Macaroons with Cherry

 A delicious macaroons that is made more attractive with cherries, this will be a good attraction at the dessert table if you have parties or special gathering with your loved ones.


Ingredients for 18 -20 pieces macaroons:
100 grams dessicated coconut
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 egg beaten
3/4 cup condensed milk
1/2 cup corn syrup
10 pieces preserved cherries ( cut into halves)


20 pieces macaroons paper cups

Procedure:
1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C, for 10 minutes.
2. Combine all the milk, coconut, egg and butter then mix well, then spoon a portion into a macaroons paper cup up to 3/4 full.
3. Bake at 180C for 25 minutes or until done.
4. Once done, remove from the oven, top with 1 slice of cherry and top it with corn syrup so that the cherry will stay on top.
5. Serve with a smile :-).

Steak with Onion Peppercorn Sauce

I know my posts have only been about once a week right now. That is because I have been finishing my second book! I have good news! I finished the manuscript! Gourmet Cooking For Two will be coming to stores near you August of 2014. Cedar Fort publishing has picked up my contract and we are all things go! This has been quite the venture. There will be 75% new recipes and 25% of the favorites from this site. Each recipe comes with a romantic tip as well. Thank you guys for all your support!

Because I just finished my book, I thought it was time to review one. I recently had the chance to review "Great Meat".

Some people might be surprised, because I am not a meat lover, but my husband is. I was excited because having a good understanding of how to select, cut, and cook meat makes all of the difference in the final taste of a recipe, and this book gave me a chance to learn much more about meat. This book offers valuable information to meat lovers and serious home cooks who want to learn new and different preparation techniques. Learn how to identify and use different cuts, why and when free-range and grass-fed is better, the basics of home butchery, and much more with this informative book. You can get yours here: Great Meat.

I enjoyed learning about all the different cuts of meat and I really enjoyed going through all of the great recipes in this book. Here is one I adapted from the book. Enjoy! 

Steak with Onion Peppercorn Sauce
adapted from Great Meat

2 8 ounce portions of tri-tip or your favorite steak cut (hangar is recommended in the book but my butcher didn't have any)
1/8 cup grapeseed oil, or any other high heat oil
1/2 onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 Tbsp pink peppercorns, coarsely cracked
1 Tbsp black peppercorns, coarsely cracked
1/4 cup red wine
1/8 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chicken stock

Gently tenderize your meat with a meat mallet and set aside. (ignore the 3rd fillet, I had to make 3 so I could get pictures).

Heat half the oil in a pan. Add the onion and garlic, and fry gently until softened. add the pink peppercorns, black pepper, and wine. 

Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the cream, stock, and salt to taste. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Brush the steaks with the remaining oil and season with salt. When the pan is smoking, add the steak and fry for 1 1/2 minutes on each side for medium-rare. Fry the steak in batches if they cover more than half of the pan's surface. Remove the steak and allow to rest, covered, for 3 minutes.

Add the sauce to the meat pan and stir to deglaze the juices. Stir in any juices from the rested steak. Serve the steak with the sauce on top.

Hopiang Baboy

It's been a long time that I am looking forward to post a hopia recipe in my blog, because I have lots of friends who asked me a recipe for this, I do not know how to make it, so I talked to my friend who is an expert in hopia making, he has his own style of making it and it is consisted of 2 types of dough, the first part he called it PABALAT, the second part  he called it PALABO,  and here is his recipe.

Ingredients for Pabalat:
2 ¾ cups Bread flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup butter

Procedure for pabalat: Combine all the ingredients and knead until a good dough is formed. Set aside

Ingredients for Palabo:
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup corn starch
1/3 cup 3rd class flour

Procedure for Palabo: Combine all the ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Ingredients for the Filling:

1 big onion
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vinegar
2 cups pork fat diced
2 cups kundol (cut into small dice)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup third class flour

Procedure:
1.Marinate pork fat in sugar. Heat the vegetable oil then saute the onion then add the marinated fat, vinegar and kundol then simmer over slow fire until thick.Add flour when the filling is almost cooked. Mix well until fully combined and dry. Let cool.

To make Hopia
1. Flatten the PABALAT and put PALABO at the center. Roll and form into a ball.
2. Form the dough into cylindrical shape. Cut into 10-g portions.
3. Flatten each cut and place the prepared filling at the center then form into a ball. Press to flatten the dough.
4. Place the prepared hopia on a greased cookie sheet and brush with egg yolk.
5. Bake at 200C for at least 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Contributed by: Mr. Alex Adora

Fusilli with Tomato Sauce

If you love spaghetti with tomato sauce, you will definitely love this corkscrew shaped pasta, don't worry it is smooth to chew :-).

Ingredients for 6 servings
1/2 kilo fusilli ( cooked according to its packaging procedure)
 1/4 kilo ground beef
3 cloves garlic
1 onion
1/2 cup sliced sweet ham
3 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup Nestle Cream or all purpose cream
1/2 cup grated cheese


Procedure:
1. Saute the garlic and onion then add the ground beef and simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat.
2. Add the tomato sauce, sugar, salt and pepper then simmer for 3 minutes,  add the cheese and ham then simmer for 2  minutes.
3. Add the Nestle cream and simmer for a minute then add the fusilli and mix well.
4. Put in a serving plate and top with grated cheese before serving.