Of Tortang Talong and Lemon Pepper Fish

When I started writing this entry, I realized that I should probably look up the definition of torta. I figured that since this was a Filipino recipe, there must be an interesting history to this dish. I figured that it must have started in Spain. A quick look in Wikipedia proved me right, but it also showed me that there were so many definitions referring to torta. In Mexico, it's a sandwich, and a flat bread in Spain. Depending on where you are in the Philippines, it can either be omelette or a sweet cupcake-like thingy. (I couldn't think of another word to describe Tortang Cebuana) 

One of my absolute favorite versions of the word torta is tortang talong. Tortang talong is essentially an eggplant omelette. The best thing about it is the smoky smell of the eggplant as you grill it.

Here's what you need:

1 eggplant

1 egg, beaten

salt

pepper

Grill the eggplant until its skin start to char and break apart. Then remove the skin. You don't even need to exert effort in this step since the skin almost literally pulls away from the eggplant. Then using a fork, flatten the eggplant. Then it's dipping time. Dip the eggplant into the eggs and fry! Season with salt and pepper. When one side is done, flip! When the omelette looks cooked, remove it from the pan and eat!

Tortang Talong

Notice that the recipe only makes one torta. So, you'll have to make more if you're serving other people...or if you just want to eat a lot. Don't forget, tortang talong tastes really good with ketchup. It just does, at least for me. Also, there are a few variations you can do with tortang talong. Here they are:

1. You can add peas and carrots. Add them once you put the eggplants in the pan for frying.

2. You can sauté onions and garlic, then place the eggplant over a little mound of them and continue frying. (This is actually what I did)

3. Some people put meat in as well.

Of course, I couldn't just eat torta alone (although, of course, you can). So, I decided that a little fried fish should go with it. This recipe is sooo simple, and sooo good. 

For the Lemon Pepper Fish, you'll need:

1 white fish fillet

Juice of 1 lemon

pepper

salt

First thing to do is assess whether or not one fish fillet is too big or too small. My fish fillet was quite big, so I sliced it into two pieces. You don't have to do this is your fillet is too small or if you like big pieces. Then I marinated the fillets in half the lemon juice for about 5-7minutes. Then I seasoned the fish with salt and lots of pepper. Remember to at least put enough pepper such that you can actually taste the pepper. You can use either finely grounded pepper or roughly grounded.  Finally, pan fry until golden brown on both sides.

Lemon Pepper Fish

Serve both dishes with rice. You might want to try a different sauce for the fish, though. I suggest a mixture of soy sauce and lemon, or better yet, calamansi (or calamondin).

Of Strawberry Banana Pancakes

My dad's been bugging me about using the last overripe banana, but I didn't want to make banana bread. Besides, there was only one ripe banana. That's when it came to me. Why not make banana pancakes? I googled a recipe for the pancakes and I found one that had strawberries too. Perfect! I had some strawberries that needed eating too. Unfortunately that recipe called for buttermilk and my family never keeps buttermilk around. (The only thing I use it for are pancakes, and we don't make them that often) The solution: make my own recipe. Ok, I didn't make it up from scratch. I'm not that good. I used an old recipe my mom uses for pancakes and adapted it. Here's my adaptation of it:

Look how nice and golden brown it is!

1 cup flour
1 table spoon sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
As much strawberries as you want, chopped
maple syrup
butter

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix the banana, milk, egg and canola oil. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and stir until the they just combine. Don't over stir. At this point you can either fold the strawberries in or wait until the batter's on the pan and then sprinkle the strawberries onto the batter. I did the first method, but I have to say that the second would give you more control on how much strawberries you get per pancake as well as distribute them evenly. The final step is to simple fry the pancakes in a pan with some butter. (If you're like my parents who are watching their hearts, you can use canola oil instead) Remember to flip only when little bubble appear on the batter. All that's left now is to drizzle as much maple syrup as possible and eat!

Of Comfort Food

My last post was about my favorite comfort breakfast food, and that got me thinking. What food would you have on days when you just want to eat something easy and delicious? Today was one of those days for me. My go to snack on days like this is buttered corn. I love how the corn seems to pop in your mouth as you bite in before it oozes its sweet juices on your tongue. Then there's that buttery taste that coats everything. And all that is so easy to make. I simply pop some frozen corn on the microwave for a few minutes until it heats up. Then I pop a pat of butter on top and let it ooze all over the corn. 

The only thing that could possibly beat this is the deliciousness of McVitie's Digestive biscuits. Yum!!! I missed these digestive biscuits. I don't think they ever sold these in the Philippines or in the USA. At least not in the usual groceries I went to. I've always felt like digestive biscuits remind me of Britain. I think it's because I remember reading about it in "A Room With A View". 

My next favorite snack is Nutella. Best eaten with bread, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with just eating it off the spoon. That's all I can say about it.

To finish everything off, a nice cup of Earl Grey tea is absolutely wonderful. I love the smell of bergamot when it mixes with black tea. I usually enjoy my tea with milk and sugar. Actually that's how I usually enjoy my tea, doesn't matter if it's black or green or white. I also like green tea with mint, but it definitely does not beat Earl Grey's with milk and sugar. 

So what do you think? What's your favorite comfort food?

Of Lemon Bars

I've been thinking about making Lemon Bars for some time now. There's something about the sweetness and the tang of lemon that just makes lemon squares inviting. Not mention it's yellowness just exudes happiness. So, there was only one thing to do: hop on to the store, grab some lemons and start baking. The recipe I used was from the trusty joyofbaking website. Her recipes have yet to fail me. 

I started by making the crust, which consisted of:

1/2 cup of butter

1/4 cup icing or confectioner's sugar (although, I used even less because of the next few ingredients)

1 cup all purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

I first beat the sugar and the butter until it became smooth and creamy before slowly adding in the flour and salt. Once all the ingredients just comes together, I placed it a prepared square pan (20cm x 20cm) and using my fingers, I pressed it into the bottom of the pan. Then I baked it in a 350F or 177C oven (I actually rounded it off to 180C) until it was light brown on the edges. That took approximately 18 to 20 minutes. Don't forget to remove it and cool it.

I started on the filling after the crust was was done and had cooled a little. This is where the magic happens.

1 cup granulated sugar (Yes, 1 cup. I had to resist decreasing it)

2 large eggs

the juice of 2 large lemons

1 tablespoon of lemon zest (I just used the zest of the 2 lemons)

2 tablespoons of flour

I beat the sugar and the eggs until the mixture was smooth. To tell, I dipped the tip of my (clean) finger into the mixture, and rubbed the mixture on my finger with my thumb. If there's still some graininess to it, keep beating. Once it's smooth, add the lemon juice and the zest. Beat until combined. Finally, fold in the flour. Pour the filling over the crust and bake it in the same 180C/350F oven for 17-20minutes or until the filling doesn't wiggle so much when you shake the pan. Let it cool before digging in. You can cut then sprinkle icing sugar over it, or sprinkle before cutting, or (and I think this is the best) just cut and eat!

Next time, I think next time I'll try decreasing the granulated sugar. I wonder if it will change the consistency of the filling...hmm...

The only other thing I can say about this recipe is that it is so delicious. My pictures don't do it justice at all. The crust is nice and flaky. The filling is sweet and tangy, yet the crust is able to pull back the sweetness of the filling so you don't feel like you're eating a candy. So good. Try it!

Of Banana Bread Scones

I love how soft the scone is.

I came about the next scone recipe because I was looking for another way to make scones. If you're on a diet and are watching the fat and sugar content of your food, this is the recipe for you. It's also great for those annoying overripe bananas. Yes, I find them annoying. It's called Banana Bread Scone and I found it on thekitchn.

This recipe isn't like any scone recipe I've come across before. First, the dough is quite wet. Second, part of the recipe required you to freeze the dough for about thirty minutes. That said, it smelled so good and it had the right amount of sugar in it. After cutting it, I realized that it was literally a cross between a scone and a banana bread. It was soft, but it wasn't as gooey and wet as a banana bread.

2 very ripe bananas (The ones I used were so ripe, they were practically falling apart when I peeled them)
3 tablespoons milk (the recipe said 2-4 tablespoons until it made 1 cup, but my bananas were so soggy, I had to forego the measuring part and just dumped them in a bowl with the milk)
1/2 cup plain cream (or yogurt)
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

I mashed the bananas and added the milk in a bowl. Then I stirred in the cream. 

In a larger bowl, I combined the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. I cut in the butter until I had a coarse crumb mixture. If you're using walnuts, this would be the time to incorporate them. 

Since I wasn't using them, I went on to the next step, which was pouring in the banana-cream mixture. I stirred until the flour was just incorporated. Then I lined a plate with parchment paper and poured my dough over it, shaping it into a disk. I covered it with another sheet of parchment paper and placed it in the freezer for 30 minutes.

I preheated the oven to 400F or 200C. Then I removed the dough from the freezer and removed the first parchment paper. I inverted it into a parchment lined baking sheet and removed the second parchment paper. 

At this point, you can lice them into wedges (pull them apart a bit you plan to do so to give them room to expand) or bake it as is and slice it later. I chose to do the latter since our freezer wasn't able to harden the dough by much. Then I baked it for 25-30 minutes or until the edges had turned golden brown.

After mine came out of the oven, I cooled it for a bit before slicing it into triangles. 

In the recipe for thekitchn, they used a glaze to decorate the scone. Since I was cooking for my parents (who are starting to get old people problems), I decided to forego this part and just serve it plain with some fruit

The banana bread scone as it came out of the oven

Cutting more slices

Of Earl Grey Scones

Look at how gorgeous that brown scone is!

Lately, my interest in scones was piqued again. Now I know I've already blogged about scones (here), but humor me here. These two recipes will blow your mind. I've always made scones with either one of two recipes: the one I found on allrecipes and the one I found on joyofbaking. To make them more interesting, I would just change up the add-ons (for example using chocolate chips of caramel chips instead of currant etc.) Then I found some lavender in the herb section of a gourmet grocery store. All I knew about Lavender was that it was used in aromatherapy. Naturally I was curious about how to use lavender in food. That's when I read about Lavender scones, and that led me to looking for a scone recipe that played with our sense of smell.

I love how the egg wash just gives it that beautiful sheen

So, here's the first of two recipes:

Earl Grey Scones
2 tea bags of Earl Grey tea (Or 3-4 teaspoons of Earl Grey tea if you're using loose leaf tea)
1/2 cup milk
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup currants
2 eggs
3 tablespoon milk

The first thing you should do is is heat the milk to almost boiling and allow the tea to steep in the milk. Allow it milk-tea mixture to cool before using. Before using the currants, soak them for a few minutes and completely drain them before use
Then in a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and using your fingers or a pastry blender, blend until the mixture reminds you of coarse crumbs. Stir in the currants. Set aside.
Strain the tea and milk mixture (or remove the teabags) into another bowl and add one egg. Whisk together until combined and pour it into the dry ingredients. Using a fork, stir until all the flour is just wet. Be sure not to over mix.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface a knead lightly (no more than 5 times), then shape into a ball. Pat the top until it is slightly flat, then cut into 8 triangles. Make an egg wash with the last egg and the 3 tablespoons of milk. Brush each triangle and bake for 15-18 minutes or until brown and a tooth pick comes out clean in a 190C or 375F oven.

Of Pain Perdu

Pain perdu is the fancy French way of saying French toast or as some people call it, Eggy Bread. (I think I heard Nigella Lawson call it that. I'm not sure though.) I woke up this morning with a huge craving for French toast, and luckily we had just the bread for it. The term pain perdu comes from two French words: pain, meaning bread, and perdu, meaning lost. Therefore the recipe called for stale (but not moldy) bread, and since we still had some baguettes which had been eaten yet, I immediately pulled out the other ingredients.

There is just one problem with my recipe: I did not measure anything. I basically eyeballed all the ingredients and prayed that the bread would turn out nicely. Any, if you are still interested, here's my recipe:

I realized that a little fruit and icing sugar just hides any imperfections on my French toast. It also made it look really sophisticated. 

1 egg
milk (more milk in volume than eggs)
a pinch of cinnamon
a few teaspoons of caster sugar (all depends on how sweet you want it)
stale bread
some butter for the pan

If you have sliced bread, you won't have any problem, but if you had bread that looked like it was supposed to be used for a submarine sandwich  (like I did), I suggest you slice it into halves lengthwise. Then in a bowl, mix together the egg, milk, cinnamon and sugar. Allow the bread to soak up this mixture on both sides. Heat a pan and melt some butter on it. Cook the bread in the pan until it is golden brown. Serve with either maple syrup (yum!) or honey or just a dusting of icing sugar.

Note: If you like vanilla, you can all add a few drops of vanilla extract to the egg and milk mixture. Sooo yummy!