The Foodie's Food Trip: June 2009

Chocolate Tiramisu - The First Attempt

We had a little get-together at home last Saturday to celebrate our birthday (my birthday and hubby's birthday is just 4 days apart :D).

I decided to make another dessert, other than the usual leche flan that our friends normally request. Since I still have no oven, I settled for something that needs no baking yet challenging. So I decided to make chocolate tiramisu.

I shopped for the ingredients a week before because my in-laws will be arriving that weekend, and I wouldn't have the time to shop for myself after they arrive. I got my ladyfingers, my chocolate, my cream, my mascarpone cheese. The only ingredient missing were the eggs, which I bought the day before I started making the tiramisu.

I started making the crème chocolat Thursday night, because it has to be chilled before I can layer it to the tiramisu. The crème chocolat was perfect, despite the fact that I only used Hershey's chocolate chips. :D Not too sweet and not too bitter. Left it in the fridge overnight to chill. Friday night I made the mascarpone cream (made of mascarpone cheese and the eggs). First look at the mascarpone cream and I knew it's not right. Didn't get stiff enough... too runny... huhuhu.

Since it's already there, I decided to continue with it and layer my tiramisu. I layered my ladyfingers dipped in strong coffee (didn't bother mixing any alcohol to it), then the crème chocolat, lastly my liquid mascarpone cream. Chilled it overnight, hoping for some miracle to happen and make the mascarpone cream perfect.

The next day, Saturday, I tried a spoonful of the tiramisu after eating lunch. As soon as I took out the spoon, the liquid mascarpone cream filled the hole I made. So sad with what happenned... I served it anyway. It tastes good... it just didn't look good.

Hubby told me to just try again. I still have a few ladyfingers, half of the mascarpone cheese and some chocolate chips. :D I'll try something different with the mascarpone cream next time. Wish me luck with my second attempt!

20 Yummiest (commercially baked) Cakes

Another long overdue post. :D

Last month, mother's day, my sister told me that she bought our mom a yummy cake, which was in the list of top 20 cakes in Manila.

Out of curiosity (and jealousy as well, since I was not able to try out the cake), I searched for it from the net and found the list my sis was referring to. It was an article from Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper.

Just looking at the list was making me crave for sweets! And I didn't bother looking at their article about the yummiest privately baked cakes... one article is enough! :D

Check out the article from Inquirer.net.
20 yummiest (commercially baked) cakes - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
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Bought a New Cookbook

I have a new cookbook!

Simple French Desserts by Jill O'Connor.

I bought this cookbook for SGD4.00 during the book fair last weekend. What a knock-off! :D

So happy I was able to buy a new cookbook. Will try one of the recipes this week. :)

To find out more about the book, check out Simple French Desserts from Amazon.com

Pork Menudo

I finally made some pork menudo last Friday! I had this recipe bookmarked from my cookbook for months.

Menudo is a Filipino dish, with thick tomato sauce. Normally menudo has raisins to balance the sourness of the tomato paste and liver to add some bitterness, but I opted not to put it because neither I nor hubby will eat them. Some would also add green peas, carrots and bell pepper. But for the dish I made, I only added potatoes. I actually added too much potatoes. You can actually count the number of pork cubes in there. :D

Pork Menudo

Ingredients

2 tablespoons cooking oil
1/4 cup diced onions
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 cup minced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups potatoes, cut in 1/2" cubes
2 cups pork, cut in 3/4" cubes
1 1/2 cups cubed liver (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tomato sauce

Directions

Saute garlic, onions.
When the onion is translucent, add the tomatoes and saute until it starts to liquefy.
Add pork and cook until brown.
Add the tomato sauce and water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper.
Cook until meat is soft, adding more water if necessary.
Add the potatoes.
When the potatoes are half-cooked, add the liver.
Cover and simmer until fully cooked.

My First Try with Puto

This is a long overdue post. :)

Puto is a Filipino food. It is a steamed rice cake, usually mixed with coconut milk. There are other puto variations like ube and pandan flavor.

I've been craving for puto and been wanting to make puto for a long time. Since I do not have an oven yet, I'm stuck with no-bake or steamed food. And since puto is steamed, and not baked, I wanted to give it a try.

I made these puto after making some leche flan for a friend's birthday party. I have too much egg whites and I didn't want them to go to waste, so I searched for puto recipes and decided to make some.

I found a puto recipe that uses egg whites and a bit of all-purpose flour. Very simple and easy.

Unfortunately, I only have sliced cheese in my fridge. So despite the fact that the puto will definitely taste different because of the cheese, plus it will surely melt differently, I still used the sliced cheese.
When the puto were done, it looked perfect! The look and the texture... puto! But the taste was a bit disappointing. Actually from the smell I already guessed that they won't taste like puto. They tasted like egg whites hihihi!

Despite that, I'm still happy I was able to give it a try. :) The search is on for the next puto recipe. Next time I'll try using rice flour. :)