This is the second of two articles about Joan Parreno, an American woman living in the Iliono province of the Philippines with her inlaws. Their home was flooded and Joan is trying to help them use their goat’s milk to better advantage. In Part 1, she describes how she made rennet from papaya leaves and in this post, she shares a few of her recipes:
Euginia (her mother-in-law) boiling the milk |
Joan Parreno’s recipes for cooking with goat’s milk over an open fire
Since I’m trying to convince local people of the value of milking goats, I have to use local ingredients, and cooking methods that they can use. For example, most cooking is done in a wok, on an open wood fire. Not a modern stove.
#1 – Welsh Tea Cakes
2C Flour
1/2t Baking powder
1/4C Raisins or dried mango, chopped (optional)
2T Butter
1 Egg (or 2T water)
1/4C Sugar
1/3C Goat milk
Preheat a griddle (or heavy frying pan) to the point where a drop of water will sizzle, but not immediately evaporate.
Mix flour and baking powder. Cut flour into butter. Mix in fruit and sugar. Add liquids to make a soft dough.
Break into 8 to 12 equal pieces and work out to 1/2-inches thick. Dust each with flour to make them easier to handle.
Add a few drops of oil or a knob of butter to the griddle and fry the cakes over a low heat until browned.
Turn several times. The heat should be low enough that you can step away for a moment without worrying about it too much.
Serve hot or cold, with butter and jam or honey, and especially a pot of hot tea.
Always popular.
Queenie, one month old |
#2 – Noodles in Cream Sauce
1 Brick instant noodle soup and seasoning pack
1C Water
1/2C Goat milk
1T Flour (dissolved in 2T water)
1bunch Fresh Kang Kong leaves (or other spinach substitute)
Combine water, milk and seasoning pack, omitting any soy sauce, in a saucepan, and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a simmer. Add noodle brick and Kang Kong.
When noodles are nearly cooked, add flour slurry and stir to thicken.
Serve hot.
Smells good, but no one dares!
Evening milk, a pint a day |
#3 – Mango Cobbler
1C Flour
3/4C Brown sugar
1/3C Butter
1t. Cinnamon (optional)
2C Fresh mango pulp (or other fruit), with plenty of chunks
1/4C Goat milk
2T Butter
2T Brown sugar
Combine flour, 3/4C sugar, 1/3C butter and cinnamon. Cut in butter until you have a coarse mixture and divide in half.
Press one half into a 9X9 baking pan, and reserve the rest.
In a saucepan, melt butter and dissolve remaining sugar in it.
Add mango pulp and milk, and cook over low heat until fruit cooks and thickens.
Pour fruit into lined baking pan and sprinkle remaining dry mixture evenly over the top of the fruit.
Bake at 350F for 20-minutes or until nicely browned. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream on the side.
Dang, haven’t made the ice cream yet. (addendum: When I did make it, it was very popular.)
I do not have access to an oven, but created a Dutch Oven by taking a heavy kettle, and placing the lid on it upside-down. The food to be baked is in a dish inside the kettle, and the kettle is placed on a bed of burning coals. More burning coals, and maybe even a small fire, are placed on the inverted lid. This takes a little practice, but it does work. I find that scorching of the food can be greatly reduced by placing the inside dish on a trivet. To make this, just place three coins in the bottom of the heavy kettle. The dish gets placed on these, like three little legs.
Chevre (all the chickens are named after cheeses) |
#4 – Peaches & Cream
2 Peaches (or mangoes)
2T Brown sugar
1/4C Clabber cream
Peel and stone the fruit, and chop the flesh.
Combine all ingredients and serve.
Hot dog! This has been requested after only a few days. Pity I’m out of clabber cream.
Camembert |
#5 – Quiche
1 Pie shell, in pie pan
4 Eggs
1C Milk
1can Canned tuna, drained
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
2cloves Garlic, minced
Beat Eggs with milk until well combined.
Loosely sprinkle tuna, onion, tomato and garlic in pie shell, leaving it very loose and with many voids.
Gently pour egg mixture into pie shell.
Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes, or until the egg mixture has set. To test
this, insert a bamboo skewer into the quiche. If the skewer comes out
clean, it’s done.
I’ll have to use my make-shift dutch oven to cook this. For the pie shell, I’ll substitute a thin layer of quick bread. My pie shells are like cast iron.
Another success. People are sniffing the air. It was officially to be my supper. So why am I missing a quarter of it? The bottom crust was a little overdone. Too much heat from below. Maybe a little goat cheese in it when I get a good one. That won’t be much longer.
The ice cream “machine” |
To see Part 3 of this series, Making “Velveeta,” click here.