without fear of being ostracized. Send me a note when you get her nod of approval.

Jon

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Breakfast Sweets Series / Kids in the Kitchen — 3 Comments
23
Aug 10

Dunking, Rolling, Deliciously Monkeying Around

Gen-Z’s. The Digital Natives. As expected, most of them are surgically attached to their electronics. iPhone, iTouch, PSP. With these portable friends, they can surf the net, play games, listen to music, take photos, communicate with each other.

You, who were born during the era of black, rotary dial telephones and television sets that came with their own cupboards, cannot comprehend this new breed. You complain that the kids these days don’t anymore go out and enjoy the sun. That they don’t anymore know how to be creative and build things from scratch.

Truth is, you’re old-fashioned and haven’t caught on with technology. And more importantly, you just want to spend a few moments with your children without letting them feel that you’re robbing them of their precious ‘me’ time.

Enter baker’s play dough. What do you know? The idea alone managed to peel my 12-year old off of his Nintendo DS. Mentioned that I invited his fave cousin to join us, he switched from ‘ok, I’ll help you’ to ‘what time are we going to start?.’

It only took us 4 hours from start to finish but in between, it was an uber-fun (albeit messy) affair. The kids kneaded their own dough, cut them into pieces and rolled them into balls. Then came the greasy construction interspersed with the occasional flicks of bacon fat and semi-molten chocolate at each other.

After clearing the table of butter drips and two kids’ faces of meaty slicks and chocolate smears, we admire the towers of bubble rising inside the oven. And noticing their eyes beaming with absolute pride, who says kids these days can’t build anything from scratch? We may have arrived at the age of the Avatar but I’m confident these digital natives will do just fine. Especially with a little help from imaginative Gen-X’ers!

xxx

Karima

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Arctic Flavors — 2 Comments
16
Aug 10

Escaping into Marrakech Dreams

Like I mentioned in a previous post, I was going to make mint granita.  Problem was, I couldn’t find mint in the supermarkets.  So I cheated.

Got some Moroccan Mint Tea in the cupboard and I was dying to use the orange blossom water I purchased in Dubai so I figured, “Heck!  Why not?’

All I need now is a gorgeous sunset, a great rooftop dinner setup and a hearty lamb tagine to wolf down… so I can cleanse my palate!

xxx

Karima

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Recipes / The Dark Side — 6 Comments
15
Aug 10

Plunging into the Dark

Usually, I like tropical storms. You’re trapped indoors; it’s nice and cool; got an excuse to huddle close to another erm…warm body. Perfect ‘bed weather.’

But not when they come with power outage. Like what happened during Typhoon Basyang that ravaged the country last month. No damn electricity for 20 hours. And it was gloomy and gray with howling winds and sheets of rain that brought misery to a whole new level.

Yet we’ve known this for the longest time. There’s no use hurling curses at our local government for failing yet again to address this perennial problem. I promise you, that power will come back. Just stay calm…and eat chocolates.

Yup, I have taken inspiration from misery and turned it into something positive. Kind of like Erebus, the God of Darkness bringing forth Eros, the God of Love. Hey, if I’m already using candles by mid-morning, might as well extract romance out of the whole thing.

Erebus, please accept my offering. I hope these Nipples of Venus delight you.

xxx

Karima

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Arctic Flavors / Glass Obsession Series / Recipes — No Comments
26
Jul 10

Frosty Fruity Antidote to Rising Humidity

Right. We’ve officially entered monsoon season. Three-week intervals of torrential rains. The sun doesn’t have a chance to glare anymore. And when the skies aren’t weeping, the overcast gives rise to torturous humidity. Today, it’s 91%. Approaching Dante’s inferno.

So what do you do? Take cold showers, eat chilled salads, drink lots of water and let shards of cool granita melt away the mugginess.

A Sicillian invention, granita is perfect for those clammy, oppressive afternoons. Especially right after the rains when the soil begins to breathe and releases its sticky, earthy sudor into the air.

Similar to sorbet and a cinch to prepare, it usually takes on the flavor of fruit. Although in caffeine-soaked Italy, coffee proves to be popular as well. So just your preferred liquid, some sugar syrup if needed, a freezer and a fork, you’re already fully equipped to create some jewel-toned ice crystals.

You can make different-flavored batches, freeze them in ice cube trays then pop into ziplocked freezer bags for storing. When you get one of those unannounced visits from friends or family, pulse a few in a food processor and spoon into martini glasses. Voila! A quick and elegant dessert.

Or, you can serve them (especially citrus-perfumed ones) as palate-cleansers in between courses. You will not lack in compliments after guests have had spoonfuls of this refreshing entremet.

So next time the hydrometer hits the roof, I know exactly what to reach for. I’m planning to make three batches this week that will include one coffee and one mint. Did one today using peaches…that will for sure take Dante to Paradiso.

xxx

Karima

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Favorite Finds / Glass Obsession Series — No Comments
13
Jul 10

Jar for All Seasons

I’ve had a long, beautiful love affair with glass. I still do. The closest of my friends and family know this all too well. When I see glass, I drool.

Clear, colored, smoked, printed — doesn’t matter. I like ‘em all. Well, ok…except ugly ones.

There’s just something so romantic and charmingly old world about glass. The dresser looks uber-stylish when crowded with vintage glass perfume bottles; a simple cake or cheese plate seems more elegant under a clear pastry dome; even the very mundane dishwashing liquid is elevated to supermodel status when decanted into empty olive oil bottles.

Over the years, I have collected different glass items, the largest group of which is my drinkware. I generally prefer drinks presented in their appropriate vessels. Like I wouldn’t want my martini served in a tumbler. No — no no no — no no! There’s my Pyrex collection too — casseroles, mixing bowls, measuring jugs. It’s not so obvious that I like to use my oven, huh?

Then one day I discovered Michael Smith on the telly, a Canadian chef who hosts the cooking show Chef at Home. As the program title suggests, it showcases his very own home with the kitchen as his stage. I fell in love with that pantry of his. Every imaginable spice, liqueur, herb, sauce, grain, nut and chocolate has a place in that room. And each is kept fresh in its own glass mason jar.

Yep, you heard me. GLASS mason jars. They’re my new babies! I can think of a million uses for them: petits pots au chocolat, coddled eggs, pies-in-a-jar, creme brulee, homemade vanilla extract, individual shepherd’s pie, fruit syrups, scented sugars, butterscotch sauce… Right. Drool alert. Excuse me while I fetch a towel!

xx

Karima

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