Arroz Caldo

Part two in reclaiming my Filipino culinary roots. I was home for the holidays and my dad made arroz caldo one night. I had not had my dad's arroz caldo in a long time, and it was so delicious and comforting. Arroz caldo is the ultimate Filipino comfort food - it is basically a thick, creamy chicken and rice soup. My dad gave me a Filipino cookbook while I was home, so I used its arroz caldo recipe tonight. I used chicken thighs and just cut them up into smaller pieces. My dad adds chicken bouillon, so I used that tonight too.

Arroz Caldo

1 1/2 pounds chicken, cut up into serving pieces
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, sliced thin
2 tbsp fish sauce (patis) - I use the Three Crabs brand
1 to 1 1/2 cups rice
6-7 cups water
2 tsp chicken boullion (or 2 cubes)
Chopped green onions (optional)
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and saute the garlic until lightly browned. Add the onion and ginger and saute for another 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken and fish sauce and cook for a few minutes. Add the rice, water, and bouillon. Season with little salt and pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until the rice is cooked through and has reached the desired consistency (we like it thick). Adjust salt, pepper, and fish sauce to your liking. Garnish with green onions if desired.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

I still have a bunch of fresh cranberries in my fridge, so I decided to make these scones again today. I forgot to buy sour cream so I substituted whole milk yogurt instead - a previous reviewer on Epicurious said that they made them with yogurt and they couldn't tell a difference. I definitely disagree - the yogurt changes the texture quite a bit. That melt-in-your-mouth quality of these scones is from the sour cream. Lesson learned. Since this recipe calls for dried cranberries, I just used 3/4 cup fresh instead and chopped them up in my food processor. I did add about 1/4 cup more sugar to compensate.

Pad Thai

There are no good, cheap Thai restaurants in the Tri-Cities, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and learn how to make pad thai. I've tried making it before but it just turned out bad. Then I found this recipe on how to make authentic, beginner level pad thai. I used white sugar instead of palm sugar, green onions instead of chives, and skipped the optional stuff because I knew my husband would not eat pickled turnips and dried shrimps. I used the fish sauce with the three crabs on it, which is a lot better than the other fish sauce I have tried. I bought a cheap wok from Walmart (it'll do) and cooked this up after seasoning the wok.

I was very happy with how this turned out. Since this was the first time I had cooked with a wok I didn't quite fry the tofu long enough - they started to look brown but they did not get crispy. But overall the flavor was very good, it was quick, and a lot less oily than I have had it at some Thai restaurants. Great pad thai and I will look no further for a recipe.

Homemade Pizza and Roasted Banana Ice Cream

We had friends over last night to watch football. My team played miserably (Oh, Bears... when will we ever get a good QB?) but at least we had good food.

My husband's mom used to make homemade pizza when he was growing up, and his sister gave us the recipe. It's pretty easy since you just used frozen bread dough for the crust. I have heard about this famed pizza for many years, so I was a little nervous about measuring up... but my hubby thought it was great. Here's the recipe:

Linda's Homemade Pizza
2 frozen bread dough balls (I just used the Kroger brand)
Canned pizza sauce (I used the Walmart brand)
Toppings of your choice (I used red onions, red and green peppers, fresh sliced mushrooms, mozzarella, and oregano)

Place the frozen dough into a waterproof plastic bag and immerse in hot water until thawed. Lightly coat a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Shape the dough to fit the pan, then let rise until the crust is about 1.5 inches high or so. Preheat the oven to whatever temperature the bread directions recommend. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes until the dough looks reasonably cooked. Remove the pan from the oven and increase the temperature to 400 degrees. Top the crust with pizza sauce and your chosen toppings and place back in the oven until it looks cooked, about 15-20 minutes. Voila! Homemade pizza.

I was just in a homemade mood yesterday. I also made fresh tomato salsa, and I had made roasted banana ice cream (again from The Perfect Scoop). I think if you like banana pudding, you would like this ice cream. We topped it with homemade fudge sauce - also a recipe handed down from his side of the family. In celebration of his gastronomic heritage, I will share that one too:

Auntie Frannie's Hot Fudge Sauce
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
2 cups powdered sugar
5 oz evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Mix all but vanilla together and heat until well blended. Add vanilla.

Oh so good. All good things start with a stick of butter.

Mango Sorbet

Ooh. Mango sorbet. I have always had a weakness for mango sorbet. I used to buy pints of Haagen Daz mango sorbet during college and I would eat about a quarter of a cup at a time so that I could enjoy it as long as possible. Once, I came home from a long day of classes and went to the freezer to enjoy a little bit of frozen mango goodness. I took the pint out of the freezer and the realization came upon me that it felt much lighter than it should have. My roommate, who apparently subscribed to the "if it's in our apartment, it must be meant for sharing" philosophy of roommating, had eaten some of my precious sorbet. Needless to say I was not that happy with her. Now that I look back at it, it was rather ridiculous of me to be mad at her for eating a dollar's worth of sorbet, but it seemed totally rational at the time.

I made yet another David Lebovitz recipe this week, this time his mango sorbet. His recipe calls for rum, but I skipped that because we don't have any. It was still out of this world delicious. Such an intense mango flavor, and much more texture than store-bought sorbet. And it makes enough that if someone ate a serving without my permission, I would still be friends with them.

Mango Sorbet
2 large, ripe mangoes
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
4 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more to taste
Pinch of salt

Peel the mangoes and cut into chunks. Put mango chunks, sugar, water, lime juice, and salt in a blender and puree until smooth. Taste, then add more lime juice if desired. Chill the mizture thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Butternut Squash Lasagna

We went to the Abingdon, Virginia Farmers Market yesterday and one of the vendors was selling butternut squash - the first local ones I have seen this season. I made this lasagna twice last fall, and it is one of my favorite dishes. It is very labor intensive so I don't make it that often, but it is so much better than the other ways I have made butternut squash. For the first ones of the season I decided to indulge. I used some organic basil from our weekly CSA basket, and also a few leaves from my own basil plants. I always skip the amaretti cookies and the lasagna is still outstanding. I also use low-fat mozzarella and it taste just fine. I think that about 3-4 pounds of squash is perfect - I think I used about 5 pounds this time and the squash overwhelmed the basil sauce. This is definitely a great dish for company, but only if you have a few hours to prepare it. And the best thing is, I still have half the lasagna in my fridge for leftovers!

Orzo with Roasted Vegetables

I have made this one a few times and it is one of our favorites. It's not a quick meal, but not horribly labor intensive either. I usually use zucchini and/or summer squash instead of eggplant, and sometimes I just use green bell peppers instead of red and yellow to save money. I also skip the green onions and don't even notice a difference. The feta really makes the dish, so don't skimp on it!

I have been trying different olive oils in the past month to find a cheap one that tastes good. I bought some Colavita olive oil from the grocery store and it has a nice flavor - not too strong. I've tried the Walmart brand and it is a little off smelling. The Carapelli brand is okay. I have to start tasting the oil from now on and compare the flavors. We use olive oil all the time and I want to use a good one without breaking the bank.

Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta

I subscribe to Weeknight Kitchen, a weekly e-newsletter from The Splendid Table. I was planning on just making spaghetti tonight - and today's recipe was for pasta and fresh tomatoes, which was perfect! I had a few homegrown tomatoes that I needed to use today, which were great. Local tomatoes are so much better than store bought. I also have a basil plant at home and just plucked off a few leaves for the dish. This was easy and delicious. It was a nice departure from the usual spaghetti and Walmart pasta sauce combo. It actually made spaghetti feel fancy!

I picked up a couple of boxes of Barilla Plus spaghetti for this - it is a new multigrain pasta which was actually pretty good. I've tried whole wheat spaghetti and didn't like the texture, so this was a nice alternative that is a little more healthy than plain old spaghetti.


Mellowed Fresh Tomatoes for Pasta
Copyright 2007 Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Serves 6 to 8 as a first course, 4 to 6 as a main dish

* 1 clove garlic, split
* 3 pounds richly flavored tomatoes (if possible, one-third cherry type, one-third mellow-tasting, and one-third low-acid), unpeeled, unseeded, cut into 1/2-inch dice
* 2 generous pinches hot red pepper flakes
* 1/3 cup good tasting extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
* 1 pound spaghetti, or linguine
* 6 quarts boiling salted water
* 1/8 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, or to taste
* 3 tight-packed tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn
* 1 cup fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)

1. Vigorously rub a pasta serving bowl with the garlic and discard the clove. Add the tomatoes, red pepper, oil, and the salt. Gently combine. Let stand at room temperature from 30 minutes to 3 hours.

2. When ready to eat, cook the pasta in fiercely boiling salted water, stirring often, until tender yet firm to the bite. Drain in a colander and turn it into the pasta bowl. Quickly add the black pepper and basil, and toss everything together. Taste the pasta for seasoning and serve. If you like, pass cheese at the table

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

I made this salad for lunch today for me and a friend. I have never eaten quinoa before but have heard how good it is for you, so I wanted to try it. I bought some from a local health food store and cooked it today. This was a great salad and pretty easy to make. I just boiled the quinoa for 20 minutes rather than steam it, because I don't have a sieve. I used most of one fresh jalapeno, and bottled lime juice rather than fresh. I would make this again for a light supper or for a summer picnic. It was light but still filling, and the quinoa has a nice texture.

Cranberry-Tangerine Scones

Even though my last few attempts at scone-making have been a little disappointing, I still love eating them so I am going to keep trying. :) I made these cranberry-tangerine scones today. Yummy! They turned out exactly like scones should - slightly crunchy top, flaky inside. The only thing I did differently was use a different brand of butter - could that make any difference? Maybe my butter was a little colder than usual, and I didn't mix the batter too much - enough to still leave big flakes of butter in it, and just enough to mix the wet and dry ingredients but still be clumpy. The dough was not wet at all, which made it easier to work with, but the scones are not really dry. I baked them for 12 minutes but should have taken them out at 11 minutes - they are a little browner on the tops than I would like, but still very good. They are kind of small, so maybe next time I'd make a double batch.

Tofu Fajitas

One of our friends in Wisconsin works for the publisher of Taste of Home, and gave us a couple cookbooks. Their Chicken Fajita recipe in one of them is one of my husband's favorites. I don't often make recipes out of cookbooks - I like to get them online, where I can read people's reviews of the recipe and see how many stars/forks it gets - but this is one I keep coming back to. We try to eat more healthy (especially after this season's holiday butter/sugar/egg gorge), so I usually substitute tofu for half of the chicken. Last night I made them with only tofu and they were great. I felt my body detoxing as I ate them. :) I used green peppers, onions, and green onions for the vegetables. I like red peppers in it too, but those are so much more expensive than green, and I'm cheap.

Panfried Tofu on Sesame Watercress with Soy-Orange Dressing

I made this tonight for dinner. I subbed spinach for the watercress, and doubled the sauce except for the soy sauce. I also marinated the tofu for about 15-20 minutes in soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic. Then I dipped the tofu slices in cornstarch to give them a crispy coating. This was pretty good - my husband really liked it. I think he likes his flavors a little stronger than I do though. Next time I would not marinate the tofu or try less soy sauce in the marinade. The cornstarch gave the tofu a crispy outer layer, but the inside was still pretty soft, so I don't know if I would try that again. I should have taken a picture since it makes a lovely presentation - maybe next time! The nice thing about this recipe is that I had all the ingredients in my kitchen and didn't have to make a special trip to the grocery.