Lambchops are easy to cook like grilling porkchops. The only thing you have to add is rosemary. To create a marinade for a pound of chops, make a garlic paste by grinding a few garlic cloves in a mortar, then put in a mixing bowl and add a half cup of wine vinegar, 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 tspn. of salt and pepper, rosemary, a teaspoon of grey poupon and a few drops of olive oil.
Marinade overnight for the meat to seal in the mixture. Grill the chops 2-1/2 minutes each side for medium rare, 4 minutes for well done. Serve with a mint jelly on the side and rice pilaf or with potatoes.
The Marriot at Resorts World, boasts of their wide selection of antipasti, entrees and desserts that line a number of buffet tables. Among the international foods offered are Italian, Japanese, Continental, Chinese and Filipino dishes. Aside from that, they offer a variety of seafood ranging from fresh oysters ordered to whatever style you want: raw, baked with cheese or steamed; stone crabs, shrimps and a variety of fish served either as sashimi, baked or sauteed in butter or terriaki style. There is a salad bar consisting of a variety of greens and Italian style pasta with vegetables or just plain steamed.
But my favorite is their roast prime of beef cooked to perfection, medium rare but you have the option to have it well done on the grill and offer a choice of mushroom or peppercorn gravy. Alongside you may choose potato wedges, paella or white rice to go with your roast beef.
The dessert table consists of more than a dozen items from chocolate gnash to a variety of cheese cakes to assorted fruits with different fruit sauces to ponder.
Truly their buffet is a mixture of fun and flair which reminded me of my buffet trips to Vegas!
Frequented by Taipan Henry Sy, Hai Shin Lou, located at 810 Pasay Road boasts of the freshest seafood and vegetables you can't find elsewhere. But the most popular item in their menu is the roast Peking Duck with its succulent crispy skin. Even in their vegetable dish, they use fresh mushrooms instead of dried ones. If you are bringing kids to this place, you have to have their sweet and sour pork, one of the best I've tasted. Other favorite seafood items are steamed lapu lapu (grouper) and eel with blackbeans. This is one restaurant you must try!
Next to roast pig, crispy pata may be the next favorite Filipino dish because of its crispiness and delicious tender meat. This is an easy recipe to follow and the secret to maintaining its crispiness depends on the time between boiling and frying the trotters. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pig's trotter about a kilo (pata)
1 tspn. salt
4 to 5 cups vegetable oil
2 star anise
Sauce:
1/2 cup sugar cane vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tspn. sugar
1 small capsicum (sili labuyo)
dash of black pepper
In a deep pot place the pata and fill it up with water up to the level of the meat. Add a teaspoon of salt and the star anises and bring to a boil for 45 minutes and set aside to cool. Keep refrigerated overnight.
In a deep pot or a wok, heat the oil up to about 340 degrees. Using a pin, punch holes all around the skin. Deep fry the pata until the skin turns to a golden brown color and texture similar to crispy pork rind. Punch the skin with a sharp knife to test its crispiness. Set aside to drain and place on a serving dish.
For the sauce, in a small bowl, mix all the sauce ingredients and if you want to add some crushed garlic, you may do so for added flavor. This dish goes well with Kare-kare...enjoy!
A favorite dish among Kapampangans (from the province of Pampanga), this menu is eaten with a shrimp paste condiment to add flavor and a bit of saltiness to your tastebuds. This recipe takes a bit of time to prepare but simple enough for everyone to follow. Here goes:
Ingredients:
1 kilo chopped oxtail
1 kilo chopped pork hocks (pata)
2 to 3 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tspn of paprika or vegetable oil cooked in achuete
1/4 kilo string beans
1/2 kilo Taiwan baby cabbage (pechay)
4 pieces of Japanese eggplant, sliced
1/2 cup Japanese rice
5 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
In a pot, bring to a boil the oxtail and reduce to low heat and simmer for four hours. Heat a frying pan with no oil and toast the Japanese rice until brown. Set aside to cool and ground in a coffee grinder.
After simmering for 2 hours, mix in the ground up toasted rice, the chopped pork hocks, the achuete oil or paprika and simmer for the remaining 2 hours. In the last remaining 15 minutes, add the peanut butter and mix until the sauce thickens, add some fish sauce to taste then set aside. In another pot, boil the vegetables until tender and add a dash of salt.
Arrange the vegetables and stew in a 3 inch bowl and serve with some shrimp paste condiment. Enjoy!
