Online recipe trial: Rachel Ray's Buffalo Chicken Chili and Bizu's Tart au Chocolat

With my summer schedule, I don't get to cook often on weekdays. Breakfast is usually just cereal, lunch is from the school caf (I love Blue and Gold's homestyle meals), and dinner is leftover from Sunday or a sandwich. (I get the best cold cuts from SÄNTI'S Delicatessen or Shopwise. The Thüringen wurst in the deli section of Shopwise Libis is close to the original.)
Weekends are another thing, especially if there are no Kinema events or shows to watch. These days, I cook meals to last me the entire week.

The folks in the office the Friday before were looking for a caterer for an event and Bizu Patisserie was mentioned. This made me crave for their pastries. For those who aren't familiar with Bizu, it's a classy pastry shop / bistro that started in Glorietta. They're the only ones in Manila who serve the most authentic Macaron de Paris! I checked out their website and to my surprise, they had some recipes uploded there! I saved them all to my computer and decided I'd make tarts that evening.

For my week-long meal (ie. cook on Sunday and eat leftovers all week), I went with Buffalo Chicken Chili, the most downloaded season 1 recipe on Rachel Ray's site. (She's annoying to watch, but her food is practical and delicious.)

The results were great! I decided to plate them and take pics before eating them. Maybe it's something I can start doing here, especially with some of my orig recipes. Para rin matuto na ang mga kaibigan kong laging nagpapaluto! Haha.

Here are the pics of my finished products with the recipes I downloaded (slightly modified with my notes).

Chicken chili with crisp baguette (Rachel Ray recipe)


Stew

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO ika nga ni Rachel Ray)
• 2 pounds ground chicken
• 2 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 ribs celery with leafy tops, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon smoked sweet paprika (You can also use one finely-chopped fresh red bell pepper)
  
• 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock (you can replace this with 2C water with 2 chicken cubes)
  
• 1/2 cup hot sauce
• Pepper flakes (kung gusto niyong mas maanghang)
  
• 1 can tomato sauce (15 ounces)
• 1 can stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes (15 ounces) (Molinera has cans of whole tomatoes. These are fine. You can also fire-roast your own tomatoes

Topping

• 1 sack whole grain tortilla chips, lightly crushed
• 3/4 pound Maytag Blue cheese, crumbled
• A handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Preparation

Place a large pot over medium-high heat with the EVOO, 2 turns of the pan. Add the ground chicken and break it up, lightly browning it for 5 minutes.

Add the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, paprika and bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 7-8 minutes. Add the chicken stock and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot.

Add the hot sauce, tomato sauce and the stewed, fire-roasted or crushed tomatoes to the chili and bring up to a bubble. Simmer for 8-10 minutes more to thicken and let the flavors come together.

While the chili is simmering, pre-heat the broiler.

Spread the chips out on a cookie sheet. Top with the crumbled blue cheese and transfer to the oven to melt the cheese, 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

Top each serving of Buffalo Chicken Chili with a few blue cheese chips.

You can also serve this with toasted baguettes as I did. Ok din with cornbread (para authentic chili feel).

Tart au Chocolat (Bizu recipe)

(Didn't have mini tart pans, so I was forced to make large tarts I needed to cut-up. Don't worry, they make them way beautiful in Bizu. Di ko pa sila ka-level, haha.)

Tart Shells (yields 14 tarts)
140g unsalted butter
8 ml whipping cream
1 pc egg
53 g sugar (you can also use Splenda)
211 g all purpose flour

1. Combine sifted flour, sugar and cubed butter.
2. Beat in an electric mixer using paddle until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Medium speed. (Kaya rin ito by hand. Mas nakakapagod nga lang.)
3. Whisk together eggyolk and cream then add to the flour mix.
4. Continue beating at medium speed until well combined.
5. Remove from bowl and wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
6. Roll out tart dough onto lightly floured table until about 3mm in thickness.
7. Cut the dough about 3 inches bigger than the size of the mold you will be using.
8. Lightly press the dough into the mold and trim the excess.
9. Blind bake big molds at 180C for 10 to 12 minutes.

Chocolate Custard Cream for Chocolate Tart (yields 14 tarts)
250 ml fresh milk
250 ml whipping cream
88 g white sugar
6 pc eggs
15 ml vanilla extract
375 g dark chocolate bar
Orange liqueur and orange rind (not in orig recipe, but gives additional flavor to the chocolate)

1. Boil milk and cream.
2. Whisk sugar and eggs together.
3. Add boiled milk into egg mixture while whisking.
4. Cook on top of a stove at medium heat until temp reaches 85C. remove from heat.
5. Add chopped chocolate and mix until chocolate dissolves and blends with mixture.
6. Pour on par baked tart shell and chill. You can add a chocolate layer (eg. a ganache) on top for shine.

Let me know if you're trying this. Medyo komplikado yung second recipe, so it may be best to start with something easier. (I can give suggestions if you're really into baking.)

More recipes to come! Ang Everest ko ngayong summer ay ang sarili kong Macaron de Paris.