Fish over Couscous in a Packet!

     Holiday was over! After days of deadly foods such us ham, smoked turkey, mashed potatoes, Aunt Kathy's stuffing, cookies, pies and tons of chocolates its time to mellow down. I've been seeing my husband doing some push-ups, sit-ups and jumping jack trying not to have a heart attack. It seems that after this past few days we're kinda like a heart attack ready to happen. So here is another fish recipe which I was inspired by our Grandma Joyce's recipe. I put a little touch of my own and hopefully you'll enjoy this dish. You can use many different kinds of fish. I have used salmon, tilapia, red snapper, halibut, sea bass and everything works just fine.

Ingredients:

Sesame mixture:

1 tbsp Sesame oil

3 tbsp Olive oil

2 tbsp Soy sauce

2 cloves garlic (minced)

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Fish with couscous:

Makes 2 packets (servings)

2 fish fillet

2 cups Couscous

2 carrots (julienne)

1 thumb size ginger (julienne)

½ red bell pepper (julienne)

1 bunch scallions (chopped)

½ cup cherry tomatoes (halved)

1 turnip (julienne)

4 oz mushroom (thinly sliced)

1 jar artichoke heart in water (drained)

Kosher salt and pepper

Procedure:

Preheat oven on 450 degress F.

Soak Couscous in a cold water for 5 minutes and set aside.

1. Clean fish fillet and pat dry with paper towel. Season fish with kosher salt and pepper.
2. In a bowl mix carrots, ginger, bell pepper, half of the scallions, cherry tomatoes, turnip and mushroom.
3. Cut a 2 foot sheet of aluminum foil.
4. Place 1 cup of Couscous on the first foot of foil and top it with half of the veggies mixture. Leave the other half of the foil with nothing on it, it will be folded over later for cooking.
5. Drizzle 1 ½ Tbsp of the sesame oil over the Couscous and Vegetables mixture.
6. Top the veggie mixture with the seasoned fish fillet and drizzle with another 1 ½ tbsp of the sesame oil mixture.
7. Put half of the artichoke heart on the side and garnish with scallions.
8. Fold the foil and seal all of the ends. Repeat procedure with the other fish fillet.
9. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Let it stand for 5 minutes before opening the packet.
   
   
   -Love-
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Mussels and Clams!

     Let's Get Some Shell-Fish!
     After spending some time in Leavenworth and eating greasy yummy foods, J Bird begged me for some home cook food, so right after our 3 hours drive home we went straight to Central Market and picked up some shellfish. Also sometimes it pays a lot to balance ones diet (not to mention the guilt trips) with good healthy food. Pork hocks, steak, veal, lots of taffys and chocolate sounds really yummy when they are available but they can be really deadly! So here we go, please enjoy my recipe for super yummy mussels and clams!

Ingredients:

1 lb mussels (scrubbed and cleaned)

1 lb clams (scrubbed and cleaned)

5 tbsp butter

1 medium shallots (sliced)

3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)

15 pieces cherry tomatoes (cut lengthwise)

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 white wine

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Basil for garnish

Procedure:

1. In a pot melt in butter over medium high heat and saute onion until translucent about 3 minutes then add garlic for another 2-3 minutes.
2. Place tomatoes in and saute for 3 more minutes until flavors blend in.
3. Add mussels and clams stirring to incorporate flavors with the spices.
4. Pour in wine and red pepper flakes, simmer for 10 minutes or until clams and mussels open up. Discard un-open shellfish. Salt and pepper to taste!
5. Place in a serving plate and garnish with basil.
6. Enjoy with a really good piece of bread!

-Love-

Brined Roast Chicken!

      So I woke up Tuesday morning with an idea of brining a whole chicken. The advantage of brining is that at the end of the process you have a really tender, moist and flavorful meat. Since I've started this blog, I have oftentimes caught myself waking up in the middle of the night with some weird idea and almost every time its related to food. Bizarre! And so, for the sake of self satisfaction, right after work last Tuesday I drove myself to the store and bought a good looking chicken. The next day early in the morning on Wednesday, I brined my chicken. I made my brine with ½ cup of sea salt (you can use normal table salt but I prefer to use sea salt for the extra flavor), 1/3 cup of granulated sugar dissolved in about 3 liters of water and 1 quartered onion. Make sure to use a non-reactive container while brining your bird. This time I let my bird sit for 2 days in the brine and I rinsed it after with cold running water, then I place it inside the fridge for a few hours, this will help crisp the skin when roasting.

 Ingredients: 

1 whole chicken (about 5 lbs)

½ lemon

1 onion (quartered)

1 head garlic (cut end cross-wise)

1 tbsp kosher salt

½ tsp peppercorn

3 bay leaves

 Seasoning:

2 tbsp Butter (room temperature)

1 tbsp Kosher Salt
½ tbsp freshly ground pepper

1/3 tbsp cayenne pepper

Preheat over 450 degrees F

1. Pat dry chicken and place lemon, onion, garlic, 1 tbsp salt, peppercorn and bay leaves in chicken cavity.
2. In a small bowl mix in pepper, salt and cayenne pepper.
3. Brush melted butter all over chicken and sprinkle the cayenne mixture.
4. Tie chicken using cotton twine.
5. Place it on rack chicken breast up for 15 minutes for browning.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, pull out chicken and flip up-side down.
7. Bake chicken for 1 hour.
8. Flip the chicken again, right side up, and bake for 25 more minutes.
9. Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before carving.
10. Enjoy!

Gravy!

3 tbsp flour

1 cup chicken stock

salt and pepper

     Using the chicken drippings, mix in flour until it looks like a paste in a medium high heat. Pour in the chicken stock. Keep whisking continuously until reaching your desired texture. Salt and pepper if needed.

-Love-

Beef Pochero!

     For days I've been really craving some Filipino food, but I haven't been able to figure out which, or what I really wanted. Isn't it funny how sometimes you know that you want something but don’t know what exactly it is? You want something sweet but not candy, your hungry but really your not, you really don’t know what that something is but the name of it is just on the tip of your tongue! That was me!

      So last night was my husband's company party, and after 2 glasses of red wine, a vanilla-bourbon-coconut flavored cigar and a really fun time, I woke up this morning light-headed around 9 am and the first thing I had in mind before my legs woke up was Pochero! Tadaa! Mystery solved!

      Just a bit of background info for you all, in my opinion one of the best thing that we Filipinos inherit from the Spanish colonization of the Philippines was food. Pochero has become a traditional dish among Filipinos with the use of different kinds of meat such as chicken, pork and beef with a vast variations of veggies and a tomato sauce as its base. The cooking method of this dish depends on the cooks preference. So here is my own version of Beef Pochero, instead of using tomato sauce I indeed use pork and beans.

Ingredients:

1 Beef Shank (About 2 lbs)

2 Tbsp Kosher salt

6 cups water

1 medium yellow onion (quartered)

¼ whole of cabbage

5 bunch baby bok choy (trim ends separating individually)

20 pcs green beans (trim both ends and cut in half)

1 15oz pork and beans

1 medium size shallots (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)

1 5oz Portuguese sausage (sliced)

2 medium potatoes (cut)

2 Tbsp olive oil

Procedure:

In a slow cooker over high heat, place beef shank, water, quartered yellow onion and kosher salt and leave simmering for 4 ½- 5 hours or until meat is falling off the bone. This dish 30 minutes if using pressure cooker or 3 hours if stove top.

1. In a deep pan heat olive oil over medium heat.
2. Browned sausage for about 3 minutes and set aside.
3. Using the same pan saute shallots until translucent and add garlic after.
4. Put in the beef shank and add 3 cups of broth from the boiled shank.
5. Add potatoes and simmer for 10 minutes or almost tender, lid on.
6. Mix in pork and beans over and add green beans. Simmer for 5 minutes with lid on.
7. Place cabbage, bok choy and the reserved browned sausage for another 3 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Turn heat off!
8. Serve and enjoy with steamed rice!

-Love-

Homemade Chicken Stock!

     As I promised, here is my easy to follow recipe on how to make your own chicken stock. Making my own chicken stock is one of the main reasons why I love to buy an entire chicken, and on top of being really yummy, it is also very economical. You don't just have a meal from the whole chicken but you can save money by means of making chicken stock rather by buying it. Chicken stock can last up to 4 months when properly refrigerated.

     Since we all love savings, I will be posting my recipe from the meat I extracted from the chicken carcass next. Make sure to get as much meat as you can. My wonderful mother-in-law has always a three day rule when it comes to meat, if you plan to keep the meat for more than 3 days, you can store the it in the freezer until you are ready to cook later.

Ingredients:

1 Whole chicken carcass

1 medium yellow onion (quartered)

1 head garlic (bottom trimmed)

2 bay leaves

1/2 Tbsp whole peppercorn

2 Tbsp Kosher salt

11 cups water

3 stalks celery (cut)

2 large carrots (peeled and cut)

Place all the ingredients in a big pot and let it simmer for 50 minutes over medium high heat.

-Love-

How to cut up a whole chicken!

A good friend of mine, Crystal asked me if I could help her with a class project and make a Filipino dish with her for a Literature class in which they had to bring an International cuisine. So we decided to make chicken and pork Adobo; since it is one of the dish's that the Philippines is known for. It was perfect timing too as I was just trying to figure out what other food related posts that I could do that were not cooking itself. After a lot of thinking I came to the decision that I would share an easy way of cutting up chicken into its different pieces. I would like to suggest to my viewers that you watch the video as a reference as well as read the directions below.

So more than anything else, the secret to piecing out a chicken is... a very sharp knife!

Hope this video is a big help to you! And by the way don't throw the carcass, I have a great way of making a good chicken stock with it; watch out for my next blog about it.

1. Clean whole chicken and pat dry with paper towel.
2. Make an incision in the chicken skin between the body and a chicken thigh to separate the thigh meat away from the body; make sure to snap the hip bone and finish separating. Place the first thigh to the side, and repeat with the other side.
3. Locate the joint that connects one of the chicken wings to its collar bone and cut around the joint, the wing will separate easily. Set the first wing aside and now use the same procedure to do the other wing.
4. Last feel the ridge across the top of the chicken between its breasts and glide your knife down to start cutting from the collar bone along its rib cage keeping as close to the ribs as possible to utilize the most meat.

-Love-

P.S. Special thanks to Julia and Katie, for entertaining me while I got ready to post this.

Pancit Bihon!

     The thing I realize about cooking is, it's hard to cook for two people after cooking for 15. The thought that you might end up with too little food always makes me think we need more than we end up really even wanting. And that means left-overs! We're bad about left overs. It always breaks my heart throwing food knowing that there are a lot of people all over the world who are starving. It's been a challenge for me for about 2 1/2 years now on how we can lessen the throwing but instead creating something from it. Having a husband that never really considers left-over food unless its from Frost-Doughnut (Yeah! left-over donuts! Nummy!) makes it hard. So as much as I can, I am trying to make it a point to cook different dishes using left-overs.

      So here is a great recipe from my left-over pan fried pork shoulder blade we had last night. You can also use fresh meat instead of left-overs with other ingredients such as chicken breast, pork, shrimp, and beef. For example in this recipe you could use 1 lb of freshly cooked meat instead.

Ingredients:

1 10.4 oz pack of Vermicelli noodles

Mise en place

1 large shallot (chopped)

3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)

5 oz. Portuguese sausage (sliced)

1 red bell pepper (chopped)

1 large carrot (thinly sliced)

1/4 whole cabbage (cut in 1/4 inch strips)

1 cup sliced green beans

1 1/2 cups left-over meat

2 cups water

3 Tbsp Soy sauce

3 Tbsp Olive oil

Scallions for garnish (optional)

Key lime (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste!

Procedure:

Soak Vermicelli noddles in a cold water for 20 minutes. (You can do this procedure while preparing your Mise en place) .

1. In a big fry pan heat olive oil over high heat and sauté shallots once oil  is hot enough, for about 2 minutes.
2. When the shallots are translucent, add in garlic and sauté for another 2 minutes.
3. Add left-over meat and Portuguese sausage, mixing in for 5 minutes. (When using raw meat, brown the meat before adding the sausage).
4. Mix bell pepper, carrots, green beans and soy sauce over meat mixture for 5 minutes.
5. Pour water in and let simmer for 10 minutes with the lid on, lowering the heat to medium high.
6. Once the water boils, add cabbage and simmer for another 3 minutes.
7. Mix in Vermicelli noodles, making sure to incorporate with the other ingredients, turn heat off! Garnish with scallions and a freshly squeeze key lime to your liking!
8. Enjoy!

-Love-

Crispy Red Snapper with Aoili Dip!

     Ever since our last trip to the Philippines in May-June 2011, where we had a dinner at one of the best seafood Restaurants in Dumaguete City called Lab-as ("Fresh" in English terminology), we have been in love with Red Snapper, and how good it can be even when just grilling it. So every time we do our seafood shopping at our local Asian Market, we make sure to grab at least 3-4 pieces of whole Red Snapper. The thing I love about going to an Asian Market is the vast selection of seafood they always have, from fresh anchovy, to baby octopus, and the sometimes 30 lbs catfish to the 3 lbs parrot fish. And even better is how you can take that fresh seafood to the counter and ask them to clean the fish, head or tail off, fillet, cut into sections or even deep-fried to go.

     Personally I like to have my fish left whole and just cleaned. I love to fillet my fish not just because it helps me improve my skills and techniques but at the same time I get to keep the fish heads for making soup the next day. In the Philippines we never let anything go to waste we love oxtail and the ox tongue, we use the pork ears, and snout, and even the pigs blood. Some more of my favorites back home are chicken feet and chicken intestine (when grilled on a skewer with super spicy vinegar-garlic dip). The same even goes for fish from head to its guts we love it all. Lots of Filipinos let fish innards ferment in an empty bottle of rum, with generous amounts of sea salt for several days before serving it as a side with freshly squeezed key lime juice, minced shallots and lots of Thai chili for extra kick (this is Papc Bert's favorite especially when paired with day-old rice! Yum!). I know sounds disgusting, but hey, come on give a little credit to our creativity and technique ;). I can just imagine the faces of many of you readers now(LOL!) Are you getting the same "voluntary" allergy my husband does, the "eeww-yuck" kinda face? OK, well before I gross you all out to the highest level, here is my Crispy fillet of Red Snapper that we think goes really good with Aoili Dip.

Ingredients:

2 Snapper fillets

¼ cup cornmeal

3 Tbsp flour

1 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp lemon-pepper seasoning

¼ Olive oil

Aoili Dip:

1 cup mayonnaise

1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic (minced)

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients and set aside in the refrigerator until ready to serve!

Procedure:

1. In a bowl mix cornmeal, flour, kosher salt, and lemon-pepper seasoning.
2. Wash fish fillets and pat dry with paper towel.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan fry over medium high.
4. Dredge fillet on the cornmeal mixture, shaking it off removing the excess mixture.
5. Pan fry fillet 4 minutes on each side.
6. Serve with Aoili dip!

-Love-

Baked Salmon!

     One of the things that I would love to thank on this day is for my wonderful family here, and in the Philippines as well. I am also thankful for having such a wonderful man who listens and deals with my drama, for his on going good health, and for Salmon that helps a lot on our venture to achieving great health. Having a family that loves you and cares for you other than your own family is such a blessing, and so is my extended family.

     And so on Thanksgiving I would like to post one of my new favorites and an old favorite for many of you, a wonderful orange-redish looking kinda fish called Salmon! I had heard of this fish back in the Philippines but I never had the chance to try it, because it was so freaking expensive. Salmon is one of my husband's favorite fish, believe it or not, we now eat salmon 3 times a week, and sometimes I kinda feel like I'm starting to have scales (LOL!) because of it. So before I turned into a fish with gills, try this simple, and easy to follow recipe, and a really delicious dish!



1 ½ lbs Coho Salmon (Wild)
½ of fresh lemon
Kosher salt
Pepper
Olive oil

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees F.

1. Wash salmon and pat dry with paper towel.
2. Squeeze the lemon juice over the salmon fillet evenly.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of kosher salt and pepper.
4. Drizzle with olive oil.
5. Place salmon on the cooking sheet with non-stick foil, skin down.
6. Bake for 16-20 minutes. 
7. Enjoy!


-Love-

Bicol Express!

     Bicol Express is a very popular dish from the Philippines; it consist mainly of pork, chili, coconut milk and shrimp paste. The way that this dish is cooked depends heavily on the person cooking its preferences. And since my husband has an "allergy" of shrimp paste, which makes him always get this "eeww-yuck" face, I choose to omit it. Also if you don't have a high tolerance for spicy dishes you can lessen the chili and discard the rib and seeds; my recipe is a little spicy.

     Over the years there has been a bit of a confusion regarding this dish, it's a common misconception that the dish comes from the Bicol region of the Philippines; specially because Bicol is a place that is known to have an abundance of coconut and is famous for its spicy cuisine. With a little research I came to know that the dish was named after a passenger train from Manila to the Bicol region and it was created by Cely Kalaw, a native of Laguna who owns a restaurant located in Malate, Manila. She was known for her hot and very spicy dishes! In the 60's Cely Kalaw's restaurant became famous for her Laing (taro) dish, but then started to receive complaints from the customer about how overwhelming the spicy was . So on the same day she invented a new dish that would best compliment the Taro but still needs to be spicy. It was almost lunch time and Cely was about to open the restaurant but she still didn't have an idea as to what the dish should be called. When a train chugged by the restaurant bearing the name, “Bicol Express”, tadaaa! that was the birthday of the dish called Bicol Express!

So here is my own version of Bicol Express! Choo-Choo!

Ingredients:

• 4 lbs pork shoulder (cubed)
• 1 knob ginger (minced)
• 15 pcs Thai chili pepper (chopped)
• 1 large red onion (chopped)
• 6 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 2 cans coconut milk
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure:

In a large pot heat olive oil over high.

1. Saute onions until translucent should take about 5 minutes.
2. Add ginger and garlic for another 3 minutes.
3. Place pork and mix it with the spices. Lower heat to medium and simmer the pork for 35 minutes with the lid on.
4. Mix Thai chilies and coconut milk for another 15 minutes. Turn off heat.
5. Serve and Enjoy!

-Love-

Kare-Kare!

    

  Kare-kare is a traditional Filipino dish, it is created using different kinds of meat, either tripe, goat meat, pork's leg or oxtail that is then mixed with a peanut butter sauce as a base with vegetables. This dish is very well-known in Northern part of the Philippines. The Visayan region, where I come from is in the central part of the Philippines, so we didn't usually have this as a meal when I was growing up. But when I moved here in the States, I came to realize that I also need to introduce my husband to a wide variety of Filipino dishes, and that would mean creating food outside my comfort level (which is not a problem). I believe that all Filipino cooks takes extra pride in their cooking. The food that we put on our plate shows so much love and so much soul. Every meal is a blessing to a Filipino.

      Now my advice is to start setting up your karaoke machine for some serious singing as this will take a good 3 hours to cook (lol) and make sure to have fun cooking and singing!

Ingredients:

3 lbs oxtail

1 large Chinese eggplant (sliced)

1 bunch string beans (cut into 2 inches)

1 bundle of bok choy

1 large onion (quartered)

½ cup freshly ground peanut butter or crunchy peanut butter

¼ cup creamy peanut butter

1 Tbsp Annatto powder (can be found in your local asian market)

Kosher salt and Pepper

Procedure:

      In a big pot place oxtail and cover with water over high heat. Add in onion and generous amount of kosher salt and pepper. Let the oxtail simmer for 2:45 hours or until it is tender. Keep your eye on the simmering oxtail, checking it once in a while and making sure that the oxtail is not sticking in the pot and feel free to add water if necessary to prevent it from reducing to much.

1. When the oxtail is tender enough, take it out of the pot and set aside.
2. Adjust the heat to medium high, using the same pot, add string beans and eggplant in the broth and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Avoid over cooking the veggies. After simmering set aside!
3. After the veggies, add the bok choy to the same pot and let it simmer for an additional 2 minutes. Set aside!
4. Put in Annatto powder, stirring occasionally until it is completely dissolved in the broth.
5. Add freshly ground peanut butter and creamy peanut butter in the Annatto mixture.
6. Place the the oxtail and vegetables back into the large pot and let it simmer for 2 more minutes over low heat. Salt and pepper to taste!
7. Serve over steamed rice!
8. Enjoy

-Love-

Halloween in both worlds!

     What comes to your mind when you hear the word “Halloween”? 

     Chocolates? Trick or Treat? Costumes? Halloween party's? Jack-o-lantern carving? Ghost stories? Horror movies? Or Candy Apples? These are just a few things that I associate with American homes on Halloween.

    This is my third year celebrating Halloween in the States. My first year in 2009, I remember asking my husband “When are we going to the cemetery?”, and what did I get? A blank, confused J Bird with a what-the-hell-are-you-talking-about look on his face. It was such a awkward moment, one that opened my eyes, that maybe, just maybe, they don’t do the same thing we do back home. So that night he gave me an overview as to how they celebrate Halloween here. Kids would show up knocking on your door and you hand them bags of candies. He also told me to look for a costume that I would like to wear for a friends Halloween party. But Damn! My ass that time, it was just freezing cold, and I couldn't force myself to go. I feel asleep on the couch waiting for trick or treaters to show up, but duh who would dare climb up our 18 stairs to the front door for some bag of candies? Probably some desperate, and tough kids with a sugar problem (lol). So to make my funny story short I had my first Halloween party last year. Being a Criminology graduate, I wore a policewoman costume with J Bird as my prisoner. And this year I was a Dark Angel and J Bird was a Vampire. I just love the thought of living a dream for a day.

     Anyhow, this article is really special to me since this tells a lot of where I came from, the tradition and our culture. Coming from a very religious country where the population is at least 80% Catholic, Halloween is also one big annual celebration, but in the Philippines we treat it more like a family reunion. Members of the family who work away from home usually return to spend this time of the year with the rest of the family; both the living and the dead.(Yes you read that right! Specially the DEAD!). From a Catholics point of view November 1^st and 2^nd in the Philippines is specially dedicated to commemorate our loved ones who have passed away. We go to the cemeteries to clean the graves of our departed family members, repainting their tombstones, pulling out weeds and sweeping the family plot. I remember back before I moved, the cemetery was always packed! Hundreds of police men would be deployed to the local cemeteries to keep the peace and order of the place.

     Some of the things we Filipinos do during this time of the year is to offer candles, prayers and flowers to our loved ones grave. We also bring a variety of native delicacies such as suman, biko, puto, and a lot more. Mostly grandmas and moms are in charge of the food, from planning the menu, to grocery shopping and cooking. Some people set up a tent for overnight vigil at the cemetery. This is the perfect night where grandchildren gather around their grandma's rocking chair listening to her ghost stories; and only grandma knew if they were real or made-up. But hey, whatever it was, who cares we had fun (LOL!) . On a lighter note, playing cards and other board games works perfect for kids too, while mahjong is for adults. I remember before the law was amended, in the early 90's, the cemeteries had carnivals and some even put barricades around the basketball court for late night Dancing! We used to pay 10 pesos ( which is about $.25) as entrance fee. The Halloween party would usually last til 4 in the morning. It would oftentimes be sunrise when we would leave the cemetery. After a whole night of dancing, together with a group of friends and cousins we start walking a long ways back home. I can still smell the aroma of hot cocoa around the neighborhood. The smoke coming from each house, which signifies that the moms are awake and cooking breakfast. I think that is one of the most unforgettable moments that I will cherish forever. Only in the Philippines!

-Love-

Tonight's Albacore Tuna!

     While in the middle of playing Gran Turismo, my husband and brother-in-law were talking about Matrix's availability for food tasting; He is such a big fish guy! So the other day my husband and I picked up some albacore tuna since we've been eating a lot of fish lately. I can't tell you how much fish we have been consuming over the last few months. Coming from an archipelago country where you are surrounded by water, 90 % of the meals we ate included seafood and fresh veggies. Writing this blog makes me really miss the Philippines especially the easy access to fresh seafood and the free harvest from the neighborhood's garden (LOL!). But thankfully we live in Puget Sound where you can find good seafood on a daily basis. My only concern now is finding this neighborhood with nice people who will let me harvest their crops. So in the meantime here is my Albacore tuna with mango salsa and creamy mashed potatoes for you to enjoy while I start hunting.

Mango Salsa!

Ingredients:

1 large mango (diced)

1 jalapeño chilli (minced)

1 medium red onion (minced)

1 red bell pepper (diced)

1 lime (juice extracted and reserved)

1 lemon (juice extracted and reserved)

1/4 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

Pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients! Set aside in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Creamy Mashed Potato with Bacon and Spinach!

Ingredients:

24 oz baby Yukon gold potatoes

1 pack frozen spinach

5 slices bacon (cooked and crumbled)

1 large shallots (minced)

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup butter

Pinch of salt and pepper

Procedure:

     In a large pot place potatoes, cover with cold water, and add a generous amount of salt. Bring the water to boil and simmer potatoes for 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender. Drain potatoes in a colander and set aside.

     Defrost spinach in the microwave about 8 minutes. Squeeze out juice of the spinach using cheesecloth. Set aside!

1. In a pan, crisped bacon over medium high heat, scooped out bacon and set aside.

2. Saute shallots using grease from bacon.

3. Add the reserved potatoes in a pan and mash with potato masher until you get your desired consistency.

4. Put in the spinach, mixing with the mashed potatoes.

5. Lower heat and pour in heavy cream and Parmesan cheese.

6. Add the butter and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste!

7. Enjoy!

Albacore Tuna!

3 pieces of Albacore Tuna

3/4 cup good olive oil

     Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and pepper on each side of the fish. Coat frying pan with olive oil about 3/4 cup over medium heat. When oil is hot enough seared tuna about 3 minutes each side. Avoid overcooking the fish if you don't want to eat dry tuna. You may want your fish to be medium-rare or rare in the inside.

     I would suggest you cook the fish last after your done with the creamy mashed potatoes. Mango salsa should also be done ahead of time, just make sure you store it in the refrigerator once its ready. You can serve this dish with mango salsa on top of the tuna or on the side like the picture shown above. Salsa is also good with any other grilled, pan fried or seared dishes, I tried this with grilled pork chop and it works really good. Great for chips also during game time!

-Love-

Lumpiang Shanghia!

     Lumpia or fried spring rolls is known to have been originated by Chinese immigrants from Fujian province of China when they migrated to Southeast Asia including Philippines. In the country where I came from, the Philippines, Filipino's are known to have made a lot of variations to the spring roll. The fillings can be made out of veggies, plantain, jack-fruit, turnip, heart of palm, flake of chicken or fish and a lot more. It's just mainly a matter of preference and creativity. The kind of lumpia I'll be sharing to you is called Lumpiang Shanghia which is ground pork and minced veggies as a filling. Lumpiang Shanghia is the kind of lumpia I always serve because everyone who tries it, loves it!

     I can just see CJ's smile from ear to ear. CJ is my husbands bestfreind, for a quick info, CJ's mom brought my husband's mom to the hospital the night she had him. They have lived in the same neighborhood ever since, so apparently they are just like brothers. Cj never had lumpia not until last summer and he feel in love with it. So this is a recipe of my lumpia requested by CJ.

     This recipe can make about 45-50 pieces of lumpia depending on the quantity you put in your filling. You can store the rest in you freezer for weeks and pull it out anytime you feel like eating Lumpia!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork

2 large carrots (minced)

1 medium jicama (minced)

1 medium onion (minced)

2 gloves garlic (minced)

1 egg (beaten)

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 Tbsp flour

1 pack lumpia wrapper (can be found at Asian store in frozen section)

4 cups good olive oil (for deep frying)

Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl except lumpia wrapper and oil.

2. Separate one lumpia wrapper from the batch and lay it out on your folding surface.

3. Scoop 1 tbsp of filling and place at the bottom center of the wrapper.

4. Fold lumpia as directed in the video.(Seal lumpia wrapper with water)

5. In a deep frying pan pour in olive oil over 350 degrees/ high heat.

6. Fry each lumpia for about 7 minutes (don't crowd the frying pan)

7. Serve with sweet chili sauce which you can buy at your local Asian Market.

8. Enjoy!

-Love-

Yummy Collard Greens!

Try this easy to make recipe for yummy collard greens. This is one of our favorite side dishes. The bitterness of the collard greens really compliments the saltiness of the bacon. As a person that grew up eating lots of rice, this is a great substitute especially with a big piece of good steak.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of collard greens (rinsed)
1 large shallots (sliced)
5 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
5 bacon (sliced)
1 cup broth (chicken, beef or vegetable)
Pinch of salt and pepper


Procedure:

1. Cut and discard the stems from the greens. Then cut across the leaves so they are 2-inch ribbons.
2. Cook bacon in a pan over medium high heat until crispy.
3. Scoop out bacon and saute shallots using bacon  grease until translucent.
4. Add garlic and saute for 2 more minutes.
5. Put in collard greens, mixing it with the shallots and garlic to incorporate flavors.
6. Pour in broth and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
7. Place in a platter ang garnish with crisped bacon.
8. Enjoy!

-Love-

Tomato Bruschetta!

Bruschetta is a famous Italian appetizer and one of the simplest in terms of preparation. You can either chop all the veggies or pulse them a few times in a food processor. This has become a house favorite since we started trying it recently.

Ingredients: 

1 Baguette or French bread (slice into half inch)

6 0z Cherub tomatoes (about 20 pieces, cube)

3 Tbsp virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic (minced)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

pinch of pepper

1/4 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves (discard stem)

Procedure:

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

1. In a bowl mix tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, kosher salt, pepper and basil leaves. Set aside.
2. Place slices of baguette on a baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes.
3. Right after pulling the bread out of the oven, rub a piece of garlic on one side.
4. Pour a tablespoon of tomato mixture on each piece.
5. Drizzle a little of olive oil right before serving.
6. Enjoy!
   
   -Love-

Linguine with Mussels & Clams!

As a courtesy to our good friends G-Money and C-Clear for that wonderful chicken dinner, I decided to make a Italian dish for dinner. I really admire Italian cooks, because I think they are generally great cooks, and make great food. Italian cooks have a way of creating food with so much passion and love. They put so much of their souls into their food, that I oftentimes think like there is no way I can make great Italian food because I'm not Italian. Its not that I don't invest much time and love into my food, I just think Italian cooking is too classy for me.

So with much pushing and boosting my self-esteem from my wonderful husband J Bird, I finally did it. What a wonderful feeling, to have someone that believes in your ability, more than you do yourself. I've had never as uncomfortable in my own kitchen as I was cooking dinner. I can only think of two reasons, first, this was my first time cooking Italian food and second, G-Money is a big Italian baby. Growing up with a mom that prepares her pasta sauce for three days, that alone gave me a freakin' chill (Wow the Pressure!) Oh well as J Bird always says "if it doesn't work out then we'll do it again". Well I'm sure there will be many more tries, but to end up this Italian adventure, everyone loved it! Yahoo! That was a relief! Now here is my simple recipe for Linguine Pasta with mussels and clams!

Ingredients:

1 lb of linguine pasta

1.5 lbs of mussels (scrubbed and cleaned)
1.5 lbs of manila clams (scrubbed and cleaned)
1 large shallots (chopped)
5 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1/2 cup of white wine
3 Tbsp of olive oil
1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup of parsley (coarsely chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. In big pot boil water and cook pasta until al dente.
2. In another pan, heat olive oil over medium high.
3. Sauté shallots until translucent about 3 minutes and add garlic for another 2 minutes.
4. Add clams, mussels and wine then simmer for about 15 minutes with lid on.
5. Combine noddles with clam and mussel mixture.
6. Add in butter, pepper flakes, and parsley.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Turn off heat.
9. Place in a platter and enjoy with friends and family!

-Love-

Celebrate!

Yesterday was a special day for me. After a few weeks of dealing with several mishaps, the car was sent to the dealership for some issue, the receiver died when power was out, the Blu-ray player went out, the dryer not working, the kitchen lights got busted just before I am about to start my first recipe for my blog and my husband lost his key ring which includes the car key, house key and access code to his office. Such a total train wreck! But that was about to change.

October 14th at 9 am I drove my self together with my husband to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle)for my scheduled drive test. It was pretty intense! I have never been in a situation with the DMV personnel sitting next to me for 15 minutes judging without talking (that was HARD!) specially from a person that loves to talk and chit-chat. I think that was the longest 15 minutes in my entire life, probably longer than my conversation with my Papc Bert when I first introduce my husband J Bird to him 2 hrs before the plane lands (Ops! My bad Paps, I should have told you long before). But the good thing is Papc loves J Bird more than he loves me I guess (Just kidding! I am still the Daddy's girl). Anyhow, I don't know if it was the 53 degrees F weather or whatever but the entire time I was shaking. It was crazy that even simple English term was just so hard to comprehend, all I hear was Blah! Blah! Blah!But to make the story short, I made it! I finally broke the chain! I got my driver's license!

My first drive alone towards work was so surreal! It was unbelievable, I had total control of the freakin' car, no husband to say stop, slow down and eyes on the road. I hate to say it but I never love this freedom much(but I love you more Hun ;)). While driving, I was listening to Beyonce at full blast, I caught myself screaming "This is AWESOME!", I feel like I am going crazy. Oh yeah it was crazy, no single car on the road, all I see are black birds in the middle of the street (really Crows?!). It was weird! Then all I knew, was that I was at work, it felt kinda like highway hypnosis, or maybe it was just that fun, was that for real?!

Watch out Washington! This crazy little Filipino is going to rock the road! Heheheheh!

So I was thinking, I need to celebrate on this! And there is no other way than a Jerk and Mesquite Chicken from G-Money and C-Clear. I don't usually eat chicken because I do have allergies to it, but I always make an exception when it comes to their chicken. Who cares about rashes all over my body and itching?! It was so worth it! Thank you guys! Here are some picture of a Jerk and Mesquite Chicken to die for!

Sweet & Sour Snapper

      A couple of months ago, my husband found out that he needed to start taking better care of his health. That same day we decided to be more cautious about everything, his food intake, regular exercise, fruits and veggies. This also meant a lot less eating out and a lot more eating home-cooked food. As much as we can, we try to make sure to at least eat fish roughly 5 times a week, instead of take-out and fatty foods.

     So tonight we made one of our favorite fish recipe, Sweet & Sour Snapper!

Ingredients:

1 whole Red Snapper about 1.5 lbs
1 medium size onion ( Julienne )
1 large carrot ( Julienne )
1 large red bell pepper ( Julienne )
2 thumbs of ginger ( Julienne )
1 Roma tomato ( Julienne )
1 can 15 ounce tomato sauce
1 can 8 ounce of pineapple chunks, syrup reserve
1 cup good Olive oil (for frying)
3 tbsp Olive oil (for the sauce)
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar

Procedure:

Fish:
1. Clean fish by removing gills, fish scales and innards. True Red Snapper can usually be bought at your Asian market where they clean the fish for you.
2. Sprinkle generous amount of kosher salt and pepper on each side of the fish.
3. On medium high, heat frying pan and pour in good olive oil.
4. Fry fish until crispy brown about 8 minutes each side. Set aside!

Sauce:

1. On a clean pan heat about 3 tablespoon of oil  over medium high heat.
2. Saute onion and ginger for about 3 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, carrots, bell pepper, soy sauce and saute for 5 more minutes.
4. Pour in tomato sauce, pineapple chunks and the reserve juice with brown sugar.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.

To serve:
 Place fried fish in a server and pour the sauce over it, and enjoy!

Serves 3-4 Adults!

-Love-

Pork Adobo!

I was battling over the idea last night as to what kind of dish I would post for my first recipe. Then I realized, I am a Filipino! And there would be no better way to show how proud I am of being one, then to share one of the Philippines best known dishes, Pork Adobo!

Adobo is a famous Filipino food using soy sauce and vinegar as a base. Most people use either chicken or pork as their meat. Where I am from, celebrations like birthdays, weddings, annual fiestas, and the etc. wouldn't be complete without Adobo. To a Filipino, a occasion without adobo, is like a meal without a rice, Oh yes! Me and my rice!

Anyhow the balance of the salty-sweet flavor from the soy sauce and the sourness from the vinegar makes this dish one that is truly to die for. I love the aroma that the bay leaves, peppercorn, garlic and onions make, its so good it will cause the neighbors to drool (lol). The technique of this dish varies from person to person. I usually marinade my meat overnight or if not 2 hours minimum in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

2 lbs of pork shoulder (cut in cubes)

½ cup of soy sauce

¼ cup of vinegar

1 red onion (cut in cubes)

1 head of garlic (crushed)

1 tsp of whole peppercorn

4 bay leaves

Oil (enough to coat the pan)

Procedure:

1. Marinade meat with soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and onion in bowl. Place the marinade meat in the refrigerator for overnight or if not 2 hrs minimum.
2. Heat frying pan over medium high and add oil. Once oil is hot enough put in pork and fry until golden brown on each side. Set aside.
3. Scoop out garlic and onion from the marinade and saute from the same pan until translucent approximately about 3 minutes.
4. Add the browned meat to the sauteed garlic and onion, stirring in to incorporate the flavors. Pour in the marinade together with the bay leaves and peppercorn and simmer the meat until tender approximately 25-30 minutes. Stirring occasionally making sure the meat is not sticking on the pan.
5. Serve over a bed of steamed rice.

PS. Thanks to my wonderful brother-in-law Matrix for providing the meat tonight!

-Love-

First Taste!

Mabuhay!

Welcome to my blog, Lovely's Cooking! The main purpose of this site is to share my story, my passion for cooking, and my wonderful journey in this “Dreamland” called AMERICA!

I am a full blooded Filipino. I was born and raised in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental which is considered the “City of Gentle People”. I am very proud to have been born on 1 of the 7,107 beautiful islands in the Philippines which is located in South-East Asia. But it wasn't until seven years ago that my journey really began, when I meet a wonderful man on the Internet. We eventually became friends, our friendship grew more and more, and after four years of talking, and numerous emails we meet in person. The year after, on one knee, he proposed to me. Then the next thing I know, I was on the plane bound for Washington, where my journey has continued on.

While the majority of my passion for cooking comes from my family and friends who have helped me over the years, it was the absence of the food I loved back home that got me motivated to keep cooking. The first year of being a wife was a struggle, I didn't know where to find specialty items, I couldn't easily get to stores, and I found myself frustrated. I was so shocked by how different everything was, it was so surreal to me. We often times ate out at fancy restaurants, dinners, and fast food chains when all I wanted was something from back home. It only took me a few days of being in the states to miss rice, and when I got the courage to ask my husband for some rice, he got me Minute Rice; rice in a box? are you kidding me! That was when it started to all sink in, I was in the USA, where there is a box or canned version of everything. For example, just a few days ago I even saw chicken in a can on a Food Network show; oh my!

The funny thing about all of this, is that after two years of my husband pushing me to have a blog, it only took one fine Saturday night for my wonderful Mother-in-law to convince to have one, oh well... as they all say “Mother Knows Best”! So here I am now launching my first blog, Lovely's Cooking!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and I hope you will continue to join me as I explore the art of cooking.

-Love-