Lemon Asparagus Risotto

Despite my love for cooking, there are still some food that I'm intimidated with. Risotto is one of them. It looks easy enough to cook but I always hesitate, with the thoughts of Chef Gordon Ramsay bitching about risottos in Hell's Kitchen.

So to slowly familiarize myself and get comfortable with risotto making, I found a new friend - Knorr Risotto in a bag.

Oh, and I'm not over yet with asparagus and lemon partnership.

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of Knorr Asparagus Risotto.
- A bunch of thin asparagus, woody edges trimmed.
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint

- zest of 1 small lemon
- juice of half of that small lemon

1. Cook the Knorr asparagus risotto according to the instructions in the packaging.
2. Chop the asparagus, separate the beautiful tips.
3. When the risotto is done, toss in the asparagus.
4. Add the lemon juice.
5. When the asparagus is cooked, add the finely chopped mint.

Sprinkle lemon zest to serve

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Panizza, But Not Quite

Panizza Pizza was a love a first sight taste experience.

The very first time I encountered panizza was at C Italian Dining, Angeles City, Pampangga, where we held a film shoot for an AVP project. Panizza pizza is apparently the pride of the house. I'm not a pizza person, and so I didn't know what it was or how it's eaten.

Do I eat it with fork and knife? Do I eat it with my hands? But it's cut in a strip. How can I eat it with glamour like that? What's alfalfa sprouts and arugula doing on the table?

It would be awkward to eat it wrong while you are being filmed, so we asked the kind chef, who prepared all our great food that day, Chef Chris Locher, to tell us how we should execute the eating part :P. So he said, sprinkle the alfalfa sprouts on a strip. Lay the crunchy arugula on top. Roll it. And serve it to your lady like a gentleman.

So we started filming. Mark and I felt awkward at first to be filmed while eating and hearing directions on the sides of what we should do. It was the first time we had an "acting" gig haha! My cheeks where trembling and my hands were tensed. But as soon as I took a bite off that panizza - everything went real and natural. It was so good, I didn't have to act like I like it - because I love it! I think that's the best experience in that entire day of filming. From that moment on, it never left my taste.

This recipe is inspired by Chef Chris Locher's panizza. It's not very close to what he served to us, but this will work for us, for now - until I learn to make my own dough :).

Ingredients:
- a ready made pizza crust (preferrably thin), but if you can make your own dough, do it.
- Del Monte Italian pizza sauce
- slices of ripe tomatoes
- alfalfa sprouts
- baby arugula leaves
- olive oil
- mozarella cheese
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Brush the pizza crust with olive oil.
3. Spread the pizza sauce.
4. Spread the tomatoes
5. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
6. Top it with grated mozarella cheese and put it in the oven.
7. When it's ready, slice it in strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide.

To serve:

Step 1: Sprinkle alfalfa sprouts on one strip.


Step 2: Lay some crunchy baby arugula on top.


Step 3: Roll it. (In this case, my pizza crust is too thick to roll so we folded it like a sandwich :P).


Step 4: Munch munch!

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Feel like Korean

Dinner is more fun with friends around. After forever planning this small korean themed dinner with Jana and Sid, we finally did it!



Koreans are big on side dishes (at least in my observations in Korean restos I have been to). There's a wide variety of side dishes to choose from, but I picked 5 simple and easy ones to prepare, plus the very popular korean dish, the Beef Bulgogi.

I suggest to marinade the beef and set it aside before you prepare the side dishes. By the time you are done with the side dishes, the beef is ready for stir fry.

-  S I D E  D I S H E S -

Kimchi
- bought a ready made one in a bottle from the supermarket.

Spinach Salad (Sigumchi Namul)
Ingredients:
1 pound fresh spinach
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 clove crushed garlic
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
black pepper

Rinse the spinach a few times until no more sand is coming off the leaves. Steam the spinach untill tender. Put the spinach in a strainer and let it cool down. When it is cool enough squeeze gently as much water as possible out of it and cut the leaves coarsely.
Mix all the ingredients into the spinach and the salad is ready.

Salted Egg (talgyal changjorim)
Ingredients:
10-15 quail eggs
1 table spoon salt
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 table spoon sugar
2/3 cup water
1 table spoon ginger juice

Boil the eggs in salted water till the egg-shell breaks and peel them.
Put soy sauce, sugar, water and ginger juice in a pan and add the peeled eggs. Simmer the eggs on low fire till the liquid is almost evaporated. Turn the fire high and cook the eggs until they are glazed.
Let the eggs cool down.

Note : recipes from this site.

Fried Zucchini (Hobak Gui)
1 medium size zucchini cut in circles
salt and pepper to taste
Korean hot sauce

Fry the zucchini. Blot it with tissue paper to remove excess oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste and then rub it with Korean hot sauce.

Fried Tofu with Ground Beef
1 Tofu
100 grams ground beef
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, minced
1 Tbsp coriander, finely chopped
1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
1 Tsp soy sauce
Sugar to taste

1. Fry the tofu until golden brown. Blot it with tissue paper to remove excess oil. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Saute onion for a minute and add ground beef. Put a little bit of water and let it simmer.
3. When it is almost dry, add the red bell pepper, oyster sauce and soy sauce. Sprinkle a little bit of sugar to give a little bit of sweet twist. Let it simmer.
4. Add coriander and mix well.
5. Cut the tofu in to cubes and mix it with the ground beef. Serve.

- M A I N  C O U R S E -

Beef Bulgogi
1 kg beef tenderloin strips (good for 4)
1 pack of Beef bulgogi marinade
fried Sesame seeds

1. Wash the tenderloin strips thoroughly.
2. Pour the bulgogi marinade on the tenderloin and mix well. Refrigerate for about an hour.
3. Heat pan and stir fry beef. Add a little bit of oyster sauce.
4. When it is cooked and somewhat dry, sprinkle sesame seeds.

Serve with Rice.


Yum yum!

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Spicy Lettuce Rolls

A little bit of background: I discovered this Asian dish back in 2007, oddly, in San Diego, California. I must have been missing out on good asian resto here that I had to discover it outside the very asia. So I am making this based on my memory of how it tasted.

Ingredients:
- 1 pack of iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 kg ground beef
- 1 medium sized red bell pepper, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 medium size white onion, chopped
- 2 red tomatoes, chopped
- 2 Tbsp finely chopped corriander
- Ginger powder
- Chili powder
- 3 Tbsp of Kikoman soysauce
- 2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce for added sweetness

1. Separate the iceberg lettuce carefully to make sure it doesn't rip or break. Wash thoroughly and let it drip on a strainer. Set aside.
2. Heat pan and add a little bit of oil. Saute garlic until golden brown.
3. Add ground beef and mix well. When it's turning brown, pour about 1 1/2 cups of water to boil it. I prefer to boil rather than to just stir fry because it makes the beef more tender, plus it kills bacteria.
4. When the liquid is almost dried up, add Hoisin and Kikoman soysauce. Mix well. Remember to adjust to your taste. If it's too bland, just add gradually until you reach your preferred taste.
5. Add red bell pepper. Give it a minute of interval, then add the white onion. Mix together for a minute, then add tomatoes. The reason of the intervals is to make sure you don't over cook nor undercook the veggies. I like my onion and tomatoes a little bit crunchy so I do this technique.
6. Sprinkle corriander and mix well.
7. Add Ginger powder, give it about 3 dashes.
8. Sprinkle chili powder. I'd recommend you do this gradually until you reach the spiciness you prefer. Then add a pinch of pepper to taste.

Serves 3 heads.

To serve, lay the iceberg lettuce on the plate and fill it with ground beef and roll. You usually hold the roll with your bare hands and eat, so make sure you wash your hands too ;).

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Mango Salsa evening

Isn't it good to know that my fiance and I still eat?

Tonight's dinner is inspired by Ate Bheng. I saw this idea in her Facebook and found it highly appetizing. It's fun how much stuff you can match with Mango Salsa. I did a Mango Salsa menu a while back, with chicken breast and baby potatoes. But this one is healthier and more budget friendly.

Ingredients:
- 3 pcs. eggplant, cut in half and then length-wise. You may cut it in 3 parts if it egg plant is longer.
- 2 pcs. tilapia fillet.
- dried rosemary.
- salt and pepper.
- olive oil.

Salsa
- 1 ripe mango, diced.
- 1 medium sized red bell pepper.
- 1 tbsp. coriander, finely chopped.
- 1 tsp. calamansi/lime/lemon juice.
- 1 tsp. sambal oelek (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the salsa:
1. Grill red bell pepper until the skin blisters.
2. Peel off the skin and chop it finely.
3. Combine mango, coriander, calamansi/lime/lemon juice, bell pepper in a bowl and mix well. You can add sambal oelek if you wish to have a slight spicy flavor in it, but it's totally optional.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste. If mango is not sweet enough, you can sprinkle a little bit of white sugar to compensate with the sourness of the lime juice.
5. Cover and chill in the fridge for a few minutes.

Fish and Eggplant
1. Apply a little bit of olive oil on the fish fillet. Sprinkle salt and pepper and rub dried rosemary herb.
2. Grill the tilapia fillet. If you have no griller like me, I used my oven to grill it, in 250 C. Turn the fish on the other side when its cooked.
3. Grill the egg plants as well, until it's brown and a bit withered.

Serve this with the chilled mango salsa. How do you eat it? I personally like to top the eggplant with the salsa. Mmmm lekker!

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What goes well with potato gratin?

Another boxed item we got from Healthy Options, presenting - The Gratin. According to Wikipedia:

Gratin is a widely used culinary technique in food preparation in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg and/or butter.

In this case, the Gratin box we have is potatoes. All you have to do is to pour the stuff in a oven dish, top it with butter and grated cheese, put it inside the oven at 250C for 20mins.



For most Europeans/Americans, potato is like their rice - and I'm not used to it, so I don't always have a bright idea of what goes well with it. Fortunately, sausage and veggie skewers worked well.

- 2 Hungarian sausage, sliced and fried in olive oil, in medium heat.
- 6 pcs of grilled veggie skewers, comprised of:
green bell pepper (bite size)
onion (quartered)
tomatoes (quartered)
leeks (1 inch long)



Pour a little bit of olive oil on top of the grilled veggie. Sprinkle a little bit of salt, and a dash of oregano for some flavor. I am crazy about onion leeks lately - specially grilled. Maybe it'll pass like my addiction to fresh basil a few months ago.

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German flavah

I was digging inside our kitchen cabinet to make a quick inventory of what to cook for dinner and found a can of Sauerkraut. Before you roll your eyes and give me that confused look, it's a German dish. I know I said I won't ever go for intricate cooking in this blog - and this is not intricate. Let's not get intimidated of the German word.

Sauerkraut is just like pickled cabbage. It is saur sour. It kinda reminds me of achara - only, it's made up of cabbage, and minus the sweetness. So there now you have an idea.

Anyhow, I ended up with this because of my fiance. He bought this canned stuff few months back and I honestly don't know how to eat it. But I never realize it was extremely easy.

Ok so let's get started.



Ingredient:
- Sauerkraut in can, drained (got a Del Monte one)
- Instant mashed potato (got from Healthy options)
- 2 pcs chopped white onions
- 2 pcs Schublig sausage
- gravy sauce

1. Heat pan and put a little bit of butter. Fry the sausages in medium heat. Set aside when cooked.
2. Heat pan and put a little bit of oil. Saute the white onions until soft, and then add the sauerkraut and mix together. Simmer for about 3 mins.

* for the mashed potato, you should see instructions at the back of the carton.

3. Mix mashed potato and sauerkraut together. Sprinkle a little bit of salt to taste.
4. Serve the sauerkraut with sausage, topped with some gravy.

The very sauer-kraut turned out to be pretty good for my Filipino taste ;). According to Mark, this is sort of a winter food - and we just had it in a tropical weather. Maiba lang.

This is a good easy recipe if you have that sudden craving for a foreign taste minus the hassle of food preparation time.

Here's mine. It's not the right way to eat it, again, according to Mark. He said you slice the sausage while you eat. But who cares? I will chew it anyways!



Guten appetit!

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Coco Milky Squash

This recipe kinda brings me back to my good old days with my roomate, a good friend, and an adopted sister, Iya (we adopted each other haha) when I was living with her. This is one of our many budget dishes she taught me, and so far one of our favorites. Making this dish made me miss her, and I never thought peeling and chopping the squash can be lonely without her - and ate. Well... we leave the squash to ate's hands since it's such a pain to peel and chop it. I definitely miss the chickahan while cooking, and her undisputed reputation - when you let her take the ladle for taste test, especially if she sprinkled a little bit of salt and pepper for minor adjustments - man, you just lost your dish. It's hers now haha.

Ok so here's how her yummy "pauso" goes :P


Coconut squash with pork and string beans.

Ingredients:
- 1/4 medium size squash, peeled and chopped into chunks (depends how much squash you want in the dish).
- 6 strands of string beans, chopped about 2 1/2 inches long.
- Fresh squeezed coconut milk. You can also use UHT coconut milk that you can get from supermarket if you can't get freshly grated coconut.
- salt to taste.
- 1/4 kg of pork, cut into small chunks.
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped.

1. Heat pot with a little bit of oil and saute the finely chopped garlic until it's golden brown.
2. Add the pork. Pour about 2-3 cups of water and bring to a boil. I usually just put enough covering the pork.
3. When the pork is a little bit soft, put the squash. It may take a while to softened the squash.
4. When the squash is a little bit soft, pour the coconut milk. Let it simmer until it is thickened quite a bit.
5. I like it when the squash is really soft that it kinda melts in the dish. And when this happens, that's the only time I put the string beans.
6. Add salt according to your taste.
7. You'll know the string beans is cooked when it turns to bright green. I like keeping it half cooked because I love crunchy veggie.

Serves 2.

Mark loved it. So cheers dear kesa!

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Healthy Skewers

Feeling guilty about our unhealthy KFC lunch (2 piece hot and crispy for Mark and original for me mmmmm!), we decided to make a simple healthy dinner.

I just cut tomatoes in half, chopped bite size white onions and bell pepper, put it together in a skewer and grilled it in the oven. I also grilled 2 sweet corn and cut it in 3 sections. To satisfy our meat cravings, I added some vegetable meat skewers we got from vegetarian shop in Palm Village, Estrella. We like keeping vegetarian stuff in the house since we have a 1 day a week strictly meat free.


Vegetable skewers


Sweet corn

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Lent Chows : Adobong Kangkong

Ingredients:
- 2 bundles of Kangkong, washed thoroughly
- 1 medium size onion, sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp. Vinegar
- 1 tbsp. Soy sauce

1. Pluck the kangkong leaves. Include the young stems and set aside.
2. Heat oil in a wok, then saute garlic and onion until golden brown.
3. Add the stems of kangkong, then the vinegar and soy sauce. Remember, you can add more vinegar/soy sauce according to your taste. Add a little bit of water.
4. Add the leaves and simmer. You will know the leaves are cooked just right when its a bit wilted and color turns to bright green.

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Fried Garlic Salmon

If Thursdays are for veggies - then Fridays are for fishy.


Fried Garlic Salmon

Ingredients:
- fresh salmon
- 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- ginger powder
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- salt

1. Wash the salmon.
2. Rub it with ginger powder to tame the fishy taste.
3. Rub it with salt to taste. Set aside.

4. Heat pan and add butter. Careful not to burn it.
5. Add garlic. Roast until golden brown then drain the butter. Set aside the roasted garlic.
6. Heat pan again and add some oil. When it is hot enough, fry the salmon.
7. To cook the salmon evenly, set your stove to medium heat so it doesn't overcook the surface. Flip the salmon to cook the other side.
8. Drain the excessive oil from the salmon. Blot it with a table napkin.
9. Put it on a plate and sprinkle the roasted garlic on top.

It's nice served with baby potatoes and mixed greens for some freshness.


smakelijk eten!

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Stir fry green leafy veg + fried tofu

It is such a challenge to be a vegetarian. And since we can't commit to it, Mark and I decided to have at least 1 day in a week free from meat - our Veggie Thursdays.

Here's what we had for dinner last Thursday.


Fried Tofu with Greens stir fry.

Ingredients:

Veggies:
- Fried tofu
- 200g of green (baguio) beans
- 200g asparagus
- 500g bokchoy, quartered
- 500g pechay, chopped coarsely
- 1 large white (tagalog) onion, sliced thickly
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander (wansoy)

*Slice the asparagus and green beans in 3 part so it's bite size.

Sauce/Flavor:
- 2 cloves of crushed garlic
- 1 tbsp. grated ginger
- 2 tbsp. sweet chili sauce
- 1 tbsp. peanut butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar
- Half lemon, squeezed and mixed with a little bit of water
- Salt to taste.

1. Stir fry onion and ginger in a hot wok with oil until the onion is slightly soft.
2. Add green beans, followed by the asparagus because these takes a while to soften. It should turn to bright green when it's half cooked.
3. Add bokchoy, pechay, corriander, and then the sauces and sugar until the leafy veggies wilts a little. Careful not to over cook.
4. Mixed the Tofu.

* I personally do estimations half the time. I don't necessarily follow the measurements (tbsp, cups, grams etc.) found in cook books as I feel more comfy going with my feelings and basing the flavors on my taste so feel free to free style on how much salt, sugar, peanut butter you want to put - it will all depend on your taste.

Tofu Frying.

Frying tofu is sometimes can be challenging. Here's an idea how i fry my tofu without breaking it:

If you have a big tofu like this:


I like cutting it in four parts like the photo below, and fry them in this form.


You will know that tofu is cooked when the oil is not going crazy anymore (you know what i mean) and so you can turn the tofu on the other side. Fry until its golden brown.

When its cooked, that's the time you can slice them into cubes.

Wrap up.

This recipe is Indonesian flavor inspired. It is also nice to serve this with beef/pork satay. But I served this with rice and vegetarian meat skewers since we wanted to go 100% meat free on Thursdays.

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