Managing Leftovers

I recently posted about my favorite way of managing leftover dishes--- turning them into delish fried rice! :)

The other day I requested binagoongang baboy sa gata for lunch. I asked Ate Letty for that because I intend to make the Thai Bagoong Rice recipe I saw from the magazine. But since I am short of some ingredients, I decided to make my own version. The preparation is basically almost the same, I just used the few pieces of prawns left inside the freezer (extras from the dish I made the other night) because I don't have pork liempo which originally should be used as topping. And since there are no spring onions available either, I decided to use diced tomatoes instead to garnish my meal. And with some tossing and mixing and a dab of salt--voila! instant Bagoong Fried rice for brunch!

I wish...

 ...I understand spices as Jamie Oliver does.

... and I wish I set up food on plates so perfectly beautiful and appealing just like the kids on Junior Master Chef do! :)

(sample picture taken from Junior Master Chef Pinoy Edition)

Junior Master Chef Australia
( I cannot find a picture of the kids from the Pinoy Edition)

Creamy Mushroom Soup and Aglio e Olio with Garlic Marinated Prawns

Source: yummy.ph & foodnetwork.com

I'm a pasta lover. Usually when I am out and not sure of what to eat, I would always, always go for pasta to satisfy the rumbling tummy. I first tried Aglio e Oglio at Hot Tomato in Singapore, its no fancy restaurant by the way (err... not that the name suggests, heheheh). We were brought there by a friend who was raving about their American Beef Stew. It was indeed tasty. After a few more visits ordering the stew, I feel like I wanted to try something different from their menu, so I picked from their pasta and grilled entrees and ordered for that pasta dish which I cannot even pronounce the name. Genius, so I let my pointer finger do the ordering, hahahahah! The aroma of the grilled king prawn on top of the pasta is drool worthy. The mushroom soup that comes with the combo is also good for a barely S$12 meal. Not bad! :)

For the Creamy Mushroom Soup (source: yummy.ph)

• 30g butter
• 30g onion, brunoise
• 55g mushrooms, brunoise
• 15g all-purpose flour
• 300ml chicken stock
• 90ml hot milk
• 50ml heavy cream
• salt & pepper, to taste
• finely chopped parsley, as needed
• optional garnish: 15g mushrooms, brunoise; 8g butter

1. Heat the butter in a heavy saucepot over moderate heat.
2. Add the onions and mushroom. Sweat the vegetables without letting them brown.
3. Add the flour and stir make a roux. Cook the roux for a few minutes but do not brown.
4. Gradually beat in stock. Bring to a boil. Stirring with a whip as it thickens.
5. Simmer until vegetables are very tender. Skim the soup carefully. pass the soup through a food mill or use a blender to puree. If you don't have a blender, chop the vegetables finely. You may pass the pureed soup to a fine china cup or through a cheesecloth if yu want it smooth, or you may leave it as it is for a chunky or more rustic soup.
6. Add enough hot milk to bring it to the proper consistency. heat soup again, but do not let it boil. Season to taste.
7. Garnish with cream and mushrooms sauteed in butter (optional). Top soup with parsley.

For the Aglio e Olio (Source: Emeril Lagasse for foodnetwork.com)

• 1 pound dried pasta (spaghetti, linguine, or your favorite pasta)
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

• 300g prawns
• butter
• olive oil
• salt & ground pepper
• 1tbsp minced garlic

1. Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until garlic is lightly browned. Remove from heat. Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid, and place in a bowl for tossing and serving                
3. Add olive oil mixture and toss. Add the reserved cooking liquid if mixture seems dry. 
4. Place pan-fried marinated prawns on top. Serve immediately.

My verdict: Honestly, it's not as good as that of Hot Tomato's but it sure is very tasty! I personally love the mushroom soup though, heheheh...

Family's Verdict: A cousin, a niece, my sister, brother-in-law and mom tried it and they all love it! :)

***Tip: The 1 tbsp crushed chili flakes is more than enough to clear your sinuses so if you're not the type who doesn't like chili that much, I suggest you cut down the chili flakes to just half a tablespoon. Also I sprinkled a generous amount of Parmesan cheese on top for added flavor.

*** revelation: I didn't measure my ingredients for the mushroom soup, hahahahah! Everything was estimated lang. I also skipped using the food mill or even the blender to puree the soup more. I prefer the soup with a little texture. :)

Tilapia in Santol & Coconut Cream (Sinantulan na Tilapia Sa Gata)

Source: Food Magazine, September 2011 Issue

Almost every week, I would hear my father complain to me about how boring the ulam our dear Ate Letty serves us each day. He said that whenever she'd say we'll be having chicken for lunch, he'd know already that its going to be Tinola. If she say were having fish, the dish would either be fried tilapia, sinigang na tilapia, or paksiw na bangus. If it's pork, it will certainly be sinigang na baboy or pork adobo. And if she'd say we're having beef, that will more likely be beef caldereta, beef sinigang or bistek. That basically rotates lang during the week. Monotonous. Boring. It makes meal time less exciting. Appetite spoiler sometimes. But even if I wanted to be in charge of planning the week menu and take over the the kitchen, I simply cant because I have a very young tot to take care of. I have no nanny--- we never had, though I am desperately wanting one now considering how active my toddler is. Anyway, on occassions naman that the trying-hard-master-chef in me is in the mood, I always try to surprise my dad with a simple dish with a different twist--something that is new to him. As he would always say as tail to his rants about the boring ulam, "ok lang naman yung mga simple lang na ulam e basta iba naman ang pagkaluto."


My father if I may say is not really hard to please when it comes to food though I think when it comes to other cuisine aside from the pinoy, western and some chinese food that we order in restaurants, he's not very keen on exploring anymore. Parang his tastebuds are limited na sa nakasanayan na nya. I remember him hating those local foods in Singapore which we had them try that we ended up bringing them to KFC the following day for lunch. hehehe.. Anyway the other day I prepared for him this dish that I came across to while browsing my new Food magazine. I thought he would like the simplicity of it and the blending of coconut cream, santol and chili will be very familiar to him.

• 1/4 cup sinantualan or santol, cooked Bicol Express style (recipe below)
• 2 large tilapia, cleaned
• 2 bunches pechay, blanched in boiling water and oil
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbps bagoong alamang (shrimp paste)
• 2 pcs chili fingers
• 1 siling labuyo (bird's eye chili), sliced
• 1-1/2 cup coconut cream
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Stuff tilapia with santol mixture. Wrap fish with pechay leaves.
2. In a pan, heat oil and saute onion, garlic, and bagoong alamang. Stir for about 3 minutes.
3. Place wrapped tilapia, chili fingers and siling labuyo in the pan.
4. Pour the coconut cream. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove the cover then continue to simmer until sauce becomes thick. Serve with steamed rice.

For the Sinantulan:

• 4 pcs santol, peeled and seeds removed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup bagoong alamang, (shrimp paste)
• 2 cups coconut cream
• 2 siling labuyo (bird's eye chili), sliced

1. Grate santol meat, wash and drain.
2. In a bowl, combine grated santol and salt. Set aside.
3. In a pan, heat oil and saute garlic and onion until fragrant.
4. Add the bagoong alamang. Stir mixture for 1 minute.
5. Add the santol and stir fry for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
6. Pour in the coconut cream. Simmer until the mixture becomes thick. Add the siling labuyo. Set aside to cool.

My Verdict: My parents both originated from Bicol so basically being around with people who loves dishes with coconut cream and chili, it's no surprise that I also have a thing for spicy dishes like this (not to mention that i also love shrimp paste!) Just a note though for those who'd have the interest to try this, I find it almost impossible to wrap the fish with the pechay. The leaves aren't big enough to wrap up the whole fish. Or maybe the fact that I didn't blanch it to a boiling water made it more difficult (i just blanched it to hot water from the dispenser). I suggest you follow the instruction of blanching it in boiling water first so at least it would be easier to warp around the fish' body and maybe you could use two leaves to wrap the tail part first and then two more for the fish' upper part. :)


Daddy's verdict: He didn't really jumped for joy but he was happy with what I did. Masarap daw. :)

Pineapple Fried Rice

Source: GoodHousekeeping Fast & Easy collector edition 

I'm a sucker for fried rice. My breakfast would always have to consist of fried rice paired with anything uhm... fried also! hahahah! egg, hotdog, dried fish, luncheon meat, tocino, longganisa... Ginisang corned beef is also a favorite kapares. Yeah, pinoy na  pinoy, you may say. I say, blame it on my dad. When we were young, my dad wouldn't allow us to leave for school without having full meal breakfast. And that would mean fried rice everyday with ulam on the side and hot chocolate or milk. Never pandesal, never sandwich, cereals, or crackers, it always has to be sinangag for breakfast. It all started with that until I've grown addicted to it that I didn't notice na I was already experimenting mixing other stuff to spice up the rice. Yes, even before those boxed rice mix has invaded the market, I've been tossing left over ulams na to our next day's fried rice. Adobo, menudo, or anything with sauce. I've been mixing chopped scrambled eggs, or chopped luncheon meat, or shrimp or mashed vienna sausage or longganisa. I even tried mixing ginisang bagoong to the rice. The ideas seem endless even back then when I never heard yet of turmeric and other spices pa from McCormick, LOL!  I feel like I am in my own world wearing a tiara on my head when I cook fried rice! So imagine how my eyes sparked when I saw this in my mini cookbook. I immediately went to the supermarket to buy all the ingredients and I intended to make the presentation just as it was shown on the cookbook that I asked one of our help in the kitchen to cut the pineapple for me! This is love!  :)

the pineapple can only hold a few cups of fried rice so we placed the remaining on clear serving dishes.

• 2tsp chopped garlic
• 1/4 cup carrot strips
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sliced ham
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 3/4 cup pineapple tidbits
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup chopped spring onion
• 1 egg, scrambled and fried, then cut into strips

1. Saute garlic in vegetable oil. Add carrots then soy sauce. Stir in egg and cook for a minute.
2. Add ham and mix well. Add cooked rice, pineapple tidbits, salt and spring onion. Mix briskly.
3. Serve topped with scrambled egg strips.

Family's Verdict:  It's a hit! My dad and the whole fam love it! :)

Paella Pinoy Style

Source: pinoyfoodblog.com

I made this for my brother's birthday last Dec 2010. I know, napanis na ang paella sa blog ko, hahahah! Anyway, this is my second take at this dish. The first one i did was the seafood paella back when I was still in Singapore. It was tasty but wasn't really outstanding. This one on the other hand, which I copied from pinoyfoodblog.com is a little more pinoy-ish. You know how us, pinoys love that sweet tangy taste in sauce? That's exactly the secret to why this version of paella makes it more appealing to the pinoy tastebud!

• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1 cup malagkit (glutinous) rice
• 1 cup ordinary rice
• 2 minced onions
• 1/2 k chicken , cut in serving pieces
• 4 chorizo Filipino, sliced 1/2 inch thick diagonally
• 1/2 kilo big shrimps
• 3 alimasag
• 1/4 kilo squid, sliced into rings
• 1 cup clams
• 1/2 cup tahong
• 1 hard boiled egg, sliced

Sauce

Prepare sauce before cooking procedure

• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 small can tomato juice
• 4 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablesoon fine salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 big red bell pepper , sliced 1/4 strips

1.  Cook 1 cup rice and 1 cup malagkit rice. Set aside.

2.  Saute garlic in oil . Add 2 minced onions and cook until very soft.

3.  Add chicken, chorizon Filipino and cook until brown.

4.  Add shrimps (unpeeled), 3 small alimasag (whole); squid, halaan or tahong.

5.  Continue stirring 5 minutes

6.  Add prepared sauce and simmer for a while.

7.  Carefully remove chicken, etcetera fro sauce (Use Slotted spoon) and transfer to a platter. You can leave a few seafoods with the sauce.

8.  To the sauce, add the rice. Mix well.

If too wet, cook over low fire a few minutes more.

9.  Top with chicken , shrimps, etc that you set aside in step 7.

10.  Decorate with hard-boiled eggs, green peas just before serving (after baking it)

11.  Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Crab & Shrimp Linguine with White sauce & Beer-battered Cream Dory Fillet

Source: yummy.ph

I've missed cooking! Actually I had my reunion with the kitchen along with the whole gang of pots, pans and spices when my son and I visited his dad in Singapore. We have no help to cook for us there so I was left with no choice but to be the all-around wifey-mommy-nanny-cook-laundry girl aka Inday-Nanay. During our stay there, I feel like I was a malfunctioning cook, hahahahah! I dunno but most of the time, I feel like just dining out. I left my desire to cook somewhere else and we have lost touch until last week when I saw those 8-year old kids on TV. With so much yabang, I was like, hmmmm... "I can do that!" LOL!

So here I am, back from hibernation, making my grand come back with an unusual combo of pasta and fish. hahahaha!! Honestly I think this combo is crazy. But believe me it's not that bad! They may look odd together but surprisingly, they make one yummy meal so I thought, might as well forgive the craziness! Bon Appetit!

For the Crab & Shrimp Linguine with White Sauce

• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1/3 cup chopped onion 
• 1/3 cup diced red bell pepper 
• 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic 
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 cups milk, warmed in a pan or in the microwave 
• 3/4 cup cooked and flaked crab meat 
• 3/4 cup cooked and chopped shrimp meat 
• 1/3 cup frozen green peas, thawed 
• juice from 1 lemon 
• salt, cayenne pepper, and liquid seasoning to taste 
• 160 grams linguine, cooked according to package directions 
• grated Parmesan cheese for topping 

1 In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add red bell pepper and cook for 30 seconds. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant.

2 Sprinkle flour and mix well; cook for 1 minute. Whisk in warm milk and stir continuously until smooth and slightly thick, about 5 to 6 minutes. Add cooked crab, shrimp, and green peas. Mix well.

3 Add lemon juice and season to taste with salt, cayenne, and liquid seasoning. Mix well and cook for another minute.

4 Mix in cooked linguine. Transfer to a serving platter and sprinkle with grated cheese.




For the Beer-battered Cream Dory Fillet

• 1 pack frozen cream dory fillet (about 3 to 4 pieces) 
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice 
• salt and pepper 

• 1 1/4 cups flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper 
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 
• 1 egg 
• 1 egg white 
• 1 1/4 cups beer 
• flour for dusting fish 

1 Heat oil in a deep pan for frying.

2 Brush both sides of each fish fillet with lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

3 Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar, egg, egg white, and beer for the batter in a large mixing bowl. Dust fish with flour, dip in the batter, then deep-fry until golden brown.

Shopping for the Safest Cookware

Shopping for the Safest Cookware
* by Toby Amidor in Food Safety – Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 2:30 pm

source: http://blog.healthyeats.com/blog/2009/10/14/choosing-the-safest-cookware/



After I served up rice with flecks of metal, my hubby finally agreed we needed new pots and pans. I got the All-Clad ones I’ve always wanted. After six years, my set is still going strong and dinner has been fleck-free ever since. If you’re looking to upgrade or just wondering about your everyday pots, here are some important things to know.




Aluminum
More than half the cookware sold today is made of aluminum. These pieces are usually coated with a nonstick finish or treated to harden the surface and make it scratch-resistant. If you have an old non-coated aluminum pot or pan, chances are it will start showing wear sooner or later (this is known as “pitting”); you might start chowing on metal flecks, too. If you keep cooking with it, this can add too much aluminum to your food, a potentially toxic situation.

A warning: If you use aluminum cookware, don’t store acidic foods — lemon juice, tomato sauce, oranges vinegar, etc. — in it. Extended exposure to acidic dishes can leach more aluminum into your food. If you’re prepping soups, sauces or other longer-cooking recipes that contain acidic ingredients, choose anodized aluminum cookware. Anodization is a process that hardens the surface of the cookware, making it non-stick, scratch-resistant and easy to clean.

Our Pick: Infused Cookware set by Calphalon




Stainless Steel
Made from a combo of iron and other metals, this go-to metal is durable and won’t corrode or tarnish. Some stainless steel contains chromium and may also have nickel, molybdenum or titanium, which boost its resistance to damage from high temperatures and scratching.

Because stainless steel doesn’t conduct heat evenly, most pots and pans have copper or aluminum bottoms. Like with aluminum pots, don’t keep your acidic or salty foods in stainless steel cookware for long periods or you risk damaging them.

Lots of home chefs prefer all-clad stainless steel. “Clad” means “three ply,” which consists of an aluminum or copper base layer sandwiched between layers of stainless steel so the heat is more evenly distributed. Although it’s pricey, my All-Clad set is worth it!
Our Pick: Stainless Steel Cookware by All-Clad






Copper
Copper is a great heat conductor and excellent for range-top cooking. Many cooks like to use it for delicate sauces and foods that need to reach exact temperatures. Copper cookware is typically lined with tin or stainless steel for safety; the FDA warns against using unlined copper pots since the metal easily leaches into acidic foods. If you’ve been cooking with unlined pots, go to your doctor if you suspect you’ve overloaded on copper — symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Our Pick: Try-Ply Copper by Calphalon






Iron
Cast iron is strong, inexpensive and evenly conducts heat — this makes it good for browning, frying and baking foods. Cooking with these heavy pots and pans leaches iron into your food, which, in this case, is a good thing. Using unglazed cast iron typically adds about twice the amount of iron. You don’t want to store your food in this cookware, but cooking with it once or twice a week can be a nice iron supplement to your diet (especially for those with iron-deficiency anemia).
Our Pick: Cast iron skillet by Lodge





Enamelware
Some aluminum, iron and steel has an enamel coat, which makes it stain and scratch resistant. It also doesn’t pick up food odors. In the 1970s, the FDA detected that enamel cookware might cause cadmium toxicity — after that, the U.S. banned these products. These days, you’ll find cadmium-free enamelware available. The FDA continues to test cookware to make sure we’re not exposed to excessive metals while using them.
Our Pick: Enameled Dutch Oven by Le Creuset

Nonstick Pans
While convenient for cleaning, many nonstick coatings wear away with hard use — you may even get pieces that chip off. The FDA claims that these particles don’t pose a health hazards. Research has also suggested that heating coated pans for long periods of time at high temperatures leads to off-gassing potentially toxic fumes, which has scared some away from nonstick. From what I’ve found, these fumes are less toxic than those given off by ordinary cooking oils.
Our Suggestion: Don’t overheat your nonstick cookware and only use appropriate utensils with them (no metal spatulas or spoons, which can damage the surface). Replace them when you notice scratching or the nonstick coating is chipping off.




Utensils
What you cook with affects your pots and pans, too. Metal tools can damage even the nicest cookware, but don’t turn to the cheap plastic utensils either — they’ll melt right into your meal. Use wood spoons and silicon spatulas to preserve your pots and keep food safe.
Our Pick: Slotter Turner by Henckels

Substitutes

Source: Yummy Magazine July 2007 Issue

GOT NO...

Fresh Milk? Use evaporated milk plus water.

Cooking Oil? For rice, use butter or margarine for fried rice or sinangag. (Want less fat? Place leftover rice on a frying pan, heat and sprinkle water to soften rice.) For eggs, water-- poach it sunny side up!

Broth Cubes? Chicken bones- just boil unused or oven roasted, clean ones. Discard bones and use remaining liquid for soup, sauces, and sauteed vegetables.

Wheat Noodles with Pork Balls

Source: Periplus Mini-Cookbook
Home Style Filipino Cooking

Ingredients:

• 500g minced pork
• 1 med carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 med onion, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp flour
• sant and pepper
• 2 ltrs (8cups) water
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 100g misua (wheat noodles)
• chopped spring onions, to garnish (optional)

1. Combine pork, carrot, onion, egg, and flour in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Shape into meatballs and set aside.
2. In a deep saucepan or casserole, bring water to the boil. Drop in pork balls and simmer over medium heat until balls are fully cooked, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir in stock cubes. When cubes are dissolved, add the misua. Season with patis. Simmer 2-3 minutes (misua cooks very quickly), garnish with spring onions, if desired, and serve.