Summer salad with bagoong vinaigrette

To any Filipino, nothing says summer more than a heaping bowl of sliced green mangoes and bagoong. A light and refreshing salad of typical greens with manggang hilaw and singkamas drizzled with a basic vinaigrette with shrimp paste gives this sweet, tangy and mildly spicy fare a uniquely Pinoy flavor. Wouldn't this be great for Easter brunch?

 

Ingredients:

Olive oil, ¾ cup

Apple cider vinegar, ¼ cup

Bagoong, ¼ cup

Honey, 2 tbsp

Salad greens

Green mangoes, sliced into long, thin strips

Turnips, sliced into long thin strips

Prawn crackers or kropek (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously to emulsify. Pour over salad greens, mangoes and turnips. Top with prawn crackers.  

Enjoy! Happy Easter, you guys!

Grilled Vegetable Pasta with Kesong Puti

 I love grilling vegetables. Asparagus...mushrooms...squash... name it! My sister-in-law and her best friend loved the grilled vegetables on ciabatta bread drizzled with pesto sauce that I made for them during a vacation in the province a few years ago. At that time they were both into the business of kesong puti making. They had a variety of kesong puti products: bottled kesong puti in olive oil with different herb combinations (my favorite is garlic and basil), spreadable kesong puti and even "Parmesan" kesong puti, which they labeled as "Promdi-sano Cheese" (get it?).

 

Anyway, the kesong puti went so well together with the grilled vegetables! Y-U-M-M-Y-! Here's another take on the vegetable-cheese combination.   

           

Ingredients:

Spaghetti, 1 package 

Garlic, about 1 head, minced

White onion, 1 large, cut into thin rings

Olive oil

Anchovies

Capers  

Eggplant, cut in half then into about 1/4 inch slices

Zucchini, cut in half then into about 1/4 inch slices

Red bell pepper

Kesong puti, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

Procedure:

Boil noodles and set aside.

Heat up grill and brush with olive oil.

Lay eggplants and zucchini over grill and brush with olive oil.

Sprinkle salt and pepper.

In the meantime, place bell pepper over an open gas burner and char  skin. Once charred  on all sides, set aside on a shallow bowl and cover to cool. Peel off skins and slice into bite sized-squares.

In a medium-sized pan over medium to low heat, pour olive oil.

Add onions and caramelize.

Add in garlic. Set heat on low and stir.

Add grilled eggplant, zucchini, peppers, capers and anchovy fillets.

Pour cooked pasta, season with salt and pepper as needed and stir well. 

Sprinkle kesong puti.

Serve hot.

Enjoy!     

Tuna Casserole

This recipe is a real crown pleaser. I usually serve this for brunch, potlucks and whenever I feel too lazy I prepare this even for dinner because it's fool proof and so easy to prepare! 

Ingredients:

1 package macaroni, cooked

1 can all purpose cream

2 cans tuna in water, drained

1 block cheese, grated

1 onion, minced

2 cups mixed vegetables

1 tsp butter

1 bag potato chips, crushed (optional)

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

 

Procedure:

Saute onion in butter until soft and tender. 

Add in tuna and mixed vegetables. Stir for a few minutes.

Add macaroni and mix together.

Pour cream and 1/2 of grated cheese. You may add a little pasta water if the mixture becomes too thick.

Remove from heat and pour on to a baking dish. 

Sprinkle crushed potato chips and Parmesan on top. 

Place in a pre-heated oven at 170 F for 10 minutes. 

 

Enjoy!   

 

Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana



The eggplants from our garden always turn out so small. I wonder why? Do they belong to a certain variety or are we doing something wrong. I try to wait a little longer before harvesting to give them more time to grow. My father-in-laws, however, says that once the skins become glossy they will stop getting larger. Overripe eggplants will turn hard and bitter. Let me just say that they do look adorably cute... but a little too cute to eat. My father-in-law still uses them for his pinakbet though.

 



 

Anyway, let us just pretend that these eggplants are the ones from OUR garden, okay?

    



 

Ingredients:

Eggplants, sliced lengthwise

Jar of ready-made pomodoro sauce

Mozzarella

 

The procedure is fairly simple. Instead of frying the eggplants I prefer to grill them until they become soft. Pour pomodoro sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella. Pop them in the microwave until the cheese melts.  
 

 

Enjoy!

Pan Fried Curried Fish Fillet with Grilled Vegetables

A Nepalese classmate way back from my residency days taught me a recipe almost just like this. Her recipe, however, requires garam masala and lamb. The contents of the spice jar that she gave me has long been consumed and I have tried to concoct my own version of her recipe. I'm not as crazy about lamb as my husband so I have always tried it with chicken. Anyway, my husband just recently had one of his occasional craving for anything with curry. We ran out of chicken so I tried using cream dory fillet instead. It turned out a little dry and will have to remind myself to lessen the cooking time next time. Other than that I think it is a good alternative to chicken.      

Ingredients:
Fish fillet
Yogurt
Garlic, minced
Curry powder
Turmeric
Paprika
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Cilantro, chopped

Procedure:
Combine yogurt, garlic, spices, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  
Pat fish fillets with a towel and marinate for 15-30 minutes.
Heat olive oil in a pan. Slide in fish fillets. Turn and remove from pan when cooked.
Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serve with yogurt-garlic dressing* and grilled vegetables.**

*
Yogurt-garlic dressing:
Combine yogurt and minced garlic.
Season with salt.

**
Grilled vegetables:
Pour olive oil over mixed vegetables (mushroom, zucchini, eggplant, bell pepper, onion).
Season with salt and pepper.
Insert barbeque sticks through vegetables and grill.

Enjoy!

Fish Fillet with Ginger and Caramel Sauce

I have to admit I was hesitant to try this recipe. The photo on the cookbook really does look yummy. However, I easily get turned off by recipes that are too lengthy and those that require too many pots to prepare. Well, to make a long story short I actually tried it out - twice. Hubby loved it and requested to have it again for dinner the next day with my in-laws. I followed the exact recipe on my first try but tweaked it a little the second time in an attempt to simplify the recipe. In terms of taste and flavor there doesn't seem to be any difference however which way it was prepared. So here you go, I hope you'll love it.         
 

Ingredients:
Fish fillet, 1 pound
Pepper
Ginger, 1 tablespoon, minced
Cilantro, chopped
Fish sauce
Oil, about 3 tbsp.
Garlic, 3 cloves, minced
Onion, 1 small, minced
Lemon or lime juice
Sugar, ½ cup
Water

 

Procedure:

Marinate fish in pepper, ginger, cilantro and fish sauce for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce by combining sugar, juice of 1/2 lemon or lime and 4 tbsp water. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn off heat when thick, pour on to a small bowl and set aside.  

On the same pan, heat 2 tbsp oil and sear fish on both sides, reserve the marinade. Remove from heat.

Add a little more oil (if needed) ,add onion and garlic until light brown. Pour in marinade and caramel syrup. Stir together.

Add fish and let simmer for a few minutes.
Add juice of remaining half of lime or lemon and turn off heat.
Serve and garnish with cilantro.
  
Enjoy!
 

Roasted Chicken with Rosemary and Dalanghita

A few years after getting married, my niece, Abi, gave hubby and I a perfect opportunity (or excuse) to start an herb garden. They were all assigned in home economics class a certain herb to plant and to present later at the end of the semester. She couldn't remember specifically which herb she was assigned to grow so her mom in haste to leave the Manila Seedling compound bought any type of herb she could identify. To our surprise, hubby and I were assigned by our (then) 8 year old niece the task of making sure her herb (whichever it was) grew and lived long enough until her presentation in class. How could we refuse?! In an instant, we had an herb garden to nurture. Perhaps the easiest herb to maintain, based on our experience, is rosemary. It's basically very adaptable and is practically low maintenance. Just make sure you don't over water and that it is planted on a pot that drains well to prevent its root from rotting.

 

Anyway, here's a classic rosemary chicken recipe that I tweaked a bit. Instead of the usual lemons called for in this recipe I used our very own dalanghita.

Ingredients:  
1 whole chicken
salt and pepper
olive oil 
4 dalanghita fruits, quartered
rosemary sprigs

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper.
Place half of sliced dalanghita and sprigs of rosemary inside the cavity of the chicken.
Squeeze juice out of remaining dalanghita and massage over chicken. Lightly oil chicken with olive oil.
use toothpicks to close up chicken.
Wrap chicken with dalagnhita rinds and more sprigs of rosemary in foil and place over a shallow baking dish.
Bake chicken approximately 1 hour (depending on size). Unfold foil and bake for another 30 minutes to let chicken brown. Allow chicken to  stand for about 10 minutes to allow its juices to set.

 

Enjoy! 

Peaches and Cream Turon

Here’s a little twist to your usual lumpia: a cross between the classic Filipino merienda, banana turon and the tried-and-tested-kiddie favorite snack, cheese sticks. This amazing combination will definitely satiate your taste buds for anything sweet, tangy, crunchy and creamy.
 

Ingredients:

Sliced peaches

Cream cheese

Lumpia wrapper

Cooking oil

Hazelnut spread (optional)

 

 Assemble turon by spreading about 1 tablespoon of cream cheese over wrapper and placing a slice or wedge of peach on top.
Fold wrapper from the three sides towards the center and roll.
Seal the “seams” by slightly dabbing with water.
Continue wrapping the rest of the turon. Fill a large pan with oil and heat over medium to high heat. Fry turon until crispy and golden on all sides. Drain off oil.

 You may also slather a generous amount of hazelnut spread over it if you prefer.

 

Enjoy!

Leftover Makeover: Pata Tim Noodles

You seem to like my Dad's pata tim recipe. And in honor of my dad and all dad's out there I'll be sharing a recipe concocted out of pata tim leftovers. 

Ingredients:
Leftover pata tim
Shitake mushrooms
Button mushrooms
Bok choy or chinese cabbage
(these look like baby petchay)
oyster sauce
canton noodles

Step 1: shred leftover pata meat and set aside 
Step 2: place remaining sauce in a pan and heat under medium fire
Step 3: add water (since there might not be enough sauce) and a little oyster sauce to adjust the taste
Step 4: add mushrooms and noodles
Step 3: turn off heat and add bok choy

Happy Father's day!
I LOVE YOU, PAPA!!!
 

Healthy Oatmeal Banana Cookies

It is quite a struggle for me to keep my son from eating unhealthy foods. You may already know that yogurt had been his favorite snack for a while until the time he suddenly developed an unliking (is this a valid word?) or distaste for it. Little did I know that his preference had shifted towards ice-cream that his Lolo had been giving him behind my back! I could also only watch in horror (alright, I'm exaggerating a bit here) as my in-laws handed over a box of Krispy Kreme to Alonzo as pasalubong.

 

That's why I was more than delighted to have discovered this recipe.  I tweaked it a bit so that it requires only 2 ingredients: quick cooling oatmeal and bananas. Yup, that's it! The original recipe used 2 medium bananas. What we had available were bananas of the Lakatan variety that were on the small-ish side, so I used 4 pieces instead. 

 

 

Procedure:

Mash bananas and combine with 1 cup oats.

Drop 1 tbsp of the mixture on to a greased cookie sheet and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

 

Enjoy!

Orange, Beet and Spinach Salad

My sister made a large order of organic spinach from the ISIP market a few days ago. Spinach isn't something that I regularly find at the supermarket so I get a little excited whenever it is available. Here's a light and refreshing salad that's super easy to assemble.

 

 

 

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves

Beets (boiled and cut)

Orange slices

 

Dressing:

Dijon mustard

Maple syrup

Juice of an orange

Olive oil

 

Just eyeball and combine and mix all the dressing ingredients together, pour over salad and enjoy!

Leftover Makeover: Chicken and Roasted Vegetable Soup

I might have already mentioned before that whenever we get asked by close family members from the U.S. what we want them to bring home for us when they visit we would shamelessly ask for Costco chicken (and yes, their apple pie too sometimes!). There are only three of us and the chicken is relatively larger than what we can consume per meal leftovers are, therefore, inevitable. Most of the time we save the leftovers for tacos, but here's another recipe that I love to make out of the leftover chicken.

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken
Carrots, roughly cut into large chunks
Potatoes, quartered
Squash, roughly cut into large cuts
Garlic head, halved
Onion, minced
Olive oil
Milk or cream
Salt and pepper

Procedure:
Combine vegetables and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over.
Roast in an oven heated at 350 F for about 30 minutes or until they caramelize.
Shread chicken meat off the bone. Keep the bones to make chicken stock.

In a stock pan, heat olive oil, add onions and cook until transparent.
Add shreaded chicken and roasted vegetables (make sure to remove the skins of the garlic).
Add chicken stock or water. 
Add milk or cream. Lower heat and  bring to a boil. Remove from heat.
With a handheld mixer (if unavailable you may use a blender) puree mixture until you get the desired consistency (smooth to slightly chunky).   
Season with salt and pepper. 

Artichoke and Parmesan Dip

I have been craving for the artichoke and spinach fondue at Cyma for the longest time. To pacify my craving I simply opened a jar of artichoke hearts in oil, mashed it with a fork, sprinkled parmesan and popped it in the microwave for a full minute and voila! This is probably one of the simplest dips ever! 

Melon, Kiwi and Carrot Popsicle

I hate to admit it but since our little guy turned into a toddler he has started to dislike fruits and vegetables.

He used to love them so much that he even developed carotemia because of the amount of papaya and squash that he ate

-- every single day!

 

Anyway, he is now making me think that he is starting to like carrots again. I'm happy about that.

While having our snack at playhouse, I noticed that he didn't try to avoid the carrot cubes from the bowl of soup and actually ate and swallowed them. However, cauliflower, sayote, mangoes, etc.. are still in his boycott list.

He used to like all these! He also wouldn't at least consider tasting grapes, strawberries, kiwi and pineapple. 

 

I should have taken a photo of how grossed out he was of the rambutan Tita Josie offered him at the picnic we had

with his friends at playhouse!

 

I'm afraid that his veggie and fruit intake isn't quite enough to give him the exact nutrients that his growing body needs.

 

  

 

This popsicle concoction is my devious plan to get the little guy to eat more of his fruits and vegetables.

It has been working out so far.     

 

To make, first extract the juice of a carrot with a juicer.

Set this asidde. Then, combine melon and kiwi on a blender and puree. Add carrot juice and pour mixture on to a popsicle mold

(you may also use empty yogurt cups for this purpose).

Freeze overnight.

 

 

Bote to Candle Holder

Here's a craft project that I'm really excited to show you

(it's my Dad's favorite).I was actually trying to re-create an antique wall lamp found at hubby's family's ancentral home in the province. I used empty bottles and jars and this is how it turned out.  

 

 

Its not exactly a lamp but maybe if I could ask hubby to find a way to drill holes through the glass and insert wires and a bulb mechanism thingy (don't ask me what those electrical stuff are called) it could be a lamp. You could actually use it as a candle holder. Simply insert your candle at the top. Anyway, for a step by step instruction check this out.

 

Honey mustard chicken wings

Busy..busy..busy...that's how things have been these past few days. You may have noticed that most of my posts of late have mostly been about recipes...that's  because my projects have been temporarily put on hold thanks to my busy schedule. I have some finished projects that I can't wait to show you but the articles are still awaiting publication from Yahoo! She. I won't be able to share them until then. Anyway, although my projects have been reluctantly put on hold I still have managed to engage in some cooking (we all gotta eat, right?). I am happy to share this Rachel Ray recipe. The cookbook has been lying around my parent's house since around the time I was planning my wedding (it's been a while)and I believe I have gone through each of the pages but surprisingly none of the recipes appealed to me. I guess, its mainly because most of the ingredients are not that readily available and also partly because the book didn't show photos of majority of the dishes. It was only a few days ago when I "discovered" this recipe. The ingredients, the kind that you would ordinarily find in any pinoy's fridge and pantry, appealed to me. Best of all, it said that the recipe is a great alternative to buffalo wings. Although I have to admit, I'm not so sure about that but this recipe will definitely be part of our regular dishes. 

Ingredients:

Chicken wings

Canola oil

1/3 cup mustard

½ orange juice               

Ginger

Hot sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

Pepper flakes

3 tbsp honey

Cilantro or parsley,

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F

Season chicken with salt and pepper

Add oil to a hot pan. Lay wings in a single layer and brown on each side

To make the sauce combine mustard, orange juice, ginger, hot sauce, soy sauce, pepper flakes and honey

Allow to simmer. Remove ginger

Pour over the browned wings. Place in a skillet/ oven proof pan and roast for 20-30 minutes. Turn wings once they are halfway through cooking time

Remove from oven. Sprinkle chopped cilantro or parsley before serving

                                                                                                                                                              

Sundried tomatoes, tuyo paste and cheese bread spread

I was on my way home from work and dropped by the grocery feeling tired thinking of just purchasing something for dinner. I wasn't looking forward to cooking after a long day at work and I also suspected hubby wasn't in the mood either.  My mind was deliberating between Spanish sardines and instant noodles. A small bread stall caught my attention and I instantly remembered a small, unopened jar of sundried tomatoes at the fridge. "Bread nalang tayo 4 dinner ha" read a text message sent to hubby and his "K" reply sealed the deal, so to speak. 

And so here is what we had for dinner that night....

I just got to tell you how yummy this recipe is that I could hardly stop myself from eating for this

photo. Its so easy, too. Simply spread sundried tomato over crusty bread, top with cheese and pop it in the oven toaster until the cheese gets all melted and goo-ey. We also happened to have a little leftover tuyo paste so I added that to the spread and a drizzle of garlic and chili oil (a pasalubong from Mama) wasn't a bad idea either. 

Y-U-M-M-Y!

Squash Soup

I was recently reminded to make a pot of squash soup when this was served at my son's playhouse last week. This isn't the recipe that I nomally make. My original recipe would also call for a can of tomato soup, cream and thyme and parsley. This time I partially followed the recipe used at playhouse, where the recipe calls for fewer ingredients and the procedure is more simple. This recipe is good for approximately 3-4 persons.

Ingredients:
Squash (chop a couple of segments)
Onion, 1 medium
Butter, about 1 tsp
Rice milk (I used regular evaporated milk)
Water (approximately 500 ml)
Kinchay (we didn't have any so I used a pinch of nutmeg instead. The flavors between the 2 are totally different but I thought it would also go well with squash)

Procedure:
Boil squash and onion together.
Purify with a handheld mixer or pour on to a blender until you achieve the desired consistency.
Add butter and milk.
Let it boil and thicken.
Season with salt and pepper
Add kinchay (or nutmeg or whatever spice or herb you prefer)

Serve with crusty bread or top with croutons. Enjoy.