Recipes
Cincinnati Chili
This is not your usual chili. For one, it’s served “on top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese”. This one in the photo is known as a five-way. It’s served with the chili or meat sauce, beans, cheese (I used provolone so you can hardly see it in the photo) and chopped raw onions [...]
Fish with Blackbeans
After cooking a dish a couple of times, and introducing some of your own innovations, it becomes yours. Like this Fish with Blackbeans and Tofu which has become one of mine and Spouse’s favorites. This recipe is based on a couple of recipes I used in the past. It’s evolved to be a [...]
Salad Nicoise
If you’re a carnivore like I’ve always been, you’ll understand why I say, a salad for lunch is like undeserved punishment. It’s only after I got married a few years ago, that I started thinking of a more balanced diet and included salads in my regular fare. But this particular one is so substantial and [...]
Hail Caesar!
My very first job was for a five-star restaurant group with its head office located in Bistro Burgos in Makati. Bistro Burgos was the first bistro in the Philippines by the way. Everyday, the restaurant manager, Mang Johnny, would supervise the making of the day’s Caesar Salad Dressing just before the restaurant opened for lunch. It [...]
Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie
I felt like celebrating tonight and decided to make us an Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie that didn’t include skimmed milk or skinless, boneless chicken breasts. No siree.. this recipe called for cream…and lotsa butter and I did use butter with a clear conscience. I got a call from my doctor and al my blood work [...]
Everyday Filipino: Beef Sinigang
Sinigang refers to the dish you cook using the “sigang” method. Cooking sigang style is to cook with broth and other condiments according to the online Tagalog dictionary. I always thought the term meant sauteing without oil. Sorry about the picture, I guess the steam rose and fogged up the camera lens. Sinigang is a [...]
Pear and Rhum Pound Cake
You’ve seen the pan, now here’s the cake…ta-dah! Did you notice the cake is lopsided? You wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t say a word, right? Not so bad. The cake was great whichever pan you used. Can’t really go wrong with a combination of pear and rhum. This recipe is based on a Pear [...]
Masakan Indonesia: Nasi Goreng
We’ve all heard of this popular Indonesian dish at one time or another. Before living in Jakarta for a short duration, my idea of Nasi Goreng was what’s called “Java Rice” – a bright orange-colored rice dish usually served with barbecued chicken at a popular Philippine chain of restaurants called Aristocrat. Of course, when you [...]
Spaghetti Puttanesca
This Spaghetti Puttanesca recipe is again from The Sopranos Family Cookbook. Honestly, I was not impressed when I was dishing this up. I’ve cooked it before and my version was lighter. After I took my first bite of this one, all relaxed and away from my kitchen, I was surprised at how different the same [...]
Everyday Paella
I’m calling this an Everyday Paella because the ingredients are just things I normally have in my pantry. No special bomba rice, no seafood. I omit shrimps in the recipe owing to my crustacean allergy. Although, we did have a shrimp gambas to go with this, just so Spouse was happier with this simple paella.
Shrimp Gambas
I made this easy Shrimp Gambas to go with my shrimp-less paella from yesterday. For starters, I took some 200 grams of peeled shrimp and just heated some olive oil in a pan and stir-fried them with some crushed garlic, salt and white pepper. Soon as I spied some browning in the shrimps, I turned [...]
Chicken and Pork Adobo
Adobo is the acknowledged Philippine national dish. When Eldest Sister went on a diet years ago, you could ask her kids what her favorite dish was and they’d all say, “Adobo Kangkong.” Yup, you can cook vegetables, meats, seafood (mussels adobo is fantastic) and fish using this method. You’ll probably find this dish anywhere you [...]