Vegetarian Pancit Canton (Wheat Noodle)

Vegetarian Pancit Canton, Moonglow Gardens

Garden Fresh, Moonglow Gardens

Canton Noodles (Wheat), Moonglow Gardens

Gmail Chat with my Mom and Alton Brown talking about hot cocoa in the background triggered Filipino food cravings.   I immediately got up, opened the pantry and made Philippine-Style Hot Cocoa (will post recipe later).  It’s pretty much like the American version, with PEANUT BUTTER added.  If you like Reese’s, you’ll like our hot cocoa.

Then there’s a package of dried wheat noodles or Pancit Canton in the pantry begging to get noticed.  Wow, how cool is that to cook a mid-morning snack or merienda.  Filipinos generally snack at 10AM, 2PM, and 6PM depending on how early or how late dinner will be.   Of course midnight snacking is popular as well.

On to the garden to get produce the neighborhood squirrels left me:

• Purple Cauliflower
• French Sorrel
• Celery
• Parsley
• Lemon

With the exception of celery, none of the veggies I listed are traditionally used in preparing Pancit Canton, and that’s OK.  I will have to make do with what I have.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 stalk of green onions, julienned
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 package Pancit Canton Noodles (16 ounces)
• cauliflower florets
• sorrel leaves, chiffonade
• celery leaves, roughly chopped

Directions

1. Heat oil in skillet or wok and saute garlic until golden brown adding green onions and continue sauteing until fragrant.
2. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add cauliflower florets when broth comes to a boil and let simmer for about 3 minutes (crisp).  You may cook the cauliflower to your liking.
4. Add the dried noodles to the broth, gently.  Let the noodle absorb the liquid.
5. Toss sorrel until wilted.
6. Top with celery leaves and parsley.  Serve with wedges of lemon.

Sriracha Aioli

Banh Mi Fix, Moonglow Gardens

Sriracha Mayo, Moonglow Gardens

Sriranwich, Moonglow Gardens Style

This is my Banh Mi Phase.  It may have started a month ago, that Friday I met up with the European Union to lunch at La Boulange.  I have mixed and matched the fresh produce available to fix my bahn mi, yet one constant is the base:  Sriracha Aioli.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1 tablespoon of Sriracha
• 1 green onion stalk, chopped

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix until incorporated.

Notes

• Feel free to use your favorite herbs to kick up your aioli.
• Arugula is great on sandwiches in lieu of lettuce.  Cilantro may be used.  If you are adventurous, and you have them in your garden, try Nasturtium Flowers for a peppery bite!

Chicken Tinola (Chicken in Ginger Broth)

First, a word of thanks to two (2) people who have continually directed traffic to my site.  Now I have to do spell check and either reinvent or organize my thoughts.  Sue and Mark, thank you.  There is plenty of good read on Lagunatic.  I’m there almost daily while enjoying coffee.  Come to think of it, blog followers like me are like stalkers in a way.  Or maybe only if one is NOT an official subscriber.  Eeeek!  I’m creepy.  RayDerPhan on the other hand may be a restricted site.  There is a scantily clad model on the left hand side of the homepage, and I must warn you:  that isn’t Mark.

Now on to the recipe!

Ingredients

• 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cube  (season with salt and pepper)
• 2 cloves garlic, mince
• 1″ piece of ginger, julienne
• 1 small onion, roughly chop
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock2 kohlrabi bulbs, peel and quarter
• 2 kohlrabi bulbs, peel and quarter
• kohlrabi leaves, remove stems, roughly chop

Directions

1. Brown chicken pieces in oil; move to the side of the skillet to saute garlic until golden, ginger until fragrant, onions until translucent.
2. Add chicken or vegetable stock, simmer covered until chicken cooks (10-15 minutes).
3. Add kohlrabi and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Serve over steamed rice.

Kohlrabi, Moonglow Gardens

Kohlrabi Leaves, Moonglow Cooks

Kohlrabi in Tinola, Moonglow Gardens

Chicken Tinola, Moonglow Cooks

Miso and Bunapi Shimeji (White Beech Mushroom) Soup with Tofu

Another soup kind of weather day and I’m not driving to San Rafael to get pho.   Totally happy I geeked out on mushrooms when I saw them at Ranch 99 (nope, not like Cottontail Ranch).

I do not have dashi granules in the pantry, though the soybean paste I have on hand is seasoned with bonito.  It’s pretty tasty.

Ingredients

• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons soybean paste
• 1 block of tofu, cut in .5″ cubes
• 2 ounces of white beech mushrooms
• chives

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Add tofu to the soup, and simmer for a few minutes on low heat.
3. Scoop out some soup stock from the pan and dissolve miso in it.  Return dissolved miso to the soup.
4. Add mushrooms and cook for another minute.
5. Garnish with chopped chives (this adds to the flavor, too).

Soybean Paste, Moonglow Cooks

Miso and Beech Mushroom Soup with Tofu, Moonglow Cooks

Les Macarons Au Bailey’s Irish Cream

Good morning!  I have a new friend to play with in the kitchen, and he’s Irish!  Instead of making pate a bombe, we’re making zabaglione Tyler Florence style (replacing marsala with Bailey’s Irish Cream) as a base for our buttercream.

Yes, I am a Tyler fan.  You might have noticed.

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until foamy (I used my Kitchen Aid bowl for this).
2. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch the water, and continue to whisk constantly.
3. Gradually pour in Bailey’s Irish Cream while continuing to beat – don’t let it boil.
4. Keep working-out that arm and whisk vigorously for a good 5 minutes, until the custard has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow.
5. Return mixing bowl to the stand up mixer and whisk until mixture cools.
6. Add butter, one (1) tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated.
7. Transfer buttercream to a pastry bag and pipe filling on macaron shells.

French Macarons with Bailey’s Irish Cream, Moonglow Gardens

Les Macarons Au Grand Marnier

So many inspiring macaron combinations so little time.  Today, I would like to present my cashew macaron recipe with Grand Marnier Buttercream filling.

Grand Marnier Buttercream is inspired by  Food/Photography Blogger Mowielicious (Pink Champagne Buttercream Filling).

Les Macarons Au Grand Marnier, Moonglow Gardens

Les Macarons Au Grand Marnier, Moonglow Gardens

For the buttercream, start with Tyler Florence’s Zabaglione Recipe replacing Marsala with Grand Marnier.  Reattach mixer bowl to stand up mixer and continue whisking until bowl cools.  Then add butter one tablespoon at a time (1 cup softened butter) making sure butter is completely incorporated before adding another tablespoon.

Les Macarons Au Chocolat

Les Macarons Au Chocolat, Moonglow Gardens

Les Macarons Au Chocolat, Moonglow Garden

Les Macarons Au Chocolat, Moonglow Gardens

What wonderful feet they have (methinks)!  Ah, what joy to the home baker.

Makes about 40 1.5″ Macaron Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Directions

1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder and almond flour in a food processor until combined.
2. Preheat oven to 280 degrees F.  Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks form.  Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.
3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 1.5″-inch rounds 1 inch apart on Silpat-lined baking sheets.  Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air.  Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.  Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macaroons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macaroons.)
5. Sandwich 2 same-size macaroons with 1 teaspoon filling.

Double Espresso Macarons

All rise!  Macarons have risen to their feet at the 5 minute mark.  Today, I worked on 2-egg white macaron batter with the almond flour (though I used cashew) measured in dry cup, not in ounces.  I like that since Santa did not bring me a scale (not a complaint).  He probably favors I work on my resume instead.

Makes about 40 1.5″ Macarons

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3/4 cup cashew flour
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely ground coffee

Directions

1. Pulse confectioners’ sugar, coffee, and cashew flour in a food processor until combined.
2. Preheat oven to 280 degrees F.  Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks form.  Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.
3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 1.5″-inch rounds 1 inch apart on Silpat-lined baking sheets.  Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.  Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
5. Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with 1 teaspoon filling.

Notes

• I always pulse dry ingredients like coffee and powdered freeze dried fruits with the nut flour and sugar.
• For the filling, I almost always make French Buttercream using egg yolks, flavoring  the buttercream with liqueur or powdered freeze-dried fruits.

Double Espresso Macarons, Moonglow Cooks

Happy New Year!

Who isn’t excited about 2010?  I can’t wait to get home and start anew.  That might translate to many things, and that’s OK.  I have a few projects in mind, Tomatoes 2010 and 52 Weeks of Macarons top the list.  Professional Development is there as well.

I’m still away from home and that means I have not been cooking much.  I did try to make macarons at Mom’s but the hand mixer won’t do the trick.

How about YOU?  Did you have the most fabulous holiday season?  Please check back again soon.

Perhaps Bad Macaron Day For A Bakery in Strawberry?

Having a great weekend, I hope.  Little Dude has the sniffles and ran a fever last night.  We didn’t get to leave for San Diego as planned.  We’re missing The Little Mermaid’s birthday party.

Ah, I’m writing without a photo of new macaron creations.  I just wanted to share my macaron experience at Strawberry.  It was terrible.  I can’t even eat it.  I was scared to take another bite.  It was so dry, and the taste was just terrible.  Are these macarons satisfying a good population sample here in Marin where I live?  OMG, we need another shop to offer better versions of these mini delights.  The Parisian Macaron Police should be alerted.

I paid $1.50 for each macaron.  Vanilla was as disappointing as their Coffee version.  $3.00 wasted.  Could have fed a family of four in Tanzania.