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Merry christmas again!

Christmas Dinner

Tonight is born our Savior, Jesus Christ! Rejoice!

Christmas had always been a time to reflect and spend time with family. Tonight, we are having a simple dinner: Roast Turkey with Orange Gravy, Buttered Vegetables and some Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat!

Kurismasu Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Froehliche Weinachten!

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Baked Salmon Steak

Salmon, though moist and tender when eaten raw (smoked or sashimi) can get very tough and dry when cooked. It may even taste off. Hence, it has to be seasoned well and cooked in the right amount of time.

I recently bought a small piece of salmon fillet and thought of baking it with a simple seasoning. I seasoned the slab of fish with plenty of pepper, then applied a generous amount of garlic spread I made earlier on the surface.

I baked the fish at 350 degrees for around 10 minutes. Remember, roasts continue to cook even after you have taken it out of the oven due to residual heat.

Garlic Butter

Many think it is a mere combination of garlic and butter. But I always try and add a few other stuff to make things more flavorful.

This "spread" is quite versatile. I spread it one bread then toast them to make garlic bread. On occasion, I smear it on cuts of meat or seafood then bake it, much like the French baked escargots. For quick sides, you can melt spoonfuls of this compound to saute some cut or precooked veggies.

I used up three whole heads of garlic, peeled and chopped. This makes for a very strong garlicky paste. You can use two or even one head if you want it milder. I also added some chopped parsley both for color and flavor. I used flat-leaf parsley as it gives a more herb-y flavor that curly-leaf parsley.

In a blender or mixer, beat one cup of butter. Add in the chopped garlic and chopped parsley. Mix well. Slowly add in 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. This will make the mixture spreadable and of course, healthy. Season with salt and pepper.

Salcedo Village Saturday Market

I typically hate going to markets. Markets are almost always a disorganized place. Goods are scattered everywhere, hawkers shouting, and some of the produce reek of foul odor. So this was one of the really rare occasions I visited a "market."

This market being on a Saturday, and at the heart of the city's posh business district, one could only surmise that their standards should be a bit higher. True enough, half the stalls were selling cooked food - specialty cuisine you won't get anywhere in Manila. Most of the vegetables were clean and crisp, and the fresh seafood were typically frozen.

We entered from the side of the Saturday market, from Salcedo park, and we were immediately greeted by a waft of fresh seafood air! It wasn't really foul, but you could tell there was fish blood somewhere. They were selling freshwater prawns by the way. (Ulang in the local language).

Other stalls were selling ornamental plants and other inedible goods.

An heirloom restaurant was selling their famed lengua in white wine, fabada asuriana and the really scrumptious slow roasted pork. They also had a whole rack of bottled queso de bola spread, so it is apparently very popular.

There was a Singaporean lady selling some chicken rice. I just had to get myself some! Half of that whole stack of chicken was gone by the time we circled her store a second time.

A French guy had a whole army of maids selling some really yummy French food. The price was reasonable, so we just had to buy a whole roasted chicken and some duck. We totally forgot he had some pate with armagnac on sale.

The French guy was also selling some fine savory tarts.

I just thought a picture of the buko jelly was worth posting.

Another stall specializes in carabao's and goat's milk products. They even have sugra-free pastillas!

We were done shopping for food when we came across this Vietnamese lady selling fresh spring rolls. We had to make room in our basket for one pack. It was simple, healthy yet really heavenly. We are sure to return, if only for this!

One end of the market was actually flooded with barbecue stalls. This is just one of the "hundreds" of other stalls selling barbecue.

My father could not stop ogling at the lechon kawali. But he is on a diet in preparation for Christmas eve dinner, so he eventually let go.

More to come about this market on succeeding visits. Also watch out for features about the food!

Brandy Prune Cake

I was craving for something decadent the other day and was actually planning on making a really rich chocolate cake, perhaps the flourless type. But then I learned we ran out of chocolate! Ugh! Bordering on a nervous breakdown, I grabbed the remianing bottle of brandy on the pantry and opened my aunt's moldy recipe box. I was hoping to come across a recipe calling for copious amounts of alcohol. I was not disappointed when this old acquaintace popped out of the files.

This cake brings back memories of the 80s. Not that I am capable of remembering much of it! LOL! Not many bake shops offered this cake during those years, at least not Red Ribbon and Goldilocks, but mostly specialty cake stores and hotels instead.

The texture of this cake is reminiscent of a fluffy Food for the gods, yet has some other-wordly characters to it. The cake is typically doused with quality brandy before being iced with a prune buttercream. The prunes are really sweet, yet they retain a fruity flavor, unlike dates. It is a truly indulgent treat!

A picture of the recipe shows that the index card where the recipe was written may even be older than I am. Reading it is even more disturbing: the person who came up with this recipe is so obsessive-compulsive that she calls for 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 cup evap + 1 tablespoon vinegar. I rounded off all ingredients to the nearest whole or half.

Cake

Prepare the prune paste: chop 1 1/2 cup of prunes and boil with 1/2 cup of water (or more) and 1/4 cup brandy. Add more water or brandy so that liquid barely covers the prunes on the pan. Simmer until half of this liquid has evaporated. Turn off heat and let cool, mixing occasionally. The prune pieces will soften, and remaining liquid will evaporate as it cools. Cool completely.

Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Line pans with parchment. Alternatively, you can butter and flour the pans instead. To make a large cake, prepare two 9-inch cake pans to end up with two 9-inch layer cakes. I prepared two 6-inch deep pans instead to come up with two medium-sized cakes.

Sift together the dry ingredients: 2 1/4 cups cake flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt (I reduced the amount because I used salted butter). If you like nuts, toss in one cup of toasted chopped walnuts. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup butter with 1 1/2 cups sugar (I used only one cup as I already found the prunes sweet). Beat in eggs one at a time until mixture is light and fluffy. Add one teaspoon of vanilla and two tablespoons brandy.

At low speed, add the dry ingredients alternating with the wet ingredients. I started with 1/3 of the flour mixture, then one cup of sour cream plus one tablespoon lemon juice (or vinegar, as the original recipe calls for). Then I added another third of the flour mixture, then one cup (only!) of prune paste, then the remainder of the flour.

Pour into pans and bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cakes on pan for 15 or so minutes before turning over on a rack. Cool completely before icing.

Cakes can be stored in the freezer if wrapped tighly in plastic wrap.

Icing

Instead of pure butter, I used one cup of butter and another cup of cream cheese. Beat these with a mixer and add the remaining 1/2 cup of prune paste. Add in two tablespoons or more of brandy. I then mixed in one and a half cups of powdered sugar. I should have added three cups of powdered sugar of a full and stiff icing, but the thought that diabetes runs in the family got the better of me.

For the small cakes, cut them in half and fill the centers before icing. For one large cake, the two 9-inch layers go on top of each other. Do not forget to brush the layers with brandy before icing! No one should skimp on brandy, especially if they're missing chocolates!

Pasta alla Puttanesca

My brothers and I used to snicker at the name of this pasta. "Puttanesca" sounded the local word for the lady of the night. Lo and behold, this dish IS named just after that. Check this out. I did not know that Italian and Filipino (by way of Spanish, of course) shared more words in common that spaghetti (ispag-get-tee, as pronounced by the natives)!

I saw Martha Stewart whip this up so quickly on one of her shows and thought of making good use of the canned tomatoes in my pantry. I however, used a combination of canned tomatoes (for flavor and sauce) and freshly chopped ones (for texture). A simpler recipe could be found here.

It is really amazing that this recipe is so simple yet so flavorful and filling! It sauced up a whole pound of cooked pasta and most was gone the moment i dished up.

A note about the pasta: cook it about two minutes less than package directions, then add them to the simmering sauce just before it thickens to desired consistency. The remaining liquid and heat from the sauce will cook pasta through and it will even absorb most of that flavorful sauce.

Serve this as a main course with some crusty bread, or as the "starch" dish with some roast meat or fish.

Technical problems...again

I'm back from my *free* trip to Hong Kong and will post some pictures of what I ate soon.

I won't be able to post entries until after this weekend. My computer crashed - for good! It will take until Friday to have the memory and hard drive replaced. Then will sort the recovered files after that.

I have a few entries for publishing that was recovered, but I lost more than half when my computer started crashing some weeks ago.