Holiday Cooking on Instagram

I’ve taken to posting recipes on Instagram. Follow me @erjoven.

Here’s some pictures of the Noche Buena meal I made last December 24. The first Christmas I’ve had home since 2001. Filipinos celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, December 24, rather than the 25th. Usually there are 2 meals: a dinner at home, then a late night Catholic Mass is heard, then all come back home to open gifts and partake in another meal, the “Noche Buena”. For us this year we had 1 meal which was dinner (which I’ll refer to as our “Noche Buena” on this post), then we opened gifts and called it a night. Camille and Julian had an early flight to Japan on Christmas Day so our night had to end early.

We started the meal with a tray of assorted dips, almonds and olives and some crisp baguette. Clockwise from top: “dulong” (called “tritri fish” in St. Vincent) or tiny anchovies cooked in olive oil and garlic, Romesco sauce, eggplant caviar, green olives, pesto and in the center, spiced almonds. Camille loves these dips and sauces so she had some packed in deli containers for her trip to Japan the next day.

I posted a picture of our main course on Instagram with the following recipe and caption:

Breaking away from the traditional roasted poultry, ham or meat dishes of the Filipino Christmas Eve dinner (Noche Buena), the centerpiece of our table was a Whole Roasted Local Red Snapper with Chorizo, Caramelized Onions and Baby Potatoes.

To make: rub the inside and out of a whole, cleaned red snapper (this was around 3+ kg) with salt, pepper, lemon juice and Spanish paprika. Fill the cavity with rosemary, onion, garlic, sliced lemons (local yellow lemons in the Philippines are like Meyer lemons!) and parsley. Score the fish on each side and fill the cuts with crumbled chorizo sausage – I used Calidad Espanola Pamplona chorizo. Combine parboiled baby potatoes, caramelized onions, sautéed garlic, chorizo cut into 1-inch pieces, and chopped parsley, and place this mixture on the bottom of a large baking dish. Place the fish on top, season with salt and pepper and drizzle extra virgin olive oil generously over the fish and potatoes. Roast in a hot oven for about 50 minutes to an hour (less if using a smaller fish) or until the fish barely flakes off the center bone. Cover with foil and let rest for 15 minutes before serving. Serve with lemon wedges, making sure each diner gets a piece of the fish, chorizo, potatoes and the natural roasting juices in the pan. #calidadespanola #nochebuena #redsnapper #philippineseafood

p.s. I love how my brother Julian’s toys always find their way close to the food I’m making. Thankfully, never in it!

p.p.s. Next place I work in gets this dish on their menu!

Mylah took a picture of her serving of fish.

I may not like conforming to most traditions, but I do follow some. Baked ham is a feature in many a Filipino Noche Buena, so I made this one using the ham given to our family as a gift by Mylah’s partner, Nick. This succulent ham was slow roasted with orange juice and honey.

We we love pasta at home so I cooked some for mixing with the pesto or Romesco sauces. If my Italian former sous chef saw this he’d say the pasta is overcooked… Or the kind they serve to old people and children in Italy. Still, we loved it…

The dessert spread was decadent to say the least.

The Instagram post and recipe attached to this photo is as follows

Desserts for the Noche Buena table last December 24: Caribbean Rum Cake drizzled with Malagos dark chocolate, Calamansi Mousse with Caramel Sauce, a cheese board with dried mangoes, grapes and kiat-kiat oranges.

The calamansi mouse was a pleasure to make. She may not remember it, but it’s @cheeky_tsinay (Dawn Yu-Aquino)’s recipe from back in college when we were cooking in chef competitions for UP. I loved this recipe and used to make it all the time back then. The last time I made this was 12 years ago … Also the last time I was home for Christmas.

To make the mousse: Soften one envelope unflavored gelatine in 1/4 cup cold water. Combine 3 egg yolks, three whole eggs, 1/2 cup fresh calamansi juice, 3/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon finely grated and blanched calamansi zest and the softened gelatine in a large bowl over a double boiler. Whisk until thick and fluffy but still quite fluid (the “ribbon stage” in chef speak). Place the bowl on top of another bowl with ice to cool the mixture down. In a separate clean bowl, beat the 3 egg whites with 2 tablespoons white sugar until thick and fluffy like a meringue. In another bowl, beat 1 cup heavy whipping cream with 2 tablespoons white sugar. Before combining everything together check that you have 3 things ready: the cooled egg yolk and calamansi base, the whipped egg whites and the whipped cream. With a large rubber spatula, gently fold half the egg whites and half the whipped cream into the calamansi mixture. Keep in mind that gentle folding will ensure maximum aeration and a fluffy light texture of the dessert. Then fold the rest of the egg whites and cream, making sure that everything is combined and that there are no white streaks. Spoon the mixture into cups or glasses and allow to set in the refrigerator. Once set, top each mouse with sweetened whipped cream and serve with the caramel sauce. To make a simple caramel sauce: heat 2 cups white sugar in a heavy pan until melted and the color is a dark amber. Be careful not to burn it and be careful not to burn yourself as this sugar is “as hot as lava” (my mom used to say). Once caramelized, add 1 cup cold water and whisk until all the caramelized sugar has melted back into a sauce. #holidaydesserts #homemadetreats #calamansimousse #calamansi

Here are all the siblings in our wacky pose.

Gift giving came after dinner. Marco, my nephew, wanted to eat his gift. As for me, I got a nice cleaver … Only a chef, in my opinion, would think that was a nice gift.

It’s been a long 12 years since I’ve been back at this same table for Noche Buena with my family. I’m glad and grateful for this time off!

Mangoes + white chocolate

I miss Philippine mangoes most of all here in the Caribbean. Nothing says you’re on an island more than eating a ripe mango.

Ripe Philippine mangoes – luscious and sweet. And this was off mango season…

Of course mangoes do exist in the Caribbean. They are ok (with all due respect to our suppliers) but the ones readily available to the public can either be very fibrous or very bland. The small ones are the ones that are fibrous when ripe, but they are also very sweet. The giant ones are the ones that are bland but they are quite good when unripe and pickled or in a salad.

We had a good supply of mangoes lately and,  as the mantra on the islands go, “use what you have”. So we did last night for dessert.

White chocolate mousse with local mangoes and toasted pistachio nuts

I am a big fan of simple flavors, simple preparations and simple cooking techniques. I love the Northern California food philosophy (I did train there after all) of standing back as a chef, using good ingredients, and letting the food shine. Of course given that you have really good ingredients to begin with … another challenge on the island. But the mangoes were good yesterday and I have best quality white chocolate (Valrhona) and pistachio nuts in the kitchen.

For the dessert pictured above I diced some ripe mangoes and combined it with a little fresh mango puree and mango jam (made by a local lady, Betty Frederick, on the neighboring island of Bequia). This fresh mango compote was layered in a juice glass with white chocolate mousse and a “crumble” of homemade gingerbread cookies and toasted pistachio nuts.

Here’s the recipe for the white chocolate mousse. I learned this recipe from one of our guest chefs at Peter Island – Richard Farnabe. It is by far, the simplest recipe for white chocolate mousse, but the most delicious. And as simple goes, 4 ingredients are all it takes to make it. This is also my “go-to” recipe now for dark chocolate mousse – simply substituting dark chocolate for white in the recipe.

Easy White Chocolate Mousse

Yields 3-1/2 Cups

Ingredients:

6 ounces white chocolate, cut into small pieces, at room temperature

3 cups heavy cream, divided

3 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Procedure:

1. Heat 8 oz of cream until simmering. Pour hout cream over the white chocolate pieces in a bowl. Stir until smooth. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes to cool to room temperature.

2. Combine 2 cups of the cream, 3 tablespoons powdered sugar and vanilla in a large, chilled mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer or standing mixer to whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form when the beater is stopped and lifted out.

3. Gently fold a third of the melted white chocolate mixture into the whipped cream. Add the second third; fold in, then add the remainder.

4. Scrape mixture into a piping bag and pipe into cups. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish with shaved white chocolate, whipped cream or fruit.

Maja blanca for All Saint’s Day

November 1, All Saint’s Day

I posted this picture and caption on Facebook yesterday:

“Years ago every 1st of November, my mother used to make homemade “suman” (steamed sticky rice and coconut cakes wrapped in banana leaves that she always made with some ginger), “ube halaya” (purple yam jam… stirred for 4 hours!) or sweet pumpkin pudding (lots of butter and condensed milk). Then she’d fix a plate of these homemade sweets and light some candles – one for each relative that had passed away. Instead of spending November 1st at a cemetery like a lot of Filipinos do, our family would stay home and cook and eat all day. Proof that the best way to remember the dead is to enjoy life!

Today, I’m craving those Filipino All Soul’s Day sweets Ma used to make as I light a candle for her and cook to honor this tradition.”

I didn’t have the time nor the energy to make suman, but what I did end up making was maja blanca (a sweet corn and coconut pudding). One of my favorites growing up. Here’s a picture of what I made:

The recipe was adapted from http://www.allrecipes.com. I adjusted it to make a richer, creamier maja blanca, and made a coconut topping for the dessert.

Maja Blanca

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 cups coconut milk (second extraction if using fresh)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup grated fresh corn kernels or canned cream of corn

3 tablespoons butter

For the topping:

1 cup coconut cream (first extraction if using fresh, the thick cream at the top of the coconut milk if using canned)

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Procedure:

1. Use 1 tablespoon butter to grease an 8-inch baking dish or pie pan. Combine the whole milk and cornstarch and stir until smooth.

2. In a separate saucepan combine the coconut milk, sugar, salt and corn, stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. When the mixture starts to boil, add the cornstarch and milk and stir to prevent lumps from forming.

3. Cook the pudding over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the cornstach is cooked through. The mixture will be very thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter.

4. Pour pudding into the greased mold. Cover and refrigerate until set. Garnish with the coconut topping before serving.

5. To make the topping: Combine all the ingredients in a pan and allow to boil over medium high heat stirring constantly. The mixture will begin to separate and the coconut solids will begin to cook in the coconut oil. Cook the mixture until the solids have caramelized and turned golden brown (be careful not to burn it!). Remove from the heat and allow to cool in another container. Pour out the excess oil and crumble the mixture over the maja blanca.

Here’s another picture of maja blanca together with other coconut and rice sweets (kakanin) from the Legazpi Sunday Market in Makati.

Rambling about tiramisu

In the late 90’s, right around the time I started cooking professionally, I went on a mission to find the best tiramisu in Manila. I don’t remember the first time I had tiramisu, I may have just seen a recipe or a picture of it, but once I started on my mission I was hooked. Back then good mascarpone cheese was hard to come by in the Philippines, so the first ones I tasted were (I know now) made from half cream cheese and half cream. They tasted more like cheesecakes than tiramisu. Some were topped with cheap shaved dark chocolate, some were dusted with so much cocoa powder it made me cough violently as I inhaled the bitter dust through my mouth eager to get to that first bite. Most were annoyingly too sweet.

The best tiramisus I had during those years were the ones from the Tivoli at Mandarin Oriental Manila and at Margarita Fores’ Cibo. I trained and took on my first job at Mandarin Oriental so I may be biased, but The Tivoli’s tiramisu was made with real mascarpone cheese infused with a bit of lavender (but not too much) and it had just the right amount of sweetness. The lady fingers were perfectly soaked with espresso and kahlua and the dessert was dusted with just the right amount of the best quality cocoa powder. I worked there for a year and never got tired of eating that dessert. For me, back then,  it was perfect…

My next favorite was Margarita Fores’ version served at Cibo and at her catering events. I liked it because it was tiramisu with a delicious twist. Instead of lady fingers, she used a cookie similar to palmiers soaked in espresso. The filling was made with real mascarpone cheese and eggyolks – but sweeter than that of Tivoli. And where others put cocoa powder, she puts big shavings of dark chocolate (a good quality one!) on top of the dessert. So sinfully decadent. More than a decade later, I still make it a point to have one at Cibo whenever I am home.

So fast forward 14+ years, I still love tiramisu and have the love handles to prove it. I’ve had many, many more versions of it through my travels, but I’ve never been to Italy yet to have the real, REAL deal. I work now at a resort where an Italian restaurateur serves as a consultant and my sous chef is Italian. I said to myself when I started surely I can get a good tiramisu at this place. And I was right. Our pastry cook made it one night and I was again hooked! We run tiramisu as a dessert special maybe 4 times a month. And the recipe for it, THAT precious recipe, is one I do not want to forget. Hence, this blog post.

Tiramisu

2000 g mascarpone

350 g sugar

200 g egg white

400 g egg yolks

Lady fingers

Coffee, kahlua

Cocoa powder

I copied this recipe in verbatim from our pastry chef’s notebook. The amounts are huge but it can be divided into half or a quarter. The procedure is as follows:

1. Divide the sugar into 2. Combine the egg yolks with half of the sugar and beat in a mixer until pale. Add the mascarpone cheese and continue to beat until the mixture is smooth. Scrape the mixture into another bowl.

2. In a clean mixer bowl, beat the egg whites and sugar together until soft peaks form. Fold this egg white mixture into the mascarpone mixture as if you were making a mousse. Chill until ready to use.

3. Soak a few lady fingers in a mixture of espresso and kahlua. Place the soaked cookies in a glass serving dish. Spoon the filling over and dust the dessert with cocoa powder – but not too much! Or grate some good quality dark chocolate over the top.

4. Eat and enjoy!

Spiced candied pecans

A foolproof recipe for spiced and candied nuts (this one was with pecans but I also made them with cashew nuts the other day) to use for salads or for just plain snacking. Until I discovered this recipe, I would melt sugar then throw the nuts in the caramel, then spread them out on a sheet pan to dry. This technique always produces varied results  as sometimes the sugar sticks, sometimes it slides, and then you have to work quickly to separate the nuts before they cool and harden to a brittle (working quickly with caramel is dangerous as that stuff is like lava… good luck!). In this recipe the egg whites ensure that the sugar sticks to the nuts – a great alternative to the melting sugar and ending up with a brittle-like mess process. The sugar and spice coating has a sandy texture that crisps up when baked.

I made these for our villa guests the past week and would place a small bowl here and there throughout the house and by the bar area to encourage spontaneous snacking. They proclaimed them to be “addicting”, and true enough even I can’t stop snacking on them, especially when they are warm and just out of the oven. This make a great gift for the Holidays tied up in little bags on their own or as part of a gift basket.

Spiced Candied Pecan Nuts (or Cashews, or Walnuts, or Almonds….)

Ingredients:

2 cups pecans

1 egg white, beaten

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1/2 kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon (or more) cayenne pepper

pinch of ground cloves

pinch of ground allspice

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, toss the pecans in the beaten egg whites making sure all are coated.

3. Combine all the other ingredients in a small bowl. Add this to the pecan nuts coated in egg whites. Gently

toss so that each nut is coated with the sandy sugar and spice mixture.

4. Spread the pecans on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until the nuts are toasted and the sugar is a crisp coating all around. Be careful not to burn them as they will become bitter and inedible!

5. Use to add crunch for salads, cereal, as part of a trail mix or for snacks.