A scientist in the kitchen

Miss you chemistry class? Thinking about the periodic table of the elements? Well, here is something probably more useful for you right now - a periodic table of condiments that will tell when you condiments -fish sauce, Tabasco, cheeses, etc…- will expire. I stumbled upon this site The Table of Condiments that Periodically Go Bad. An example is Nutella, which they say expires four months after opening. Do you really think it could last that long? More like a few days

Do you find the site useful?

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Baking is not really my forte. Especially breads. Think of all the kneading and waiting for the dough to rise? I’m afraid I don’t have the patience to wait. Though I knew I would have to bake my own bread one of these days. I like cooking things from scratch and there seems to be a tremendous inspiration of breads around the blogs. So this time, when I was paired with KJ of A Cracking Good Egg in the Taste and Create event hosted by Nicole at For the Love of Food, I was drawn to this fantastic foccacia recipe.

Look ma, no kneading! I essentially followed her Fantastic Foccacia recipe except I used 1 tbsp dried yeast instead of the fresh yeast she recommends. What’s great with focaccia is you can simply top it with salt or play around herbs like what I did. For my first focaccia, I topped it with a combination of chopped garlic, and dried thyme and tarragon. The garlic smelled so heavenly while it was baking and wafted around the house. The resulting focaccia was crusty outside, but the inside was another story. It was a bit moist, a bit undercooked and I have to toast again before eating. Hhmm, I wonder what went wrong. Could it be the yeast? My stove top oven? That is something I can investigate on this weekend. Nevertheless, I will certainly be perfecting this focaccia for my taste.

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Hosting last week’s Weekend Herb Blogging was a blast. Thanks to all of you who shared your posts.

This week, I am submitting this post to Cate of Sweetnicks.

Mangoes are in season in the Philippines. Over the weekend we harvested mangoes from our backyard. The mangoes were almost ripe and in a few days, will turn golden yellow. So we had avalanche of ripe mangoes the past few days.

What more can be said about mangoes? Did you know that Spanish galleon trade from Manila to Acapulco in Mexico brought the first seedlings of Manila mango to Mexico? The Manila-Acapulco galleon trade existed for three centuries and exchange goods, spices and cargoes between the two countries. This also facilitated cultural exchange between the Philippines and Mexico. This is also the reason how the cacao, the source of chocolate reached the Philippines.

My recipe for this week is another version of salad with mangoes. This time, to add some pop, I added poppy seeds.

Mango and poppy salad

1 cup ripe mangoes
1 medium size cucumber
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 medium sized bell pepper, juliened
1 tbsp poppy seeds

Sliced the mangoes and cucumber thinly. Layer the lettuce in a salad plate. Topped with cucumber and mangoes then sprinkle with poppy seeds.

To make vinaigrette: Combine 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1/4 cup mirin, 1 tbsp honey, 1 tsp crushed pepper and 1 tsp chili flakes.

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I got the idea for this recipe from The Amateur Gourmet (he used duck) and Chez Pim (she made her own five spice powder) and used our very own native chicken raised in the backyard. We have several native chickens at home that supply our eggs (how about freshly laid eggs still warm from the hen for breakfast?). Occasionally we slaughter them whenever we have a particular dish to cook.

Chicken, five spice and more…

1 whole chicken, cut up into serving pieces
1 lemongrass stalk, chopped
2 tbsp five spice powder
1 tsp crushed pepper
3 tbsp soy sauce

Mix all ingredients in a pan. Add 2 cups of water, cover pan and then bring to a boil. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until chicken is cooked. Add more water if necessary to cook the chicken. Once chicken is cooked, remove chicken from the pan and thicken the sauce. Bring back the chicken to pan, coat with sauce and serve. Best with steamed rice.

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