Spring is here! ... and yes, I'm back again.
You probably don't remember me anymore because I am the biggest slacker of all time, but I am hoping to correct that. I am making my resolution now, it's not to late to do so, is it? I will try to post as often as possible from here on. Cross my heart and... nope, I don't want to die, not yet anyway! Haha!
Well, spring in Miami is totally different than most cities in the US. For one, we don't really have an obvious change of seasons here as you probably know. It is hot here most of the time! Except for a few trees flowering during this time of the year, there's really not much difference from summer. Temperature is already in the 80's!
Which brings me to my post today. Halo-halo.
Halo-halo is the Filipino word for "mix". It is a traditional summer frozen dessert in the Philippines. For some reason, I have been craving for it these past few days... I blame it on the heat.
Halo-halo is very quick to prepare. It is really nothing but a melange of different fresh tropical fruits, cooked sweet beans with crushed ice, milk and sugar. It's a poor man's version of a shake, if I may say so.
But it's delightfully refreshing.
Above are the halo-halo that Mr. J and I enjoyed while lounging by the pool in a beach resort in Cebu, Philippines. The halo-halo was served in a young coconut shell which makes for a great presentation, and was perfect for Mr. J who loves coconut. As you can see, ice cream and chocolate fudge are added to the mix which made this particular halo-halo richer... and yummier! The whole mix was topped with a few corn flakes. Corn flakes??? Yes, the breakfast cereal! Sounds weird, huh? Maybe, but the flakes totally work, adding a crunchy texture to the whole concoction. Perfect.
You don't believe me? Well, I dare you. Try it and see for yourself.
You'll thank me later.
Halo-Halo
Your choice of the following ingredients ( few or all of them)
1 ripe large banana
2 ripe or 1 canned mangoes
1 cup firm gelatin set into gel and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 cup canned ripe jackfruit
1/2 cup sweet corn
1/4 cup sweetened beans, drained*
1 cup kaong or nata de cocos, drained*
1 cup young shredded coconut, fresh or canned
1 cup cooked sweet yams or (ube halaya) glutinous purple yam, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 cup shaved ice
2 cup evap milk
Optional toppings:
4 scoops of favorite ice cream
drizzle of chocolate fudge
a small sliver or two of caramel (leche) flan
1/2 cup chopped peanuts, rice krispies, or corn flakes
1. To assemble - layer your fruits in a bowl or tall glass.
2. Top with crushed ice.
3. Pour milk over ice.
4. Then top with topping of choice.
5. Garnish with corn flakes and maraschino cherries.
*Available in Asian markets / groceries.
“We gotta go to Vivoli!”, my friend Monica insisted.
According to her trusted travel resource, Rick Steve’s Travel Guide, Monica informed us that Vivoli is said to make the best gelato in Florence, or in Italy for that matter. And Rick recommends trying the rice gelato.
"Rice ice cream?” I said, “never heard of that before! But rice + ice cream together? What’s not to like? That must be good".
Monica didn’t have to convince the group any further. Off we went to find Vivoli.
This conversation happened many years ago one summer. A couple of my colleagues and I decided to spend our summer break in Italy while being student-trainees in Germany. We were the typical student travellers – backpacking and staying in youth hostels. We really didn’t have that much money but we made the most of what we had. We met Monica while in Verona (of famed Romeo & Juliet), our first leg of the trip. Since she was traveling alone, she decided to hook up and tag along with us. So we were together in the next 4 weeks exploring Italy and became fast friends. Those were good times – no, best times.
It was in our stop in Florence that Monica mentioned this Gelateria that is a must-visit according to Rick Steve. (Rick Steve’s is a good resource when it comes to budget travels!)
After a bus ride and a lot of walking, we finally managed to find Vivoli. It was a small Gelateria, but boy, was there a long line outside of the shop! Not surprising though, because if it is the best Gelateria in Florence, then it follows that the place should be popular. So we fell in line. It must have taken us around 30 minutes to finally get our turn. Not bad, really. We were on vacation so time was on our side.
Needless to say, I had my Gelato di Riso for the very first time then. And I’m telling you, that was a piece of heaven in a cup (they don't have cones)! Yum'oh! It was so creamy, not too sweet -– everything that you had hoped a gelato would be – but with rice! It’s like a frozen rice pudding, but better! Indeed, our efforts paid off.
Last month, I got an ice-cream maker. It was one of those points-reward that Mr. J got from his job – so we got it for free! I love free stuff, don't you? Of course I wanted to make ice-cream immediately to try my new toy. For others, the logical thing to do might have been to make something basic for the first time. Something that’s probably from the recipes that come with the manual. But no, I am not like that. (Yeah, I’m crazy). I wanted to do something ambitious. I wanted to do something simple -- but not that simple, you know what I mean? (If you're a girl, then you'd know what I mean!)
So just out of nostalgia from that trip in Italy – and because I am Asian – I decided to make rice gelato. It had been many years ago since I had this ice cream. I don’t remember exactly how the taste was but all I know was that it was very good!
And so I began searching online for some recipes, which eventually led me to David Lebovitz’, The Perfect Scoop. This recipe book received so many good reviews from Amazon buyers, and most of all, it had the Rice Gelato recipe that I was looking for!!!! So that sealed the deal. I bought a copy.
After so many years, I had rice gelato again! It was creamy, super delicious. The only complaint Mr. J had was that it was too "orangey" - which was my fault. If you read the recipe, it required two strips of orange zests. Well, I made a mistake of pureeing the zests with the rice mixture (wasn't really a mistake because I decided to do it). Plus, I also added a teaspoon of orange liquour. So you can really taste the orange in the ice cream. Mr. J found the orange taste overpowering - maybe so - but I liked it. With the ice cream I made the hazelnut tuile cookie, that I shaped using the wooden handle of a spoon (for that cigar shape).
This rice gelato is my entry to this weeks' Lasang Pinoy Sunday (La.Pi.S) - Melted Bliss. Eating this ice-cream took me back to Italy..... What a bliss, indeed!
Rice Gelato (Gelato di Riso)
David Lebovitz
1/2 cup Italian Arborio rice*
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean*, split in half lenghtwise
Two 1-inch-wide strips of orange zest
5 large egg yolks (save the whites for use later)
1 cup half-and-half or cream
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a 1.75 to 2 quart baking dish, mix together the rice, milk 1/4 cup of the sugar and the salt. Add the vanilla bean and strips of orange zest.
3. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Remove the rice from the oven and remove the foil. Stir in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, then continue to bake the rice, uncovered for another 30 minutes.
4. Remove the rice from the oven a second time, remove the vanilla bean and orange zest and briskly whisk in the egg yolks at once. Then whisk in the half and half or cream and nutmeg.
5. Puree half of the rice mixture in a blender or food processor until chopped fine then stir it back into the cooked rice.
6. Chill the mixture in the fridge (I left mine for 2 hrs), then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.
*NOTE: I made mine 1/4 c arborio rice and 1/4 c sweet "gelatinous" rice, aka sticky rice. I thought that the sticky rice would make the ice cream a lot creamier, which it did. I didn't have a vanilla bean, but I used a good quality vanilla bean paste. But if you don't have the vanilla bean or paste, I believe that vanilla extract would do.
Gosh, I hate going to the dentist. It’s one of those things that if only I can do without, I’d gladly refrain from having. I just can’t stand the sensation I get from someone picking on my teeth with metal, or the scrubbing/scraping/drilling/grinding, or the simple fact that you lay there with your mouth wide open for a long time that your jaw hurts! Uh-oh. Not pleasant at all.
Not that dentists are bad or anything. They’re not. In fact, I know that in the whole scheme of things, having a healthy set of teeth is really essential to our well-being. But I don’t know how or why I developed a negative attitude towards going to the dentist. Hmmn. It could be because the very first visit (that I fully remember) entailed a tooth-filling – and that horrifying, anesthetic-free “teeth-drilling” experience left me scarred for life? (Yep, not even a topical anesthesia was given!)
But I have to tell you this. In a 3rd-world country such as the Philippines, the people’s priority is to put food on their table; everything else becomes secondary – and that includes seeing the doctor for merely routine physical check-ups or regular dental cleaning. People there GENERALLY seek medical attention ONLY when there are already symptoms of disorder showing up physically; or when they are in actual pain; or when they already need urgent care. Once again, this is due to the lack of means to be able to afford regular visits to the doctor. Most folks there don’t have insurance policies; heck a lot don’t have a steady source of income in the first place and majority live below the poverty line.
Anyway, forgive me on my ranting about the dentist... You guessed it, I've just been there! Hah! And I needed to express myself. I'm fully convinced, whether it's in the Philippines or the US, I still don't like paying my dentist a visit!
So as a tribute to all dentists, here is something that you can enjoy, even if you are toothless. HAHAHAHAHA…. Presenting to you my AVOCADO SHAKE.
This is one of the things that I was so surprised about when I came to the US. I noticed that here, avocados are mostly used for savory applications – in salads and salsas. In the Philippines, I’ve only had this fruit eaten with a bit of sugar, as a dessert mashed with condensed milk and cooled in the fridge for a few minutes, or as a shake!.. (Oh yeah, I’ve had guacamole there, but back in my days, Mexican food wasn’t as popular as it is there now).
Avocados just remind me of my childhood as well. That’s probably why I like ‘em so much. Reminds me of those days when me and my cousins would run along the little plantation my grandparents had in their property. They have mostly “cacao” (cocoa) and banana plants as well as coconut trees, but there were a couple of huge avocado trees as well that would yield the sweetest, finest evergreen-avocados I have ever seen.
So here’s my all time favorite summer treat, second to mango shake, of course. (We can have this all-year round in the Philippines, actually.)
I am also sending this treat to Grace of A Southern Grace as an entry to her Beat The Heat event. This doesn’t require much to prepare – just a few strokes from the blender, and voila…. a refreshing treat!
Hope you try it.. it’s really good, filling and healthy too!
Avocado Shake
1 ripe avocado
1 cup evaporated milk (or fresh milk)*
1 cup crushed ice
3 tablespoons sugar (or more, depending on your taste)
Scoop the avocado from the pulp and into a blender. Add the milk, ice and sugar to desired taste. Blend until pureed. Garnish with slices of avocados.
NOTE*:You can substitute with condensed milk. Start with 1/4 cup and add some more until you get the desired creaminess and sweetness to your liking. If you use condensed milk, omit sugar as condensed milk is already sweet.
Ice cream!
It's got to be my husband and I’s favorite dessert. We are both so bad. We can possibly gorge down a whole container of ice cream in one sitting... if we don't control ourselves. But I'm glad to say that it hasn't happened yet, not so far anyways. Hahhaha.. Not that we are planning on doing it anytime soon, or ever. God forbid.
But I got to say, I've never had this much ice cream indulgement until I came to the US. In the Philippines, ice cream is more of an occassional treat for most families, so I've never really enjoyed a lot of it when I was growing up (except for the local ice-cream from the push-cart being sold in the street, which is more like a sherbet actually). But everything changed a bit when I started working. Ice cream became a familiar treat to my palate, as it was present on every birthday celebration there was in my office. That and cake. Couldn't be badder (yeah, i know, wrong grammar), but couldn' be better at the same time (now you know, I wanted my words to rhyme!). Ice cream and cake is the yin and yang of every birthday celebration, in my opinion. One is not the same withouth the other.
Anyways, back to my advent in the US. Imagine my delight in discoving the BUY ONE, GET ONE deals in the groceries for ice cream! Sweet!!! (Yeah, literally) My ice-cream starved pysche dictated that I should buy everytime there was a sale, so I began hoarding them in my fridge. Actually, I'm over exaggerating... but I was buying them more often than I should. But don't worry. I'm over that stage now (though I admit ice cream BOGO is still pretty hard to resist).
Since summer is here, cool treats are in! And so, to celebrate my love for this frozen dessert, and to surprise Mr. J with something a little special, I made a tulipe - which is actually a hazelnut cookie curl.
I really do think that the addition of finely ground hazelnut made the cookie extra special. This was my first time to try doing this, so I was proceeding with caution. Yeah, some cookies did not come out successfully, but I did manage to get 4 good tulipes out of the 6 that I made. Pretty good for a first try, don't you think?
Next time though, I'll make it a point to follow the instructions to the T. I thought that the amount of the batter required for the cookie was too little that I doubled it. That was a major mistake. For the tulipe to be pliable, it has to be as thin as possible; mine came out a tiny bit thicker. Also, I chose to leave it a few minutes longer in the oven than called for, because I wanted crispier edges.. So as you can see, they are short of being burnt!
The ice cream is, of course, store bought. I have yet to try making a homemade one, when I get my ice cream maker that is. The recipe recommended vanilla ice cream, but I decided that Neapolitan is more exciting with its three different flavors.
Oh, the raspberry sauce is also homemade. Initially, I thought of doing a chocolate ganache for drizzling on top, but the dessert is already rich as it is, so I decided to go with the fruit puree instead.
As you can see, the presentation came out elegant. The tulipe surrounds a mound of ice cream in a crunchy embrace while it rests on a pool of raspberry sauce. No wonder the hubby exclaimed, "OOOH!".
That was music to my ears. :o)
Hazelnut Tulipe
Cookies
1/3 c shelled hazelnuts (filberts)
1/4 c butter or margarine
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp rum extract
1/3 c unsifted all-purpose flour
Raspberry Sauce
2 pkg (12 oz size) frozen, unsweetened raspberries, thawed
1/2 c sugar
1-1/2 quarts vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 pint fresh raspberries (for garnish)
Mint leaves, for garnish(optional)
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a shallow pan, bake hazelnuts 10-15 mins or until skins crack. Remove from oven; wrap in towel. When cool enough to handle, roll nuts in towel to remove as much skin as possible. Let cool; finely chop cooled nuts in food processor or blender.
2. Pre-heat oven to 400F. Grease and flour three large baking sheets. In a small saucepan, melt butter; cool. In a small bowl, whisk egg whites with 1/2 cup sugar, the salt and rum extract until foamy. Whisk in melter butter, then flour. Add nuts.
3. Use the rim of a glass to make two 5-in circles on prepared baking sheets. (I made the marks at the back of the parchment paper). Spoon 2 level tablespoons batter onto each circle. Spread evenly to fill circle. Bake 5 minutes or until edges are brown. Spray the bottoms of six 6-oz custard cups with non stick cooking spray.
4. Using pancake turner, lift cookies from baking sheets; invert onto greased bottoms of custard cups. With fingers, gently mold around cup. If cookies are too brittle, reheat briefly in oven. Cool tulipes completely on wire rack; then lift tulipes off cups and place on wire racks.
5. Make raspberry sauce. Combine thawed raspberries and 1/2 cup sugar; let stand 20-30 mins. Using back of large spoon, press berries and any juice through a strainer set over a large deep bowl until only seeds remain; discard seeds. Cover raspberry puree and refrigerate until serving.
NOTE: I did not have rum extract, so I used coconut rum instead, and it worked! If you don't have hazelnuts, you may use toasted almonds. In this case, Amarretto Liqueur might be good to use since it's almond-flavored. Also, you can use strawberries for the sauce in place of raspberries. The puree can be made ahead and will keep in the fridge for a couple of days. For a lighter alternative, you can fill tulipe with a low-fat frozen yoghurt. Or, you can fill the bowl with slices of fresh tropical fruit such as mango, kiwi, pineapple and papaya; top with vanilla yoghurt.
