I'm at my own site, at www.lanek0cina.com/en !

See ya there!!

^_^

You have to see this, and if you do... watch it too!




Seen @ http://3o4aldia.blogspot.com/.

I am still studying for my exams, which finish this Wednesday! yaaaaaaay!

I will resume posting after that ^_^

This? ;)

The answer (and the recipe)... soon!

Roscón is a festive hispanic bun. It is a typical Spanish bread with a circular shape, covered with sugared fruits of different colors. It is consumed mostly in Spain and other hispanic countries, the day of "Día de Reyes", the 6th of January. It is eaten for breakfest o for a snack (la merienda).



Its origin has nothing to do with the conmemoration of the The Three Wise Kings going to see baby Jesus, but more than the Roman Empire. There was a festivity for the adoration of Saturn, so Romans could celebrate longer days after the winter solstice. For this purpose thay made circular breads with dates and honey, which everybody ate.

During the III century they started to put a broad bean inside. The 'lucky one' which recieved a piece that had it was named 'king of kings' for a short period of time. Nowadays the lucky one has to invite their friends to lunch or to another roscon.

Felipe V brought to Spain (from France) the tradition of having something sweet with a surprise inside. In France they have "Gallete des Rois" (Kings bread), which is very different from roscón. Spanish roscón is more like a giant donut, imitating a royal crown, with fruits (which imitate jewels) with a surprise inside.

Info from Wikipedia. But there are more histories about its origin (cocinayhogar.com):

The people from the Madrid's Business Association of Artesan Baked Goods, the promotor of this roscón was Luis XV. The cook of the King, wanted to give a gift to the King the day of the Epiphany with a traditional roscon from his country (he was Slavonic), but with a surprise inside: a diamant medallion which he bought with help of other people that were part of the Royal service.

Luis XV loved it and spread the tradition, with a coin inside as a surprise, amongst the French and European royalty. This way, over the XVIII century it came to Spain, where it was accepted very well. The tradition went from Royal to normal people. Madrid and Seville were amongst the best makers of roscon. Soon all the country and the colonies were seduced by its flavour

( Recipe and pics... )

Santa Claus brought me some... Cookbooks!!! ^_^

In Spanish, el Larousse gastronomique en español. Finally in Spanish! It has more than 1200 pages, with 3000 recipes, which 400 are from famous chefs like Ducasse, Herme, Robuchon, Adria, Arola, Arzak... It's THE gastronomical reference in a book. It has 4000 articles about food, cooking, ingredients, utensils... The first edition, in French, was edited in 1938 and finally gets translated into Spanish this year :) The Spanish version is adapted to the Spanish gastronomy and culture.

In English, two books: Cook with Jamie, Jamie Oliver's last book! It's a cooking reference book, with basic and simple recipes. It tells you how to choose your produce, meat, and ingredients in general, as well as the basic cooking techniques. You can find it at Amazon.com, 24.50 $ en Amazon.com and at Amazon UK, 15.60 L.



Finally (but not least) Indulge:100 perfect desserts from Claire Clark and Thomas Keller. Yes! THE Thomas Keller! ;) I did not know of its existence until a friend from the Cafetito forum asked if somebody knew about it. From that moment it was on my Xmas list!!! Claire Clark is the pastry chef @ The French Laundry. This book is a collection of her favourite recipes. There are some luxorious recipes, as well as simple ones too. Cookies, cakes, mousses, ice-creams, creams,...  For example, Chocolate and red wine cake, Orange and pistachio cake, Mango, ginger and lime sorbet... I have checked it out lightly and it seems to be one of those books that you could say: If I had to choose only one pastry book, it would be this one ;) @ Amazon.com it costs 26.40 $.

I am happy, happy, happy!! ^_^

This bread was on my 'to-do' list for soooo long. It's bread (of course!) and it has jamón serrano (which I love MORE than bread) so... it seems a total winner!

Pan de jamón is typical from Venezuela for Christmas. For Venezuelan people it's a delicacy which represents abundance during Xmas. Its a sweet-salty bread. A mix of a leavened bread with a bit of fat so it has a delicate crust.

The most famous Pan de Jamon recipe is from Claudio Nazoa (a famous writer in Venezuela) which has been published all around the net. The version I used is a rescaled one, the original used almost 2 kg of flour!!

( Más... )

Finally the new year is here!! As always, it comes soooo fast!!! And as usual, the good wishes or goals for this brand and shiny new year!!

Mine are:

Cooking-wise

1. Post here more often (I write more on my Spanish blog, I hope to remedy this!)
2. Move my blog to my ownserver.
3. Watch what I eat, no junk food (specially sweets!!!!) and also get healthier ^_^
4. Organize my books and cooking magazines.
5. At least once a week use a cookbook.
6. At least twice a week use my cooking appliances (thermomix, slowcooker...)
7. Make new foodie friends around the world!
8. Get a new oven (the thermostat of my oven is a bit wonky, it heats 20-40 C lower than it should!)

Other goals

9. Organize myself better. Do not let stuff to do up to the last minute, do not pile letters from the bank and bills, do not have billions of post-its and little notes which have no purpose...
10. Save! Save! Save! I have never been able to save a dime in my life. I am not a youngster anymore... I cannot live up to the limit always!
11. Exercise more. A colleague started to go to my gym so we would exercise together. The first two months were fine but this last month was a disaster!
12. Do yoga or pilates at home. I have videos and books which I do not use (at least until now!). Maybe run also but probably that's too much!!
13. Drink more water and less Coke...
14. Do not buy so much clothes!
15. Be positive. Do not worry about silly things.
16. Learn how to take great pictures!

Wow! That's a lot! Will I be able to manage to do them all????

Recently I bought some books from Amazon.com, as the dollar goes down (or the euro goes up!). I finally got them!!

I got three books, and I love 'em!

- Bouchon, from my beloved Thomas Keller :D



- More from Magnolia, the second book from Magnolia Bakery. The opinions on this second book was better than the first one so I got this one instead (also, a friend got the first one and is not so happy about it, specially since it does not have pics)



- Reter Reinhart's Whole grain breads, Reinhart's new book!



As soon as I try something you'll know :)

Oyakodon is one of my favorite Japanese recipes. Basically it's just rice, with chicken and egg. Its a quite savory dish. There is also a pork plate, a tuna plate and a tempura plate (and many many other things). Oyakodon means "Mother and child donburi", donburi meaning bowl (This tidbit I got it from Chotilde from C&H). Donburi is any bowl with something and rice.

If you go to a Japanese restaurant and one of your friends has never been to and is a bit reluctant about Japanese food thinking everything will be raw, this is a plate to reccomend ;) They always love it.

I thought about doing this recipe a few weeks ago, I usually make it quite often... until now. I will do it more often from now on ;)

Recipe taken from http://japanesefood.about.com/od/ricebowl/r/oyakodon.htm, the picture is mine.

Oyakodon
About.com japanese cooking
4 people

INGREDIENTS:
4 cup steamed rice
3/4 lb chicken thighs or chicken breasts
1 onion
1 2/3 cups soup stock (dashi)
7 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp mirin
3 tbsp sugar
4 eggs

PREPARATION:
Cook steamed rice. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces and thinly slice onion. Put dashi soup stock in a pan and heat.

Add soy sauce, mirin, and sugar in the soup. Put chicken in the pan and simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Add onion slices to the pan and simmer for a few more minutes. Beat eggs in a bowl. Bring the soup to a boil, then pour the eggs over chicken and onion. Turn the heat down to low and put on a lid. After one minute, turn off the heat. To serve, first put steamed rice in a deep bowl, then place the chicken and egg on top of the rice.

If you like Japanese food, try this one out!!

I have to do some papers for Monday and Tuesday.... 4 of them!

Wish me luck!

Some time ago I posted this recipe on some Spanish forums. I had some ribs out of the freezer and remebered about Tony Roma's ones... soooo delectable!!

TONY ROMA'S ORIGINAL BABY BACK RIBS clone
Top secret restaurant recipes, Todd Wilbur



4 lb baby back pork ribs

BBQ sauce
1 c ketchup
1 c vinegar
1/2 c dark corn syrup
2 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t Tabasco sauce

When you buy them, probably full ribs from  the butcher, cut the racks into smaller pieces (4-6 bones per rack), the perfect serving size. 

Preheat the oven to 300 F (175 C). Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil that are longer than the ribs. Coat the ribs, front and back, with the barbecue sauce. If you can marinate them some time, the more the better (up to one day).  Place a rack of ribs, one at a time, onto a piece of foil lengthwise and wrap it tightly.

Place the ribs into the oven, with the seam of the foil wrap facing up, cook for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until you see the meat of the ribs
shrinking back from the cut ends of the bones by about 1/2 inch. This long cooking time will make the meat more tender.

Toward the end of the cooking time, prepare your barbecue grill. Remove the ribs from the foil and smother them with additional barbecue sauce. Be sure to save some of the sauce for later. This step is optional (just in case you don't have grill! ;) ) Grill the ribs on the hot barbecue for 2 to 4 minutes per side, or just until you see several spots of charred sauce. Watch for flames and do not burn.

When the ribs are done, use a sharp knife to slice the meat between each bone about halfway down. This will make it easier to tear the ribs apart when they are served. Serve the ribs piping hot with additional sauce on the side, if desired.

To make the sauce
Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan over high heat. Blend with a whisk the ingredients until smooth. When the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer uncovered. In 30 to 45 minutes, when the mixture thickens, remove it from the heat. If you
want a thicker sauce, heat it longer. If you make the sauce too thick, thin it with more vinegar.

The recipe is a bit lengthy to make but worth it ;) Try it out!!

I just saw this at Sao Mai's blog (http://www.cocinalia.eu). A photographer,  Jon Huck, has done a photo essay-experiment: people and their breakfast. Its reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally cool, check it out!!

http://jonhuck.com/breakfast/index.htm

Jon Huck

I totally had to do something from Jaimie's Oliver new book (Jamie's Italy, well... my only Jamie book). Browsing I discovered this eggplant dish, since I had a few sad-looking eggplants I decided to give it a try.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Parma style eggplant)
Jamie's Italy, Jamie Oliver
6 rations

North Italian dish, perfect for a side dish for fish or meat. Jamie recommends grilling rather than fring the eggplant for a less greasy dish.

3 large eggplants
Olive oil
1 onion, peeled & finely chopped
1 clove garlic peeled & finely sliced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
800g  plum tomatoes
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Wine vinegar
Large handful fresh basil
4 large handfuls of grated parmesan cheese
2 handfuls of  breadcumbs
Little fresh oregano, leaves chopped
150g ball of buffalo mozzarella (optional)

Remove the stalks from the eggplants and cut them into 1 cm slices. Get your griddle pan hot in the meantime. Put some olive oil in a pan over medium heat and add onions, garlic and oregano, cook until soft (about 10 min). Add the tomatoes, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, grill the eggplant on both sides until lightly charred. Set aside. When the tomato sauce is reduced, add thesalt and pepper, basil and a splash of vinegar. You can leave it chunky or puree it.

In the selected oven dish, put in a small layer of sauce, sprinklewith cheese, followed by a layer of eggplant, repeat until all ingredients are finished, then finish with a layer of tomato and cheese. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs. You can also put some torn mozzarella on top. Put it in the oven, 190C, cook for 30 min until golden and bubbly. It is best eaten right away but also you can eat it cold.

NOTES
- You can use fresh tomates, peeling them (you can scald them 20 seconds in boiling water with a cross marked on one of the ends and after that putting them in ice cold water to stop the cooking), and taking away the seeds.
- I only added the breadcrumbs.

It was GREAT! I ate it as a vegetarian dish with some salad, and we loved it. Maybe next time I will puree the sauce because I left it chunky.

Before my vacations, I went to a restaurant which had been a long time on my 'to-do' list: Tiki Restaurant Bar & Grill.

It's a cool place, a fusion between american and asian cultures, and the decoration is very nice:

Yo can order by the menu individually and also a few pre-arranged menus (intended for 2): an American one, an Asian and a Thai one. This is what we ate:

 
Fried algae (thai)

 
Spring rolls (thai)

 
Mozarella sticks (american)

 
Spicy wings (american)

 
Hawaiian burger (american)


Asian ribs (asian)


Hot & Sour ribs (asian)


Fried rice (asian)


Onion rings (american)


Tuna tataki (out of the pre-arranged menus)


Mango ice-cream


Don't remember, sorry


Some kind of sweet rolls

  
Brownie

Tiki Grill

Address	Calle Orense , 34. Madrid. Zona Tetuán.
Metro(s)	Santiago Bernabeu
Telephone	91 556 52 02

It is a very nice place to eat, kind of like a Tony Romas or Foster Hollywood but with a bit of asian stuff. The price is also good (15-20 euros per person), so I totally recomend it ;)