Musings of a Traveling Chef

Two weeks ago, our department hosted a potluck burrito bar.  My colleague, who's Mexican-American, is famous for her sauces.  She made several types of sauce for this event, the cilantro jalapeno sauce, members only sauce and a burrito sauce.  Of the three sauces, the cilantro jalapeno sauce caught my eye due to it's lime green color.  It has a mild jalapeno kick and a rich cilantro goodness.  A lot of people asked for the recipe and she graciously shared it with us.  She mentioned getting the recipe from the America's Test Kitchen show. Jalapeño and Cilantro Sauce Ingredients:  (makes 1 cup) 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves , and stems, trimmed and chopped coarse 3 jalapeño chiles , stemmed, seeded, and minced ½ cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon lime juice 2 garlic cloves , minced ½ teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

I still can't get enough of our Portland trip.  Portland is known for their micro-brewery.  However, I'm not a beer drinker so the next best thing are hit their food places.  My previous post was all about donuts , while this one would be all about ice cream!  Since we only spent two nights in Portland, we only enjoyed two nights of ice cream. Day 1:  Salt and Straw Salt and Straw opened in 2011 with 4 branches in Portland.  We went to the NW 23rd location on a Saturday night and it was drizzling.  Parking was a bit difficult to find and there was a long line around the block.  Wait time was roughly 45 minutes.  When we get inside near the counter, a friendly staff introduced all the flavors that they have at that time.  We also tasted most of the flavors that we were interested in and settled with the Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons and Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper.  The verdict:  strong sea salt flavor, and non existent black pepper flavor.   If

Earlier this month, my sister and I visited the city of Portland in Oregon for their Tulip festival at Woodburn.  Of the trips that we’ve went throughout the years, I think I've gained the most weight on this trip.  Why wouldn’t I when the food in Portland is amazing!   On this post, I will be focusing on doughnuts or donuts!  Three days in Portland, three days of donuts. Day 1:  Voodoo Doughnuts After we got our rental car, we drove straight to Voodoo Doughnuts for to-go breakfast on our way to Woodburn for the Tulip festival.  Ever since Anthony Bourdain featured this doughnut place, Voodoo Doughnuts became a famous tourist destination with long lines.  There are two Portland locations and we went to the NE Davis location.  We ordered a snickerdoodle, Portland cream, butterfinger and a raspberry with chocolate sprinkles.  For the four donuts in a pink box, the total came down to $8.70.  Cash only please!  The verdict… it’s like Crispy Crème with unusual combinations a

With my current work, I'm usually off on Thursday.  That means I get to bake or make desserts.  Today, I decided to try a brownies recipe from Bailiwick Academy.  As brownies are considered entry-level baking, I imagine it will work out fine.  Looking at the recipe, I noticed that it would be too sweet for my guinea pigs.  I tweaked the measurement and the ingredients and came out with this delectable walnut fudge brownies which passed my guinea pigs sweet tooth. Walnut Fudge Brownies Ingredients: 200g melted unsalted butter 190g brown sugar 190g white sugar 70g Hershey's dark cocoa powder 30g Hershey's cocoa powder 4 medium size eggs 130g all purpose flour 3g baking powder 200g walnuts Maldon sea salt flakes (optional)

The humble Pandesal is a staple Filipino breakfast or snack bread roll.  It is one of the most sought after bread in our household here in the US.  It is best eaten fresh from the oven and can be dipped in coffee or hot cocoa.  To enhance flavor, some people spread butter or margarine while others add adobo, tuna, cheese, sardines, pesto inside.  Pandesal has evolved to several variants, most notorious is the malunggay pandesal, touted as one of the healthy variants.  The pandesal recipe I will share with you today is the basic one.  Variants of pandesal will be shared below. Pandesal (Filipino Bread Rolls) Ingredients: 375g bread flour 68g  sugar 7g  salt 23g  shortening 214g  warm water 6g  instant dry yeast 1.5g  bread improver Yields:   22-25 pandesal

For the past week, I've attended two bread courses which I believe has earning potential when I migrate to the US.  If you've been following my blog, I'm into breads more than cakes.  Even if I've been attending bread making classes for quite some time, never did my instructors mentioned the 12 steps of bread making.  These steps are essential and quite practical for beginner bread enthusiasts. The 12 steps are as follow: 1.   Selecting your ingredients :  make sure to choose the best quality and unexpired ingredients.  If you choose to use instant yeast, do a test before you bake breads to ensure that your yeast is still active.  You wouldn't want to rest your dough for a long time without any rise. 2.   Weigh ingredients :  it is very important to be accurate with your ingredients.  You wouldn't want to kill your yeast because of too much salt or too hot water.  Best to sift your flour as it gives a softer dough.  Also, it's best to set all yo