Citron Confit, Herbs and Garlic Crusted Mahi mahi

About a couple of month ago, I made some preserves with my cooking group to celebrate the bounty harvest of summer. We made strawberry rhubarb preserve, ginger bourbon peaches and citron confit. The last of the strawberry-rhubarb went into the Cottage Cheese Pufflets last Tuesday; the ginger bourbon peaches long gone-- some I blended and added to my bellinis and some I had with vanilla ice cream. The citron confit, however, I have about 5 lbs still sitting in the refrigerator.

Citron or Lemon confit is used in French and Moroccan cuisine. I have a couple of books on African cooking that I haven't gone through yet (meaning cook from) but when I browsed through it, lemon confit keeps on appearing as an ingredient. When Citron Confit was featured in the July 2009 Food and Wine issue, I knew I finally have to make them. And now, like I said, I have about 5 lbs waiting to be featured in my cooking. In the next few months -- I will have a citron confit fest in my own little world, haha! I will have to dust off the Tagine soon!

I have been longing for home (the Philippines) lately, and I correlate the Philippines with fresh seafood. I get as much of my dose of seafood as I can when I go home, since fresh seafood (and variety) is scarce in Atlanta. I will be home in December (yay!), but for now, I have to satisfy my cravings somehow. I went to Harry's after work and bought some mahi-mahi. I will use the lemon confit, together with some of the herbs in my garden for the fish, with a side of Israeli couscous. I like cooking with Israeli couscous more than the regular couscous since they are more versatile.

Citron Confit, Herbs & Garlic Crusted Mahi-mahi

4 pcs (4 oz each) Mahi-mahi

4 Tbsps each basil, chives and savory

2 cloves Garlic

4 Tbsps Olive Oil

2 cloves garlic

pinch of sea salt

freshly ground pepper

Citron Confit, 4 segments, only use rind (remove pulp and pith)

Israeli Couscous with Oven-dried Heirloom Tomatoes, Caramelized Onions & Anchovies

4 Tbsps olive oil

1 1/3 cups Israeli Couscous

1 3/4 cups water**

2 Shrimp Bouillon**

1 medium yellow onion

2 oz oven-dried heirloom tomatoes

4 pcs anchovies fillet, chopped

pinch of sea salt

freshly ground pepper

pinch of pepper flakes

Parsley, chopped

**You can use straight chicken stock, omit bouillon if so. You can substitute chicken bouillon for the shrimp bouillon.

Prepare the mahi-mahi. Blend everything in a food processor except for the Mahi-mahi. Top the mahi-mahi with the herbs, confit & garlic mixture and let it marinate for about an hour in the refrigerator.

Heat an enameled cast iron pan. Add about 2 Tbsp of olive. Add onion and cook until caramelized. Remove from pan. Add remaining olive oil, then add the couscous. Brown the couscous, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Add the anchovies and shrimp bouillon, give it a couple of stir, add the tomatoes and the caramelized onions. Add salt and pepper. Saute for about a minute then add the water. Bring to a boil, then cover the pan and simmer for about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Add the parsley as you turn off the heat. The couscous should be al dente.

Heat the grill or the griddle. Cook each side of the fish for about 3 minutes.

Serves about (4) not so hungry patrons or (2) very hungry ones. LOL!

TWD: Cottage Cheese Pufflets

This week's TWD challenge is a relief compared to last week's kitchen misadventure. I used some of my homemade strawberry rhubarb jam as filling for these weetle tookies and they turned out real good! The cookie is not sweet, so most of the sweetness comes from the jam filling. I popped 5 of these bad boys even before I transferred them to the cooling rack. They are perfect as little pick me ups for the rainy days.

Check out of Jacque's blog, Daisy Lane Cakes, our host for this weeks TWD for her rendition of these cookies and the TWDer's blogroll for every one's baking experience this week.

A great guy, a cake and a story of unfailing love & friendship

Devil's Food White-Out Cake(From Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours)

For the past few years, for Bill's birthday, I let him pick out a cake from my cookbooks for me to bake for him. And this year, the pick was the Devil's Food White Out Cake. Well, technically, he wanted this cake for his birthday last year, but I opted to make him the Perfect Party Cake with Raspberries, another Dorie Greenspan cake, which we both did not regret since the cake was perfect! The Devils' Food White Out Cake is perfect in it's own way. It really is the kind of cake you don't eat daintily. This cake, you have to eat without reservation, with a glass of milk or two. It's a chocolate overload cake, what with 4 kinds of chocolate going into it. The marshmallow frosting is billowy, smooth and very light, a melt-in-your-mouth goodness!

I met Bill about about eight years ago while I was doing my internship on Business Management in Austin and he was doing consultation/project management for Dell. We were both housed at the Residence Inn, and like every extended stay hotel, you get to know all the residents after a while, what with all the social hours they have. One night, I roamed about in the lobby and there he was, sitting in one of the couch with a little notepad and a pen, in his jammies and socks, scribbling some goddess only knows what crap in his notepad. I looked in his shoulders and with my filters down, as always, exclaimed, "That's the ugliest handwriting I've ever seen in my entire life! And oh, can I bum one of your cigarettes?" He looked at me in disbelief, and well, after that, the rest is history. He was destined to put up with all my crap.

About a couple of years ago, we went through trying times. Bill got very sick -- he needed an organ transplant to live, and for almost a year, we spent more time in the hospital than anywhere else. It was devastating! For the first time in my life, I was lost, I was scared. You see, Bill is my only family here in the States, what with everyone being back in the Philippines. He is the ONLY one I got. Most of our friends think that I am the strong one in our relationship, the alpha dog, the one who runs the show. What they do not know is that I draw my strength from Bill, my pillar of strength. Bill is the one who constantly remind me that everything is going to be okay, the one person who helps me pick up the little pieces of me when I am broken, the one who lets me cry when I have to, bitch when I want to, laugh with me when I am trying to be funny, laugh at me when I am being stupid and put me in check when I needed to. I never need to pretend to be someone or something else around him, because I know, regardless of who I am that very moment, he will love me nonetheless.

He is personified in this blog as the man behind all the awesome photos, the numero uno frosting biotch, the brownie monster, the lime pie expert or simply Himself. But outside the blogosphere, he is my very best friend, the one person who will always be there for me when everyone and everything else fails to.

To Bill, a happy, happy birthday! May all your hearts desire come forth. Thanks for putting up with me and all my shite all these years. I love you much, dude!

Parade of Cupcakes

About a couple of years ago, inspired by Cheryl Porro of Cupcake Bakeshop, I started making cupcakes as an outlet for all the pent up energy I have, LOL! I asked my family and friends to be my frosting biotches, I mean tasters, and not long after that, I was known as the cupcake lady to family and friends.

I got my first paying gig/break when Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) ordered 300 cupcakes for their monthly employees birthday celebration. Before I know it, I was making cupcakes (and cakes and brownies) for Graduations, Birthdays, Baptismals, Corporate meetings & events, Product Launching, Valentines, Showers and other occasions. But let me tell you, when I fill an order for 450 cupcakes to be delivered at noon on a Friday, that would transpose to almost 36 hours of non-stop baking, no sleep and pots after pots of Ethiopian single-estate coffee; not to mention zero social life. It was all fun and good at first, plus a great way to augment my income. But thousands of cupcakes later, I was burned out. You see, I was single handedly making these cupcakes -- me, myself and I. Thus I decided to stopped taking orders. Of late, I have been getting inquiries and not-quite-so-large orders of cupcakes, and slowly but surely, I can feel the excitement building up again. The rush I get when I make these bad boys is euphoric!

I wish I had a blog then, so I could have kept pictures of all the cupcakes I made. But I did get a few, so here is what I was able to take pictures of. Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Cupcakes -- Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with port infused dried cherries,

whipped cream and port reduction glaze

Neapolitan Cupcakes --

Vanilla and Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Frosting --

ICE CEO's 2009 birthday cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Marshmallow Mascarpone Frosting

Neiman Marcus Cupcakes -- Pineapple-coconut cupcakes infused with Jamaican Rum, filled with

Pineapple-coconut-rum custard with Coconut-rum Swiss meringue frosting and

homemade candied coconut strips.

I made these bad boys for my carribean-tiki-crazy friend JJ on his graduation from Oregon State University.

Classic Yellow cupcakes with Chocolate Italian Meringue Frosting

Strawberry cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting

Cardamom Carrot cupcakes with Orange-Cream Cheese Frosting and

Homemade Candied Carrot Strips-- my personal favorite!

Flourless Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with Rum infused dried strawberries, Cardamom frosting and Cabernet Sauvignon glaze -- an ORIGINAL creation and another personal favorite.

Lemon cupcakes filled with Lemon Custard and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Pink Velvet Cupcakes with White Chocolate-Mascarpone Frosting -- another ORIGINAL creation

Valrhona Chocolate cupcakes with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Frosting --

I made these cupcakes for my my friend Nichelle and her hubby's first Valentine. Photo courtesy of Nichelle.

Rose Cupcakes filled with Rose Petal jam and Rose Turkish delights with White Chocolate Mascarpone Frosting topped with crystallized rose petals - another one of my ORIGINAL creations.

Lavender cream filled cupcakes with Fennel frosting

Cookies and Cream cupcakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes -- Vanilla cupcakes filled with homemade Raspberry jelly and Peanut butter frosting

Chocolate and Peanut butter cupcakes topped with the WWF bear -- an earth day cupcake

Classic Chocolate-Chocolate-- Chocolate cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

TWD: Flaky Apple Turnover, a humbling experience

I’m so ready for fall! Like the Apple Bars from last month, this week’s TWD, Flaky Apple Turnover, chosen by Jules of Someone’s in the Kitchen, is a teaser for fall. For me, an apple is to fall, like a lemon is to summer.

Technically it is still summer, and since I have peaches sitting in my counter, I decided to play around and instead make the turnovers with peaches.  For the peach filling, I used cardamom, just because I love cardamom, and I always find success substituting cardamom in recipes that asked for cinnamon. I added a little ginger too, since it goes well with peaches. Cardamom by the way is part of the ginger family. It turned out better than I expected. To me, the fusion of the sweet peaches and the peppery sweet taste of cardamom is phenomenal. This recipe earns its right to go in my recipe box.

BBA Challenge: Artos - Greek Celebration Bread

Since I moved to Atlanta/Marietta almost 6 years ago, I never missed going to the Marietta Greek Festival. When they opened the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church about 4 years ago, I finally bought a copy of their cookbook and a bottle of mastic gum, so I could make the Tsoureki that I love so much. Well, life got busy and I never got around to making it. But everything always has a way of falling into place, and so I am happy that the second Bread Bakers Apprentice Challenge is the Artos.

Pink it is! A bridal shower cupcake.

When I was asked by my friend Vilma to make cupcakes for her office mate Lizs' surprise bridal shower, I was ecstatic to the roof! It's been a while since I was commissioned (paid) to make cupcakes, so the pressure is on -- I love it when my creativity is challenged, yet, there's also the fear of failure.

I usually ask the client what flavor they want and the general idea of what they expect. Funny, my clients are usually easy, they let me know of the (cup)cake flavor and I usually am left to be creative with it. In this case, Vilma made it even easier on me, her only requirement is that it has to be pink! So pink it is!

Of Lemon Cupcakes and Goodbyes

I'm feeling real crappy today, what with having to part ways with a person whom I hold dear in my heart. Goodbyes are always heart wrenching where it be permanent or temporary, to a loved one or a friend. They say that people come into our lives for either a lifetime, a reason or a season, and at some point, goodbyes will have to be said. So, how does one say goodbye other than the passe "I wish you the best and I will always hold you dear in my heart" line?? Let me throw that question to you, Dear Void. As for me, it's time to bake!

I love Autumn more than any other season, and it will be here officially in 13 days! Summer to me is fun times, theme song -- BB King's "Let the Good Times Roll", thus it deserves a good send off, yeah? To me, lemons best represents summer. All bright and yellow like the beautiful summer days...refreshing like the pool, lake or beaches we are so drawn to during this season...funky and casual -- whether you add it to a food or a drink, it lends them that kind of attitude. Thus for the big send off, I give you (drum roll, please) --

Bolognese Sauce with Fresh Taglierini

Making pasta this weekend brought back tender memories of my childhood in the Philippines. My late Lola Tisay (Lola means grandmother in Filipino) always made "Miki" on special occasions. The soup base for "Miki" is made of shrimp heads and crabs that she pounds into a pulp in a stone mortar and pestle. She then strains the fluid from the pulp into the meat stock where she simmered chicken and pork until they are tender, which she eventually shred and add to the soup with the homemade egg pasta that she lovingly prepared.

Like baking bread, making pasta is in one of the things on my "to learn list". Himself gave me my pasta machine about 3 years ago as one of my birthday gifts. I finally decided to put it to use this weekend.

I made the pasta using the basic egg pasta recipe that is standard to most Italian cookbooks. I am attaching this video of a simplified way of preparing the pasta--

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

4 large egg

1 tsp sea salt

4 tsp extra virgin olive oil

I made the bolognese sauce like any bolognese sauce, omitting the pancetta since I don't have it readily available this time. I used cream instead of milk and stirred it in 10 minutes towards the end--

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

2 celery, diced

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 large tomato, peeled, seeded and diced

grape tomatoes, cut in half

1tsp tomato paste

bay leave, thyme, rosemary

generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 cups light beef stock

1/4 cup cream

parmesan cheese

Incorporating the flour with the egg and oil

Pasta Sheets

Cutting the egg noodles

Fresh Taglierini

Bolognese Sauce with fresh Taglierini

BBA Challenge: Anadama Bread

I have a list for myself of things I want to learn and be good at, and one of them is to learn how to bake Artisanal breads at home. So I did my research on what book to get to teach myself, and The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart was my best choice. I bought the book about a couple of years ago when I decided that I had enough of clay/pottery, but two years after, the only recipe I ever made from the book is the Corn Bread, which by the way, is now the official Thanksgiving Cornbread in my house. I stumbled upon the BBA Challenge Group while browsing groups to join on Facebook, and I am so glad that they just started - I will have time to catch up. Thus, the BBA challenge commenced.

I can confidently say that I am a pretty darn good cook and baker, but for some reason, bread baking intimidates me, and yet, at the same time, I always had the hunger to be good at it.

As I am writing this blog, half of the bread is gone. This is the best bread I have had in a long time! But then again, I haven't been to France or Italy to really enjoy good bread, not even to Acme in Northern California. So for now, just indulge me and let me say that this is the best bread I ever had yet for a while!

Blueberry Muffins

Earlier this week, a fellow foodie told me that he loves blueberry muffins, the top part to be exact, and I totally understand why. Long before I discovered this blueberry muffin recipe, I used to just eat the top of the muffin and leave the rest for the "thanks for stopping by bin" a.k.a. trash. These little bad boys made me a believer of eating the whole thing. The texture is more of a cake than muffin, spongy and oh so light with a good crumb. It's has the right amount of sweetness that balances the creamy tanginess from the mascarpone, ricotta and cream cheese.

My son Khalel (yup, that's Superman's name!) loves blueberry muffins, thus my quest to find the best blueberry muffin recipe for him. About a year ago, while still in that quest, I stumbled upon the recipe for Holy Muffin, and since then, I tweaked the recipe to suit my palate.

This recipe will make about 12 regular muffins and a small loaf pan.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 oz cream cheese

4 oz ricotta cheese

4 oz mascarpone cheese

6 tbsp butter

1 cup sugar

2 L eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 t vanilla extract

1 t almond extract

1 pint fresh blueberries**

**I discovered that if I leave fresh blueberries in the refrigerator for about 3-5 days, just when they start to become prune-y or wrinkly, the sweetness intensifies and it becomes less watery, thus when I add to the muffin, it's not as soggy as when using 'fresh' ones. They also remain suspended in the batter thus I don't get the blueberries all in the bottom of the muffin.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12-tin muffin pan and a mini loaf pan with Baking Joy. In a bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients, set aside. In a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, the sugar, cream cheese, mascarpone and ricotta at medium speed until smooth. Add the almond and vanilla extracts. Add the eggs one at a time with a minute interval. Incorporate the dry mixture alternating with the milk, ending with the dry mixture. Scoop batter halfway in the muffin pans, then drop 5 blueberries. Fill muffin tin 3/4 full, drop 3 more blueberries, and try to submerge them in the batter by pushing them in and smoothing the top. Bake 20-25 minutes until browned or when a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

One of these days, I will turn 'John-the-muffin-top-lover' to a convert with these muffins!