Happy New Year Everyone!!!

To all of my wonderful friends and readers of this blog

from all around the globe:

Hope you had a wonderful and enjoyable Holiday Season,
and I hope and pray that the coming year
will be a great year for each one of you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU!!

Manigong Bagong Taon Sa Inyong Lahat!!!

#336_Lion House Dinner Rolls

Lion House Dinner Rolls of different shapes
made in my humble kitchen.....

they are nice and fluffy...and yummy!

These rolls remind me of our own Filipino bread called "Spanish Bread". The concept of brushing the rolled out dough with butter then cutting it into smaller pieces, and rolling up each piece is the same, however, the main difference is that we sprinkle white sugar on top of the butter before rolling them up and then brushing the top of the baked bread with more butter or margarine and finish it with sprinkling white sugar on top.

As you can see, I need to practice more on rolling up the doughs,
but as imperfectly shaped these are,
the taste is Heavenly! and they are pillow soft.




Picture of the Lion House signature dinner rolls
as they appear on a cover of one of their books.
They are perfectly shaped rolls!
Their recipe and procedure is on the net, so I will direct you to their links.

For recipe and tutorial step-by-step procedure on shaping the rolls click on the links below:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=204&sid=1333738

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8wPowCbtbo

Note from MaMely:
I used my bread machine to make these rolls and used more flour than suggested on their recipe. As you know we get different results from one area to another even from a kitchen to another kitchen. So, if you think you need to make some adjustments on the liquid or flour, don't be alarmed. I also used my secret ingredients of Vital Wheat Gluten and Dough Enhancer.

The Lion House, Salt Lake City

The Lion House is one of Salt Lake City's most famous and enduring landmarks. A truly elegant mansion, the Lion House is decorated with countless antique pieces from a bygone era. Built in 1856 by Brigham Young, the home derives its name from the stone statue of the reclining lion over the front entrance. Once home to Young and his family, today the Lion House is open social center. It features a restaurant on the street level called the Lion House Pantry

which is famous for their dinner rolls and pastries.

#335_Fried Wonton

These are deep fried wontons

My Fried Wontons and my Fried Lumpia Shanghai share the same fillings. The difference between the two are the appearance or the style in wrapping them and the wrappers used...."wonton skins" for the Wontons and "lumpia wrappers" for the lumpia. They are both wrappers but the wonton skins are thicker than the the ones for lumpia.

Wonton skins are available in both regular stores and Asian stores, but there's hardly a regular store that carry Lumpia Wrappers so you have to make a trip to an Asian store if you want to use them.

For Fillings, click on the link below....
http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/lumpia-shanghai-or-eggrolls.html

There are many different ways to wrap and fold wontons.

Here's a link which gives you different styles
of wrapping and folding wontons, click here.

For the style I used to fold my wontons, click on the link below.
http://www.chow.com/food-news/55419/how-to-fold-dumplings/

Steamed wontons

A famous restaurant here in Salt Lake serves these as an appetizer. Actually the owner came on a tv show one time and showed how they make them at his restaurant. They steam these wontons for about 10 minutes then pan fry them in oil. (Some cooks drop the wontons in a boiling water).

Here's the finished product of the pan-fried steamed wontons.

After steaming, they are drained on paper towels, then fry them in hot oil.... just heat a little oil in a frying pan, then fry the steamed wontons. That's the good thing about steaming them first, you don't need a lot of oil to fry them.

Whether these are deep fried or pan fried, they are always a hit whenever I serve them at family gatherings.

For homemade Dipping Sauce or Saw-sawan recipe, click here.

Enjoy!!

#334_Left-over Holiday Foods

Wondering what to do with your leftover ham and turkey from the Holiday dinners?
Here's a couple of ideas that I did with our left-over meat
a few days after the Thanksgiving dinner.

Turkey and Ham Sandwich with Provolone Cheese

For Thanksgiving I like to buy the biggest turkey I can find in the store so that we will have left over roast turkey to make sandwiches.

This year one store had a very good deal on the turkey, (I thought). I got the 22-lbs. tom turkey which I only paid 8 dollars for it. To get that deal I had to purchase $35.00 worth of groceries (excluding the 8 dollars for the turkey) and four 12-packs of coca-cola products for $10.00. The only downside was that I had to buy some stuffs I didn't really need for the dinner. So when you think about it, it's not that a good deal after all. Oh, well it's holidays....

Sorry I got side tracked....Okay, here's what you can do with the left-over turkey meat:

1) Slice or shred the meat. It doesn't really matter how you slice the turkey. When you pick the meat you'll end up with shredded meat anyway.
2) In a pan melt some butter and toss in meat. Sprinkle some spices: i.e. salt, Mrs. Dash or garlic powder or celery salt or Season-All or whatever spice you're in the mood in; cook until the meat is heated through.
3) For the bread, use sliced sandwich bread or French bread rolls. I love the French bread kind because they are crusty on the outside. Butter the sides and grill them whether in toaster oven or pan grill.
4) Spread some mayonnaise on one side of bread
5) Now it's time to pile up those meats....if you want to put a piece of lettuce leaf...go ahead. If you want to put a slice or two of ham, go ahead....then pile them turkey meat.
6) Put at least 2 slices of Provolone cheese or Havarti cheese.
7) This is optional....at this point I like to put this sandwich under the broiler and grill until the cheese is melted.
8) Now you can top the sandwich with the other half of bread and enjoy!
Simple, but soooo yummy!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ham and Cheese Omelet

In this omelet, I used 2 eggs and grated Havarti cheese.
You can also add some sliced green peppers, sliced chives and whatever you like in it.
Check out how Emeril Laggasse makes his omelet, click here.

Most Americans will pair this omelet with hash brown potatoes, but for Pinoys, me in particular, I eat this with garlic fried rice.....Mmmmm, Yum-O!!

You can also make a sandwich out of this omelet........

Enjoy!!

#333_Italian Meatballs Sandwich

As you already know, we always associate tomato sauce with Italian cuisine.
It is therefore appropriate that I use the word "Italian" to describe this sandwich
because its filling is made with meatballs simmered in tomato sauce.

I will skip the making of meatballs part as I already have a post on
"How to Make Meatballs" (click here).
What I will share with you here is how to make the
Tomato Sauce with Meatballs and how to assemble the sandwich.

Meatballs in Tomato Sauce recipe:

3 Tbsp. olive oil or canola oil
1 small onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
4-cans (14-1/2 oz. each) whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup water or broth fresh basil, crushed
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
Cooked meatballs (click here).

Cooking Directions:

In a large sauce pot over medium heat, heat oil then saute garlic until fragrant. Stir in onions; saute until translucent then add the tomatoes including its juice. Add salt, liquid, and basil, brown sugar and the meatballs. Put lid on and lower heat to low, then...let this sauce simmer for 1-2 hours, stirring once in a while. (Or you can use a crock pot and cook it all day). That's the secret of a good tomato sauce, for use in either pasta or for meatballs, it's the slow and long cooking time.

Before assembling the sandwich....
Slice some vegetables such as red and greed peppers and onion and saute in butter. And one important part of making this sandwich is to use a good crusty bread such as French bread. I also love to use Pan de Sal rolls to make bite-size sandwiches and they are absolutely the best.

To assemble the sandwich....

1) Pre-heat broiler.
2) Slice bread in half and spread some butter or better yet, Garlic Butter, then put them under the broiler, about 1-2 minutes.
3) Place sliced Provolone or mozzarella cheese on the one half of bread

4) Spoon some Meatballs with tomato sauce on the cheese, then top with the sauteed veggies.

Optional:

This is what I do with mine....put the sandwich back under the broiler and grill just until the cheese is melted.

Update: 11-29-11

Here's my Pan de Sal with Meatballs

Ohhh, Yum-O!!

Notes from MaMely:
How to make Garlic Butter: here's the link, click here.
For Pan de Sal recipe, click here.

#332_Chinese Broccoli ( Gai-lan)

Chinese Broccoli......

that's the tag that was on this particular vegetable at the Asian store. If you're like me who is not familiar with it, you would wonder if it was just mistagged because it doesn't resemble broccoli at all except for the stems; then the leaves look more like collard greens than broccoli.

A Chinese lady who was scrutinizing every single leaf of a bundle said that they call it "Gai-lan" in Chinese and raved about how good it is when cooked. She actually told me how she prepares and cooks it, but I just couldn't follow it. I only understood that it is so delicious and she steams the stems then combine it with the cut up leaves to cook....she got me so excited and bought a bundle to make some stir-fry.

I broke off the stems from the leaves then steamed them,
then I decided to make stirfry just like the
Beef-Broccoli with Cashews recipe #231, click here,
except I didn't think that I needed to steam the leaves part, so I didn't.

I thought the stir fry came out really good, with the leaves still vibrant green and all, but I was a little bit disappointed though because the leaves have a bitter taste. And so I thought that mixing in some left over "Broccoli Stirfry" that I still had from last week will improve the taste, but it didn't. Something went wrong....I probably didn't cook it properly in the first place.
Now, I'm not sure if I really like it that much after all....

#331_Beef-Broccoli with Cashews

I recently learned that consuming broccoli regularly prevents cancer or even fight cancer, click here. Since then I've decided to eat broccoli more often and I have been looking for different quick ways to cook it other than just steaming then tossing them in butter.

A friend of mine suggested that I put a piece of ginger root when making a broccoli stir fry. Another one suggested that I toss in some cashew nuts.

When I made this stir fry today, I combined the ginger and the cashew nuts. O-M-G!!! you oughta try it and be the judge!

Here's the recipe:
(Ingredients are just guesstimates)

Prepare the meat....
1-1/2 lbs. beef sirloin, thinly sliced, then marinate in:
1 ladleful of Yoshida sauce or Oyster Sauce
6 cloves garlic, peeled then crushed
freshly milled Peppercorns
2 Tb apple cider vinegar
Marinate sliced beef for at least 2 hours up to overnight.

Ingredients for the stir fry...
1 lb. broccoli
about 1 inch-2 inches ginger root, julienned
1 to 1-1/2 cups of broth
1 ladleful of Yoshida sauce or Oyster Sauce
1/2 cup Cashew nuts
3 Tb. Canola oil or Sesame oil
1/4 cup Cornstarch plus enough cold water to dissolve it

Cooking preparation:

1) Blanch or partially steam broccoli, then cut them into florets.

2) Drain beef in a colander, set aside.

3) Heat some canola oil in a wok and flash fry cashew nuts. Drain nuts in paper towels.

4) In the same wok, (put some more oil if necessary), on high heat, stir-fry the marinated beef with the ginger root, until the meat is no longer pink. Cover and lower heat and let it simmer until it is almost dry, and the meat has rendered its own fat, stirring once in awhile.

5) Turn heat down to medium low then add broth and Yoshida sauce to the meat, cover and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. Take out meat and transfer onto a bowl.

6) Turn heat up to medium high.To the sauce, add the steamed broccoli and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Push the broccoli up to the side of the wok (or transfer it to a bowl) and stir in the cornstarch that has been dissolved in cold water to the sauce; continue to cook until sauce is thickened.
7) Combine the broccoli and the meat back into the wok with the thickened sauce and mix until well blended.
8) Sprinkle the cashews on the stir-fry before serving.

Best served over hot steamed rice.

This is not the usual Chinese way to stir fry the beef. In most Chinese stir fry recipes, the meat is only tossed in hot oil for about 2-3 minutes and they call it done, but if you want the meat to be well done and tender, this is the best way to do it.

How to steam broccoli: (I steam the whole head of broccoli then cut into florets)
Cut the stems off the broccoli. If you are not using a steamer basket, you can use a pot with an inch of water and about teaspoon of salt. Bring water to a boil, then put the whole head of broccoli and the stems in the boiling water, cover and steam until they are half done about 3-4 minutes. You want your broccoli to be crispy and vibrant green and not over cooked so the nutrients are not destroyed. Let them cool, then cut broccoli into florets. Peel skin off the stems and slice into diagonal.

How to blanch broccoli:
http://revolutionarychefs.com/index.php?Itemid=173&option=com_rapidrecipe&page=viewrecipe&recipe_id=152

#328_Lemongrass Pork Adobo (Adobo with Tanglad)

Pork Adobo with Tanglad or Lemon Grass
Oppppsy!! I didn't have fresh lemongrass to garnish the adobo,
so I just used some sprigs of rosemary to break up the boring look of brown adobo.

My whole house smelled so aromatic while this adobo was simmering in the pot.
It smelled lemony from the lemon grass that I added into the adobo ingredients.
The 3 stalks was just enough to enhance the flavor of this basic adobo recipe.

"Dump Adobo"

There's a dessert called "Dump Cake", so-called because all the ingredients are dumped in a baking pan then thrown in the oven to bake. Incredibly easy! even kids can make this cake without any trouble (only if they're old enough and responsible enough to turn the oven on and off).

This adobo recipe is like the "dump cake" where you dump everything in a pot,
bring it to a boil then let it simmer.
Or... you can even transfer it in a crock pot to let it simmer.

Here's the recipe:

3-1/2 lbs. pork, cut up into chunks
(I used country style spare ribs which has lesser fat than pork belly)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tb brown sugar
1 can sprite, (my family's secret ingredient, now revealed)
5-6 cloves garlic, peeled then crushed
3 stalks lemon grass or tanglad, crushed*
1 Tb black peppercorns
3 bay leaves

Marinate the meat....
Put everything in large glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours up to overnight. (The picture shows the lemon grass, garlic, peppers, bay leaves are on the surface, but I stirred all of those ingredients together with the meat and the liquid)

Transfer the meat mixture into a pot, bring it to a boil, put lid on then simmer on low heat without stirring for an hour or until the meat is tender. This is super, super easy to make and yet it is so delish.

KAIN NA!!

*NOTE:
Refer to this link, click here on how to cook with lemon grass.

Other Adobo Recipes:
Here are recipes for other variations of adobo :
http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/fake-chicken-adobo.html

http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/01/pork-adobo.html

#327_Butterscotch Caramel Apple Cobbler

Here's an Apple Cobbler that has become our family's favorite dessert.

Everybody loves it, even the fussiest eaters.

I had modified a recipe that I got from a son-in-law, Carl's dutch oven recipe. His original recipe calls for 2 cans of apple pie filling. In this recipe, I used fresh apple pie filling instead because I have plenty of fresh apples that I want to use up. I also reduced the amount of butter and brown sugar so this is a little less sweeter than the original recipe.

Our son-in-law, Brian wanted this for his birthday
instead of a regular birthday cake.

And yes, he got his wish...a huge serving of it!

Ingredients:

4 lbs. apples, (about 10 medium) peeled, cored and sliced thin or cubed
1 Tb ground cinnamon
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup flour

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 jar butterscotch or caramel topping
1 box white cake mix
1/2 stick butter melted
1 can sprite

Apple Filling: Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg then toss in the apple slices to coat. Set aside.

Praline: In a saucepan melt sugar and butter over medium heat; stir in the chopped pecans, then spread mixture into a buttered 10"x15"x 2" baking dish.

Layer the following:
Spread apple filling, including its juice, on top of the praline (nuts, sugar and butter)
Spread butterscotch topping on the apple pie filling.
Spread the dry cake mix evenly on the caramel topping and drizzle with melted butter.
Pour a can of sprite over top of cake mix.
Bake in a 350 degrees pre-heated oven for 1 hour.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

This is really good served warm with Vanilla Ice Cream.

#326_Pan de Pao, Pan de Queso & Pan de Sal

One dough, 3 ways....

Pan de Pao
(According to MaMely)

I'm absolutely sure most of you have heard of Siopao ( steamed buns) and Puto Pao, but have you ever heard of Pan de Pao yet? Probably not... I know, because I just made that name up. We can also call this "Chicken Adobo Pan de Sal" because that's what it actually is... Pan de Sal stuffed with Chicken Adobo.

As I was making some Pan de Sal today, I noticed some left-over Chicken Adobo in the fridge, so I thought I better use it before it goes to waste....and the result is my amazing Pan de Pao. It's really nothing but baked Siopao (meat roll, see post #73, click here), only with the Pan de sal signature look which is the bread crumbs on the bread, but somehow, the whole thing is like a totally new kind of bread. This is probably because it is half Pan de Sal and half Siopao which is an excellent combination. I don't usually rave about my own cooking, but this one gets a high mark.

Click here for the Pan de Sal recipe.
Click here for my Chicken Adobo recipe.

For the filling I heated up the Chicken Adobo in a saucepan,
sprinkled some sugar and mixed in some cornstarch dissolved in cold water
to thicken the sauce.

Hope you'll give this a try next time you make some Pan de Sal.

Pan de Queso or Cheese Buns

How about Pan de Queso or Cheese Buns? this isn't new at all as I got the idea from an old cook book, but the original name of the recipe is Cheese Bread. I kneaded in some grated sharp cheddar cheese and a little bit of Parmesan cheese into the dough, then shaped them into mini bread. Tossed the shaped dough into some bread crumbs. I then used the rest of the dough to make regular Pan de Sal.

There you go.....from one dough you can make 3 different kinds of bread, hence, one dough, 3 ways.

http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/10/pandesal-philippine-dinner-rolls.html