Ricotta Orange Pound Cake

 

 

 

 

I was watching Food Network the other day and Giada made this pound cake and it looks delicious. I decided I had to make it. I checked the review and it earned 5 stars from 100+ users.  That's why I told myself, this is gotta be a  good cake. After reading the reviews, I made few changes. I used Limoncello Rum instead of Amaretto. Also, I used candied orange instead of strawberries and I baked for 1 hour. End results, the cake is just scrumptious! It is one of the best desserts I have ever made. It is perfectly moist and with just right amount of orange flavor. Hubby just loved it, he said to make this again and again and again. Give it a try, it's worth it.

Adapted from Food Network

 

 

Ingredients:

 

 

1-½ cups cake flour ( I used unbleached all purpose flour )

2-½ teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup ( 1-½ sticks ) butter, at room temperature

plus more to grease baking pan

1-½ cups whole milk ricotta cheese

1-½ cups sugar, plus 1 tablespoon

3 large eggs

t teaspoon vanilla extract

1 orange, zested

2 tablespoon Amaretto ( I replaced with Limoncello Rum )

powdered sugar for dusting

1 pint strawberries ( I replaced this with candied orange )

 

Cooking Directions :

 

• Pre-heat oven to 350°F, Grease 9 x 5 x 3 - inch loaf pan with butter.
• In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.
• Using electric mixer, cream together the butter, ricotta and 1-½ cups sugar until light and fluffy.
• With the machine running, add the eggs one at time.
• Add vanilla orange zest and Limoncello Rum. Mix well. Scraping edge with spatula,
• Add the dry ingredients, a small amount at a time, until just incorporated.
• Pour mixture on prepared pan and bake until toothpick come out clean and the cake is beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Let the cake cook in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
• Dust the cooked cake with powder sugar.
• Meanwhile, place the strawberries ( or orange supremes) in a small bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let sit until juices have pooled around.
• Serve with slice of cake and spoonful of strawberries and their juices over the top of the cake. Enjoy!

 

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Butter Tarts

A butter tart is a Canadian pastry treat. It is made of flaky pastry shells filled with sweet  and gooey mixture of butter, brown sugar and eggs. Finding these sweet treats is easy when I am in Canada.  But living in Latin America is a different story. I googled these Butter Tarts recipe and I was able to find the Award-Winning Butter Tarts  at RecipeZaar.

This recipe is Adapted from RecipeZaar.

Ingredients:

pie pastry ( enough to fill 16 muffin cups, I used Pillsbury pie crust )
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cups raisins ( soaked in water for 30 minutes )
¼ cup soft butter
1 pinch salt
½ cup corn syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla


Cooking Directions:

• Prepare muffin pans, if you are using refrigerated pie crust, you need to bring the dough to room temperature so take it out from the fridge 15 minutes before fitting to your muffin cups.
• Using a cookie cutter, cut about 4-inch circle; fit dough circles into muffin cups, set aside on the fridge until ready to fill.
• In a large bowl, using wooden spoon, mix the soft butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Stir well, make sure the ingredients are well incorporated and butter is creamed.
• Add egg and vanilla, mix well.
• Add drained raisins.
• Fill the tart shells with butter mixture. Make sure the raisins are divided equally. Do not fill tart shells all the way to the very top, leave room as the filling bubble up a bit.
• Bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes or until filling is lightly brown and bubbly.
• Remove from oven. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and place on racks to cool completely.
• Enjoy!

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Shrimp Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce

 

 

 

I am lucky to be living near the Fish Market where I can get fresh shell fish and other seafoods. Besides being fresh, it is relatively cheap compared to our local super market. I had a leftover Thai Peanut Sauce from the other day when I made the Thai Chicken Satay so I decided to make Shrimp Satay. It is another out of this world easy recipe. 

 

Ingredients :

 

2 lbs fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 teaspoon of curry powder

1 cup of coconut milk

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of finely chopped lemon grass

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tablespoon of fresh ginger

1 tablespoon of fish sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup of Thai Peanut Sauce - see recipe here

Bamboo skewers ( soaked for 30 minutes )

 

Cooking Directions:

 

• In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the peanut sauce.
• Add the shrimp and marinade for 1-3 hours.
• Pre-heat grill pan on medium high heat and spray or brush with oil.
• Thread the shrimp on the prepared skewer.
• Grill shrimp for 2-3 minutes per side or until turns pink.
• Serve Shrimp Satay with Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce and noodles of you choice. Enjoy!

  

Click here for Chowmein or Yakisoba recipe

 

 

 

 

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Thai Green Curry Chicken

Thai Green Chicken Curry is one of Thailand's most popular dishes. This recipe is wonderful to serve because it is so colourful. You don't have to be Thai to cook and enjoy this spicy dish. With the aid of the ready made Thai Green Curry Paste, this is a quick and easy recipe.

My husband and I love Thai Food. There was a time where we decided to have a food theme every week. Like one week Italian, or one week Latin and this week it is all Thai. Yes, as you can see on my postings, the Chicken Satay has already been posted and my Thai Sweet Sticky rice is still to be posted and now I am posting another best of Thai- Green Curry Chicken.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoon of Thai green curry paste
1-½ lbs of chicken breast, cut into bite size
1 tablespoon cooking oil

1-½ cups coconut milk
½ cups water
4-5 kaffir lime leaves
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 red  bell peppers
bunch of string beans ( I used this to substitute the Thai Eggplant which I do not  have)
fresh basil leaves

Cooking Directions:

• In a heavy sauce pan or wok, heat the oil and saute the green curry paste.
• Add the 1 cup of coconut milk and water and bring to boil until it the oil surface.
• Add the chicken, string beans and kaffir lime leaves,cook until no longer pink.
• Add the red bell peppers. Cook for 2 minutes.
• Add the fish sauce and sugar.
• Pour the remaining coconut and if you want to use basil, add at this point.
• Continue to cook for 2 more minutes. Serve with white steam rice. Enjoy !

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Kutsinta ( Sticky Rice Cake )

Kutsinta is another kind  rice cakes. It is a cake made of rice flour, mixed with water and dark brown sugar plus the secret ingredient here is the lye water. It is cooked same way as Puto, poured into moulds and steamed. The finished product should be sticky yet chewy. This is serve with fresh grated coconut.

This recipe is adapted from panlasang pinoy.

Ingredients:

½ cup all purpose flour
1-½ cup rice flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 cups of water
2 teaspoon of anatto seeds ( can be substituted with artificial food color )
1-½ teaspoon of lye water

Equipment :

steamer
silicone bakeware or kutsinta mould

Cooking Directions:

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients starting from, all purpose flour, rice flour and brown sugar. Mix well, make sure it is well incorporated.
• Gradually add the water and continue to mix until all ingredients are well blended.
• Add the lye water and anatto water. ( Anatto water is result from the anatto seeds soaked with 3 tablespoon of water for few minutes. It should be a vibrant red color.
• Pour mixture into individual silicone bakeware or muffin mould and steam for 40 minutes to an hour.
• Let it cool and serve with freshly grated coconut. Enjoy!

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Bibingkang Malagkit ( Sticky Rice Cake )

Bibingkang Malagkit,commonly known as Biko, is a sticky rice cake cooked in sweetened coconut milk and usually topped with caramelized sugar and coconut cream. In the Philippines, this is available in the market, where they usually enjoy this delicacy during breakfast and merienda time. I had cooked this recipe several times, but I never get a habit of taking pictures. It is only recently that I have a foodblog that got me into documenting my recipes. The photo you will see here is not the look I was aiming for when I cooked this. I ran out of dark brown sugar so I had used the light brown sugar ergo my rice cake came out light in color instead of golden brown color. But, it still taste good. If you want good results in cooking, never compromise your ingredients. That is the lesson I learned in making this Rice Cake. Here's my own twist of this popular Philippines delicacy.

Ingredients:

2 cups of glutinous rice or sticky rice
4 cups of coconut milk
2 cups dark brown sugar
1-½ cups water
4 tablespoon of butter
½ teaspoon of salt

Cooking Directions:

• Wash glutinous rice 2-3 times, put in a rice cooker. Add the water and cook until rice is ready.
• In a wok or heavy bottom pan, bring 3 cups of coconut milk to boil, add 1-½ cups brown sugar and butter, mix thoroughly. Keep on stirring until the mixture is reduce to half and thick.
• Add the cooked rice on to the coconut mixture, mix well. Make sure the rice is well incorporated with the coconut mixture. Reduce your heat to low and continue to cook until the coconut mixture is absorbed by the rice.
• Remove sticky rice from wok, place on a prepared baking tray or Pyrex, flatten and set aside.
• Pre-heat oven to 350°F. Bake the Sticky Rice Cake for 15 minutes.
• In a small wok or saucepan, caramelized remaining sugar and coconut milk. Cook until thick.
• Pour caramelized mixture on top of the sticky rice cake and bake until golden crust is formed.
• Let it cool before serving. Enjoy!

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Pork Yakisoba Noodles

My husband loves stir fry meals.   It makes me happy, because there is nothing quicker than stir frying a Yakisoba dish. This Japanese meal is super-fast.  Make sure you have all your ingredients  prepped and ready to go. This recipe is where you can used your leftover meat, poultry or vegetables. You really can cook a meal within 5 minutes. Try it and you will see what I am talking about.

Ingredients.

1 pack of  fresh Chow Mein Noodles or Yakisoba noodles with 1 package of seasoning ( see note )
1 red pepper
1 clove of garlic
½ cup of snow peas
½ cup of sliced onion
2 tablespoon sesame oil
salt and black pepper to taste

Cooking Directions:

• Heat wok or pan with tablespoon of sesame oil. Stir fry pork for 2-3 minutes.Remove from pan and wipe the pan with paper towel.
• Re-heat wok or pan with half tablespoon of sesame oil. Stir fry vegetables for 2 minutes. Set aside. Again, wipe pan with paper towel.
• On the same wok or pan, heat remaining sesame oil. Add the noodles, stir fry for 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoon of water. Add the 1 package seasoning that comes with the Yakisoba. Add pork and vegetables. Stir fry for 2 minutes.
• Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Note:  If you are using the dry Yakisoba noodles where in you need to boil in water first. Please follow directions on how to cook noodles found on the package.

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Thai Chicken Satay with Thai Peanut Sauce

This Thai Chicken Satay recipe is amazing !!! The flavors come together like they were made for each other. The chicken by itself was very flavorful and could stand on it's own, but the Thai Peanut Sauce was divine. The Thai Peanut Sauce can be use with Asian Summer Rolls too. This recipe is a definite keeper!


Source: Food Network/Ellie Krieger and Thai Food Tonight


Thai Chicken Satay Recipe
Ingredients:

1-½ lb of chicken breast cut to 1 inch cubes
½ cup coconut milk
2 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 shallot ( finely chopped)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger ( grated)
1 clove of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of finely chopped lemon grass
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
½ tablespoon of curry powder
salt and black pepper to taste
bamboo skewers ( soaked for 30 minutes )
1 cup of Thai Peanut Sauce ( Dipping Sauce ) - see recipe below

Cooking Directions :

• In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, soy sauce, fish sauce,shallot, garlic,brown sugar, curry powder and ginger. Season with salt and pepper, mix well.
• Add the chicken cubes and marinate for 1- 3 hours.
• Pre-heat your grill pan on medium-high heat and spray or brush with oil.
• Thread chicken onto skewers while pan is heating.
• Grill chicken satay for 2-3 minutes per side, or until meat is cooked through and has light grill marks.
• Serve Chicken Satay warm with Peanut Dipping Sauce and Asian salad of your choice.

Thai Peanut Sauce ( Dipping Sauce ) :

Ingredients:

1 cup of coconut milk
1 tablespoon of Thai curry paste
2 tablespoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar
2 tablespoon of creamy peanut butter

Cooking Directions:

• Bring ¾ cup of coconut milk to boil.
• Immediately stir in the Thai curry paste.
• Add fish sauce and sugar, mix well.
• Add the peanut butter, mix well and make sure it is well incorporated.
• Finish it with the remaining coconut milk. Cook for 1 more minute.

Note:

Sauce can be made 1 day ahead of time, and will keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.

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