Getting back to our routine, I finally tried my hand at baking flatbread. The July 2008 Gourmet issue had an inspiring, super-easy flatbread recipe that really, I had no excuse not to make it. I LOVE flatbread and I look forward to ordering appetizers that are served with it. Admittedly, I sometimes cave in to buying those horrendously expensive bag of them from the store. I think I’ll stick to making them now:

I still have this slight phobia with bread making, and this recipe increased my hopes for bread nirvana. It was light, crispy (but not abrasive for the roof of your mouth, if you know what I mean) and with a nice flavor.

It was sooo nice to bite into.

The recipe makes 3 rustic flatbreads. For my first batch in the oven, I followed 450ºF temperature and checked it after 8 minutes. It was dark, dark brown on one side. I tried it at 400ºF for the second one and baked it for 12 minutes and it was perfect. It was light brown and just golden brown in the right areas — PRETTY. I used the store-brand coarse salt from Whole Foods. It worked out really well.

The bread was seriously delicious. Dan and I split one over a bowl of fresh corn and chicken soup. It’s great to eat on its own as well. I probably ate one whole bread today. It’s completely addicting.

You’ll notice from the recipe that it calls for the use of parchment paper. Well, this is what happens when you leave your boyfriend in charge of the apartment: your boxes of parchment and aluminum foil magically disappears into the kitchen abyss. Haha. So anyway, I just used my trusty Silpat and it delivered fantastic results as usual. I LOVE consistently good products.

Flatbread is one of those foods that you start making and it will change the way you look at the store-bought varieties. It is so good fresh out of the oven! 

CRISP ROSEMARY FLATBREAD

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary, plus 2 (6-inch) sprigs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
• Flaky sea salt such as Maldon. You can easily substitute with kosher salt.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°F with the oven rack positioned in the middle, and place a heavy baking sheet on it.
2. Mix together flour, chopped rosemary, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Create a well in center and pour water and oil into it. Continuously stir together the dry and wet ingredients with a wooden spoon until the dough forms. Transfer on a clean work surface and slowly knead the dough with your hands for 5 minutes.
3. Divide and form dough into 3 balls. Take one and leave the remaining ones covered in plastic wrap). Roll out 1 ball on a sheet of parchment paper until you form a 10-inch round disk. Dough should be thin, but you don’t have to make a perfect circle. It’s meant to look rustic.
4. Lightly brush the top of the disk with olive oil and sprinkle rosemary leaves on top, pressing in slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Carefully slide and transport the dough on parchment paper onto the preheated baking sheet. Bake until pale golden and slightly browned raised areas, about 8 to 10 minutes.
6. Transfer flatbread, without the parchment paper, onto to a cooling rack. Repeat steps #3 to #6 for the remaining dough balls, working on each one at a time on fresh parchment. Do not  brush the disks with oil or salt until just before baking them. Break into pieces before serving.

Notes
You can bake the flatbread 2 days in advance. Cool completely before keeping in an airtight container stored at room temperature.

Back here in Scottsdale, AZ it is hotter than perhaps, hell. Motivation to cook since I flew back was zilch. All I want to do is go to the nearest place with A/C that will give me food — and in these parts it’s mall, the movies (hello cinnamon pretzels!), or the restaurants. We trekked to all three.

We saw Wall-E the night I got back, and The Dark Knight last Friday. Wall-E was so adorable…I want my own cute personal robot that compacts trash and has a green thumb, but can also cook with me and play music while we do so. The Dark Knight was a brilliant masterpiece. I was initially hesitant to watch it because I just know I would be creeped out to see Heath there. But I just toughed it out and I’m glad I did. The lines last Friday night was probably the most disorganized ones I’ve experienced. And we almost witnessed a fight as one guy tried to “save” 8 seats and another guy was not going to have it. Lots of weekend action. Hah.

Aside from the movies, we’ve been eating out a lot. My first craving when I got back was Spinato’s pizza. Next night it was In and Out burger (send me a lifetime supply of their fries please), Friday was Vietnamese food by the cinema. I don’t know how authentic the food there is, but this pork barbecue sure was super tasty and it reminded me of Filipino barbecue.

For a late lunch on Saturday, we went to a pasta place that we frequently passed by but never tried: Pasta Pomodoro.

They have decent food, by the way. The bread and their pesto-ish olive oil dip was delicious. The minestrone soup was nice. The polenta with fontina cheese was good as well.

I ordered risotto for my meal but it was too salty for my taste so I settled for steamed mussels which did not disappoint.

I think that’s enough eating out for now. We’ve done our grocery shopping for the week and I’m ready to roll. Can’t wait to make ice cream! And flat bread! And other stuff. :) [Pardon this post as I'm drinking Peroni while typing this. ]

What have you guys been making? Where/What have you been eating? And most importantly — What have I been missing? I blame turning 30 this week for all the craziness.

Have a great week everyone!

Fried Chicken. I spent a good part of the first decade of my life eating it. If you asked me when I was 8 what my favorite food was, I’d tell you it’s Fried Chicken. A little more of it and would have clucked my way into puberty.

I grew up with fried chicken marinated in soy sauce and calamansi (a citrus fruit that is oftentimes substituted with lemon). It tastes different than lemon and there’s no getting around to it in traditional Filipino recipe. It’s very hard to find these one inch citrus rounds in North America. And if at all you do, you’d have to pay a hefty price for them. [It's worth it for me -- if I can only find it!] So when I really want the fried chicken I grew up with, I’d have to just imagine it. And it’s hard!

I tried making a different version with ingredients I have and see how it would go. Just to try…hoping, hoping…

I marinated skinless breast pieces with the bones intact in lemon juice, teriyaki sauce, cayenne pepper, and fresh ground pepper for half an hour. Afterward they had undergone 2 flour coatings: The first is blended with salt and pepper; and the second with salt and cayenne pepper, with a dip in beaten egg in between.

It was fried to brown then baked for 10 minutes, turned halfway through the time.

It had more (and different) ingredients than my childhood recipe, but it tasted so close to how I wanted it with just a li’l bite from the cayenne. It was awesome. And the coating was finger-lickin’ good. I ate two big pieces!

Yummy!

Taste evokes all sorts of memories, just like the sight, smell, or feel of something. It’s knowing exactly how your grandma’s paella tastes like, or your mother’s fruit tarts, or your dad’s special steak rub. You’re in another place in another time with just one bite. And I…I was transported back to when I had to have a pillow on the chair so I can reach the table and eat my fried chicken with white rice because nothing else was good enough to waste my appetite on. I’m just glad to have the good taste of this back in my life (very shallow, eh?) and be able to replicate it again, and again, and again.

If you’d like to try it, here’s the recipe:

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You know sometimes when the more you want something so badly, the more it eludes you? Doesn’t that just make you want to throw things? Ahaha. As someone who’s relentless in getting what she wants, that kills me. THIS…kills me:

This epitomizes my frustration. However sweet the memories held by these sugary and cheesy sweet breads, its laborious preparation process pains me. I fell asleep waiting for all the rises. Emphasis on riseS. The good news is that it tastes somewhat like it should. It’s just not anywhere as light and airy as I remember from my childhood merienda [trans: snack].

My dad called them scones when he tried ‘em. And with a heavy heart I have to agree. The real deal needs to have a soft consistency similar to a croissant. Scones <> Croissant

SO. There will be a Part II, as you can tell. This isn’t right, but I won’t be discouraged. What this could probably mean for you, our dear readers, is that you’ll have to endure a potential gargantuan Ensaymada Saga much like the Cinnamon Roll Litanies. Oops. This is the recipe that I used for this batch. I was hesitant to use instant yeast because all of the times I used it, the bread did not rise satisfactorily as it happened here. I may try another recipe. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Since my family and I emigrated to North America almost a decade ago, one of the things missed right after family and friends in the priority hierarchy list is food. And boy, if there’s no one in your family who can cook Filipino delicacies, you better look at something else to satisfy you. I’ve talked about this with several Filipino friends over the past month, and we all agree that although there are restaurants here and there, the only way to really taste our cuisine is to have someone cook the local fare for you. Nothing can replace that.  I had a close enough taste of a homemade Filipino feast at a Hawaiian friends’ house in Honolulu, of all places. However, that’s really a far-fetched alternative. Now that I’m learning to cook, I’m slowly building my own list of go-to recipes to replicate my favorites and satisfy my cravings. If I can’t go ‘home’, I will bring ‘home’ to me. To my stomach!

What favorite childhood food have you tried making (to bring you back in time)? How did it go?

HI! It’s Me, Teddy! Remember me? It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, huh? Teddy was busy with being a Teddy for my Mommy and Daddy and not really doing much cooking. The need to cook struck me last week and I decided to break back in with making breakfast when he went back to work for the first time in almost a month! (Get it? Break back? Breakfast?? hmm???) Wanna see??? You know you want to!

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First of all, Happy Canada Day! to my fellow Canadians. :-) It’s a gorgeous breezy and sunny day here in Vancouver. Sooo nice.

Ok, back to our regular programming…

It was overcast at some point last week and I can’t remember which day now because my head is still recovering from the sweltering heat the past few days. For that matter, this could very well be the last soup-craving this summer — whether here in Vancouver or (most especially) in Arizona. Adding alcohol to a dish was just a good excuse in my book to whip up some soup.

This is different from all the other soups I’ve made from scratch because of that hint of nutty sweetness from the oloroso. It took such little effort, just have a look at my no-brainer procedure.  As for the cauliflower, I broiled them in the oven to bring out its nice subtle flavor. That and the cheese bread added a nice crunch to this simple meal. And it’s not too heavy and not too light. Just right. Give it a try when you feel like warming up. :)

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