Friday, September 24, 2010

A Piece of Fish Steak


I chanced upon the other day sliced fresh Malasugue fish at KCC supermarket. Bought a kilo composed of 5 neatly sliced glowing in freshness of this white meat fish.

The first two slices ended up as tinola for our dinner that night. What remained was cooked Pinoy Bistek style for our lunch this sunny Saturday noon.

Ingredients:
fish
calamansi, pepper, garlic, patis
onions
oil (vegetable and olive)

I marinated for an hour the fish in calamansi, pepper, garlic and of course, Thai fish sauce (patis). I then fried the marinated fish in vegetable oil. Kids love our fried stuff well done so the fish was just taken out of the pan when it had this golden brown color.

Serving as toppings of our fish steak are onion rings stir fried in olive oil. You could smell the aroma of the onion once its done and it's sweet and spicy taste blends well with our tasty fried fish.

Best served with newly cooked white rice!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Crave for Steamed Fresh Crabs

A very good friend from Kalamansig supplies me with fresh crabs and prawns. If I'm not in the mood for cooking (although once in a blue moon), this is what I do with my crabs!

The easiest way to cook crustaceans, by steaming!

missing feet and claws courtesy of my little kittens in the kitchen (oh how they love it!)

This is so easy to prepare. you just need
water
vinegar
salt and pepper( or whatever seasoning you want)
a large boiling pot and of course,
fresh crabs

Over mixed vinegar and water and topped with sprinkled seasonings, steam the crabs for 20 - 25 minutes and voila! Bright red, tasty crabs ready to be served right before your eyes...

Happy eating!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

My Fresh Basil Pasta Gift


It was the birthday of my niece yesterday. I gifted her a bilao of one of my kitchen masterpieces when it comes to pasta cooking.

Early morning yesterday saw me picking fresh basil leaves from my sister's garden. Picked a handful of it and early in the afternoon it served as one of the basic ingredients of a recipe I love most. Armed with my mortar and pestle, I made my own simple pesto made out of fresh basil, garlic, pepper, some local nuts and of course, olive oil. After pounding, I have a cupful of the aromatic basil leaves ready for mixing with my pasta sauce.

My pasta sauce is made up of the following ingredients:

garlic and onions sliced into small bits
fresh chicken meat sans skin and bones (sourced out from Robinsons Supermarket)
fresh milk
cream of mushroom
pepper
olive oil
Thai fish sauce (again from Rob, one thing I found out, a liter costs only Php59 pesos
compared to the 200 ml bottle priced at 27 :-)
)
(good for me because I don't use rock salt in my cooking )
fresh basil leaves /pesto

I usually do this recipe with seafoods but knowing there will be lots of young people in the party I settled for pure chicken meat and surprisingly, it tasted better!

I cooked the sauce the way I normally do with any spaghetti sauces. We just have to remember that the meat must be well done as well as the liquid ingredients. Last to be added on the sauce is the pesto/fresh basil to retain the aroma and its distinctive taste.

This is best served with toasted garlic bread, smile and love!


Friday, September 3, 2010

Jinky's Spaghetti

I love my spaghetti with lots of spices!

Ingredients:
450 gram pack spaghetti
Del Monte Tomato Sauce and Catsup
olive oil
beef
garlic, onions, bell pepper and fresh tomatoes
pepper
Thai fish sauce
cheese
sugar (optional)

Cook the pasta according to directions written on the pack. Salt and cooking oil are a must while boiling your pasta.

As I boil the pasta, I also concoct my sauce at the same time. I saute in the olive oil garlic, onions, bell pepper and tomatoes (sun ripened). Pre-cooked ground beef is then added. I let it simmer for a few minutes. My seasonings when making the sauce are just Thai fish sauce and pepper. I don't put salt and MSG at all. I sometime add in a little sugar when my kids crave for sweet spaghetti. After I put the tomato sauce and ketchup, I just let it cook for a few minutes. After making sure that it's done, I then mix it with the fully cooked and drained pasta. Presto! we now have a spaghetti oozing with the aroma and crunchiness of different spices. Top this then with cheese. Me and my kids love our cheese chunky, that's why we prefer it sliced than grated.