baby rambutan

the real name is beef pares, but i redubbed it after my youngest child’s favorite card game. this dish is just perfect for the long-dreaded/long-awaited (depends on where you’re born i think) wintry weather. me, i just dislike driving in it–it doesn’t help when the morning jolt of caffeine is accompanied by dire news of a 9-car pile-up nearby due to the black ice!
popular after i’d already left Manila, beef pares is something i’ve heard about just from bloggering, and couldn’t wait to try. since i have no point of reference i can only recommend it based on my kids’ reaction to it: yeah, mom, we love it!

ideal for the cheapchewy cuts of beef–tendons/ligaments welcome!–just make sure to skim off the nasty scum and bloody bits off the broth while it’s just starting to simmer. pressure cookers might work well too but i simmered the beef shanks until almost fork tender, removed the bones and threw them back into the broth, then proceeded with the rest of the recipe. with garlic fried rice and snipped watercress added to the soup it was a complete meal to fortify us on a winter night.
(recipe adapted from here and there on the blogdom, and i will post it soonest.)

no no no no i
never can say goodbye
–ms. gloria gaynor

days are getting shorter, mornings are getting colder. i haven’t used my electric fan at all this week. how come i can’t have my long hot summer anymore?

beef satay sticks for the last cookout before school starts.

yessirree these sticks have only this one photo to speak for them–they disappeared right off the grill, and my boys made me promise to make more (in a bigger batch, enough to satisfy their man-appetites daw!) i’m just hoping that next hurricane holds off and doesn’t make landfall before my cookout this Labor Day.
recipe here–> (more…)

my kids really love fried potatoes.
and they will eat any dish that accompanies it.
i had made a big batch of deep-fried sliced yukon gold potatoes to be the star side dish of the lovely tri tip steak i had finally located and was just about to serve them, all artfully arranged on the edges of the platter, when crash! boom! bang! i dropped my nice Rosenthal platter! ! i don’t know what happened but broken jagged ceramic bits=unsalvageable potatoes.
thankfully no injuries were incurred but i did send husband out to buy them some french fries. thank you sweetheart this special bistek is not the same without them bad fried potatoes.
this is a sample from the other cookbook i bought from the going-out-of-business bookstore sale.
bistek is easy and tasty home cooking that can be dressed and fancied up–this time with tri tip sirloin, which is kind of hard to find in my neck of the woods.
now. i’ve been pondering why i picked up these two cookbooks.
sometimes when it’s so warm and breezy and humid all at once, like it is now here in my Boston ‘burb… i fool myself into thinking i’m back in Manila.
so i could pin the purchase down to homesickness.
but also, these two cookbooks highlight Filipino cooking in such a lovely way that i’d like to test the recipes i’ve learned to cook with just tasting, smelling, feeling, instead of with precise measurements and methods.
maybe then i can get those unfamiliar yet curious to taste Pinoy food to cook it for themselves, at home, with these cookbooks.

Filipino Style bistek, from Authentic recipes from the Philippines, Reynaldo G. Alejandro, recipe follows—-> (more…)

this is New England, the husband always reminds me. no matter what the calendar says, nor how the crocuses are forcing their way out of the frozen soil, it hasn’t felt very much like springtime yet.
so instead of munching on crispy greens and light meals, we’re still chowing down on hot hearty stews and saucy entrees.

this wonderful large coffee table size cookbook by Jacques Pepin is my current food bible–and no i am not being compensated, haha, i am doing this out of pure admiration and of my own “free” will. in “Chez Jacques” he has simplified some classic recipes for us amateurs so that the once-intimidating boeuf Bourguignon which i’ve been longing to make all winter, is now accessible and easy to put together on a cold dreary Sunday for supper.

and in keeping with the theme of seeking cozy comfort in rich dark food…a new Classic dark chocolate layer cake recipe from “a Passion for baking”, by Marcy Goldman:
…iced with mocha whipped cream.

recipe for cake follows——> (more…)

we made it to the last hour of the last day of apple-picking season,
and brought home a half bushel of apples.

a lovely crisp fall day, munching on crunchv juicy Spencers and tart purplish Empires…

and how do we like them apples?

with pork chops!?
sure they go very well with pork chops, battered and pan fried and nestled on a bed of spiced applesauce.
a whole new way to sweet-and-sour.

yeah you got that right…old mothers need to eat (or drink) lots of tofu, soy, soy-based products.
here’s one from the book*: pock-marked mother’s tofu “ma po dou fu”….quite easy to make, kids love, and you feel like you’re healing yourself. or something like that.

ground pork, firm tofu cubes, and black beans sauteed with ginger and scallions and sweet rice wine and sprinkled with ground Szechuan pepper…
not much to look at, but really scrumptious over hot steamed rice; for a healthier version use ground turkey or chicken.
*Savoring China, edited by Jacqui Passmore, Williams-Sonoma.

i had so many memorable treats and meals in Manila and Tagaytay, Cavite…so many that i’m quite overwhelmed with how to describe them here.
i’ll sift through the photos some more…

in all the “cocooning” we did as a family i was not able to spend much time with old friends and new blogmates, regrettably. i will just have to daydream of a return visit, with my kids and husband, under happier circumstances.

now, back in my habitat once more, i am seeking comfort and solace by looking at the photos and videos taken of our “family reunion”… and by cooking pork binagoongan(–pork belly stewed in fermented shrimp paste, vinegar and sugar). i have a stash of pickled green mangoes, that’s why.

my sister cooked this dish for me when we were in LA, and she in turn got the recipe from a sympathetic friend. there are probably hundreds of versions out there, but i liked her recipe because it wasn’t too salty. it also comes with a warning: will make you eat too much rice.
(you don’t necessarily have to serve with pickled green mangoes of course. i think pickled hot peppers or pepperoncini, or cucumber salad, would be groovy too.)

“arduous but delicious” as my Auntie would say (when she shared the family bunos recipe)–the recipe involves some advanced prepping.

other porky-salty-spicy combinations…
Chinese binagoongan
pork kim chee

the dish has contentious origins. is it an invention from a Manila restaurant, or an original dish from the Bicol region?
i first heard about it from dorm-mates and work colleagues at the Refugee Center in the bundoks of Bataan–but i never did get a chance to try.
the kids wanted Popeye’s fried chicken but i had a hankering for something different, something spicy, so i dug up several recipes from the web and checked the pantry for what i needed…a couple of fatty pork chops, coconut milk, ground turmeric (in place of fresh), bagoong alamang (fermented shrimp paste), and mounds of sliced fresh green chilies. i don’t dare call it “Bicol Express,” never having tasted the real thing myself. i’ll just say it’s pork with coconut milk, turmeric, bagoong and chili peppers.
it was truly zesty, and made me want to gulp it down with lots of hot jasmine rice and ice cold beer…

the craving just got too intense, too hot to handle.
i even ordered some from the one and only Pinoy restaurant in…my city? the state? the whole of New England?
it would have been good, except that they put a LOT of minced ginger in their otherwise delicious (and reasonably priced) sisig.
it took too long to pull out the finely minced pieces–don’t get me wrong! i like ginger, i love ginger!–just not in my sisig.
so of course, the only recourse, is to make some myself.
i first had mine, sizzling, at Trellis Restaurant–at the site which used to be my Uncle’s house.

there’s so much fun in the search for ingredients. (???) first you have to find a pork head. barring that, you find pork face/snout. the best sisig i had was in California, Ma-made, with fresh roasted lechon and the creamy pork brain mashed in.
impossible? then find some pork belly and ears to provide that unique crunchy chewy “makunat” texture.
i got lucky and found pork snouts. i just supplemented with a meaty pork belly, and the instant sisig packet,


and my fresh calamansi from California, and bottled labuyo juice,

and fresh chopped red onions. roast parboiled chicken livers stand in for the brains….

and the cravings have been satiated.
for now.
now where’s that sizzling platter?

alias British mechado, according to my cheeky children. although it’s really Irish, i think.

well anyway.
it’s the merry month of May, but we still have cold spells here and there. i like having the screens on and windows open, to vent the house and let in a refreshing burst of air and the whiff of hope that warmer days are here.
but it still gets quite cold. i’ve had to un-bury the woolies and sweat pants…husband’s even turned on the heat again at one point.
this stew and dumpling combination surely warmed us up. i had to get a six pack of Guinness for this! it adds such a depth of flavor to the stew. too bad my bad eyesight got the better of me: i mistakenly turned the oven up to 350 F instead of 325 so the sauce got thick too quickly. still, with the dumplings…something i’ve been meaning to make for the longest time! i disobeyed the recipe and used butter instead of vegetable shortening. i balked at the thought of using anything not quite natural for this down-to-earth and hefty stew. my kids, especially the boys, loved the dumplings so much.
recipe based on one from “Farmhouse Cooking,” edited by Liz Trigg, JGPress 2008.

preheat the oven to 325F. season 1 tbsp. flour w/ salt and pepper and sprinkle over cubed stewing beef (2 & 1/2 lbs.; i used bottom round rump roast), tossing to coat.
heat 2 tbsps. olive oil in a large casserole and lightly saute 2 large onions, sliced, and 1 lb, carrots, sliced. remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside.
using the same casserole, brown the meat well in batches. return the vegetables and add any leftover seasoned flour. add the 1/2 pint or 1 & 1/4 cups Guinness or dark beer, 3 bay leaves, 2 tsps. brown sugar, 3 fresh thyme sprigs, bring the liquid up to a boil, and then transfer to the heated oven.

after the meat has been cooking for 1 hour and 40 minutes, make the dumplings:
mix 1/2 cup chilled butter (Crisco in the original recipe) and 2 cups self-rising flour and cut with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine cornmeal. add 2 tbsp. chopped fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano, sage, etc.–i used fresh chives from the garden) and enough water(about 2/3 cup) to make a soft, sticky dough. form the dough into small balls with floured hands. add 1 tsp. cider vinegar to the meat and spoon the dumplings on top. cook for a further 20 minutes, until the dumplings have cooked through and serve hot.