Lazy Adobo Recipe

A mom always has a go-to recipe she  can always pull out of her  'hat' at a moment's notice or when  there is little time to prepare for dinner. Mine is Adobo.  
Philippine adobo (from Spanish adobar: "marinade," "sauce" or "seasoning") is a popular Filipino dish and cooking process in Philippine cuisine that involves meat, seafood, or vegetables marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and black peppercorns, which is browned in oil, and simmered in the marinade. It has occasionally been considered the unofficial national dish in the Philippines - Wikipedia
I so love this dish. It gets better as it ages so you can prepare it ahead. Think emergency extra ulam for those days you have unexpected visitors. Just warm or heat up and voila, dinner is served.

Liempo is  the family's favorite and is always available on my fridge. Garlic, soy and vinegar are basic essentials that are always present in my pantry.  Plus Adobo is so flexible you can do it in several ways 

1. Sans toyo or soy sauce  -  You create White adobo
2. With Bagoong in lieu of Soy Sauce - Binagoongan
3. Onion in lieu of garlic - Pork steak
4. Add sugar , potato and Lea & Perrins Sauce and you create  Asado
5.Add coconut cream  and ginger in lieu of garlic- Ginataang Adobo
6.Fry til dry and chop into little pieces  and you create Adobo Hash
7.Add banana blossoms and you have  Humba
8.With star anise and you create Patatim
9. Create Chinese Adobo by adding  boiled egg or quail's eggs.

The list goes on and on .So when pressed for time, I do adobo.

Today I am sharing the family's recipe for Adobo. In the Philippines, there are many versions of it depending on the region or  beloved grandma's secret formula

Adobo

Ingredients

Garlic

Vinegar

Soy Sauce

Bay Leaf

Liempo

Chicken Liver

Method :

1. Just dump all ingredients together in the pan and simmer until liempo or 

pork belly is melt in your mouth and sauce is reduced and oil from the pork is discernible

- about 2 hours.

Easy peasy.  Serve with steaming hot rice.  A little caveat - you may want to cook extra rice just in case.

Indeed a quintessential and much loved Pinoy food that can be eaten all year round.  Some may think its as ubiquitous as your ordinary everyday food. But there lies its charm. Each serving of that humble adobo conjures  memories of  happy days of love and bonding  with relatives especially grandmothers who have long gone back to heaven but not before they handed over their precious adobo recipe.

When pics disappear from your blog

July 8,2017

...is  a day I will distinctly remember with exasperation and frustration

It is the day when I lost all my pics in my blogs since 2012!  All my pics were replaced by this round grey thing with a dash in the middle.  I must have deleted the blog pics  unintentionally when I used google photos last night. Darn it.

Now I would have  to go back to my facebook photos to recover those relevant pics, that is assuming I posted it on fb.

The Fresh Pasta Maker Experience

The handsome and thoughtful hubby gifted me wifh a pasta maker on my birthday last year. But it  just  sat on my baking shelf forlorn and seemingly abandoned for quite some time now.  In the midst of the chaos of   meeting orders for cake, baking,  exploring other forms of cake art and other culinary interests, the Atlas 150 was unfortunately relegated to the "archives" section of my mind.  There it sat until  a  couple of weeks ago.

Amid my  involuntary verbalized wish in jest for a sous vide machine  and ice cream maker, I was gently chastised and reminded  that I still have a brand new pasta maker  gathering dusts  on my shelf. Toinks.

Maybe it's all that endless watching of Gary, Jorge and Matt in Master Chef Australia. Maybe it' s the good-natured ribbing of the piggery. Maybe it's because it will be my birthday again in a couple of months. Maybe I finally just felt the urge to find out how my pasta maker works. Or maybe it is really the not-so subtle nudge of the hubby ? LOL. Whatever it is, just a  couple of weeks ago I finally made my first batch of  fresh fettucini from scratch via my brand new stainless Atlas 150 pasta maker.  Yay!


Ingredients: (recipe by Mario Batali)

31/2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs

Method:

1 . Flour on a flat surface

2. Make a well in the middle

3. Put the 4 eggs  in the well
4. Slowly incorporate the flour and the egg in the well without letting the egg escape.

5. Keep incorporating the flour into the eggs until it forms a ball.
6. Knead for 3-5minutes. It will be sticky.  Put flour on yiur hands so that dough wont stick.
7. Using a bench scraper, scrapeall dough from the bottom of your table and continue to knead until it forms a ball
8. It will be messy but fun!

Using the Pasta Maker :
1.Wrap your dough in a cling wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
2.After 30 minutes,  divide  your dough into 4 pieces.
3.Get the first piece. Dust with flour before rolling it through your pasta maker using setting number 1.  Feed it thru the pasta maker 2x.It will be  flat and thick.
4. Set your pasta maker to 6 or 7. Roll your dough 2x. You will notice your dough became thinner and transluscent.

5.Switch to the futtucine cutter and roll your pasta at setting 8. Notice how thin and precisely cut your fettucini are.Beautiful. Dust with flour and set aside in a line on a  parchment-covered tray . Repeat for the three remaining dough pieces.
6. Meanwhile fill a pot . Season with salt. Boil.
7. As soon as it boils, drop the fresh fettucini. Give it 3 minutes.
8. Take out the fetuccini and let cool.
9. Make your pasta sauce

Note :
1. Sen Miriam Defensor Santiago passed on today. She is 71.
2. Sen. De Lima is still the apple of Duterte's eye to date

EASY HOME-MADE SPICY BAGOONG RICE (shrimp paste )

For our Sunday dinner/s with Papa, Mama , Tito Luis, Ape, Papadu, Kuya and Brie,  I try to serve something new or "experimental" depending on what my inspiration was for the week.  

I stumbled upon a bagoong rice recipe in a magazine a week ago and I can't get it out of my head. You would think that a Bagoong Rice recipe would include just that -- bagoong and rice.  But what intrigued me was a unique ingredient in the recipe....I had to try it. Read on and try it at home. Its a winner :)

Ingredients

5 cups of dark rice ( I had no dark so I used  our regular sinandomeng white rice)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter ( choose your favorite brand)

1/2 cup sweet spicy bagoong ( if you don't like spicy use the regular one)

1/4 cup sesame oil

garlic

Method

1. Cook the rice. Set aside.

2. Saute the garlic in sesame oil. Do not brown

3.  Mix the bagoong and peanut butter till incorporated and sauté with no 2. Set aside a small portion for garnish

4. Put the cooked rice and mix

5. Garnish with green mango slivers and the sautéed bagoong-peanutbutter combo

Perfect with inihaw na liempo (grilled pork belly ), grilled tilapia or daing na bangus ( friend milkfish). We had ours with crispy pata and bangus. Yum!

The Romance of Dining at La Cocina de Tita Moning  

Imagine walking back in time while our guide gave us a tour of this ancient mansion and relayed stories when American bigwigs and their  coterie enjoyed repasts prepared by  Tita (Aunt) Moning during the  Commonwealth era.  

The year was 1937  and  this magnificent home was one of the first "art deco " houses built in Manila. One can almost visualize the genteel life of Don Alejandro Roces Legarda (a doctor ), his wife Ramona and their four children as the guide told the story behind each antique "aparador" ( armoire) or expounded on the good doctor's  precious camera and radio collection. The Philippines then was in transition having been previously liberated from 333 years of Spanish colonial rule and was on its way to gaining its sovereignty after  the subsequent American occupation which lasted for  four decades . I swear I gained appreciation for tutoring my grade 5 son in his Araling Lipunan ( Social Studies) subject because of this.

It was an idyllic existence for the Legarda's at least until the first world war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. At any rate, despite making Manila an open city yet being bombed just the same by Japan,  the mansion escaped unscathed and its precious contents preserved to this day .

One can understand why the recipes have a strong Spanish influence.

If you are like my husband and I  who love to discover restaurants  off the beaten track,  are museum geeks , are wary of run-of-the mill food and are presently in Manila, you will enjoy dining at La Cocina de Tita Moning  ( the kitchen of Aunt Moning) in Malacanang. I have been hearing superlatives  from foodies every time   the simplistic name of this restaurant crops up. The whispers got louder when word got out that even  our President PNoy is a regular patron.

So since the hubby was on vacay, I found it an opportune time to check out if  there is substance to all the hype. Note, that the restaurant does not accept walk-ins. One must reserve two weeks prior to be ensured of slots.

The verdict :

The food was  generally wonderful and the ambiance romantic. The feeling of exclusivity was evident.  Instead of waiters, there were well-trained unobtrusive uniformed servers who have been with the family for decades. One felt spoiled, every whim attended to. 

Here's my take on our four course meal

Tapas Sampler

Pork Belly in Almond Pili Milk

Gaspacho Shot with Crab and Avocados

Gambas and Chorizo Pincho

I just love the gazpacho. It is fresh on the palate especially with the creaminess of the avocado and the hint of crab.

The pork belly in almond Pili milk was a bit bland probably a perfect foil to the hot and spicy Gambas and Chorizo Pincho which was easily my favorite among the three appetizers.

The Salsa Monja

It is what the nuns used to make for the Spanish friars to accompany meals. We were advised to eat it together with our dinner to make everything more flavorful. It is made of fermented shallots , olive and some secret ingredient . It was indeed a perfect taste bud "cleanser".  When the palate becomes too overwhelmed by the rich flavors, the salsa monja was a perfect fodder preparing the tongue for the next round of delectable course.

Salsa Monja

Table Setting with  Rose Petals -- sets the mood :)


Roasted Beet Salad with Organic Greens, Torched Davao Goat Cheese and Caramelized Walnuts

I love salads and cheese so I enjoyed this course tremendously. Note to self : must make one like exactly like this for the "piggery" when I get home. The sweetness of the sugar beets and the creaminess of the torched goat cheese complemented the crunchy sweetness of the caramelized walnuts...yum yum yum

Beef Osso Buco Gremolata with Saffron Risotto

Alas the husband had to add salt to his   a-bit-bland Osso Buco . It was really tender though and the love-of-my-life enjoyed  the more than generous portion after he added a pinch of sodium chloride . The carnivores with humongous appetite would love this.

Seafood Potpourri with Saffron Nage,

Julienne of Vegetables

Per wikipedia , A nage is a flavored liquid used for poaching delicate food typically seafood. A traditional Nage is a broth flavored with white wine, vegetable and herbs in which seafood is poached.

 I can't stop waxing poetry over this dish. My prawn ( yes singular but humongous) was tender and flavorful and so were my squid , fish fillet and clams. The broth was divine. One can't help but spoon every bit of the gorgeous goodness of this wonderful plate till every morsel and drop of liquid was gone , never to be seen or tasted again....burp.

Dessert Sampler

Home made nut cake with citrus Ice cream

Home made fritters

Tita Moning's bread and butter pudding

Polvorones of Fresh Mango

I had mine with hot tsokolate. Maybe I was full or fully sated by my Seafood Nage because after the magnificent Potpourri, the  dessert  sampler was ....frankly speaking quite ordinary. I love the idea of  polvoron for crust in the mango pie though. Note to self : must recreate  this with my mango cream pie.

 The Zalameda

This "Sailboat" painting was  by Filipino artist Oscar Zalameda. It was painted in the French Riviera when Zalameda was based in France. This was purchase in early 70's for P3,000 only by Ramon Legarda. Today it is valued in the millions.

La Inocencia

This treasure was painted by National Artist Felix Resureccion Hidalgo in Paris in 1901. It is an original and is worth millions at present currency.

Ginataang Taba ng Talangka Fussili

( Fussili Pasta in Crab Paste and Coconut Cream Sauce)

It  was Good Friday and it was a challenge to come up with dishes other than our traditional Bacalao ala Lola Tunying and the usual fried Tilapia with fried eggplant and soy-calamansi for dipping.

Since the piggery love their crab paste ( taba ng  talangka -  red/orangey fat of the crab lets) and the handsome hubby loves his pasta, I thought I'd combine both and give them this rich, divine pasta with a local twist.

The dish is simple and easy to do. Note that I don't actually measure. I go by taste. Try it :)

Ingredients :

taba ng talangka ( crab paste)

kakang gata ( fresh coconut cream ) or canned if not available

pinch of curry powder

garlic

onion

salt and pepper to taste

chili flakes

hot sauce if you want it really spicy 

or siling labuyo (jalapeño) if you want it fiery hot

dash of calamansi ( or lemon) for acid

your choice of pasta ( follow package directions)

Method :

1.  Heat olive oil in a pan. Add curry powder.

2. Add the shrimps. Cook till pink. Take out of the pan and set aside

3. Saute garlic and onion in the same pan till translucent

4.Add crab paste to taste. I used 1 tablespoon.

5. Add 1 calamansi or a dash of lemon (optional)

6.Add the kakang data and simmer till thick

7. Salt and pepper to taste. Fish sauce (patis ) optional.

8. Add hot sauce or siling labuyo ( jalapeño) if you want it spicy

9.Add and incorporate the cooked pasta.

10. Mix in the cooked shrimp. Leave some for garnish on top

10. Add  diced spring onion as finishing touch.

11. Bon Apetit :)

EASY POLVORON RECIPE

A polvorón (From polvo, the Spanish word for dust; Cebuano: polboron; Tagalog: pulburon) is a type of heavy, soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread made of flour, sugar, milk, and nuts. They are produced mostly in Andalusia, where there are about 70 factories in that are part of a syndicate that produces polvorones and mantecados.^[1] Under the name mantecados, these sweets are a traditional preparation of other areas of the Iberian Peninsula as well.^[2]

Polvorones are popular in all Spain and ex-Spanish colonies in Latin America, as well as the Philippines, during the Christmasperiod. Traditionally they were prepared from September to January but are now available all year round. There are authors who claim a possible Levantine origin, based on a similar sweet known as ghurayba,^[3] but the recipe is too simple and one of the traditional main ingredients in the polvorones is pig fat.   
                                                                                                            -- Wikipedia

Memories of my mom making this addicting "candy" ( for want of a better word) brings back  warm and loving childhood vignettes. Mom was a  creative homemaker and to this day , I still remember her special dishes and pastries . I even  inherited some of her classic recipes.  One of which is this polvoron.  Fortunately for us especially her grandchildren, she makes it a point to  come home for a vacation ( from California) every year. Dad passed away 12 years ago so its only Mom now.  She  is 72 and we thank God  for her good health and we cherish every moment spent with her.

Yesterday while in  a mall with mommy, we spotted a polvoron molder. So right then and there , I decided we would make a polvoron together.  What happened though was, I made the polvoron and  Mommy did the wrapping  in the green cellophane...lol.

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients :

4 cups of all purpose flour - apf ( sifted)

2 cups of powdered milk

1 1/2 cup sugar

1  melted 225 g salted butter ( 1 block )

Optional for flavor :

a. toasted pinipig

b. cocoa ( if you want chocolate flavor0

c. ground nuts. etc

Method :

1. Toast the flour in a heated pan till light brown in color. Do not burn.

2. Turn of the heat and mix in the powdered milk with a wire whisk.

3. Add in the sugar till incorporated

4. Pour in the butter . You can add a tablespoon more if mixture is too dry.

5. Use a molder and wrap in a cellophane wrapper.

Notes:

1. Important to choose a favorite powdered milk. I use either Bear Brand or Nido

2. I use salted butter so I don't need to add salt anymore

3. You can eat the polvoron as it is or use a molder and  wrap in a cellophane. or japanese paper whichever is easiest for you.  The texture of the polvoron is a little crumbly but moldable.

4. You have to push the polvoron against the molder really tight so it comes out compact. 

5. Refrigerate after wrapping.

6 Best to eat the next day when it sets firm and hard.

7. But if your kids are like my "piggery", sometimes the polvoron doesn't get to the setting part and are wolfed down as soon as molded.....hahaha

...will add more pics later  :))