The Unofficial Cook

Here’s a sorry attempt at plating a dish of beef caldereta.  Do you think I overdid it?  I really wasn’t going to post about this but decided I would at the last minute because of the attractively-colored vegetables.  This caldereta is missing a few key ingredients (which I’ll include in the recipe anyway) which is why I wasn’t originally going to inlcude it in the blog. 

Caldereta is a beef dish Filipinos like to serve at fiesta time.  Beef is the most common meat used.  There’s also a spicier goat caldereta that drinkers prefer.  The chicken caldereta is sweeter because of the addition of pickle relish.  For special occasions, a lot of Filipinos in the provinces would slaughter a cow, a pig, some chickens and maybe a goat for an open-to-everyone kind of feast.  The animals would be slaughtered with an open fire close by.  A huge cauldron of boiling water sitting over some large rocks or hollow blocks is always ready and required.  The men will do the slaughtering and dividing of the meat while the women prepared the rest of the ingredients.  Certain cuts go with certain dishes.  Caldereta  required mostly bones, with some meat still clinging to it.  (more…)

My inspiration for this dish was the Shrimp and Scallops Pasta Spouse had at Cucina Colore last month.  It looked so good but I couldn’t taste it because it had shrimps.  Of course, there’s always a way to re-create a dish to suit you and so I did…and I even made it better with the addition of asparagus. (more…)

I’ve been meaning to do this omelette which I first tasted at the Village Smithy in Carbondale, Colorado last July when Spouse and I went to Redstone for our anniversary.   I thought it was a perfect recipe since I’ve always been gaga over smoked salmon (anything smoked for that matter) and cream cheese.  I didn’t have any bagels this morning but a couple slices of toasted French bread smeared with more cream cheese was fine.  Serving it with orange slices was a perfect way to cleanse the palate. (more…)

This is a recipe I picked up after coming from a 3-month Bangkok work assignment several years ago.  The photo was taken just before the final stir, aftet I just threw in the scallions, diced tomato and scrambled egg strips. 

The street food of Bangkok fascinated me of course.  The little soi where our office housed their foreign employees was just behind Bumrungrad Hospital, before it became famously world-class.  The street had several little motels, restaurants and several food hawkers selling, fried rice, pork hocks simmering in a sweet brown sauce, grilled seafood, mango salads, fresh fruits with sugar and chili powder…and so much more….which I all tried BTW. (more…)

This is another beef dish that’s pretty common in the Philippines.  We call it Bistek, a play on the Western ”beef steak”.  The Philippine version uses thin sirloin cuts of beef if your monthly budget permits but you can use the cheaper cuts, pounded to make it more tender.  The marinating will tenderize the meat considerably.  The marinade is a simple  calamansi juice, soy sauce and black pepper.  You can also use this marinade for pork chops and butterfly-cut milkfish.

Bistek is always served at my parent’s house with fried potatoes and browned onion rings.  I like to serve my Bistek with the onions and some veggies like bell peppers or in this case, peppers and zucchini.  Of course, you will need a serving of rice…it just goes so well with the soy-calamansi combination. (more…)

How do you make your Bolognese Sauce?  This is probably the oldest spaghetti sauce Filipinos are familiar with.  You might be wondering why I have that title on this post.  Its a tribute to a beloved aunt who is, undoubtedly,  the most colorful and vibrant among the sisters.  She had tons of bangles, baubles and beads, not to mention the real thing.  Every time I hear that song it never fails to remind me of her.

As a  kid, my now Australia-based Tita Mameng del Fierro made the best Bolognese Sauce.  She’s a home economics graduate from UST and is really the best cook among my mom’s sisters.  She’s the total homemaker and was very much  into sewing, crocheting, crafts, cooking, gardening and even cleaning. Her parties were so well-planned I always looked forward to them. Her table was beautifully spruced up and the food always predictably good.  The best part of all was when she stood at the top of the stairs with  a can of coins.  That was our signal to position ourselves because she’d throw the coins at us and we kids would scramble for every centavo. (more…)

It’s getting cooler in Colorado!  Autumn officially arrives tonight (as of this writing), the 22nd of September.  But we’ve been getting some cool days for quite a few weeks now.  Today was a particularly cold and wet one. 

A thick soup sounded perfect for lunch so I scrounged around my pantry and freezer to see what I could put together.  Luckily, I had leftover diced ham, frozen chopped spinach, some Goya chorizo links and dry lentils.  Sounds like the start of a good soup…. (more…)

Every Filipino has probably disparaged our very unique Macaroni Salad, as I have.   It’s not the usual macaroni, mayo and dill pickle concoction you’ll find everywhere else in the world.  I guess you could call it a bit “confusilcated” as Spouse likes to say.  A little bit of this, a little of that…and so much more.  It’s a reflection of who we are, a melange of flavors and influences all in one bundle of confusion.  I have this theory it’s also a reflection of the Pinoy’s openness to new ideas, cultures and flavors. 

I really ought to stop intellectualizing  now since, one, I’m not good at it and second, it’s just a salad.   All I know is - it can be delicious if you’ll only give it a chance.

(more…)

If you haven’t tried the Daikon Raddish, you’re missing something.  It’s a root vegetable that’s also called a Japanese raddish, Chinese raddish and Satsuma raddish.  Filipinos call it labanos.

This is more commonly sauteed with garlic, onions and tomatoes  or cooked with sinigang.  I hope this won’t freak anyone out, but we also mix in some beef spleen along with the saute.  It’s delicious!  (more…)

I was going to try this recipe for a Peach Cobbler and bought some nice-looking peaches at the supermarket.  For some reason, there were a couple of peaches missing from my fruit basket when I was about to start on the cobbler the following day.

I did the next best thing and dug into my freezer to see if I had any leftover frozen fruits there.  All I had was less a pack of those mixed fruits for smoothies - still not enough.  So I ended up using one of the large red delicious apples that turned out to be very sweet and crisp.  The whole thing was delicious with the top perfectly crisp and crumbly at the same time and it absorbed the fruit juices.  For me, that really is the best part of a cobbler - with or without the cream.  This mix of fruits was also very nice with the smooth and tender peaches, a little crunch from the apples and those tiny bursts of sweetness as you bit on a blueberry just gave it the right touch.  (more…)

I’ve tried several recipes of meatloaf but was always taken by the one Cracker Barrel serves (on Tuesdays if I’m not mistaken).  I did a search on the internet some years back and found a recipe based on that. My recipe has evolved from that however…I made a few changes that suited our tastes more.

Spouse loves this…he can actually eat one loaf all by himself if I let him.  The thing with meatloaf is, the leftovers are even better served cold, as a sandwich. I’ll serve it first with some vegetables like brussels sprouts (maybe with a honey mustard glaze) and potatoes.  I always make sure there’s still half a loaf for sandwiches. (more…)

This recipe is from the late Juliia Child.  It’s one of the classic French dishes she featured on her first cooking show on PBS, The French Chef.  If I’m not mistaken, this was the first she actually featured on that show produced by Russell Morash, the same producer who today, gives PBS audiences “This Old House”, “Ask This Old House” and “Find!”

I’ve had it before in restaurants but never cooked it at home.  It’s not so difficult.  The resulting dish is good enough to surprise you and make you wonder if you cooked it yourself.  And the leftovers are just excellent.  The success of this dish, will depend on the wine you use in my opinion.  I am currently using a Merlot for cooking and like its smoky flavor.  (more…)