Focaccia with Balsamic Vinegar

We love bread at home and I always have it with my meals.  Focaccia, an Italian flat bread, remains to be on my top 10 list of all time.   We're celebrating our last few days of 2011 on a high note and I've decided to limit my time in the kitchen so that I could spend some more quality time with visitors, both family and friends, from the Philippines.

Just get good quality ingredients and let them speak for themselves as I always say and stress.  I like to warm up my focaccia in the oven before serving it with really good balsamic vinegar from Modena, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil (I like mine from Spain or Italy), and a stravecchio (24-36 months) Parmigiano-Reggiano.  And oh, pair it with a good Chardonnay and you'll say life has been good.

Thank you Lord for all the wonderful blessings, surprises, and goodness 2011 gave!  We are looking forward to 2012 already.

Mangosteens

Thai mangosteens are as visually arresting as its sweet taste!  We're currently loving these over the holidays.  My posts keep getting shorter and shorter since all we've been doing is busying ourselves with the New Year's festivities.  I'll be back to regular programming next year...

Baba Ganoush

Baba ganoush is one of The Young Tongue's favorite snacks (and mine!).  All you have to do is grill your aubergines (skin on) until the skin chars, allow it to cool, then peel.  Then blend it in a food processor along with garlic, tahini, lemon juice, and sea salt.  Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with chopped parsley afterwards and serve it with Lebanese pita bread. 

Sticky Pork Spare Ribs

A good after-Christmas roast, fuss-free preparations make for the perfect boxing day meal.  Simply marinate your spare ribs in store-bought hoisin sauce, honey, and sunflower oil overnight.  Then roast in a pre-heated 180 Degrees Celcius oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and season with salt then flip over so that the other side will caramelize.  Roast for another 20-25 minutes.  Garnish with chopped chives right before service.

Foie Gras Pate on Poppy Seed Bread

Who doesn't easily gravitate towards Foie gras?  The Young Tongue, her grandfather, and I were all magnetized by its creamy and rich goodness!  We over indulged to be quite honest.  Just spread the love on hot toast...  Isn't this what the holidays are all about?

Roast Baby Carrots

Shapes can be a big game changer for feeding picky little eaters.  Luckily, The Young Tongue is not part of the club.  But she was quick enough to point at the baby carrots in the organic section!


I peeled each and every single one of them, but usually, this step is unnecessary.  Then I placed them in a le creuset dish and added some capers, sea salt, and olive oil.  I then plopped it in the oven for 20 minutes at 180 Degrees Celcius.

I then added some Balsamic Vinegar from Modena just to add that bit of tartness (baby carrots are really sweet).  The Young Tongue enjoyed eating them because she could hold each and every piece!

Chicken Adobo

Santa arrived a wee bit early in Bangkok.  My Dad is in town and he brought with him, ingredients from The Philippines.  On my list were laurel leaves, soya sauce, and cane vinegar.  He also added sinigang mix (which I really love using), caldereta mix (something we're not really too fond of), tsokolate tablea, and instant pancit canton (something our nanny loves dearly)!  And oh, for The Young Tongue he brought Skyflakes as well as sweets from our household back home -- lychee jelly and chocolates!


Adobo is something each Filipino family has a recipe for, so I won't go into the details.  You simply marinate chicken (or pork or a combination of both) in cane vinegar, soya sauce (for an authentic taste, use soya sauce from the Philippines), tons of garlic, laurel leaves, and black peppercorn.  You can fry the chicken pieces first or just put everything into a pot along with the marinade and some water, bring to a boil, then simmer until tender.  I like to do the latter and finish everything off in the oven.  


It feels like home right about now...

Duck Noodle Soup

We've been experiencing some cool weather lately and we wanted something hot and hearty!  This noodle soup came to mind because it's fairly simple to bring together, as long as you have a good stock to begin with.

Here's how to make Basic Duck Stock:

Roast your duck carcass along with your mirepoix (onions, celery, carrots) until well-clored in the oven.  Deglaze the sediments with red wine.  In a stock pot, place your mirepoix, duck carcass, bouquet garni (bunch of thyme and bay leaves wrapped in a leek), whole black peppercorns, and for that seriously Asian touch, add some lemongrass stalks, galangal or ginger, garlic, a cinnamon bark, cloves, and aniseed.  Quite a lot of things to put into a pot, but hey, it's well worth it!  Besides, all you need to do is bring everything to a rolling boil then gently simmer uncovered for 4 hours.  Strain and keep all the broth you can.  You can then freeze in portion sizes once it cools down.  You can use this for other dishes I promise.

Now, back to the Duck Noodle Soup.  Cook the duck breast in a pot with boiling duck stock.  Once it boils, bring to a simmer and add your store-bought egg noodles.  Once everything is cooked, add some mung bean sprouts, coriander leaves scallions, sugar, chili, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tapenade

Eating tapenade takes me back more than a decade ago, back to Paris, at Saint-Germain-des-Pres to be exact.  I may have been a student living on allowance, but I occasionally allowed myself to eat very good food always using research as an excuse.  While most Asians find French cuisine too sophisticated, I beg to differ.  I find that most of their common fare is quite simple to prepare.  Case in point...the tapenade.  Do you have at least 5 minutes to spare in the kitchen?  Here's how...


Chop black olives along with capers (drained) and anchovies.  I don't like using the food processor for this as it tends to keep things way too mushy.  Just keep chopping until the ingredients are very tiny in size and well combined.  Incorporate some olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and freshly cracked black pepper.  I usually don't add salt unless necessary (and if I have to, I use some ile de rhe).


You can make this ahead of time and there are various options for your pleasure.  Bottle it and drizzle with loads of olive oil until it covers the top of the tapenade (this will ensure quality and freshness, trust me).  You may also toss it into some pasta and add some freshly cooked seafood into it along with freshly chopped herbs.  Or you can just simply serve this with any fish dish of your choice.


On this occasion, I had it on crackers and some cheese.  

Considering this recipe uses quite a sum of highly-salted tinned products, I only allowed The Young Tongue to have a cracker (okay, two).

Kalabasa Chips

I love this supermarket called Villa in Bangkok.  I can't help but visit this place at least once a week to get some hard-to-find ingredients.  The Young Tongue pointed at something by the snack corner and chose these Kalabasa Chips.  


Paper thin, sweet and savory, and oh did I mention it's speckled with sesame seeds -- it was inevitable to love these.  No wonder there are quite a variety of ready-to-eat vegetable and fruit chips in that particular section as most of them may have this all-too-familiar but I-didn't-know-that-could-work-out sort of uniqueness!  We're probably braving the Durian chips soon, albeit polarizing to a few.  


Try to introduce healthy snacks with your young tongue before they turn into junkies!

Here's a photo of The Young Tongue with a dubious look.  When she heard me eat it with gusto, that sort of curbed her fear for the healthy variety!  Ha ha!

Cacio e Pepe

All it takes is less than 5 ingredients and less than 5 minutes to prepare this dish.  Cook pasta al dente (click here) and drizzle with some extra olive oil (you can also add a bit of butter if you want it to be creamier).  Then add freshly grated Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano, and freshly ground black pepper.  Season with salt.  

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta

The Young Tongue and I really love pasta, eating more of it at home than rice.  We never tire of it and I love preparing it because it's fuss-free.  I also love making pesto at home because I can bottle it or keep it in the fridge for use when I don't have enough time to labor in the kitchen.  

Sun-dried Tomato Pesto is one of those easy-to-make and easy-to-keep sauces.  Great as a dip, as a pasta sauce, or as an accompaniment to salads or appetizers, all you'll need is food processor and a few ingredients.  If you don't have a food processor, don't worry.  You can just chop the sun-dried tomatoes really fine and put everything together.

In a food processor, place the sun-dried tomatoes along with some extra virgin olive oil, roasted pine nuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, salt, and pepper.  Pulse until well-combined.  When making some for storage and later use, ensure that a layer of extra virgin olive oil covers the pesto.  

In this pasta dish, I added about 4 Tablespoons of sun-dried tomato pesto to freshly-cooked pasta.  Want to have al dente pasta?  Click here.  See how much The Young Tongue can't wait to get her hands on it?  Spread the love, make some pesto, and have more time with your child!

How To Cook Pasta

Do you secretly cringe at soggy pasta like I do?  Under-cooking it for a minute or even half a minute to make it al dente should be easy to do if you have the patience to watch the clock.  So here's how...

1.  Read the label.  If your pack of pasta says 11 minutes, cook it only for 10 minutes or 10.5 minutes, whichever you fancy.

2.  Ensure that your water is boiling rapidly.  After which, you're supposed to put a fairly good amount of rock salt.  I like using sea salt (even if it doesn't really give you generous amounts of iodine) for the subtle seasoning it adds to the pasta.  Add salt only after the water boils, so that you don't ruin your pot (those circular stains you can never remove after you clean, that's what they are).

3.  Place your pasta in the water.  Do not add olive oil (only do this if you are serving the pasta later on -- and really, you're going to end up throwing it all away, so just drizzle the pasta with the olive oil after it's cooked).

4.  Now grab a watch and set the timer.  Remember, undercook for a minute or half.

5.  Last but not the least, strain.  Keep some for tossing into the sauce for its thickening benefit.

Mighty Maple Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

It's always nice to be able to stay at home with The Young Tongue on a manic Monday!  Today, Thailand is celebrating the birthday of The King!   We actually both woke up late and we both struggled to decide on our breakfast.  As soon as we found ourselves in the kitchen, The Young Tongue opted for watermelon slices, lovingly sliced by her nanny, and I chose to have peanut butter and jelly.

I remember being impartial to peanut butter since I was a child, my twin Jo, on the other hand has always loved its creamy thick goodness.  Fast forward two decades, and on one of my visits to New York to see my twin, she brought me to this wonderful Peanut Butter shop.  It's been difficult to look back since being one of the latest converts of this wonderful breakfast spread.  Sometimes, The Young Tongue and I even have a spoonful each before going to sleep.  Our all-time favourite brand?  The All Natural Peanut Butter & Co.  It boasts of not having trans fats and cholesterol.  Want highlights of maple in your peanut butter?  You'll love the Mighty Maple flavor.  Mmmm!

I struggled choosing which jam to spread this morning -- actually, I always struggle (I hoard jams and marmalades).  It takes me a few good minutes to choose and oftentimes, I end up having two.  The ones you see in the photo all have a special place in my heart. I first came across Bonne Maman through my brother, Mikko, in San Francisco.  He speaks very fluent French and it was in my first visit to his place in Pacific Heights that I came across this wonderful French brand always associated with jams.  I actually like all their flavors, and today, I'm about to finish the entire bottle of Peach.  

Then there's St. Dalfour (still French) Thick Apricot 100% spreadable fruit.  It's really thick and they're quite generous with the fruit.  I usually end up choosing this when I want something heartier and sweeter.  It may be good to note that this is recommended by the French Diabetes Association.  I always wonder if I'll end up having diabetes (even though we don't have anyone in the family suffering it).  You can sort of get it if you have too much sugar, right?  So I try to cut down on bad sugar when I can, and here's how I do.

Last but not the least (I actually chose this today to go with my peanut butter), is Wilkin & Sons Ltd. Strawberry Fruit Spread.  It's actually sweetened with grape juice, no sugar added! How good is that?!  I've always tried to look for this in Asia since I long left the UK, and finally chanced upon it here in Bangkok.

Here's to Monday Holidays and sleep-ins.   Long Live the King!

Mulberry Cinnamon Twists

The Young Tongue loves bread sticks, both sweet and savory.  A few days ago, I came across these bread sticks with mulberry and cinnamon.  I find black mulberries toothsome as compared to the white ones.  Paired with cinnamon and sugar, they add more depth of flavor to the mundane bread sticks.  What a treat!    

The Young Tongue and I couldn't stop popping these.  I had them with a cuppa and she had it with a warm glass of milk.

Peppadew Peppers with Goat Cheese

We're loving our food finds here in Bangkok!  The Young Tongue pointed out something by the deli and asked me to buy "the red one mama!"  Upon close inspection, I saw something that I've never tasted nor tried in my whole life.  What looked like cherry peppers was actually a Peppadew Pepper.  Peppadew who?

Originally from South Africa (these ones came from Australia), Peppadew Peppers are sweet and slightly hot.  I ended up buying the ones stuffed with goat's cheese (some come with olives) and it was quite a good combination.  It's actually quite tasty on its own or you can add into salads, pasta, pizza, and so on and so forth.

The Young Tongue had a bite and told me "It's spicy Mama.  But I like it because it's red!"  Everyday, we're trying to add a little heat into our food, slowly adapting to our new environment.  This Peppadew is slightly milder than Thai red chillies and I think we have the tolerance for it.  This will definitely be a staple in our kitchen.  Thanks for spotting this my Young Tongue!  And this will be our first entry for "currently feasting on..."

Currently loving... will be our label for anything we're loving!