101 Ways with Carat Ganache

Ganache.  A smooth mixture of chocolate and cream.  Never mind the cream, it’s the mere mention of CHOCOLATE that sends my heart aflutter.

I’ve made it from scratch and used it for just two things: icing and cake filling and that’s it!  How many other uses can there be?

So, when I read Puratos’ FB invite for a demo using their CARAT Ganache with Chef Hasset Go, I felt giddy. Could it be from the promise of having a whole afternoon, thinking of nothing but ganache?  I knew I had to get a seat.

And I wasn’t disappointed.  See just how versatile this ganache can be!

1. Mocha cake roll, two ways.
Both cake rolls were iced using Carat Ganache but the first one was frosted with whipped cream before slathering the ganache. Impressive, right?

 2. Toffee muffins
For those who can't get enough of chocolate, Carat Ganache is used as a filling in these toffee-flavored cupcakes.  More of the product is used to decorate these.  Definitely, double chocolate bliss!  

 

 3. Chocolate Tart
This is probably my favorite. Ganache is piped like small kisses on top of a chilled chocolate tart before being dusted with cocoa powder. Oooh!

4. Almond Cappuccino Bars

For those who prefer their bars and cakes with added fiber and texture, Carat Ganache may also be used to ice bars before sprinkling it with nuts or what-have-yous. 

5. Fun Hazelnut Fingers

Have you ever used ganache as filling other than cakes? I haven't.  Here, Chef Hasset uses it to fill a shortcrust.

 6. Almond Ganache Torte
Two words: chocolate overload!  That's how I describe this dreamy chocolate creation.  Carat Ganache is used both as an icing and filling, just like how we usually use ganache.  The only difference is, mine never looks as perfect as Chef Hasset's :)  

7. Whoopie Pie
The Whoopie Pie is an American invention made up of two small round cakes with a creamy filling sandwiched between them.  In this case, a mixture of Carat Ganache and whipped cream.

8. Cake Pops
Last year, cake pops were a craze and everyone I knew who was into baking was posting their own version on FB.  None ever thought of doing this with their scrap and left overs.  Carat Ganache was mixed with left over scraps of cake then formed into balls before dipping it into melted chocolate. Good idea, Chef.

Of course, what’s a demo without sampling the finished products, right?

Being a CARAT product, I did have high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed.  The chocolate was full-flavored, smooth and with just the right degree of sweetness.    Best of all, it has a longer shelf-life than ganache from scratch.  At room temperature, it can keep fresh for about 3 days but refrigerated, on a product, I think I heard shelf-life is more than a month, six months in its original pail.  Yay!

This got me thinking. Wouldn't this be perfect as a sandwich spread together with some hazelnut cream or preserved fruit? Or mixed with some liquor and made into a praline or truffle?  Its delightful uses can only be limited to one's imagination.

For recipes and other inquiries, find Puratos Philippines on Facebook.

You may also visit them at Mangosteen St. cor. DBP Ave. FTI Complex, Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines

Call them at +632- 8385110 to 15

First Corn Harvest of the Year , Sweet!

It’s Sweet corn season at the farm!  By the time I finish writing this, I’m sure the land has already been re-plowed and replanted for the second corn crop, harvestable in about 75 days.  Yup, it’s that fast but believe me, its far from easy.  


Harvest time is the busiest and this is how it's done at the farm.

The field of dreams, remember the movie?

Harvesting the crop on about a 1 hectare field starts early, and when I say early, I mean 3 a.m.  Some might start at 12 midnight but since the sellers plan to get this crop to Manila for the afternoon market, 3 a.m. is ok.  There’s another reason why they have to get these out of the field before the sun fully rises.  When it's off the plant, sweet corn quickly loses its sugars when heated.  Enzymes convert the sugar to starch and they work overtime at elevated temperatures… and that’s the food tech speaking :)

The "Mamimitas" after harvesting the ears loads it into the tractor.

So, with three work hands plus a tractor driver, harvest starts.  Everything is done manually thus, these people are called “taga-pitas”.  They remove the ears from the stems and leave them into mounds for easier loading to the tractor later.  They are also responsible for cutting off the stems with their “Karet”, a multi-purpose long and curved knife. This goes on for about 3 hours before they start loading the tractor to bring in the harvest to the sorting area.

The cobs are brought to the sorting area.  See the guy on top?  He's using his legs to unload the harvest.  What a workout!

The sorting area is actually just a make-shift shaded spot where with a split second hold on each ear, a “Tenor” classifies the corn into either “primera”, “segunda” and “kudla”.  “Primera” gets the largest and most perfect ears, “Segunda” takes the medium-sized ones while everything that doesn’t belong to both goes to the “kudla”, the rejects.  While looking at these ears being thrown into piles, I couldn’t help but smile, wondering how my postharvest professor would be appalled if she sees how everything is (mis)handled. :)

The pile of "kudla" ready for sorting and packing.

At around 5 or 6 a.m., wives and other women join in the frenzy as workers who’ll prepare the rejects for the market or the “mangungudla”/ “mambabalat” and packers or “manunupot”. Why? Because to get a better price for these rejects, you have to peel, cut-off parts of the corn which isn’t perfect then pack it into approximately a kilo each. It is then consolidated into a larger pack of 10 kilos to make it market-ready.  The rejects of the rejects called “bilog” are also packed into 10 kilos and sold at half the price of the packaged “kudla.”  What was once considered waste and given to farm animals are also sold in the market, probably made into soup and corn kernels.

Life in the farm is slow until harvest time when the "manunupot" and "mangungudla" work fast to ready everything for the market.

As I found out, peeling a hundred was a breeze but do this repeatedly for thousands needs patience and a whole lot of brawn (which I sorely lack).  After a few hours and sore hands, I promoted myself to the packing area, which I should say, was a bit easier on the hands. Believe me, there’s an art to packing these cobs to make it look market-ready.

Packers tediously gather the rejects to kilo packs.  The "Primera" and "Segunda" are brought to the market as is, sold per piece.

I’ve been an onlooker to countless harvests but for this season, I decided to get my hands dirty.  It actually made me appreciate how much hard work it was to farm, harvest, then market.  What a day! 

Simple Corn Soup (Good for 8)

1 large onion, chopped

1 tablespoon oil

2-1/2 cups cream of corn

3 cups of water (more if you want it less dense)

1 to 1-1/2 chicken bouillon cubes

Leafy greens like malunggay (moringa leaves), chili leaves, 

ashitaba, talinum (a local weed-like plant)

1. To make it easier to get cream of corn from fresh cobs, use a peeler to open up the kernels.  Then using a rubber scraper, scrape off the contents of the kernels.

2. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot or a dutch oven, saute onions in oil until transparent. 

3.  Add in the cream of corn, water and bouillon cubes.  Cook for about 10 minutess on medium high.  Add in the leaves at the last two minutes of cooking, just before serving.

Notes:  

Want a more filling one-dish meal? Add shrimp or meats,  saute it with onions. 

Not a fan of chicken bouillon?  Omit chicken cube and replace with salt or fish sauce.

Freeze it! You can cook the soup ahead and freeze, just omit the leafy greens.  Add the greens while re-heating it in the microwave or soup pot. 

Chef Tatung's Garden Cafe

I’ve read great reviews for a resto just within the UP Village area, run by a Chef Tatung.  So when a deal came for it, I excitedly bought a few vouchers for a family weekend lunch-out.  It took us awhile to find a common time, but when we finally did, I booked us a table and headed out for a short drive to UP Village.

With just the address on hand, we looked for the resto.  As expected, it looked like an ordinary house with no visible sign that it was an eating place (or did I miss it?).  Anyway, the white gates were open so we trooped towards the door and entered the Chef's abode.  I've read somewhere that this is really his private home converted into a resto.  It was homey and welcoming.  Definitely a good sign.

After scouring a computer printed menu, we ordered what we thought would be interesting.  We started with Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wraps (P240) and Local Veggies with Assorted Dips (P160).  We enjoyed how the chicken sisig was plated.  But being Tagalog who enjoys her buro, it was refreshing to find it as a menu item in a resto.  The local vegetables were young and sweet, paired with three dips, buro, patis-calamansi and bagoong, it was a match made in heaven (though I'm pretty sure my Tatay (Dad) wouldn't agree)

 

Chicken Sisig Lettuce Wraps (P240)

  

Local Veggies with Assorted Dips (P160)

 

We continued on with Chicken in Roasted Coconut in Yellow Ginger Sauce (P320) which would have been better if it had absorbed more of the flavors.  The sauce reminds me of thai chicken in coconut sans the basil.  Prawns in Aligue Sauce (P480) proved too rich for me, so I just took the prawns and separated it from the rest of the sauce.  For carbs, we tried Tatung's Favorite Fried Rice (P160) which I think was called Nasi Goreng rice when we ate there.  It was an interesting mix of shrimp, peanuts, carrots and scrambled eggs.  It was a meal in itself, heavy and satisfying.  I think we  also tried their Molo soup too, which at P180 was a steal since it was good for sharing.

 

Tatung's Favorite Fried Rice (P160)

 

  

Chicken in Roasted Coconut in Yellow Ginger Sauce (P320)

Prawns in Aligue Sauce (P480)

 

We didn't get desserts anymore since we were all full from the meal but over-all, the place is great for families who want to enjoy reasonably-priced, Asian/Filipino home-cooked meals leisurely in a not too crowded and noisy atmosphere.  As for the desserts, maybe we'll return for them one of these days. (The chocnut chocolate cake sounds interesting)

Chef Tatung's Garden Cafe

17 Matipid St., Sikatuna Village, Quezon City
Mobile: +63 915 846 3234
Telephone: +632 352-6121 

The waiters said you don't need to reserve but the space is quite limited so I'd still recommend to call them up before going there.

Break from the holiday binge, my first assignment for the year.

I have a love/hate relationship with food during the holidays.  I cook/bake myself to exhaustion that I don't feel like eating anything heavy anymore by the second week.  Mostly, I ask for something light, just to fill my tummy.  So, when I got my recipe assignment for Yummy.ph, it was easier than usual since this was actually what I was eating during December and well into January.

The assignment called for healthy, low-calorie dishes for the new year. Perfect!  

First off, an eggwhite omelet.  This has been a regular breakfast item for the last few weeks out of necessity.  We had at least 3 liters of eggwhites stored in the ref from a holiday leche flan cooking spree.  Our cook usually just scrambles everything with onions and tomatoes but for the readers, I added a few more ingredients, bell peppers for crunch and color, and three different types of mushrooms for added fiber, subtle flavors and protein.  Here's the link to the recipe: http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/egg-white-omelet-with-three-mushrooms. A complete meal in 10 minutes tops!  Can't beat that.

I included a few more recipes from our home kitchen.  The 15-minute baked fish is actually our own version of Pinangat, 5 minutes prep time, microwaved for 10 minutes on high.  Simple, and yet so flavorful. http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/15-minute-fish-fillet  

Another is the Low-carb Chicken Soup, a clear soup that's light on the tummy. http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/low-carb-chicken-soup .  Other recipes are the Pan-grilled fish with Indian Mango Salsa and Steamed Chicken with Veggies.

For the first time, everything is unbelievably easy even for beginner cooks, prepared and cooked in less than 30 minutes. After all, diet-friendly grubs need not be too fussy, right?

Two days of chocolate bliss at Puratos University

Our chocolate cake.  The pink bows didn't turn out the way I envisioned it to be. Oh well, I'm sure it tasted good naman.

I’ve been in blogging hiatus.  There was just too much to cook, bake, eat, meet, shop, run around for, it was one of the things that I had to sacrifice to get more time to be holiday crazy.   Seriously, I also didn’t feel inspired to write.  Maybe I’m just completely worn out.  It’s now January and the madness has died down considerably. Thank God!  Just finished a foodie project and thankfully this spurred this break from my writer’s block.

I have been having friends over and trying recipes we both haven’t been doing but I still miss going to cooking classes.  I’m sure I’ve attended enough of them through the years  but surely there’s still something exciting to learn.

Shienna, the chocolatier showing us how to make pralines from scratch

When Puratos, a food company which imports both compound and Belgian chocolate (there’s a difference apparently) posted a facebook ad for their Carat chocolate course, I was excited.  I’m in love with chocolates (who isn’t?).  It’s my Achilles heels!  I’ve dreamed of becoming a chocolatier (no kidding).  I’ve made molded chocolate giveaways a few years ago but never really learned how to make it properly.  I guess, I was just content with buying my Meiji and Baby Ruths or getting from Ate, Kirkland’s Chocolates of the World (at $10, it was worth every bit).  The course was a steal at P5,000 considering it was good for two.  The only problem was, how to get there.  Their plant is in FTI Taguig.

I’ve never drove by myself to FTI so as expected, I got lost. Thankfully, I was with my nephew who I brought along, so at least I didn’t get lost alone.  Anyway, found FTI at last, with still a few minutes to spare but whew! The drive time from the house to FTI took more than 2 hours.  This, I thought to myself, better be worth it.

Cupcakes covered with chocolates, isn't it obvious which ones were decorated by a pro and which ones were decorated by the newbie? ;)

Thankfully, it turned out we were just 4 in the group.  The place was spacious for 4 but I don’t think more than 10 would fit comfortably.  We started with being just onlookers to what Shienna, the chocolatier was doing.  There was a bit of hands-on chocolate molding and cupcake decorating. Without realizing it, we stood up the whole day and went home with this realization:  working as a chocolatier wasn’t as easy as I thought but I’m telling you, the smell of chocolate is the best perk-me-up!  Actually, can’t stop tasting it while working on it.  Got to taste their natural Belcolade Belgian chocolate, too. OMG.  This is bad. It's so addicting.

Double chocolate drink.  Even the decor was made from chocolates.  Be still, my heart!

Second day, we were given a free hand to make whatever we wanted to create with chocolates. Best of all, we get to bring everything home.  Yey!!!    My nephew and I were a team and made A LOT of molded chocolates and pralines. Actually, we knew we had to decorate a cake but we didn’t plan how to go about it so we just continued on making pralines and molded chocolates for 3 hours.  When the cake came, I panicked.  I worked for half day on molded chocolates and didn’t once thought of starting making decors for the cake.  Our other classmates, being cake professionals, were already working on their cake since the day started.  Haha.  Oh well, we’ll just have to wing it.

That's us, trying to make a presentable cake as fast as we could.  We got too caught up making the pralines

Working with pralines at least taught me some valuable lessons.  First, water and chocolates don’t mix so be obsessive about drying molds.  Second, as with anything, it requires patience and a lot of practice.  Lastly, as with drying the molds, never use a mold unless it’s totally clean of everything, including leftover chocolates!

And here they are!  Can’t say its all perfect but even the imperfect ones are soooo good. 

The finished pralines.  I love their polycarbonate molds.  It really turned out perfectly shaped... well, at least most of them.  

Best of all, we got to bring home 10 kilos of white chocolate.. yes, 10 KILOS!  I’ve  probably used more than half of it already for my holiday baking but I still have more than enough to practice my new skills.

After two days of chocolate bliss, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of eating chocolates but, seriously, I have to find a different second career.  I’ll never survive working as a chocolatier.  The boss will certainly fire me on the very first day for eating all my creations!

Cake done by a classmate.  Oh, she's a pro at this!  

Ensaymada madness

I couldn't stop myself, just had to take a pic before everything disappears in 2 minutes... flat!

Almost everyone I know has a bucket list, things they want to do  before they go.  I, too, have a growing foodie bucket list, made up of mostly, what else, food to cook or bake. ;)

Ever since I finally baked a successful pandesal, I couldn't stop thinking of making another go at baking an edible ensaymada.  I've tried it twice, both times it turned hard as rocks and this isn't an exaggeration. Even my dogs wouldn't touch it!

Anyway, I was on a look out for a recipe.  I probably have 5 different  ensaymada recipes from different sources languishing in the recipe box but I wanted to try a new one so I searched yummy.ph and found this: Patty Loanzon's Cheesy Ensaymada http://www.yummy.ph/recipe/Cheesy-Ensaymada . Looks easy enough but yikes! 4 hours wait to proof! This is gonna be a looonnnggg day. 

Since this was a spur-of-the-moment baking, I have to make do with the ingredients on hand.  Everything checked except queso de bola.  Raiding the ref, I found some leftover blue cheese, Pecorino romano, and a pack of cheezy spread.  Though blue cheese might be an interesting choice, it had to be the Pecorino since I needed my family or the dogs to finish this lot in case it doesn't turn out well. Haha.

After resting the dough for 1 1/2 hours and rolling it into a swirl, it's ready for 4 hours of proofing.  Time for some early Christmas shopping!

With everything set, I turned on my trusty Kitchen aide and kneaded it using the dough hook attachment.  I'm sure manually kneading it is possible but after my failed attempts using hand-kneaded ensaymada, I'm not gonna risk this one, so I let the dough hook do its job.

After four hours and a failed shopping trip, all puffed up and almost ready for the oven.

I made some minor revisions to the recipe.  To get a more buttery and a stronger cheese flavor, I used pecorino romano instead of processed cheese in the dough and added an extra 1/2 c of butter to the dough.  Also, I kneaded it an extra 5 minutes since the dough wasn't elastic enough after 5. Lastly, I made a sponge composed of the yeast, a bit of flour, honey and water and allowed this to rise a bit before adding it to the rest of the dough ingredients.

And here they are!   

 Finished Pecorino romano ensaymada.  Buttery and soft just the way I like!  

The pecorino and butter sent heavenly aromas from the oven, beckoning the hungry to try the large buns even while scorchingly hot.  I couldn't stop myself, I had to know if at last I made an edible ensaymada.   Even without the topping, I bit into it.  It yielded.  I was excited.  It was soft, buttery and melt-in-the-mouth. FINALLY, an ensaymada recipe worth keeping.

First time Ibos!

Sorry haven’t been posting.  It has been a busy month for me and just had a breather before another long weekend.  

I’ve finally got a short vacay outside the Metro. Actually, I had a quick visit to the family’s roots in Mindanao.  If you’ve been there, its actually a bucolic seaside town with amazing views of endless rice fields. But any vacay wouldn’t be complete without some foodie pursuits, right?

Ricefields abound around Misamis Occ.

Aren’t you sometimes awed at how a humble seed from no less than a weed can be transformed into so many delectable possibilities?  I’m particularly talking about rice, which could be the staple we know, a kind of porridge, a sauce thickener, a main dish (I’m thinking risotto and paella), a snack item, even a dessert!  I sometimes feel guilty of being able to easily bake a passable chiffon or a chocolate cake and yet clueless on how to make native snacks such as biko or suman.  It has been on my to-do list for so long, so on this vacay, I asked my cousins if they could find me someone who’ll be willing to show me how wrap our native rice-based delicacy called Ibos.  Thankfully, the retired family cook was only too willing to teach me how.

Manong Ipit thinning some of the coconut leaf ribs to make it easier to use as a wrap.

Why Ibos? Because I really love how this one tastes. Unlike similarly wrapped rice delicacy found here in Manila, this one is slightly sweet, with a hint of anise and a heavenly smoky taste that you get from cooking the filling in an open wood fire.  And don’t forget the leafy undertones which it gets from wrapping and boiling this in young coconut leaves.  It’s the perfect breakfast, midday or afternoon snack with sikwate (native chocolate drink) or naturally ripened mangoes. 

Cooking the ibos filling in open fire just like in the olden days.  Frankly, I think this infuses the filling with some complex smoky flavors which makes it extra special.

Just thinking about it makes me wish I still had my BH (what they call the “pasalubong” there) stash in the freezer but alas, it was gone in a flash.  Blame it on the shrinking baggage allowance which will never be enough if you want a month’s supply of ibos in the freezer. Haha! :)

Only the young coconut leaves are used since its more pliable

It didn't take long before I realized this thing needs quite a BIT of patience to wrap! But as I hit my 5th one, it became a LOT easier.  Practice does makes perfect, so BRING IT ON! ;)  Between the four of us, we were able to make around 75 pieces of oddly shaped ibos.  Good thing, quality control doesn't apply to first timers.

It's kinda hard to describe how to wrap it.  You can look at this  blog for some direction http://unofficialcook.com/recipes/suman-sa-ibos/.    I'm attaching, though, the recipe for the filling which you have to cook in a heavy pot on an open wood fire or stove top with continuous stirring until it is almost half-done then wrapped while hot.  Since the filling is still undercooked, the ibos should be arranged standing in a covered heavy bottomed pot half-submerged in water and boiled until done.

The newly wrapped ibos before it was boiled in water.  Looks good, right?

Ibos, just the way I like

2 1/2 kilos glutinous rice

milk from 6 mature coconuts

sugar to taste (according to the cook, its 1 salmon can full, ok so where do I get an empty can of salmon if I don't eat it? Haha )

2 Tbsp salt (I'm not too sure if this pertains to iodized or rock salt so, don't add everything all at once.)

1 Tbsp anise or less if preferred, pounded with a bit of water

Water with the same volume as the 2 1/2 kilos of rice   

 The finished product, our breakfast the following day :) Together with some hot cocoa, there couldn't be a more perfect combo to start the day than this!