Squid & Veggie Stirfry

slice some squid, tofu, green chillies, onions, garlic, ginger, scallions. I kept the cherry tomatoes whole, but if you find them too big, you can slice them in half.

heat up the wok or non-stick pan. Make sure that it's really really hot. Fry the sliced tofu in oil until golden brown. leave about 2 Tbs of vegetable oil. Sautee the onions, garlic, chillies. Add the squid and stir for a minute, avoid overcooking the squid because it tends to go tough. Add the tomatoes and tofu. Add about a tablespoon of soy sauce, a bit of salt and pepper, and you're done!

Chorizo Rice

This is a great breakfast treat!

Get some cooked rice (preferably some you've saved up, stored somewhere in the fridge that you forgot about. hehehe!) a couple of chorizos, an onion a pinch of saffron soaked in a bit of water (or you can use the powdered stuff) and extra virgin olive oil.

Cut up the chorizo as small as you can get them. Finely chop the onions as well. Heat some EVOO, sautee the chorizo till they're cooked, if you can get them to go crunchy without burning them, that's better! Add the onions and cook till translucent. Add the rice and sautee a bit, you can add a couple tablespoons of water to steam the rice. Add the saffron soaked in water and mix well to get the color even.

Shrimp Pasta

I like food I can prepare in a pinch... the Shrimp Pasta is another favorite of mine.

You can get either fresh of frozen shrimps for this. Sautee onions in extra virgin olive oil till translucent. Add in some garlic, capers and diced tomatoes. When the tomatoes are softened, add the shelled shrimps and cook for about 2 minutes. Try not to overcook the shrimps because they tend to turn dry and rubbery. Toss in cooked pasta and oregano. Plate it and sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese.

A definite comfort food! :D

Salmon Head in Tamarind Soup

Sinigang sa Miso, or Tamarind soup with Miso, is on of my favorite dishes. In our house, the soup is usually made with Kanduli, a species of catfish, but any fatty fish would work well with this recipe.

Just boil some water with a chopped large onion and some tomatoes. When the tomatoes are tender, just mash them on the side of the the pot. Drop in some green chillies, sliced eggplant and sliced radish, then add the tamarind soup mix and a couple tablespoons of Miso Paste and bring to the boil.

When the radish is half-tender, add the Salmon head and let simmer for a 5 to 10 mins. When the salmon head is almost cooked stir in a generous bundle of mustard leaves. Once the leaves have wilted, the soup is ready to serve!

Bacalao a la Vizcaena

My sister's brother-in-law, Frederic, makes the best bottled Bacalao a la Vizcaena!

Made with the best Norwegian bacalao and finest extra virgin olive oil!

Priced at Php 275.00 per bottle, its a steal! Available in regular and spicy variants. Great for the coming Lenten season!

For inquiries or orders you can email me at icon216@gmail.com

Stuffed Green Chillies

These were made by my cousin Chiqui for my birthday, I really loved this dish and can't wait to make it one of these days!

For the stuffing, you can use any kind of ground meat. She used ground pork with onions, garlic, salt and pepper. The green chillies were sliced on one side and stuffed with the ground meat mix. If you like them with a bit of heat, leaves the seeds in, if not, remove the seeds.

After stuffing the chillies, wrap them in spring roll wrappers and seal them with a bit of water.

Now all you have to do is deep fry them to a nice golden brown and serve them hot, maybe with a nice sweet and sour dip or a roasted garlic aiole.

A wonderful party dish that would surely be a big hit!

White Beans and Sausage Stew

This is actually our version of Pork and Beans.

It's a good thing to soak the beans for at least 6 hours but not more than 8 hours because if the beans you got were as frisky as mine, they'd be ready to sprout after 8 hours! Having to soak them for a long time also makes one less likely to get gas! hehehe! You could just pressure cook the beans for a few mins which would also do the job of softening them, but I prefer the long soak, it makes creamier beans I think, just a personal choice.

Mince onions, a few cloves of garlic, chop some salt pork and chorizo. Drop the salt pork in a hot pot and let the fat render. Sautee the onions and garlic in the fat along with the chorizo. When the onions are soft and translucent, add the beans and some ham knuckles and let them simmer for a few hours (2 to 3 hours in my case) until the beans are soft and creamy.

I like having this dish with toasted crusty bread. I added a fried egg because this was my breakfast one morning. :D

Penoy!

This is the Penoy.

It is actually just a duck egg, no frills, no special spices, just a plain duck egg boiled in water.

There's this Balut vendor that drops by our office every 3:00 pm. He sells Balut (boiled duck embryo), two kinds of penoy, the one pictured above and the other kind, a bit runny, or "soupy", which I favor, but is usually sold out by the time he gets to our office.

I bought some balut and penoy to snack on this afternoon but I had one penoy left over. I was thinking of how to use it for dinner so it wouldn't go to waste. I came up with the recipe for the Shrimp & Crabstick Spring Roll (see previous post) planning to slice the egg and use it as a center for my spring rolls.

I proceeded to cook the spring rolls. Slicing the veggies, soaking the noodles, peeling the shrimps, sateeing, stuffing, then taking pictures of the finished dish... then out of the corner of my eye, I see the penoy, sitting on the countertop, alone... I made the spring rolls so I could use the egg and I ended up leaving it out!

No worries, I sat down and enjoy eating the spring rolls, then after finishing them, I got the penoy, peeled it, dipped it in a bit of salt, enjoying every bite. Nothing wasted. :D

Shrimp & Crabstick Spring Rolls

My sister gave me a pack of spring roll wrappers because she didn't know what to do with them.

I dipped the wrappers in water for a couple of seconds and put them aside under a damp kitchen towel so they wouldn't dry out.

I soaked about 50 grams of vermicelli in tap water to soften.

I had some shrimps and crabsticks, the shrimps I pealed, the crabsticks were shreded. I cut a carrot in fine strips, same with the red onions, a clove of garlic, shitake mushrooms. I also chopped some spring onions and coriander.

In a little vegetable oil, sautee the onions garlic and shitake mushrooms, when the onions are translucent, add the shirmps and crabsticks, then add the virmicelli. Mix them a bit then added the carrots, spring onions and coriander. Season with salt, pepper and a few drops of sesame seed oil. Turn off the heat then stuff them into the springroll wrappers.

A really great, light meal!

Grilled Eggplant & Yogurt Dip

This is a quick and light meal.

Just grill some eggplants, cover them for a few minutes to make the removal of the charred skins easier.

Chop a clove of garlic finely. In a bowl, mix in yogurt, olive oil, salt and pepper and serve!

Great on crusty bread or as a side dish for any grilled meat!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

I'm 40 years young today!

And yes, life does begin at that age, for me at least.

There's so much to do and there's nothing stopping me from doing anything and everything!

Watch out life, here I come! :D

Tuyo Pasta

This Pasta dish is made with Tuyo (salted sundried fish).

Remove the scales, bones and head of the fish. Chop the meat finely.

In a pan, heat some olive oil and sautee some white onions until they are transluscent. Add some minced garlic, capers and the chopped tuyo. Sautee until the tuyo gets incorporated with the sauce. Toss in the pasta, add some freshly grated queso de bola or parmesan.

Great with white wine!

Callos

This recipe was taught to me by my sister's mother-in-law.

It has tripe, beef, ham, bacon, chickpeas, chorizo, tomato paste, garlic, onions, dried chillies, salt and pepper and extra virgin olive oil.

Soak the dried chickpeas overnight then boil till soft The tripe needs to be cleaned and boiled till tender, same with the beef. Then the garlic, onions, ham and bacon are sauteed in olive oil, the tomato paste added then simmered for a few minutes. Add the meet then cover with water or stock and let simmer until all the meat is tender.

Goes very well with crusty bread and butter!

Lumpiang Dulong

This dish is very easy to prepare.

You'll need fresh Dulong (a very small fish native to the Philippines), ground turmeric, salt and pepper, and lumpia wrapper (Spring Roll Wrapper).

Just mix the dulong, turmeric, salt and pepper together then wrap in lumpia wrapper.

Deep fry till golden brown.

Enjoy with a squeeze of lemon or calamansi and steamed rice or with a very cold bottle of beer!

Cucumber Salad

This is one of my mom's favorite side dishes.

It's very simple to make. Just slice some cucumbers and coursely chop some coriander. Then toss them in a vinegrette dressing made with cane or white vinegar, olive oil, a clove of garlic, chili flakes, salt and pepper.

Chicken Congee with Dried Baby Shrimps and Green Onions

I had leftover sticky rice which would make good congee so I sauteed some white onions, garlic ang ginger on medium heat, making sure just to get them soft and transluscent, then I added some dried baby shrimps, stir-fried them a bit then added water and around 2 cups of cooked sticky rice. When the soup has turned creamy, i added chicken meat cut to bite-sized pieces and some fish sauce to taste.

When ready, just place in a bowl and add some chopped green onions and more fried baby shrimps on top. Also great with a squeeze of kalamansi (Philippine Lime) and more fish sauce.

I ended up making so much that I brought the pot to work this morning which was able to feed around seven people! A very cheap and yummy breakfast! :D

Grilled Eggplant with Roasted Bell Peppers

I pan-grilled some eggplants cut thinly then roasted some bell peppers and cut them into strips. I then lightly sauteed some onions, tomatos, olives and coriander in olive oil. I turned off the heat then tossed in the eggplants and bellppers.

I got a bagettte sliced in half, toasted it then placed the veggies on top of the bread, crumbled some kesong puti then drizzled extra virgin olive oil on it.

A very filling veggie supper! :D

To go with the open-faced veggie sandwich, i had some ice cold Soju straight from the freezer with 3 olives.

Now i'm guilt-free and buzzed! :-D

Chicken Somen

Somen noodles in chicken broth with bok choy and fried tokwa. To make it a bit pinoy, I added some chicharon (crispy pork rind).

Crispy-fried Tawilis

I coated them with a simple tempura batter than deep fried them until golden and crispy. I got about 100g. which costs P10.00. It could actually feed 2 people (with rice or course.) A great dipping sauce would be vinegar with crushed garlic and a little salt and pepper.

Vegetarian Fried Rice

I had a few veggies in the ref that's past their prime but I didn't want them to go to waste so I made fried rice with them. I had Pachay, carrots, red onions and garlic. Chopped them finely and then sauteed them in chicken oil (rendered from chicken fat), then sprinkled with chopped green onions at the end.

Fishcakes

I was given a HUGE catfish today.

There was this British cooking show I was watching and they made fishcakes that looked pretty tasty. I decided to make the dish with the catfish.

Catfish.

Catfish fillet.

And this is how it looks like after I was done.

The sauce was made with the reduced poaching liquid of the fish and rue and Parmesan and Romano cheeses.

It turned out great as a salad dressing as well. :D