Recipe #10: Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli

A few nights ago, I got to watch Giada de Laurentiis on Everyday Italian. I was really pleased to see the recent episode 'cause she featured some really cool recipes involving chocolate. During the episode, she got to share 3 recipes which I found so appealing. Out of the 3 recipes, I got intrigued by one particular recipe because it was so easy to make: Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli.

I made this tonight and shared it with my friend, Jesna. The original recipe is on the link above. But for the simple and easy version, here's the recipe I followed:

Ingredients:

1 Egg
Wonton Wrappers
Crumpy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Directions:

1. Beat the egg in a bowl. This will be used as an egg wash to seal in the wonton wrapper.
2. Brush the four corners of the wonton wrapper with the egg wash.
3. Place a teaspoon of the hazelnut spread in the middle of the wrapper.
4. Fold the wrapper from one corner, into a triangle. Gently press the corners to seal in the hazelnut spread.

What it looks like on this step

5. Fry each ravioli pocket for about a minute.
6. Place on tissue paper to get rid of the excess oil.
7. Serve. Be careful as the hazelnut chocolate is hot.

Finished product

Enjoy! :)

Recipe #9: Hooray for Fried Oreos!

After eating in Holy Rice and trying out their Holy Oreos, I decided to look for my own recipe. I was disappointed with the restaurant because they used Hi-Ro cookies instead of oreos. But nevertheless, it was still yummy!

Fortunately, my insomniac behavior of watching late night TV shows and reruns led me to a recipe! I never knew I would get the recipe for Fried Oreos from America's Next Top Model. But during this cycle's recap of the show, Ann prepared Fried Oreos for everyone in the house. I got to copy the recipe and made one yesterday!

ANTM winner, Ann

Ingredients:

1 pack Oreos

1/2 box Hotcake Mix

1 Egg

1/4 cup Water

Directions:

1. Mix 1/2 of the powdered hotcake mix with the water.

2. Add the beaten egg to the mixture.

3. Dip each oreo in the batter and deep fry. 

4. Strain using paper towels and enjoy!

Very easy to make! Delicious and perfect snack to your little ones! Since I don't have any kids at home and am on a diet, I only tasted 2-3 and gave the rest to my sister's future in laws.

Fried Oreos

Recipe #8: Corned Tuna in Lettuce Wrap

I'm thinking this isn't a new recipe as several of my friends confirmed that they already tried it. Nevertheless, I'm sharing my experience with everyone:

Corned Tuna Wrapped in Lettuce

Ingredients:

1 can of Corned Tuna

1 head Lettuce

Directions:

Saute tuna.

Wash Lettuce and cut off the end parts. 

Put a spoon serving of tuna on lettuce and wrap.

Recipe #7: A Healthy Carbonara

Last September 17, my sister asked me to cook dinner for the birthday of her (soon-to-be) brother in law, George. Since George has been a good mentor (photography) to me, I decided to spare a few hours of my busy work day to prepare a delicious dinner with his favorite dish: Carbonara.

If you know me, I like to spice things up by adding my own versions to the recipe. A typical Carbonara dish contains bacon bits. Since I am on a "health conscious" diet, I decided to forgo the bacon and used broccoli instead. I also added two kinds of mushroom: shitake and straw mushrooms.

I also choose Farfalle pasta instead of ordinary spaghetti since white sauces go well with this shape of pasta. If you can't find Farfalle, you can still use Fusilli or Rotini. ^,^

Image by George Bermeo

Ingredients:

100 g Broccoli

1 small can Mushrooms, sliced

50 g Shitake Mushrooms, sliced

Garlic, diced

Onion, diced

Sauce: 1/2 cup Nestle Cream

1/2 cup Fresh Milk

1 block Eden Original Cheese, grated

1 tablespoon Butter, melted

1 tablespoon Flour

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Blanch and shock Broccoli. Set aside.

Saute garlic and onion in butter. Add shitake mushrooms. Once you notice that they have softened, add the other mushrooms and the broccoli. Put salt and pepper. Set aside.

Mix melted butter and flour in a bowl to make roux. Once thoroughly incorporated, heat on a deep pan.

Add the cream and the Fresh milk. Add the grated cheese.

Put salt and pepper and let boil. Taste. If it does not exude any flavor, add more salt. Continuously stir the cream-milk mixture until it thickens.

When ready, add the sauteed mushrooms-broccoli mixture.

Toss Farfalle pasta into the sauce. Add grated Parmesan cheese on top before serving to your guests.

Recipe #6: Crusted Dory with Mushroom Tomato Ravioli Filled with Cream Cheese and Spinach

After a few months of being traumatized of cooking (after my disappointing stay in culinary school), I finally got the nerve to cook new dishes again. Lately, I have been experimenting and whipping up some dishes on my own--some I have learned from school. I was unable to cook for a few months since it felt like every dish I prepared was under/over cooked. My recent dishes have been cooked right. ^,^

For tonight, I cooked Crusted Dory with Mushroom Tomato Ravioli Filled with Cream Cheese and Spinach

Recipe:

1/2 kilo Dory, cut into quarters

10 sheets Lasagna, cooked according to instructions

200 grams Spinach, blanched

1/4 cup Cream Cheese

1 pack Tomato Sauce

1 small can sliced Mushrooms

1/2 cup Flour, mixed with salt and pepper

2 small Garlic, minced

1 small Onion, minced

Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Prepare ahead: a container of the flour, pepper and salt. Make sure it has a tight lid.

Once you have cooked lasagna, cut them into squares. Put blanched spinach in the middle, being careful not to crowd the lasagna sheets with the filling. Place about 1/2 teaspoon of cream cheese on top of spinach just so it won't escape the pocket. Fry for a few seconds and drain on paper towel.

In a separate pan, saute garlic and onion in oil. Add mushrooms and the tomato sauce. Place black pepper and salt into the sauce, testing for the preferred taste. Let the mixture boil.

Cover dory with flour-pepper-salt mixture. Place lid on top and gently shake to mix. Remove from container and fry in a shallow pan of oil. Flip on to the other side after a minute of cooking. After another minute, flip back to its previous side before transferring to a plate lined with paper towel.

Prepare the ravioli on the serving dish. Pour the tomato-mushroom sauce on top of it. Place dory on the side and top the middle with parsley (optional). Serve.

I hope I inspire some of you to try this dish. If you did, let me know what you think!

Enjoy!  ^,^

Recipe #5: Kratong Thong

For Christmas 2009, I was originally planning to make Black Sambo since my relatives were not aware what it was. But since I was unsuccessful in making the gelatin the right texture for three attempts, I ended up making Kratong Thong (Thai dish) instead.

It's a dish made with chicken mixed with corn and some carrots and placed on fried cups. I never actually got the recipe for this dish but I made up my own recipe.

Ingredients:

1 Kilo Ground Chicken, seasoned with Salt & Pepper

1 Can Corn

1/2 Carrot, Diced

20 Lumpia Wrapper, Fried

Directions:

1. Mix in the carrots with the raw chicken. When it has thoroughly been mixed, saute it with a little oil.

2. When chicken is almost cooked, add in the whole kernel corn.

3. Once chicken is thoroughly cooked, place it on fried lumpia wrapper cups.

Recipe #4: Hockey Pucks

A simple way to enjoy your all time favorite Peanut Butter snack. I found this recipe in AllRecipes.com under the name Hockey Pucks.

Fita Biscuits
Peanut Butter Creamy
Chocolate Bar

Sandwich peanut butter with the crackers.  Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or you can use a steamer for this.  After the chocolate has melted, dip the PB crackers in the chocolate and place on a plate.  Let it cool again.

Eat as a snack or dessert.  Works both ways.

I hope you enjoy the recipes that I found.  Will post more recipes next time. Feel free to leave a comment.  As always, I like knowing what you think about what I have written.

Recipe #3: Khaaw Neow Ma-Muang

After arriving from Bangkok, I still had a hangover of my trip.  From the MRT, the Skytrain to walking the whole city, Suan Lum Night Bazaar to the lockers of the small hostel we stayed in.  As much as the whole experience I had, I also miss the food that we got to taste.  So this past few days, I've been searching non-stop and trying different recipes I found on AllRecipes.com, ehowto.com and from yahoo! answers as well.  Just about everywhere!  I tried cooking Mango with Sticky Rice and Tom Kha Gai-- the food we were able to eat.  As much as I love to cook, I'm sharing my discovered recipe with you all out there:

1 kilo Thai Malagkit Rice
1 can (13 lq. oz.) Coconut Milk
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 cup White Sugar
1/2 kilo Mango
3 tsp. Sesame Seeds

Wash malagkit rice four times. Drain water each time. (Of course). After the fourth wash, drain water and soak in cool water, 2-3 inches above rice for about 6-8 hours. After 8 hours (I did it overnight), drain water again and place rinsed rice inside cheesecloth.  Tie cheesecloth and steam in bamboo steamer (I used the ones you can buy from the grocery/department store) for about one hour or until the rice is tender.

While steaming the rice, heat the coconut milk and add the salt and sugar until it boils.  Remove from heat and put 3/4 of the milk with the steamed rice (this is when you've already removed it from the cheesecloth) and let it cool.  Separate the remaining part of the milk because this will be used later.

Once the rice mik mixture has cooled down, put it on a plate and place mango slices on the other side of the rice.  Drizzle the plated rice and mango with the warm milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

You can get 3 plated servings of this.

The real Khaaw Neow Ma-Muang looked like this

Recipe #2: Black Sambo

No matter how much I try to fight it away, there's no denying Christmas is just around the corner. And for this reason, bit by bit, my Scrooge-ness is trying to cave in and getting tempted to get presents to everyone that matters most to me. But since I will be going against myself if I do that, I decided to make them food instead.

I asked my aunts if they wanted to get cookies or Black Sambo from me. So when they answered me "What's Black Sambo," I was shocked. This dessert dish is actually pretty popular back home. For this reason, I decided to make them Black Sambo and sharing the recipe with everyone as well.

image borrowed from http://pigarotti.multiply.com

First of all, what is Black Sambo?

Black Sambo is a dessert which is composed of two gelatin layers and covered with chocolate syrup. The bottom layer is made with cocoa while the top is made with cream.

Recipe:

Bottom Layer:
1 Cup Water
1 Cup Cocoa
Sugar to taste

Gelatin Sachet
1 Cup Water
1 Can Evaporated Milk
1/2 Cup Sugar

1. Mix water and cocoa and bring it to a boil. Add sugar, depending on how sweet you want it to be.
2. Cook gelatin in 1 cup water. When it comes to a boil, add in 1 can evaporated milk, 1/2 cup sugar and the cocoa.
3. Let cool for a few minutes before you transfer to gelatin mold.

Top Layer:
Gelatin Sachet
1 Cup Water
1 Can Cream
1 Can Condensed Milk

1. Cook gelatin in 1 cup water. When it comes to a boil, add in the cream and the condensed milk. Stir well.
2. Let cool before you top on the previous gelatin once the cocoa gelatin layer has set.
3. Allow to cool.

Once it has cooled, add in chocolate syrup on top and refrigerate. Enjoy the dish once it is already cool.

Recipe #1: Mom’s Breakfast Casserole

Waking up to the smell of a delicious breakfast casserole reminds me of my mom's cooking when I was a young girl. Back then, I thought of her as a good witch that created magical foods. I loved her dish that I wanted to know how to make one.  I never got the chance to ask her 'cause she died. My siblings and I loved her special recipe and even when she was gone, they asked me to recreate her secret-- which turned out to be a mixture of ordinary breakfast dishes.  Whoever thought to combine them together right? This has long been a family recipe... Which I'm now sharing.

3 Hotdogs

1 can Corned Beef

1 can Pork & Beans

Onion

Garlic

Saute garlic and onion.  Then add the sliced hotdogs.  After about a minute or two, add the corned beef.  Stir until they are all even colored.  Then add the pork and beans.  Wait until it boils before serving.  Enjoy!