I made a simple spinach artichoke dip and added a Spanish twist. Although expensive, it added more punch to the dip! I did not use salt as the Jamon Iberico along with the Romano cheese were already salty.
INGREDIENTS:
1 lb. spinach, boiled and frozen
1 lb. artichoke hearts, boiled and frozen
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
8 oz. cream cheese
100 grams chopped Jamon Iberico
5 cloves chopped garlic
pinch of black pepper
1 tblspn. butter
1 tblspn olive oil
RECIPE:
Thaw the artichoke hearts. Once thawed, saute the artichoke with garlic, butter and olive oil for 2 minutes and set aside. Thaw the frozen spinach and chop along with the artichoke.
In a bowl, mix the spinach, artichoke, chopped jamon and grated Romano cheese. Microwave the cream cheese for a minute and mix with the other ingredients. Add the mayo and sour cream and black pepper and refrigerate overnight. Serve with garlic bread.
This reminded me of a movie I saw about a chef who lost his job at an upscale resto where a food writer had criticised his menu including his lava cake dessert. Anyway...here it is, my 2 minute lava cake!
Ingredients:
1 tblspn all purpose flour
1 tblspn cocoa powder
2 chunks of deep dark chocolate
1/8 tspn baking soda
1/8 tspn baking powder
1 tspn cooking oil
2 tblspn sugar
2 tblspn milk
1 egg
1 tblspn melted butter
Recipe:
Wisk the egg in a large cup. Add the other ingredients except the dark chocolate, while mixing thoroughly. Chop up the chocolate and mix in the cup. Microwave for 2 minutes. Leave it out for a few minutes to cool off and place in a saucer and serve. Enjoy!
Stewing meat takes hours to cook in low heat, but with seafood, it only takes around half an hour to cook. And when done, you can serve it with either pasta, rice or just plain French bread!
Ingredients:
3/4 kilo clams
1/2 kilo fillet of grouper or snapper
1/4 kilo calamari (julienne sliced)
1/2 kilo shrimps (peeled and deveined)
1/4 small squash or small pumpkin (peeled and cubed)
2 celery chopped stalks
chopped cilantro
1 tspn salt and pepper
1 tspn celery seeds
1 tspn masala
1 tspn tumeric
1/2 tspn ground ginger
1 small onion chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 tspn pimenton
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves of chopped garlic
Recipe:
In a deep pan, heat olive oil and fry the shrimp heads and press them to release the insides. After a few minutes, get rid of the heads and put in the chopped garlic, celery, cilantro and cubed squash. Saute for 2 minutes and put the rest of the masala, celery seeds, ginger, onion, bell pepper, tumeric and pimenton and stir for a couple of minutes. Pour in a cup of water and when it starts to boil, pour in the rest of the seafood and stir constantly until the clams start to open. Set the heat on low and cover the pan to simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper and cilantro to taste and serve.
The last time I had a good Caldo de Res was around 8 years ago at Nuevo Leon in my last visit to Chicago. This simple beef shank recipe is a complete meal by itself. Just add a spoonful of rice, some mashed-up tortilla chips and a whole lot of salsa and you're ready to go!
Ingredients:
1 lb. beef shank
1 large potato, chopped to 6 pcs.
1 spanish onion, sliced
1 whole corn chopped to 3 pcs.
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 lb. string beans
1 celery stalk, diced
1 cabbage, quartered
1 cup, Mexican salsa
1 small bag of toasted tortilla corn chips
salt and pepper
Recipe:
In a pressure cooker, saute onions, celery and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the beef shanks, a pinch of salt and pepper and brown the meat for 2 minutes. Add 2-3 cups water and cover the pressure cooker to cook. Set to medium heat once the steam vents out of the cooker and cook for 30 minutes or until tender. Turn the heat off and set aside to cool for 10 minutes before opening the lid. Add the remaining potatoes and vegetables and reheat the open pot until tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
To serve, pour soup and vegetables in individual bowls adding a scoop of rice, crushed tortilla chips and a couple of spoons of Mexican salsa. Bona petito!
The typical Chinese style sweet and sour fish is usually cooked whole including its head. Since it requires a lot of oil in frying, I opted for the frozen fillets commonly found in supermarkets. To keep the batter crispy, I employed the typical British style of frying fish fillets.
Ingredients:
1 lb. fish fillet (grouper or cream dory) sliced to 5-6 pcs
per fillet
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup corn starch
1 bottle cold beer
1-1/2 cup peanut cooking oil
pinch of salt
Sweet & Sour Sauce
1 small can of pineapple chunks
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tspn sesame oil
1 tblspn light soy
1 tblspn dark soy
2 tblspns wine vinegar
1 tblspn corn starch
1/2 cup water
2 tblspn ketchup
pinch of salt
1 red bell pepper sliced to 1 square inch
1 green pepper sliced to 1 square inch
1 large white onion sliced to 1 square inch
2 slices ginger
2 garlic cloves
In a bowl, combine the flour and corn starch mixture. Add beer while stirring until you get a thick consistency. Heat a frying pan and pour the peanut oil until it reaches 370 f, then set the heat low. Dip the fillets 3 to 4 pcs at a time in the batter and fry until the fillets start to float. Set aside on a strainer. Keep the pan at 370 f and after a few minutes, refry the fillets until golden brown. Drain the fillets and set on a deep platter.
In another pan, saute the garlic, ginger for a minute and add the onions, green pepper and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the sugar, vinegar, ketchup, light and dark soy, and sesame oil and stir. Add the tablespoon of corn starch into the 1/2 cup of water and stir. Add the corn starch mixture to the pan until the sauce start to boil and thicken. Set aside for a few minutes to cool. Pour the sauce over the fish fillets and serve. Bona petit!
Derived from the Spanish menudo, this Filipino version sets it apart with a bit of Middle Eastern twist by adding raisins, thus making this dish a bit sweeter.
Ingredients:
1 kg. pork butt (cut into 1 in. cubes)
2 pcs. Spanish chorizo, sliced
1 small box of raisins
2 potatoes (cut into 1 in. cubes)
1 red bell pepper, sliced julienne
1 large carrot (cut into 3/4 inch cubes)
5 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
2 to 3 tblspns tomato sauce or ketchup
2 cups of white wine
salt & pepper
Recipe:
In a pot, heat olive oil. After a minute, add garlic and chorizo and stir for another minute. Add the pork until brown, then add the white wine and bring the heat to low. Simmer the meat (approx. 30 mins.) until tender while adding some water. Then add the rest of the ingredients until both vegetables and meat are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may add some grated parmesan cheese if you want tthe taste a bit sharper. Enjoy!
In French, it means an assortment or a mixture. This New Orleans dish, sometimes called "Seafood Gumbo" contains simple ingredients to bring out the flavour of the seafood. Try this recipe and I guarantee you'll enjoy it!
Ingredients:
1 kg. Manila clams
4 medium crabs (chopped to quarter pieces)
1/4 kg. peeled shrimps (set aside the heads)
1/2 kg. fish fillets sliced to 1 inch sizes (catfish or cream dori or grouper)
1 cup diced green pepper
1 cup diced celery
1 tspn. saffron powder
1 tspn. turmeric
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tblspns. flour
5 cloves chopped garlic
salt & pepper
2 tblspns. butter
chopped parsley
Recipe:
Pour olive oil in a pot and set on high heat. Fry the shrimp heads for 3 minutes pressing them to release flavor. Take out the shrimp heads and saute the green peppers, celery, garlic, saffron and butter for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil, then add the rest of the seafood. Mix well until the clams open up and the broth thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle the chopped parsley and serve on a bowl with French garlic bread.
The secret to a good fish fry is in the batter. The thickness of the batter really depends on you, but to get it crispy and crunchy is a no brainer. Here is the secret...
Fish Fry Recipe:
1/2 kg fillet cream dori sliced (substitute either grouper or snapper)
1 cup flour
1 cup corn starch
1 can warm beer
1-1/2 cup peanut oil
slices of lemon
Defrost the fish and cut to 1/3 slices per fillet. Place in a strainer until the fillets are thawed and pat dry using a paper towel. In a bowl, mix the corn starch and flour. Add the warm beer until the right consistency depending on how thick you want the batter to be.
Heat up the fryer and pour about a 1-1/2 cup of oil. When bubbles start forming, set the heat on medium. Dip the fish in the batter and cook until golden brown. Set aside on a strainer and sprinkle some salt.
Coleslaw Recipe:
1 cabbage sliced julienne
1 small carrot sliced toothpick sizes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
In a bowl, mix the cabbage and carrot slices. In a cup mic the cider and sugar and if too strong, you can add some water. Toss the vegies and cider for about a minute and add the mayonnaise. Refrigerate for an hour.
When ready to serve, add some lemon on the platter along with the fish fry and some coleslaw. Bona petito!
There is nothing bitter about Bitter Gourd...if you know the right technique! Bitter gourd or Ampalaya, as we Filipinos call it, is very refreshing and tastes great when applied as a salad and eaten with chips and salsa as condiment, makes a great meal with any meat.
Ampalaya Salad ingredients:
1 Ampalaya or Bitter gourd cut in half lengthwise
1 cucumber cut in half lengthwise
1 medium Spanish onion cut in half and sliced thinly
1 small carrot sliced thinly
1/2 cup sugarcane vinegar
1 cup water
1/2 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of salt
1 tspn. black pepper
Recipe:
Using a spoon, scoop out the inside of the bitter gourd and apply a tablespoon of salt on each half and set aside for 10 minutes. In a deep pan, boil water and blanch the bitter gourd and carrots for about half a minute. Pour out the boiling water and set aside. In a bowl mix the water, vinegar, sugar and black pepper and pour the other ingredients and set aside in the refrigerator to cool.
Salsa ingredients:
1 pound of tomatoes, diced
2 spanish onions, diced
3 to 4 tablespoons, chopped cilantro
4-5 green jalapeno peppers or Thai red chiles, diced
1 tspn salt & pepper
1 tspn sugar
1/2 cup sugarcane vinegar
1 tblspn soy sauce
Recipe:
Mix all the ingredients, then in a blender, lightly blend to about 4 split seconds and set aside in the refrigerator to cool. Serve with corn chips.
