Low Fat Egg Salad Canape

I want to lessen my calorie intake since am getting huge again and I was thinking of an alternative binder for fillings the other day. So often than not, we usually use mayo for our filling, however; there is just too much calories in it. A tablespoon will cost us 100 calories. Ugh...

While getting some basil for my pesto the other day in Santis, something clicked! The solution for my binder alternative: Cottage Cheese.



It is even low fat! Lucky me! A tablespoon is like 20-30 calories only :D



Am not sure if you can see it, but it has a creamy consistency with little lumps of the cheese. It is perfect for my alternative binder. With that in my hand, I made an egg salad canape! Yum!



It was really easy to make. Just make a simple egg salad, combine hardboiled egg and cottage cheese, season it with salt and pepper, something like this.



Then assemble it! Toast on the bottom, greens on top of it. Canapes are supposed to be small appetizers. They must be eaten easily and it must look appetizing with good flavor and texture.

Opinion

I like the flavor profile. The cottage cheese paired really well with the egg. It also binded the egg salad really well. For me, it just lacked color. I added some pepper flakes for the color but it seems that it wasn't enough. Oh well, it was still good :D

Pesto :D

Got some nice basil leaves the other day and bought some of them. I was first thinking of making some tomato sauce for it, then again, I realized that there was just too much of it. There is only one solution for too much basil in the house: pesto.

Making pesto is pretty easy. You just need the following: a lot of basil, some garlic *around 3 cloves per 150 grams*, salt, olive oil, parmesan cheese, pine nuts, and maybe some anchovies.

I omitted that pine nuts and anchovies since I didn't have them at that time :D



Just put everything into your food processor or you can just chopped it using your hands.



Add the olive oil as the food processor cuts your ingredients. Here is my well trusted Dito Sama :D



After everything is cut, put it in a container. You can refrigerate it or freeze it, pesto freezes very well. In my picture here, my pesto looks dry, that's because I only added few tablespoon of olive oil *afraid of the calories*. So often than not, the basil mixture is wallowing in olive oil :D



You can use your pesto in chickens, potatoes, pastas, sandwiches, etc.. :D

CIA, Yay!

The Culinary Institute of America, or CIA, if not the best, one of the best culinary institute in the whole world. It's main branch is in Hyde Park, NY.

Three days ago, I received received their admission materials through mail. It was pretty exciting for me since I really wanted to get in to CIA since I was 3rd year highschool! :D



Here is a closer perspective ;)



Last year, I was just planning to take my culinary education here in the Philippines, however; I realized that I have the opportunity to go to CIA, so why not settle for the best? Because of this realization, I asked some of my friends who got their culinary education abroad and unfortunately, there were a lot of horror stories with regards to their culinary training. The kitchen culture is really different. It is like fighting in the army they say.

The horror stories didn't stop me from wanting to go abroad and learn though, but, a friend of mine told me that I should first study here and gain some experience before going to CIA since most of the people there had already have some kitchen experience prior to their CIA education. My friend told me that I need to be competitive in terms of skills and knowledge before entering CIA and his advice enlighten me after reading this.



Ruhlman, the author, gave me a glimpse of what it is and what it takes to enter and learn under CIA. He showed me that decisions like going to the culinary path is no joke and it is both physically and mentally stressful. He really showed me that I really have to train myself first here in the Philippines before going to NY and get into CIA.

Oh well, seems like I'll will still be taking my culinary education here first. Then, after 2 years, I'll try to enter CIA then :D that's the plan boo ya! :D

Veal in Red Wine Reduction

Went to Santis the other day *again* and found some veal in their meat selection. I have never cooked nor tasted veal before so seeing that it was an opportunity to cook and to taste one, I bought a piece. Wow, it cost me 200 pesos for a small piece of veal, quite expensive. :(



Unwrapped it then *tanan*



Transferred it into a nice plate :D



Veal is like a young cow, milk fed and only 3-5 months old I think. As you can see, the meat is very light and in theory, the meat will be tender since its a baby cow. :D



What I did is simple: Heat the pan with olive oil, then pan roast the veal loin. *don't forget to season the loin* When you are done 3/4 of the cooking, throw in a clove of garlic, some butter and some rosemary.

For the sauce, it was easy, I reduced some red wine with some sugar. Yay!

Opinion

The meat was really tender. It has like the texture of the pork only a little bit different. I didn't like the taste of the veal itself, it was flat. The aroma of the rosemary, however, paired well with the flat taste of the veal. Using fresh herb is really for the win. Lastly, I like the sauce, it was simple, but, it 'candied' when I added some more from the sauce pan. Next time, after reducing some sauce with sugar, put it fast in an ice bath to cool it down to stop the cooking process immediately. :D

Tomato and Onion Omelet

As I woke up this morning, I went into the fridge to check for something to eat. I saw a huge tomato in the fridge and thought of doing something about it. Since it is still early in the morning, I thought of making an omelet with that tomato.



I used a peso coin for the comparison of its size.



I cut the tomato on my favorite anti-bacterial chopping board.

After cutting the tomato, I made some cubed onions and chopped some dill *since dill is the only fresh herb available at the moment*

When making an omelet, you would want to have that light texture of the egg, a little airy perhaps. You can only achieve this by cooking it right and giving it some air when preparing the egg. You whisk the egg until air foams form. Like this one.



You can see that air has already incorporated with the egg. This will give you a better texture with your omelet, not the stiff and rubbery type *although you can get this by overcooking your eggs too*.

Use butter instead of normal oil for a richer flavor. Also, when cooking, try to cook on low heat so that you don't overcook your eggs. Eggs overcook easily.

Anyhow, so this is the end product.



Opinion

Bad presentation *obviously*. Texture was great, fluffy omelet just the way I like it. Moreover, the onions gave a good bite to eat and surprisingly, the flavor of the onion wasn't that overpowering. The eggs probably balanced its taste. Lastly, the tomato was really gorgeous, it had a great texture and it was sweet. It also gave me a refreshing feel while eating it.

Fruit Platter Presentation

One can transform something boring into something exciting just by the looks of it especially when we are talking about food. Food will always feed the eye first so presentation is pretty much important. It can easily increase the value of the food being served.

Here in the Philippines, like all tropical countries, fruit is abundant both in quantity and quality. Normally, we just eat the fruit as is. We just peel the banana and eat it or slice the mango and eat it. However, one can transcend these fruits into something else just by cutting and plating it in a different manner. Guess what, I transcended some of them yesterday bwahaha!

Here is the bird'e eye view



Here is the side view



If it looks good, it will make the food taste a better :D

Here are the following ingredients I used for that platter

Mangoes

I diced the mangoes, sauteed it with butter and flambeyed *is it the right spelling?* with some dark rum

Bananas

Just Sliced it. I used the breed Latundan for it since we like the flavor that it insinuates.

Apples

Just Sliced it. I used fuji for the texture.

Lastly, I topped it with some creme fraiche. I forgot the term of the technique I used for that, is it canel? or chanel? :D

Opinion

Presentation was gorgeous. The only thing that is great about its flavor here are the diced mangoes. The rum gave it a strong flavor and the butter gave it a richer flavor. The creme fraiche also balanced the strong flavor of the rum on the mangoes so it was actually ok. The only thing that I would improve here might be adding more color, maybe some strawberries or kiwis? :D

Sea Bass in Lemon Parsley

Being the carnivore that I am, I used to dislike seafood when I was young. It was always meat meat meat! It all changed, however, when I first tasted a succulent lean fillet of sea bass when I was around 14.

The other day, I went to Santis and found some good sea bass steak. I bought a piece and I filleted it at home.

The cooking was simple. Just sear the fish and finish it in the oven, careful not to overcook the fish. You don't want to ruin an expensive fillet of fish.



First, marinate the sea bass with some dill and lemon juice for around 30 minutes. Season it with salt and pepper. Sear the fillet both sides then put it in the oven to finish cooking.

For the sauce, put some parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil in the blender and blend everything.

For the carbs, I made some simple mashed potatoes and voila, dinner!

Opinion

The texture and flavor of the whole dish was good. Flavors were clean and simple and blended well with each other. The problem here was my mashed potato. I should have put more cream and butter so that I have a better consistency and a richer product. Moreover, it will also give a better presentation with the end product.