Philippine Inspired Marinated Pork

I have two favorite Philippine marinated pork dishes: tocino and barbecue skewers. Most recipes that I came across calls for a ton of sugar and/or lemon+lime soda. My solution to this is a recipe that I'm comfortable enough to feed to my own children.

Start with a package of pork butt or shoulder.

In a bowl add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire and chopped garlic.

Bring 2 cups of orange juice with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar to a boil and cool.

In a separate bowl thinly slice the pork and add dry rub (1 tablespoon of paprika, 1 tablespoon of garlic powder, and 1 tablespoon of white sugar). Mix.

Add cooled orange juice to the soy sauce and add pork. Mix. Marinade for up to 2 days in advance. I've marinaded my pork and stored it both in the refrigerator and in the freezer - I prefer the freezer method.

To cook heat pan on medium. Add pork and simmer with 1/4 cup of water. Boil until water evaporates and fry until fully cooked and golden in color.

Serve with rice and enjoy.

Chocolate Workshop

My friends and I had Groupon's to a local chocolatier that we purchased sometime ago and we finally nailed down a date that would fit with all of our 'mum' schedules.

Firstly, I'll have to say that it was a very informative workshop. We also had the opportunity to taste dark chocolate from five different regions (including cocoa butter and cocoa nibs) in their purest forms. The absolute best part of the evening was getting down and dirty by making our own box of truffles.

The tempering of chocolate was briefly discussed which was a beneficial topic for myself as I've had so my challenges making ganache in the past.

Almost everyone (the exemption being my friend and I) used cutters to mold the ganache. We clearly lacked the patience and/or concentration required for the molds so we cut basic square shapes with a knife. I'm the first to admit that this was much neater process on the overall.

We then hand dipped each piece of ganache into melted dark chocolate and decorated them with strawberry flavored white chocolate petals, cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, textured and star-patterned acetate. Our truffles were collected and set in the refrigerator (or was it freezer?) for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, I indulged in a cup of dark hot chocolate with in-house made spiked marshmallows.

Lastly, we packaged our truffles. It was a great end to a truly decadent evening.

Parmesan Cheese Soft Pretzels

This was the latest variation of soft pretzels - Parmesan cheese. My husband decided to dress his soft pretzels so I had to copy him. Sometimes, he is just brilliant!

Raspberry Cream Puff

Ever since I made gougères, I've been thinking about trying it's sweet alter ego, the cream puff (also known as choux pastry).

I found the following recipe from JoyOfBaking.com and decided to fill mine with a 'raspberry flavored whip cream.' 

Happy Easter!

Gabrielle's Raspberry Whip Cream Recipe:

1/4 cup Frozen Raspberries

1/4 cup Orange Juice

1 teaspoon Sugar

250 ml Whipping Cream

1 tablespoon Confectioners Sugar

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Bring orange juice, frozen raspberries, and sugar to a boil and immediately place in refrigerator (or freezer) to cool.

Whip cream with confectioners sugar and vanilla.

Fold in cooled raspberries (as desired) and fill cream puffs.

Oven-Baked Baby Back Ribs

I often cook barbecue baby back ribs for my family and I always boil the ribs in water with a bay leaf, half an onion, salt and pepper for 1 hour. I remove the ribs, place them on a baking sheet, and brush barbecue sauce on both sides and bake them in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 20 minutes and serve.

I decided to take the opportunity to see if oven-baking the ribs would make much of a difference. Seeing that I had 2 1/2 hours to spare, today would be the day!

I divided 2 racks of ribs into 5 portions. Each portion was then seasoned with a dry rub that consisted of seasoning salt, garlic powder and paprika. I wrapped each portion with parchment and foil. The ribs went into a 300 degree Fahrenheit oven and baked for 2 hours. I removed the parchment and foil (and juice), slathered barbecue sauce on each portion, and baked the ribs for another 1/2 hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

They looked identical to my boiled version and the ribs were just as tender - there is an added hint of smokiness, which you don't get when the ribs are boiled. The main difference for me was in texture. There was a thin presence of fat left on some of the ribs (which I don't care for). Unless you plan on trimming the excess fat left on the ribs, I prefer the boiled version, and it takes less cooking time!