#55_TURKEY AROZZ CALDO

TURKEY AROZZ CALDO

In recipe #54 I posted how I made the broth from the leftover roast turkey from Christmas.

I made 2 kinds of soups using the broth and meat from the leftover turkey:

The one at left is Elbow Macaroni Soup (entry #54) and on the right is Arozz Caldo.

Here's the recipe for the AROZZ CALDO:

2 Tbls. olive oil or canola oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup glutinous rice

ginger, sliced

12 cups turkey broth (or chicken broth)

salt and pepper to taste

green onions for garnish

PROCEDURE:

1) In a large SOUP POT, heat the oil and saute the chopped garlic until fragrant but not browned.

2) Add chopped onions and saute until they are transluscent.

3) Add the glutinous rice (rinse rice first) and continue to saute;

4) Season with salt and pepper.

5) Add in the meat and ginger, if the mixture starts to get dry up add a little broth and continue to saute about 5 minutes.

6) Pour in the broth and simmer until rice is tender and soup has thickened.

SERVE HOT.

NOTE:

1) I used ginger about twice as big as my thumb.

2) Let me remind you that in my recipe, the turkey has been fully cooked that's why I did not have to saute the meat real well until tender.

3) When using fresh meat, like chicken, you need to saute until the meat renders its own fat or clear juice comes out of the meat before adding in the broth.

#54_ ELBOW MACARONI TURKEY SOUP

From the leftover roast turkey and its broth, I made 2 kinds of soups: Elbow Macaroni with peas and carrots and on the right is the famous Filipino Arozz Caldo (Rice Soup)

For Christmas dinner we had roast turkey (again) but it was a little smaller than what we had for Thanksgiving. No matter what size your turkey is there is always those bones with some meat still clinging to their lives. You can pick them over, but one of the best way to use those scraps is to make some soup.



To do this, take out the unwanted parts of the bird such as the rear end, skin, and the ribs (unless you want to scrape off all the gunks inside the ribs), etc. and put it in a big pot. Add some water and season with salt. You can also add 2 stalks of celery, if you like then simmer on medium heat for about an hour.



Adjust seasoning to your liking. Take out all the bones and put the broth though a sieve to achieve clear broth. Put back the broth in to the pot and bring to a boil then add some elbow macaroni or any type of pasta that you like and some vegetables like peas and carrots, brocolli ,etc. Boil uncovered until pasta and veggies are cooked, about 15 minutes.

Serve hot with some good bread such as garlic bread, Frech bread or sourdough bread.

*A VISIT TO CHEESECAKE FACTORY

The Cheesecake Factory has been here in the city since March this year, but we haven't been there until today. The kids gave us some gift cards to different restaurants for Christmas and one of them was to the Cheesecake Factory, so off we went.



We were served 2 kinds of breads: sourdough bread and I think the brown one was honey whole wheat. I usually don't care much for sourdough bread, not even the famous San Francisco sourdough bread, but this one was really excellent. It has a very nice crust on the outside, which I enjoyed, and soft on the inside, and not sour. I enjoyed it so much that I asked for another piece, which was half a loaf.



My husband also enjoyed his hamburger sandwich which came with fries. He is a hamburger connoisseur, so when he says the hamburger was good, it is really good. In fact he said it's the best hamburger he ever had.

I ordered Hawaiian pizza and was really good. I liked the thin crust and the cheeses are good quality.

My husband seldom order desserts in restaurants but out of curiosity he ordered their chocolate cake cheesecake. It had 2 layers of cheesecakes and 2 layers of fudge cakes plus some kind of shaved chocolates and chocolate cream on top. It was good except it was so rich he can hardly eat the slice. Too much chocolate, but because it costs $7.50 a slice he forced himself to eat some of it. I wasn't surprised that he didn't enjoy that piece of cheesecake because I know he usually doesn't like baked cheesecake anyway.

#53_Mochico Bibingka

This kind of bibingka reminds me of the Chinese tikoy in texture but my friends from Lingayen, Pangasinan call it pininat, "pinat" being the root word and verb which means to stretch. Pininat is past tense of pinat and is literally translated as stretched probably because of its gooey and gummy characteristics that resemble something that can be stretched.

Anyway, this recipe was given to me by a good friend of mine, Josie, but I tweaked it a little bit by adding an egg to the ingredients and topping it with sesame seeds. The sesame seeds add some crunchiness to the bibingka.

This is known to most people as "Mochico Bibingka" because in the original recipe it called for mochico flour, which I did use when I made it the very first time.

The second time I made this bibingka, I replaced the mochico flour with the Glutinous Rice Flour (pictured above) and the result was better, so I've been using it ever since.

This is really an easy recipe to make with only 5 ingredients or maybe 6, and is always a "hit" when I bring it to Filipino gatherings.

You will need:

1 bag glutinuous rice flour (1 lb.)

1 egg

1 jar macapuno

1 can coconut cream

1/2 can (1cup) water

sesame seeds (optional)

Mix everything together, except sesame seeds, and spread in to a greased 9x 13 baking dish.

Sprinkle the sesame seeds on top; bake for 1 hour in a preheated 350 degrees oven.


After 1 hour take out the bibingka and turn the oven on to broil. In the meantime, take some melted butter, about 1 tablespoon, and brush the top of bibingka with a pastry brush. Return to oven and broil for 2 minutes or until top is browned.

This is very important...keep an eye closely at the bibingka under the broiler.....do not leave the kitchen or you'll have a burnt bibingka when you come back!

Let cool and slice into squares.

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Here's another version of the Mochico Bibingka:

Ube Mochico Bibingka
Click here for the recipe

NOTE:

If preferred, you can line baking pan or baking dish with banana leaf making sure to grease the top of leaf before pouring in the mixture.

*LEFTOVER TURKEY

Do you wonder what to do with your leftover roast turkey after the holidays?

There are several dishes you can use those turkey meats in like in fajitas, quesadillas, pot pies or turkey sandwiches. But what about the bones? Oh, please don't throw them away because you can make nutritious soups out of them like pasta soup using elbow macaroni or shell pastas and the famous Filipino rice soup commonly called arroz caldo which is flavored with fresh ginger.

ARROZ CALDO or RICE SOUP WITH TURKEY

From the bones and scraps of just one roast turkey, I was able to make two kinds of soups.

TURKEY PASTA SOUP

I will post the recipe another time.

*NOCHE BUENA

My husband and I went to a Filipino Christmas Eve dinner (noche buena) at a friend's house yesterday and although I knew they would be serving plenty of food, I asked my friend what she would like me to bring, she suggested that I make some pasta and whatever else I wanted to bring, so I made some PORK JAMBALAYA, FRUIT TARTS, AND BIBINGKA.

I don't have time to post the recipes right now, but I will as soon as I can.

PORK JAMBALAYA WITH MOSTACCIOLI PASTA

FRUIT TARTS

MOCHICO BIBINGKA

My friends, Lisa and Fidel, always serve plenty of food whenever they have parties. For the noche buena dinner, there was fried bangus and tilapia, chicken adobo, crispy pata, pancit, huge shrimps with veggies, and plenty more!

#52_CHINESE NOODLES

FLAT CHINESE NOODLES

After baking too many holiday cookies, I am ready for a change...change of flavor that is. From sugar-y to maybe something salt-y or sour-y.... something pinoy-ish.

I thought about frying some boneless bangus with juice of lemon and patis for saw-sawan,(dipping sauce) but I have to thaw out the bangus then fry it, then that would take about an hour... forget that.

Then I remembered that I have a package of Chinese noodles that had been sitting on the shelf for a few months. I'm not so sure how to cook it because the "how-to" instructions are very vague, at least for me. You'll see what I mean! scroll down....

These noodles are dried and they come in a package of 8 in coiled forms.

The problem I had was that the cooking instructions are in Chinese and in diagrams. Can anybody translate this for me?

After few minutes of contemplations, I decided to cook the noodles like pasta by dropping the noodles in a rapid boiling water. I really wasn't sure how long I was supposed to let them boil in the water, so I just guessed and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Tantya lang! Then drained them in a colander.

I used some frozen veggies and frozen cooked chicken.

Actually, all of the ingredients I used were frozen including the garlic and onions, well, except for the canola oil and the sauces, of course. Fresh veggies would have been better but hey, I made this noodle dish in about 30 minutes or maybe even under 30 minutes, (talo si Rachael Ray) and the taste is not that bad. This is great as an emergency dish, especially when you don't have to chop up anything.

PROCEDURE:

A) Cook the noodles and transfer into a collander to drain.

B) Make vegetable stirfry:

1) Heat some canola oil in a wok, add garlic and onions, and saute until onions are transluscent.

2) Add cooked meat (chicken or pork) and continue to saute for about 3 minutes. Add about 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce and 2 tablespoons of yoshida sauce.

3) Turn the heat on high and stir in the veggies. Continue to saute for another 3 minutes or until the veggies are heated through.

4) Stir in the drained noodles mixing them until everything is well blended together.

TAPOS!

NOTE from MaMely...

Sorry, I don't really measure ingredients except for cakes and pastries.

Updated picture: 2-20-12

#51_RUGELACH COOKIES

RUGELACH, RUGALACH OR BUTTER HORN COOKIES

These cookies resemble croissants, and the varieties of them are so endless. Some people prefer to fill them with nuts and jams, or with spices, or with chocolate or veggies. I prefer my rugalach with just raspberry jam fillings, very simple, not-so-sweet dessert.

Chilling the dough for hours is one of the keys to sucessful RUGALACH

After chilling the dough for at least 1 hour, roll it out on a floured surface to a pie crust thinness and spread with whatever fillings you want on it. In my case, I like plain raspberry or strawberry preserves.

With a pizza cutter, aaarg!!! ugh!!! I can't find my pizza cutter!!. I just used a knife, cut the dough out to wedges and roll them up like croissants.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

I NEED TO DELIVER SOME COOKIES BEFORE IT WILL GET SO DARK!!!

12-23-08

RECIPE:

1 cup butter, softened at room temperature

1 8 oz. cream cheese, softened at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar mix with

2 tsps. ground cinnamnon

FILLINGS OPTIONS:

Walnuts with brown sugar and cinnamon, any of your favorite fruit jams or preserves, chocolate chips or chopped chocolate candy bars, M&M chocolates or mix and match.

PROCEDURE:

1) Cream butter, cream cheese and the 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy

2) Sift in the flour and mix thoroughly, this is a very soft dough.

3) Divide the dough into 4 equal balls and flatten each one to form disks.

4) Wrap each disk in plastic wraps and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

5) When ready to bake, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

6) Working with one disk of dough at a time, roll out thinly (like pie crust thin) on a floured surface into an 8-inch circle

7) Spread whatever filling you prefer on the rolled out dough leaving about an inch border.

8) With a pizza cutter or a sharp knife slice the dough into quarters, and then each quarter into 3 or 4 sections, making 12 to 16 triangles.

9) Starting from the wider side of the triangle, roll up to form spirals; you can curve them into crescents if you prefer

10) Continue with the other disks of dough

11) Arrange the rolled up dough on a parchment paper-lined baking sheets making sure the points are tucked under

12) Sprinkle lightly with the cinnamon-sugar mixture

13) Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown

14) Cool on wire racks

#50_HONEY BALLS COOKIES

MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH HONEY BALLS COOKIES

There are two kinds of HONEY BALLS cookies that I know, one kind is the fried honey balls with honey syrup drizzled on top, and the baked kind with honey mixed in the dough, pictured above.

These baked Honey Balls Cookies are very similar to the Mexican Wedding Cakes in that they are both shortbread-like cookies, they have nuts, same shapes and are dusted with confectioners sugar.

The difference between the two is that in the Mexican wedding cakes, the nuts are ground and require no honey while in honey balls cookies, the nuts are finely chopped and with, of course, honey.



RECIPE:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

4 tbsp. honey

2 cups flour

1 cup pecan nuts or walnuts, finely chopped

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

sifted powdered sugar for dusting

PROCEDURE:

1) Cream together butter and powdered sugar

2) Stir in honey and vanilla

3) Add the rest of the ingredients, mixing well to blend

4) Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees

5) Shape into 1 inch balls

6) Arrange in a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and bake for 14-16 minutes

7) While still warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar or toss them in powdered sugar to coat


NOTE:
This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

#49_CHRISTMAS COOKIE PLATTER

AHHH, CHRISTMAS IS HERE!! (almost)

My sister Melita e-mailed me a few days ago wondering if I was sick as she noticed that I haven't posted a new entry in this blog for a while.

I have been so pre-occupied baking some yummy cookies and yes, I had slight flu which slowed me down quite a bit for the baking marathon, but in spite of all that I am still managing to bake these yummy cookies, which is a holiday ritual that I look forward to each year. Baking goodies is my JOY of the Christmas season.

I hope to be able to plate up 35 of these tonight and deliver them to friends and neighbors by tomorrow night.

A SAMPLE OF MY COOKIE PLATTER

Sugar Cookies, Mudslide Cookie Sandwiches, Lace Cookies, Honey Balls Cookies, and Rugelach.

#48_CHRISTMAS SUGAR COOKIES

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR COOKIES

Using different designs of cookie cutters, you can make fun shapes such as Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, mistletoes, snowmen, candy canes, etc.

Roll out sugar cookie dough on a floured surface
and cut them out in different shapes with cookie cutter.



Sprinkle with sugar crystals

RECIPE FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES:

2 cups white sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
2 eggs

2 tsps. vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

5-6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

1) In a bowl, cream together sugar and butter, add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.

2) Stir in the sour cream and blend well.

3) With a wire whisk, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in another bowl to blend all ingredients together. (You don't need to sift them together). Stir into the creamed mixture until well blended.

4) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 5 hours.

5) When ready to bake, on a floured surface, and with a rolling pin roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut cookies out into different shapes using cookie cutters.

6)Sprinkle cut out cookie with sugar crystals. In order for the sugar to stick on the cut out dough, brush each one with softened shortening like Crisco or butter.

7) Bake in 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 8- 10 minutes.

8) Transfer baked cookies immediately to a cooling rack.

NOTES:

1) This will make about 60 cookies, depending on the shapes and sizes of the cookie cutters.

2) Dough can be made few days ahead of time as long as it is refrigerated.

FROM MY FAMILY TO YOURS,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

MALIGAYANG PASKO AT MANIGONG BAGONG TAON SA INYONG LAHAT!!!

#47 Tortilla Pizza

As I was preparing some quesadillas the other day, I decided not to cover it with another tortilla for myself and the result was a tortilla pizza!



I prepared it exactly the way I did the quesadilla without the cover. I placed the quesadilla on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil, then I put it in the second to lowest rack of the oven to broil for about 8 minutes or until the edges turned brown and crispy.

This is a quick way to fix a snack or light dinner specially if you already have cooked meats in hand.


Note:
Try it with some ham and pineapple for a Hawaiian tortilla pizza or use any fillings you like. I found out that it is not necessary to use pizza sauce on the tortilla.

#46 Quesadillas Pizza Style

Here's another way to prepare quesadillas: like pizza except topped with another tortilla.

Butter one side of a tortilla. Place the buttered side down onto a cast iron pan or non-stick pan. Do not oil or butter pan. Spread shredded cheese on the tortilla bringing them all the way out around the edges.

Fill the tortilla with any filling you prefer like vegetables such as green pepper, red pepper, onions, olives; and cooked meats such as ham, chicken, pork or even shrimps. Top with more cheese.

Cover the filling with another tortilla and butter the top. Turn the heat on to medium high and grill quesadilla pressing down the edges with the back of spoon as the cheese melts in order to seal them. When browned, flip it over and grill the other side.

Transfer the quesadilla onto a plate and cut into wedges.

Serve hot with guacamole, chopped tomatoes and sour cream on the side .