The Chutney Project & The List

I am constantly making lists. I've got them all over the place, in scraps of paper in my wallet, on my pda phone, in notebooks, and if you go through my laptop you'll find lots more. It gives my life some sense of order. But above all, it helps me remember since I have such a horrible memory. The best part about making these lists is the gratification one gets from taking that pen and drawing a line across that item, or placing that neat check mark beside it.

Yesterday, I did just that. I almost danced a little jig as I crossed out mango chutney from my 'list of food to try and make at home', from hereon we will refer to simply as The List. Our chutney supply comes from my tita who lives in our village. The fact that our source is only a few blocks away has proven to be so convenient especially when curry is served for Sunday lunch and we whip out the jar only to find that we're running dangerously low on chutney. So while on one of these chutney runs I thought, why don't I make my own? And so that was the day it was added to The List.

I had so many recipes to choose from for my first attempt. Eventually, I settled on the one from The Gourmet Cookbook (pp. 906-907). I tried to stick to the recipe as much as possible but didn't have any red pepper flakes on hand so I left that out.

Mango Chutney from The Gourmet Cookbook

3 large firm but ripe mangoes (I used 4 Philippine mangoes), peeled, pitted and cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 (3 inch) cinnamon stick
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. coriander seeds
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/4 tsp. fennel seeds

Chill a small plate for testing chutney.

Combine all ingredients in a 3-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming away any foam and stirring frequently as chutney thickens for about 30-35 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat while testing for doneness. Drop a spoonful of chutney onto the chilled plate. Refrigerate for 1 minute, then tilt plate; chutney should remain in a mound and not run. Transfer chutney to a bowl to cool, uncovered. Once thoroughly cooled, refrigerate for at least 1 day to allow flavors to develop.

I doubled the amount of sugar to 1 cup and simmered it for another 10 minutes to allow more of the vinegar to evaporate because I felt it was a little too sour. It turned out sweet and tangy with the nice juicy chunks of mango. All in all, it was not exactly what I hoped for, but a pretty good start.

The chutney didn't come out as dark as I would have liked, and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I used light brown sugar instead of dark brown. Now all I need is a good chicken tikka masala or lamb curry to test it with. Meanwhile, I'll be trying other recipes that include raisins, allspice and cloves, which I think are essential in a good chutney.

For those of you who live in Manila and haven't already heard: Assad's (that wonderful Indian mini-mart from UN Ave.) has opened a branch on Jupiter St. (Yay!) They haven't installed a phone yet, but you can easily find it next to Red Ribbon and near Nullah. That's where I got all the spices I needed and at super reasonable prices. I'm so happy I no longer have to go all the way to UN Ave. for that! :)

Lunch at Charley's

The estate as seen from the questhouse rooftop

"Hi! I just made a comment on Anton's post on The Popit De Leon Experience: "road trip!" to Charley's in Lipa! And he emailed back, why not? So. Here's an open invite to bloggers i read (and lurve!!!)".

Upon receiving this email from Poch, I thought great idea! A food trip with fellow foodies, some of who I was yet to have the pleasure of meeting in person, fun! So over the next couple of weeks we selected the menu, fixed car arrangements and set the meeting place: 10:30 am at the Petron gas station along SLEX.

I think we were all so excited about the food and the company that we weren't prepared for the scene that awaited us. Hidden behind a massive stone wall lined by mahogany trees, was a beautiful first-class ranch complete with thoroughbreds roaming freely. Perhaps I was expecting something a little more rustic because it was out in the country. But whatever it was, I was pleasantly surprised.

As we pulled up, we found Popit outside ready to welcome us. Soon after, our group of 16 gathered around the table in the sunny dining room. Though the setting may have been formal, the vibe was relaxed and casual. What followed was a comfortable and enjoyable lunch among friends, old and new. The wine and conversation flowed freely as the seven course meal was served.

Chef Popit at his crepe station

Not surprisingly, my favorite part of the meal was dessert. Popit whipped up crepe suzettes and topped each one with vanilla ice cream. It was sinful and delicious. The intoxicating smell of butter lingered in the air for hours after.

We had the pleasure of meeting Charley, who treated us to a grand tour of her property. As you can see, I went a little crazy with the camera, especially with the horses. I love, love, love horses. I think they are one of God's most gorgeous creatures. I just wish they weren't such a darn expensive passion.

Anyway as they say, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I'll leave you with these.

"I'm ready for my close-up.
Ummm, I think this is my better side. Erm, no this one is!"

A tale of two cuties: Aidan with the Shetland pony

Just horsin' around

Isn't she a beauty!? She was my favorite.
She nibbled on my arm and had Aidan squealing with delight.

Wachoolookinat?!

Thanks Poch for planning this trip for all of us! :)

* * *

Read what the others had to say about the trip and check out their beautiful pictures:

Socky

Wysgal

Anton

For reservations, call Charley at 0920-9507032

Driving directions: From SLEX, exit Calamba heading towards Batangas/Laguna (exit 50) until Sto. Tomas. Enter the Star Tollway, exit at Lipa and turn right. Continue down this road until the fork (across Robinson's) and take the left, passing Jollibee and SM. A billboard of the Sto. Nino Parish marks your next left to Gov. F Leviste Highway.

Green thumb or sore thumb?

So I figured it would be nice to have my own supply of herbs at home from which I could snip when I'm doing one of my little experiments in the kitchen. My mom already had a nice big pot of basil so I moved her closer to her new friends with the pretty names (parsley, rosemary, coriander and dill) to help make them feel welcome in their new home and so they could start a little scarborough fair of their own.

So here they are, I'm transferring them to clay pots this weekend.

My sister wants to give me some seeds that she's had for a while now. But I've never actually grown anything before except for that monggo (mung bean) seed in 6th grade for Home Ec class. But I'll give it a shot. I don't know anything about growing and taking care of herbs, so I'm a little nervous. Please, if any of you have any tips, I would love to hear it and I would be forever grateful!

I'm crossing my fingers that some of my dad's green thumb genes were passed on to me. (He actually grew grapes in the heart of Makati before). Hopefully if this works out and I have a garden of my own someday I could actually pick my own produce from my backyard. How nice that would be! Delusions of grandeur maybe? Let's hope not! :)

That's me, the helmet head, and my sis under my dad's grapevine

PS: I found this website when I was looking for information online. It's got some pretty neat info about the herbs commonly used in cooking.

Slow-roasted garlic and lemon chicken

Last Saturday, a girl friend of ours who lives in Singapore came home for the weekend. Instead of going out to eat, we opted to do a pot-luck dinner at a friends apartment for a more casual and relaxed atmosphere.

These are my girl friends from my first job, one of who was even my first boss. I couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful and fun bunch of coworkers. Whatever fear and anxiety I might have had about venturing into the corporate world for the first time were immediately forgotten. Because of them I loved my work. I even found myself getting up before the alarm would go off. Seriously. Me.

Now, we've all taken different career paths since then but we've remained very close and we make it a point to have at least one dinner together every month. Last year, we took it a step further. We flew to Hanoi, Vietnam and had ourselves a fabulous time. So fab in fact that we've decided to do it every year, take a trip somewhere together, though not necessarily out of the country.

For the dinner, I initially wanted to do a curry and chutney pairing but had to nix that idea as one of them isn't fond of Indian food. So I went with a safe yet always-welcome choice: roast chicken. This is a recipe I took from Nigella's Forever Summer. I had this recipe bookmarked for a while now so this was the perfect time to try it . I liked that the chicken was infused with the aroma and flavor of the lemon instead of having it squeezed on or rubbed in. For me, there is a fine line between chicken that is enhanced with lemons and that lemon chicken from Chinese restaurants which I don't care much for. This is so incredibly easy. It turned out as Nigella promised it would, "with the summer scent of lemon and thyme - and of course, mellow, almost honeyed garlic".

The night had all the ingredients for a super time. The best of friends, free flowing wine, good music, and wonderful food! The table was crammed with goodies like a cheese platter, yummy Spinach dip, crackers and bread, and anchovy garlic pasta dish that I loved. Then of course dessert: Strawberry Shortcake from Costa Brava.

I was a bit nervous about my chicken since I hadn't tested this recipe before. But to my relief, it received praises all around. They're quite the critical and brutally-frank bunch, these ladies. They'd tell you if it tasted like feet just because they loved you. Did I mention how great they are? :)


Slow-roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken
Serves 4-6

10-12 choice chicken pieces (about 2-2.5 kg)
2 heads garlic, separated into unpeeled cloves, wtih tips chopped off
2 lemons, cut into eighths
small handful of fresh thyme
2 tbsps olive oil
150 ml white wine
3/4 cup white wine
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
potato marbles
brussel sprouts

Preheat the oven to 320F.

Put the chicken pieces into a roasting tin and add the unpeeled garlic cloves, lemon chunks and the thyme. Just roughly pull the leaves off the stalks, leaving some intact for strewing over later. Add the oil and using your hands mix everything together, then spread the mixture out, making sure all the chicken pieces are skin side up.

Sprinkle over the white wine. Grind on some pepper and sprinkle over with sea salt. Then cover tightly with foil.

On a separate roasting tin, scatter your choice vegetables. In this case, I opted for brussel sprouts and potato marbles. Whole onions would do well too. Repeat the same process as the chicken, but this time omitting the wine.

Put both tins in the oven to cook, at a flavor-intensifyingly low heat. 2 hours for the chicken, and about an hour and a half for the veggies.
Remove the foil from the chicken roasting tin, and turn up the oven to 390F. Cook the uncovered chicken for another 30-45 minutes, by which time the skin on the meat will have turned golden brown and the lemons have begun to scorch and caramelise at the edges.

The original recipe didn't include potatoes and brussel sprouts, but I like roasted vegetables with my protein. I might try it with turnips and onions next time. Scatter the potatoes and brussel sprouts over the chicken or serve separately. Then strew with remaining thyme.

Because I was taking this out of the house, I transferred the vegetables into the other tin so I would only need to carry one and served it as is. Oh and please pardon the lousy picture, it was the only I managed to snap before it was attacked. :)

Do you do fondue?

If you don't, you really should! It's fun for one thing. It's casual and incredibly simple. It is also a highly rewarding experience. Less time is spent in the kitchen, and more on the table with your friends or family. And instead of having just one or two main courses, you can have as many as your heart desires what with the variety of meat choices and dipping sauces available.

The best part about it though is the bonding experience. We are all familiar with the joy of breaking bread with family and friends but sitting together and cooking our food from a communal vessel can take that experience to a whole new level.

During a recent family picnic in the park, we reminisced old family traditions and the meals that were always the focal point of every gathering. After waxing nostalgic for a while, we began to talk about reviving ancestral recipes. I'm not exactly sure how this led to the fondue party idea but it did. My dad, whose Swiss heritage is most evident in his diet of soup, cheese and bread, cheered the idea on.

So it was that we planned Fondue Friday, which is what I insisted on calling the event. As we were handing out assignments, I called dibs on the cheese fondue. My sister took on the seemingly daunting task of putting together the meat and seafood fondue. She was eager to try out the recipes from Jean Pare's fondue recipe book from her Company's Coming series. My Tita offered to be in charge of the dessert fondue in the form of a chocolate fountain, while another relative pledged the chocolate dippers.

The chocolate fountain and dippers: mangos, bananas, apples, strawberries and marshmallows

The wheels were set in motion. Lists were drawn and checked as ingredients were bought throughout the week. My sister busied herself with marinating duties the night before while I bought everything I needed 2 hours before dinner time. I picked-up the cheese from Santi's, freshly baked bread from Le Coeur de France and veggies from Rustan's, all conveniently located next to each other.

Good thing the kitchen was big enough to accomodate the happy chaos that ensued. We opened a bottle of wine, rolled up our sleeves and went to work. Everyone lent a helping hand in the prep work, even some of the kids. They were like Santa's elves; grating cheese, cutting up the bread, sneaking a bread stick or marshmallow here and there.

Out in the garden, the rest of the gang was busy with the table settings. Long, color-coded forks were arranged neatly side by side fondue plates on the main dining table. In the center we lined up the 5 fondue pots: 4 contained boiling broth or oil and the 5th was my cheese fondue (which turned out fabulous if I do say so myself ;-) ). The dippers and dipping sauces were laid out buffet-style on a separate table, except for the bread which we passed around in a basket. Beside this table was the chocolate fountain station, where gooey delicious chocolate flowed invitingly.

What happened next was a blur of spearing, dunking, dipping, scooping and guzzling. Everything was delicious and as expected, the chocolate fountain was the perfect sweet ending to the night. I enjoy long meals but I enjoy long meals under the stars even more. It was truly an enjoyable experience that left many of us wondering why we didn't do this more often. Now I'm sure we will. :)

Swiss Cheese Fondue

This is adapted from 3 different cheese fondue recipes which I've had on file for years. Next time I'd like to try it with Appenzeller or Gorgonzola, another 2 of my favorite cheeses.

3 cups shredded Gruyere (about 12 oz.)
2 cups shredded Emmenthaler (8 oz.)
3 tbsp. flour
1 1/2 cups dry white wine
1/4 cup milk
2 cloves garlic; 1 to rub on the inside of the pot, & the other minced and to be added to the cheese
2 tbsp. cream sherry (or kirsch)
freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/4 tsp)
ground white pepper to taste

Sprinkle the combined cheeses with flour, toss and set aside. Rub the inside of the fondue pot with garlic.

Heat the wine in the fondue pot over medium heat. Just before it boils, reduce heat to low and slowly stir in the cheese mixture, stirring constantly. Make sure the cheese is melted before adding more. Keep stirring until mixture bubbles gently.

Stir in milk, sherry, nutmeg, and pepper. If mixture becomes too thick, add a little more warm milk. Serves 12.

Dippers: Cubes of French bread and Farmers bread toasted just right, steamed broccoli, boiled potato wedges, apples and garlic bread sticks.

Fondue Bourguignon (or Hot Oil Fondue)

My sister bought beef tenderloin, rib-eye, pork tenderloin, chicken, shrimp, scallops, ham and sausages. Everything except the seafood was marinated overnight in different marinades. My favorite was the Teriyaki marinade she used on the beef. It had just the right amount of sweetness to it. She then prepared 8 different kinds of dipping sauces. Here are some of the recipes she used.

Teriyaki Marinade

1/3 cup soy sauce

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp finely grated gingerroot (0r 1/4 tsp ground ginger)

1/3 cup sherry

1 garlic clove, minced

Combine all 5 ingredients in a small bowl.

Makes 2/3 cup, enough to marinade 1 1/2 lbs of meat.

Cracked Pepper Sauce

8 oz. cream cheese softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tsp cracked whole peppercorns

1 tsp finely chopped shallots

1/8 tsp salt

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp finely chopped pecans (optional)

Beat cream cheese and butter together in a small bown until smooth. Add garlic, peppercorns, shallots and salt. Beat until well combined then beat in milk and pecans until well mixed. Makes 1 3/4 cups.

Orange Sauce

1 cup orange juice

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp ground cloves

Combine all 5 ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat & stir on medium-low until thickened. Makes 1 cup.

Raisin Honey Sauce
1 cup seedless raisins
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp chili sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Process raisins and apple juice in blender or food processor until pureed. Put into a small bowl and add remaining ingredients. Stir and serve at room temperature. Makes 1 cup.

Bearnaise Sauce
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tsp dried tarragon, finely crushed
1 tbsp shallots
3/4 cup butter
3 large egg yolks
freshly ground pepper to taste
Heat wine, tarragon and shallots in a small saucepan on medium until reduced by half. Cool then strain into blender.
Heat butter in saucepan to bubbling point but do not brown. Cool.
Add egg yolks and pepper to wine mixture and process for 3 seconds. With motor running, add butter in a steady stream through hole in lid. Process for about 3o seconds until smooth. Serve warm. Makes 1 cup.

Spicy Cocktail Sauce:
1/2 cup chili sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tsp horseradish
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
sprinkle of pepper
Measure all 8 ingredients into a small bowl. Stir then let stand for at least 3 hours to allow flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature. Makes 3/4 cup.
Ready to cook: Fill fondue pot to no more than 2/3 full with a cooking oil of your choice. Heat the oil on the stove to 375F before transferring it to the stand. Make sure the heat underneath is high enough to mainintain the temperature.

~ ~ ~

This is my mom's old fondue pot. It's so retro I love it. It was always such a treat when she took it down from it's proud place on the shelf, usually for a special occasion. I remember how to my young eyes it looked like a decorative centerpiece instead of functional cookware. :)

Here are some tips that could help make your fondue party more enjoyable:
* Don't double-dip. That means, don't take a bite off what it is you're dunking and then return it to the pot.
* Use fondue forks for dipping only especially when having cheese fondue. Using a table fork, pry the morself into your own plate
* Variety is the spice of life. Have at least 2 dipping sauces for your meats.
* Have one fondue pot for every 4 or 5 people. When there is too much food in one pot at the same time, the temperature will drop below recommended levels. Not to mention, if there are too many forks in there at the same time, sometimes the food gets tangled and lost in the pot.