My dear future kids,

I heard from our neighbor’s daughter, (insert name here), that you’re envious of her mom’s cheesecake pops and hope that I’d make some myself. I regret to inform you that your wish won’t be granted anytime soon.

You see, when mommy started her food blog, she also joined this spanking network called The Daring Bakers. Every month, there’s a challenge members have to complete and come month end, they have to post up about it. Mommy’s first challenge were cheesecake pops. Remember those really yummy Toblerone mini cheesecakes I brought to school on your 5th birthday? Well I thought I’d ace my first challenge since I’ve been making cheesecakes since I was 12. Halfway, I realized that I was oh so wrong.

I didn’t have a roasting pan bigger than 10″ so I used a small wok instead and placed a little rock so that it errr wouldn’t rock.

I followed every instruction and measured to death. Based on the recipe, the cheesecake cooks up between 35-45 minutes. This is how my cheesecake looked like in 30 minutes (and her thermometer was accurate):

Bibingka or NY Cheesecake? Hmmmm

I had to scrape off a thicker than the usual (NY cheesecake) top to reveal what’s underneath. When I was balling up after chilling overnight, everything seems to be melting off still! Mommy blames the summer heat in the tropical islands for this! This made coating six hours after balling up a PAIN! The choco dip recipe that called for 1 pound chocolate + 2 tbsp. shortening was similar to your favorite (which I hope you’ll cut down pretty soon) Nutella spread when it’s supposed to be “dippable”! *sigh* After coating 8 balls, I slept everything off and thought that “shells” were better options.

Shells and sous chef to the rescue!

So are you ready to see what mommy and her sous chef made? heeeheeeheee

Read the rest of this entry »

Jayvee and I had a LONG night working in the kitchen! Before I run you down lesson #2 (pasta and grill), check out his (insert adjective here save for “cute”) apron! It totally matched our pasta!

Pesto Sauce
I got an email early this week from Louise asking what pasta she can make on her mom’s birthday. Since red and white sauce’s already expected, I thought surprising her mom (and her guests’ tastebuds) will be nice. This recipe’s adapted from 101 Cookbooks’ How to Make Pesto like an Italian Grandmother. I didn’t want to scare my sous chef off with a mezzaluna so I used a food processor instead. ;)

1 large bunch of basil leaves, washed and dried
3 medium cloves of garlic
1 cup raw pine nuts (if you can’t find pine nuts, you may substitute this with walnuts or cashews)
3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed
5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Put 1/3 of the basil leaves and a clove of garlic into the food processor. Set on “chop” setting. Once loosely chopped, add another 1/3 plus a clove and chop again. By the third time you add the basil and garlic, you should have a very fine mince that it’s juicing up a bit already. Add half of your nuts and chop again. Add the other half, chop then add half of the Parmesan cheese, and chop. Add the other half of the Parmesan cheese, set to chop but this time leave it a bit longer because you want a very fine mix. Press your pesto mix in a ramekin or bowl then cover it with olive oil.   

This makes one cup of pesto sauce that’s good for 500g. of linguine.

Suggested toppings:

• Seasoned chicken strips
  Season your chicken breast fillet with salt, pepper, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce. Pan fry. Cut into strips.
• Fried tuyo (my personal favorite)
  Remove the head and tail. Fry and cut into either small squares or very thin strips.
• Mushrooms (another favorite)
  Slice into tiny bits. Pan fry.

Grilled Porkloin
I learned this very simple recipe way back 2002 when I was studying at the San Miguel Food Group Culinary Center. I felt that it’s too bland for the Pinoy’s taste (which is very rich) so I added some rosemary and paired it with our (it used to be just “my” but Jayvee saw how I made it LOL) ”secret sauce.”

1/2 kg. porkloin chops, boneless and skinless
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cracked black pepper
2 tbsp. ground dried rosemary
1/4 c light margarine (I prefer Dairy Creme Lite)
1/8 c heated butter
juice of a small lemon

Mix the butter and lemon juice. This is the simple version of the “secret sauce.” Set aside.

Pound the porkloin until it’s about 1/8 inch thick. Season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Brush pork pieces with margarine and grill until cooked.

Jayvee’s finished product (he did all the cooking, plating, and shooting): 

Super full: how a guy would love to see his plate LOL

After 10 minutes

Sometime last February, Jayvee and I had this x deal where I’ll get this if he can prepare a 5 course meal by the end of April. We weren’t supposed to start with the dessert but one, am better off with sweets rather than main course and two, the cover of my new cookbook was too enticing.

Please excuse our messy kitchen!

Hot Vanilla Souffle (adapted from The Cooks’ Bible by Le Cordon Bleu)

125g butter
60g flour
500ml milk (heated)
1tsp vanilla essence (original recipe calls for 1/2tsp but it was too mild for us)
125g caster sugar
8 eggs, separated

Triple coat 6 125ml ramekins. This ensures even rising and prevents burnt edges.

• Brush the ramekins with softened butter
• Chill until set
• Brush another layer of softened butter
• Chill again
• Evenly coat the ramekins with caster sugar
• Chill until your souffle mix is ready

Make a white roux sauce

• Add the flour into the melted butter. Stir constantly.
• Remove from heat and gradually add milk. Beat continuously to blend.
• Bring to boil then lower the heat until you reach the desired thickness.
• Stir in the vanilla essence and 2 tbsp. caster sugar
• Remove from heat. Cool slightly. Blend in the egg yolks.
• Set aside

Create a soft meringue

• Whisk egg whites to soft peak stage
• Whisk in the remaining caster sugar to form a soft meringue

Gently fold in the soft meringue into the white roux using a large metal spoon. Spoon the mix into the ramekins prepared earlier. Bake at 190C for 15-20minutes (we baked ours for 15minutes). Sprinkle some icing sugar. Serve immediately.

Weeeee it rose and the texture’s PERFECT!

15 seconds after pulling out

20seconds after pulling out

Photos were by Jayvee, save for the first and the third.