Focaccia bread

Focaccia bread is a flat loaf of bread said to be the predecessor of our modern pizza.

Unlike our common breads, it has cheese and herbs added to the dough.

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh basil
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 
  
• Direction:

In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt,garlic powder.

Chop the herbs and add to flour mixture

Dissolve yeast in water mixed with sugar. In a few minutes, the mixture will froth, add the vegetable oil.

Mix together flour mixture and yeast mixture and knead until smooth and elastic.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl,cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place for 20 minutes or until it is double in size.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Punch dough down; place on greased baking sheet. Pat into a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.Using your finger tips,punch the dough creating small craters. Brush top with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Fish curry

One of the favorite dish we prepare in our kitchen is the chicken curry. But do you know that we can make a curry out of vegetables, fish, pork or beef? I happen to buy a fresh yellow fin tuna in the market so I decided to cook fish curry for lunch today. And to make it more healthy I added malunggay in my dish.

Ingredients:

1 kl. yellow fin tuna, sliced (you may use other fish like tilapia or cream dory)

2 Tbsp. ginger, finely chopped

1 onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 pcs. chilli pepper, chopped

2 pcs. lemongrass, sliced

2 Tbsp. curry powder

2 cups ( or more) coconut milk

1 Tbsp. patis (fish sauce)

salt & sugar, to taste

1 1/2 Tbsp (3 pcs.) calamansi juice

1 1/2 cup malunggay leaves

Here's how:

• Using your mortar and pestle, crush ginger, garlic, chilli pepper and lemon grass.
• Saute onion then add the ginger mixture. Add in the curry powder.
• Pour a cup of coconut milk and stir.
• Once it starts to boil, add in the tuna and season with patis and calamansi juice.
• Cover the pan and let it cook for 3 minutes or just until it boils.
• Stir lightly to avoid fish from sticking to the pan, then add the rest of the coconut milk.
• Season with salt and balance the taste with a little sugar ( approx. 1 level tsp.).
• Then lastly, add the malunggay leaves.

Chocolate brownies

I was surprised when our school directress asked me if I could teach baking lessons on summer since there are numerous parents who are requesting the school to offer a summer workshop for their kids. I know I'm confident when it comes to cooking, but baking?? hhmm, I'm not so sure.My husband said that our boss trusts me that much to give me such an offer even though there is some one she knows who is more capable of doing it. Baking is a lot different since you have to follow every instructions and use several techniques and you have to carefully measure every ingredients or else it would come out not so good. Though I have practiced a lot even before I was asked to teach, still I feel the need to practice more. So here's one of the recipes I tested. So far according to my critics, it was delicious.

Chocolate brownies w/ choco fudge frosting

Ingredients:

(225 gm.) 1 c. butter, softened

(400 gm.) 2 c. white sugar

4 pcs. Eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

(171 gm.) 1 1/3 c. all purpose flour

(85 gm.) 1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

chopped nuts, mini mallows, white choco

Direction:

1. Line a 9 x13 pan with parchment paper.

2. Preheat oven for 5 minutes in maximum heat then set temperature to 180C.

3. Combine butter, sugar and beat with an electric mixer until well blended.

4. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

5. In another bowl, sift flour, cocoa and baking powder.

6. Gradually add flour mixture to egg mixture, blending until smooth.

7. Pour the batter into prepared pan.

8. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

9. Cool and spread top with chocolate frosting and add your favorite toppings ( nuts, marshmallow, white choco)

Chocolate frosting:

1 tetra brick condensed milk

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder ( dissolved in 1 Tbsp. oil)

2 Tbsp. butter

Direction:

1. Combine cocoa and condensed milk.

2. Over medium heat, cook the milk mixture in a pan stirring constantly.

3. Lower the heat when the choco-milk starts to boil.

4. Continue stirring until it thickens to a spreading consistency.

5. Stir in the butter and turn off the heat.

6. Spread the frosting over cooled brownies while it is hot.

YIELD: 48 slices

Orange chiffon cake

dry ingredients:

200 gms. All purpose flour

200 gms. White sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2tsp. iodized salt

Liquid ingredients:

6 egg yolk

½ cup oil (105 gms)

¾ cup (140 gms.) Royal softdrink

1 orange zest, grated

Egg white mixture:

½ tsp. cream of tartar

6 egg white ( large)

60 gms. white sugar

Direction:

1. In a bowl, sift all the dry ingredients.

2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients. Mix lightly, stirring the batter in one direction only. Set aside.

3. Beat the egg white and cream of tartar until foamy.

4. Then gradually add the sugar a tbsp. at a time. Beat at steady speed (speed 4) until stiff peak forms when touched with a spatula. (At this point you may now preheat the oven for 4 mins. at maximum heat, then set the temperature to 160 C.

5. Divide the meringue. Fold and cut half of the meringue to batter mixture then add the second half, cut and fold again.

6. Pour into tube pan.

7. Bake at 325 F (160 C) for 55 mins. Then adjust temperature to 180 C and bake for another 10 mins.

8. Allow the cake to cool by placing it upside down on a rack.

9. To remove the cake from the pan, run a long metal spatula around the inside of the tube pan and center core.

Buko pandan tinolang manok

Tinolang manok is a common dish made of boiled chicken, green papaya, chili leaves, ginger, garlic, onion, peppercorn and patis. I gave my version of tinola a slight modification by adding buko and its juice and pandan leaves to add more aroma and to enhance the flavor of the broth. At first,I was a bit hesitant to add buko in it, but then I thought, " why not? pwede naman siguro." The pureed buko gave a slight creaminess to the broth. Now it is more appealing not just to the taste but also to the smell.

INGREDIENTS:

3 Tbsp. oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pc. onion, minced

1 1/2 inch ginger, sliced

1 kl. chicken, cut into pieces

1/2 tsp. black peppercorn

2 cups water

1 medium green papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1" wedges

1 bunch sili leaves

5 pcs. pandan leaves

1 pc. buko (coconut meat), pureed

buko juice

patis and salt, to taste

DIRECTION:

1. Sautee ginger, onion and garlic in oil. Add in the chicken pieces.

2. Season with patis and peppercorn.

3. Add buko juice, water, and pandan leaves.

4. Once the broth is boiling, add in the pureed buko.

5. When chicken is cooked, add the papaya and simmer for a few minutes.

6. Season according to your taste.

7. Turn off the heat and lastly, add in the chili leaves.

Add pureed buko in tinola.

Fine dining

On my 3rd year as a school caterer, our school directress asked me if I can manage to serve lunch in a fine dining way. When we say fine dining, what comes into our mind is the beautiful setting of the finest utensils on the dining table. With waiter wearing a uniform ( unfortunately Kuya Dong is not wearing his uniform in this photo) and pouring some wine in a stemmed glass. Well, the scenario is somehow the same during our fine dining in school. First, we serve the soup. If there are 4 diners seated in one table, they must allow everyone to finish their food before the next course is served. As they dine, Kuya Dong ( as the kids would call him) will go around and serve the wine. Dessert follows after serving the main course. It is a big challenge for me to do all these since these are kids, they tend to be choosy on food. So whenever they say " this is the best food ever served" ( always comparing to the previous one they had ), it felt rewarding, kasi nga hindi madaling magpakain sa bata, di ba?