Blessed in all senses....except the brunch experience.

I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter Sunday with their friends and families.

Last weekend, while my large Filipino family were spending time together and  remembering my grandmother who passed away 16 years ago, we started to plan our Easter. My mom, the designated family cook, announced that she was going on vacation, leaving on Wednesday and coming back on Saturday night so she was not going to do the cooking this year. The family had decided to let other people worry about the food for us and we were going to brunch. Sounded like a good plan. My uncle made reservations for 18 at the SouthBay Fish and Grill at the Chula Vista Marina.

Okay let me preface this story with this in mind: I never complain about the service at restaurants publicly. No matter how bad the service or how gross the food was, I do not go on Yelp or any review sites and leave comments. I leave that to other people. I sometimes give a place one more chance then if the experience is the same that time around, I just never go back. (The first time I went to this place was back when it was called Jake's and my parents had their wedding reception there). The first time I went to SouthBay Fish and Grill was for Mother's Day Brunch, 2010. I had made reservations way in advance and requested a table by a window because my mom wanted a view. That day, we got there on time and they were going to seat us in the overflow tent area. I had explained to the hostess that I specifically asked for a table with a view. We didn't get that table until about 45 minutes after my reservation time. Other than that, the food was decent and the service was pretty good for brunch on a holiday. Easter Brunch 2011 was a whole lot worse. I would have left it alone this time around but today was something special. I tolerate a lot of stuff but this one takes the cake. I know this is mainly a baking blog but I wanted to do a service to the people of Chula Vista, CA.

At around 12:45, we were seated in a much too small table for our party of 11 and it was practically a foot and a half away from the next table of 10+ people (thank God there were less of us...who know how they would have squished 18 people at a table!). We went to get food and there wasn't much of a selection and dishes were not labelled....it was a game of guess what mystery dish you will be eating! The omelets/waffle/carving station was understaffed so the line was long for omelets (scrambles more like it), the incredibly undercooked prime rib (I swear to you it could have still been mooing!),  incredibly overcooked roast beef (my aunt's silverware went flying while she was trying to cut into it), and the ham...well...it was just a bone. When the name of your restaurant is SouthBay FISH and grill, you would think you would be stocked up on the seafood. It was barely 1:00 and there were only a few crab legs available (what my uncle and mom were definitely looking forward to because that's what they advertised). They asked the manager if there would be any more available only to be told about 30 minutes later that they had run out. The rest of the dishes were okay....nothing fantastic since it was mainly breakfast food which is pretty hard to mess up.

The saving grace, as far as food went, were the desserts (this is where I get the relevance of my rant to my blog!) There was certainly no shortage in desserts today: Endless mound of chocolate covered strawberries, brownies, cookies, creme brulee, cannolis, black forest cake, apple crisp, pecan tarts, bread pudding bites, strawberries w/ whipped cream. Too bad I couldn't eat most of it *sad face* or I might have just been at this table the duration of brunch. I did take bites of the creme brulee which was very creamy and had a nice crunch topping. The bread pudding bite was moist and the chocolate strawberry was tasty (too sweet though...I ended up taking off the chocolate). Props to the person who prepared the desserts...lots of selection, presented well, and yummy (from the few bites I could take).

We then got a little rushed when it came the the check. At this point, the crowd was dying down and there were plenty of vacant tables. The waitress kept asking if we wanted our check so we finally took it and gave a mix of cash and 2 credit cards. She came back a few minutes and said that half the power in the restaurant was down, including the credit card machine. They were working on getting it fixed but...."could we pay for cash?" Nope, not with a bill for a party of 11 at EASTER brunch (prices are of course increased because of the holiday). She disappeared again and came back...."could we pay with a check?" Who really carries their checkbook now a days with debit cards handy? The power came on long enough for her to run our cards. We then took our time, enjoying each others company and sipping champagne since we weren't too happy with the food. Could we have some coffee maybe with our dessert? Sorry....they had run out of coffee, said another waitress. Hmm what restaurant runs out of coffee?

We finally got up to leave and were heading out. The manager was standing there on our way out and my uncle commented to him about the coffee. The manager said there WAS coffee....hmm, odd.  Then it happened (At this point my mom and I were in the parking lot, waiting on my aunt and uncle so they recounted what follows, outside). One of the waitresses (not our regular one..the one that said there wasn't any coffee) stopped my aunt, "You didn't pay." Right in front of the manager, the waitress said again, "They didn't PAY." When they retold this to us, I couldn't believe it. My mom had a completely confused look on her face. They were actually accusing my family of dining and dashing! First of all, how do you dine and dash with a party of 11?!! Second, we were one of the last families there....why would we wait over 2 hours to dash and when the restaurant was practically empty. Third, my uncle had a receipt for his credit card which he promptly showed the manager. "What did the manager say?" I asked my uncle. "Nothing." Seriously? The manager couldn't even do basic customer service back when things first started to go south. He couldn't even go around the restaurant and apologize....we weren't even asking to be comped anything....just an apology would have been nice. Then to be accused by one of his staff members who was obviously wrong and he again did not offer an apology? Yup, you're time is up buddy....you just lost some customers and gained a bad review on my blog (probably a Yelp review from my uncle too...hehe). I DEFINITELY will NOT be back. If you live in the South Bay, please do not waste your time at this place.

On a more positive note, if this was the worst thing that happened today, I'm okay with that. I KNOW there are millions of people who are much worse off and I pray for them. I'm grateful every day for my family. I'm grateful we are able to spend time and meals together when so many others cannot at this time. In the end, Easter is a time to spend with family...even when it's like an experience like this.

Oh Pastry...How I Miss Thee!!

Do you remember the old Meryvn’s commercials with the woman who is standing outside before the store is open and she’s pressing herself against the glass doors, chanting “open open open”? Sometimes I feel like that woman but instead I’m standing in front of the glass doors of the Von’s pastry cabinet. Like her, I can’t have what I want the most.

When people find out that I'm a diabetic, they tell me they would never be able to deal with not eating their favorite sweets. A lot of people ask me what sweets I miss the most since being diagnosed as a diabetic. Cake is and always will be number one but breakfast pastries are a very close second. Since I'm not willing to give up sleep in the morning, I don’t have time to make myself a high protein breakfast like my doctor and nutritionist encourage me to eat. So what's left when you are in a rush....donuts, muffins, bagels, pop tarts, danishes....all things that are so accessible but so forbidden for me to eat. So once again I was faced with the same dilemma that I had with cake….I had to learn to make it myself and find some alternatives. About 2 weeks ago, I had the most intense craving for something very specific: almond pastry. The almond pastry in the Von's pastry cabinet was taunting me with its flaky goodness, sugary icing, smooth almond filling, and crunchy toasted almonds. My daydreaming of each of the individual components of the pastry made me think: Actually, this wouldn’t be too hard to make myself. Then I started to look at the other items in the case: chocolate croissant (yup I can make that), muffins (not a pastry but of course I could make those), donuts (err, that’s a tough one). With all this hard thinking and trying to figure out ingredients and how to do it easily and quickly, this is what ultimately inspired puff pastry week.

Almond Pastry Bites

puff pastry, almond paste (not marzipan) or almond pie filling (can), 1 egg, 1 tbsp water, sliced almonds

Cut puff pastry dough into small 3 inch squares. Place 1/2-1 tsp of almond paste or almond pie filling in the center of the square . Fold one corner of the square to the opposite corner (like a turnover). Beat egg and water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush on the top of the pastry with the egg wash. Sprinkle sugar or sugar substitute over egg wash and place almond slices on top. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

(Sueshine Note: almond filling can be replaced by any flavor pie filling such as apple or cherry or any fruit preserve to make a turnover. Just be mindful of the sugar content. Smuckers has several sugar free or no sugar added flavors)

Chocolate croissants

 puff pastry, sugarfree chocolate squares, 1 egg, 1 tbsp of water

Cut puff pastry dough into long triangles (like the ready made Pillsbury croissant dough in the tube). Place chocolate square on the wide side of the triangle and roll, tucking the end  in the middle of the croissant. Curve ends into a crescent. Beat egg and water in a small bowl to make an egg wash. Brush on the top of the croissant. Bake at 400 for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle with melted chocolate.

One of the hardest things to recreate is a donut. Let's be honest, a donut is not healthy. I mean, its deep fried dough usually filled with some super sweet jelly, covered in glaze, then covered in sprinkles. That could send almost anyone into a sugar coma. Again while I was researching on www.puffpastry.com, a receipe definitely caught my eye. Gail Simmons (editor for Food and Wine, judge on Top Chef) had a whole collection of recipes with puff pastry including, PB & J doughnuts. My mouth instantly started to water. Could I even remember the last time I had a donut that wasn't a plain cake donut? (not glaze, no sprinkles....just plain, dry, and almost made me choke). I definitely needed to find a way to make this a little more diabetic friendly.

PB&J Puff Pastry Donut

1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup Simple Jif peanut butter

3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar (Sueshine note: to make powdered sugar with Splenda, mix 3/4 cup granulated Splenda and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Mix ingredients in a blender until a fine texture. Makes 1 cup of powdered sugar)1 package (17.3 ounces) Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed
4 teaspoons Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry jam

Heat the oven to 400°F. Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork.
Stir the peanut butter, heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth.
Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Using a round cutter, cut the pastry sheet into 9 (3-inch) circles. Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet.
Place 9 pastry circles onto a baking sheet. Spoon about 1 teaspoon peanut butter mixture in the center of each pastry circle. Top each with about 1/2 teaspoon jam. Brush the edges of the pastry circles with the egg mixture. Place the remaining pastry circles over the filling. Press the edges firmly to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut a small slit in the top of each filled pastry.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown. Let the pastries cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar

Source: adapted from www.puffpastry.com

So it's not EXACTLY like a donut but it's as close as I can get to one right now. The fact that it isn't deep fried alone makes it a little better.

Well that's it for puff pastry week....which actually turned into 2 weeks but until I become famous, I'm stuck at my 9-5, tired and stressed at the end of the day. But that's okay...the wonder that is puff pastry makes it fast and easy for me to make a quick dessert....or even provides memories of what I dream I could still eat. A diabetic girl's dream could come true...I just gotta work at it a little and make it happen myself ;)

Why does Gordon Ramsay keep yelling?

So puff pastry week got a little sidetracked (had my first real order for cakepops this week which kept me busy!) but I'm back. I knew when I decided to do puff pastry week, I didn't want to limit it to sweet items....I wanted to at least try one real dish. I immediately knew what I wanted to do for my savory dish and it would finally answer my question....why does Gordon Ramsay keep yelling at the contestants on Hell's Kitchen?


If you have never seen an episode of Hell's Kitchen, I'll give you a quick summary: Contestants have to cook a dinner service under Chef Gordon Ramsay. Contestants must cook quality food quickly, all while Ramsay is screaming his head off. You would think none of the contestants have ever cooked anything in their lives the way he yells and smashes food on the counter. Every season, Ramsay has a few staple dishes that are always on his menu, one being Beef Wellington. So what is Beef Wellington? From what I could see on TV, it's beef tenderloin wrapped in puff pastry. What's so darn hard about that? Apparently everything because you always hear variations of Ramsay yelling after they bring it up to the pass: "IT'S RAAAAW you donkey!!!" I mean, most of it is already prepped before dinner service and all they have to do is throw it in the oven. I wanted to find out if I could do it...me, who maybe has one pinkie bone of natural cooking ability (as previously written, the family cooking gene skipped right over me) but then again, this is baking right.....sorta?


I did some research on beef Wellington recipes and found there is actually more to it. Like most recipes, there are so many variations. Some have pate or ham (similar to prosciutto) but I didn't want to get too complicated my first time around, especially since I know a lot of my friends and husband are such picky eaters. I did decide to stick to the ingredients that seemed to be a constant of a Wellington: tenderloin, puff pastry, mushrooms, mustard, and pepper. So here we go:


Beef Wellington

1 beef tenderloin (1.3lbs was more than enough for 2. I couldn't find a plain ol' tenderloin but I did find a pre-marinated tenderloin....garlic and black pepper)

Ground black pepper
1/2 of a 17.3-ounce package Pepperidge Farm® Puff Pastry Sheets (1 sheet), thawed
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/2 tablespoon butter 

1 tablespoon mustard (I used spicy brown)1 cup finely chopped mushrooms
1 medium onion, finely chopped

Heat the oven to 425°F.  Place the beef into a lightly greased roasting pan. Season with the black pepper, if desired.  Roast for 10 minutes. (see notes below: what I learned) Cover the pan and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Reheat the oven to 425°F.  Beat the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.

Heat the butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and onion and cook until the mushrooms are tender and all the liquid is evaporated, stirring often.

Unfold the pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry sheet into a rectangle 4 inches longer and 6 inches wider than the beef. Brush the pastry sheet with the egg mixture. Spoon the mushroom mixture onto the pastry sheet to within 1-inch of the edges. Brush mustard onto beef. Place the beef in the center of the mushroom mixture.  Fold the pastry over the beef and press to seal.  Place seam-side down onto a baking sheet.  Tuck the ends under to seal.  Brush the pastry with the egg mixture. Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of puff pastry (optional).

Bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown .

 Source: Adapted from www.puffpastry.com



Round one of cooking the tenderloin



Sauteed onions and mushrooms in butter






Mustard coated beef on the mushroom mixture & puff pastry




Wrapped in puff pastry, pre-baking




After baking




Inside (its well done...oops!)



So what did I learn about making my first beef Wellington?


1) There is a lot of prep to this dish and it isn't just "wrap beef in pastry."
2) Instead of roasting it before going into the fridge, I would pan-sear it instead (as suggested on other recipes). One of the biggest problems that I noticed when I watch Hell's Kitchen is that the contestants always have a problem cooking it to order and I can see why. By roasting it, if your tenderloin is small, it will cook pretty fast. If you sear it, it will only brown the outside and leave the inside pretty pink and give you some room when you are cooking it inside the puff pastry. The other issue is that since it's wrapped in puff pastry, its not like you can poke at the beef and check if it's medium rare or well done. No wonder they get yelled at....cooking times could mess this up real bad.
3) I made two separate ones because the hubby is one of those picky eaters and he likes everything plain. His did not have mushrooms or mustard but he said it was really good (he might be bias though...hehe). He also took a bite of the one with mustard (no mushroom bits) and he said he liked that as well...."it can go either way." Like I always say, adjust to your taste.


I'd probably get yelled at by Ramsay too. This is courtesy of the Mister who thought it would be funny to play in the background as I experimented:
http://www.gordonramsayswearsatyou.com/ (Warning: no bleeps here!)
LoL oh well....I never claimed to be a chef or plan on going on Hell's Kitchen but I think I did very well for Lil Ms. Sueshine playing chef in her kitchen tonight  ;)


<3 Lil Ms. Sueshine

Brie on Croute...Mine Needs Work

Brie on what? Sounds hoighty-toighty doesn't it? It's what I made tonight (well a loose interpretation of it) within 20 minutes with 4 ingredients: puff pastry, brie cheese, raspberry preserves, and almonds.

The first time I tried brie I was a little skeptical. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE cheese but this one looked a little funky when my aunt Sherri, the Wine and Cheese Queen, first introduced it to me. Brie is one of those  cheeses that you don't unwrap the plastic wrap from (ie American slices) or it doesn't come shredded and ready to put on your taco. Brie is one of those kinda intimidating cheeses they keep the in special section of the grocery store deli mixed in with all the other fancy imported cheeses from around the world. All brie is is soft cow's cheese....with a little bit of a rind. So back to the first time that I had brie. My aunt is usually assigned the appetizers during family gatherings and it ALWAYS includes some kind of cheese plate. One night, I watched her put a wheel of brie in a little ramekin, put some preserves on top (I think it might have been fig at that time), put sliced almonds on top of that, then popped it in the oven for a bit. Hey...I could go for this...who doesn't like melty oozy cheese? When it was ready, I was instructed to put it on a plain cracker and dig in. I must admit, I dug into that cheese more than a few times.

When I started looking for puff pastry recipes, I noticed a lot of recipes for brie on croute. Brie on croute is just a fancy name for wrapping a brie cheese wheel in puff pastry. There are so many versions of this recipe because you can wrap almost anything in it....from apricots to raspberry to guava to mushrooms and parsley... with the brie. I wasn't too sure about wrapping a whole wheel of brie in puff pastry because to be honest with you, I've tried brie on a lot of different stuff but I really only like it when it's cut with some kind of fruit. Plus, I didn't want to make a whole wheel either just in case I did like it and ended up eating the whole thing myself. Cheese coma would be bad. So I came up with an alternative.

Brie with Raspberries on Croute Minis

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

8 ounces brie cheese (wedge...remove rind)

1/4 cup sugar-free raspberry preserves

1/4-1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Lay thawed puff pastry sheet on lightly flour dusted surface and cut in 3 inch squares (size depends on the size of your muffin pan). Lay squares in greased muffin pan and shape into cups.

Place a small cube of brie in the middle of the puff pastry then top brie with a teaspoon of raspberry preserves. Top with sliced almonds for crunch.

Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden. Cool for about 5-10 minutes.

So here's my Sueshine disclaimer. I said was going to be honest with you when it comes to recipes that I'm trying for the first time. I did not remove the rind from the brie because most of the recipes I read on the Internet said not to. For the bite sized version, remove the rind. I think my palette is changing again because I didn't use to mind so much but since I'm baking for an audience now, I know a lot of you will not be able to handle the "funk." I've got your back so do yourself a favor and remove it. It was good but I KNOW it would be better without it. I'll have to try this recipe again some time without it and try a different fruit, although raspberries are my favorite.

I always encourage you to try and tweak recipes to your taste. As I said, there are so many versions of this recipe, I'm sure you will be able to find a combination you will like and impress your friends with. Who knew that puff pastry could make you look all fancy ;)

Puff Pastry Week! You can do it!!

It's only Monday and I can already tell its going to be a long week at my day job. I'm sure a lot of people out there are super busy during the week  and by the time you get home, you're tired and you don't want to full on bake with the flour finger prints everywhere and try to figure out how convert one measurement into another. I wanted to share one of my favorite yet simple baking items that you can find in your local grocery store freezer and turn it into something yummy quickly during the week....puff pastry.

The first time I saw puff pastry used on one of my cooking shows was on Sam the Cooking Guy (http://www.samthecookingguy.com/). If you don't know who Sam the Cooking Guy is, he's a local guy (but now his show plays throughout the US) on Channel 4 San Diego and his show is about making "cooking" easy....and I mean REALLY easy. Sometimes his show borders on a guy who is making bachelor food but most of the time, it's pretty cool how he simplifies recipes for your everyday person who might not have the best culinary skills in the world. Another bonus of the show is that the things he makes can be done fairly quickly and with things you find at a regular grocery store. So anyways, one of the first episodes when I first started watching Sam the Cooking Guy, he was making bunuelos....well sorta. It was kinda of a cross between a buneuelo which can be covered with cinnamon and sugar and also similar to the New Mexican pastry, sopapillas, in texture. Unlike bunuelos and sopapillas, what he was making was not deep fried. So when you are super tired from a hard day at work, I present probably one of the easiest items you will EVER bake.

Cinnamon Sugar Puff Pastry Bites

Puffy Pastry (Ready made. You can make your own puff pastry but why when this is so accessible and fast)
Sugar or granulated sugar substitute
Cinnamon

-Thaw puff pastry according to directions on the box. Once thawed, dust your work surface lightly with flour (Yes, I know, I know...I said earlier that you wouldn't have to get flour everywhere but if you don't want the dough to stick to your table, take the time to throw down a little flour)
-Preheat oven to 400. Fold the dough in half so it is 2 layers. Cut into squares and place on a greased baking sheet. Put in oven for 15-20 minutes or until brown and puffy.
-Mix cinnamon and sugar in a large mixing bowl (Note: The amount does not have to be exact. Also, if you are not worried about the sugar content, there are premixed cinnamon/sugar shakers at the store). Drop the warm puff pastry into the mixture and roll around until it is completely coated.

That's it? Yup, that's it. Hey, I can do that! Yeah, I know!

Nothing too impressive but it's a quick and easy dessert in which you can control the amount of sugar on it. Plus, cinnamon is supposed to be good for diabetics since it helps regulate blood sugar. If you want to work on the presentation, I suggest maybe using a cookie cutter to make different shapes. For those of you who can eat full power sweets, treat yourself to some dulce de leche ice cream on top of it or you can have it with coffee or hot chocolate or you can have it like in New Mexico...with a little bit of honey.

I'm planning on sharing some ideas on how to use puff pastry for both sweet and savory recipes this week. Some of the recipes I've already tried. Some, I'm going to be trying for the first time...and I'll be honest with everyone on how things turn out...either good or bad because you're taking this journey with me too ;)