It's a beautiful life

Monday Brunch

incarnadine — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:01:20 +0000

My Dear and I decided not to go to work today due to the impassability of some of the roads leading to our offices; and also because I’m too worried about my family to get any work done. Thank goodness I finally heard from them, and they’re okay — tired, but okay.

I pounded 1 bulb of garlic and made simple garlic rice using the leftover brown rice we cooked the previous day. Then, I fried some Cabanatuan longganiza (pork sausages), while my Dear prepared 1 chopped tomato as our side dish.

Pininyahang Manok

incarnadine — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 05:29:09 +0000

Pininyahang Manok roughly means “chicken cooked in pineapple”. This is a popular dish in the Philippines, and is cooked in a variety of ways. I specifically like the version with coconut milk.

It’s Sunday and we still decided to stay home until the rest of the flood has completely subsided. We had some chicken thighs and the freezer and as I was trying to decide what to make of it, I saw 2 cans of pineapple in the cupboard. *lighbulb moment* ahhh, pininyahang manok! The dish is quite simple and there are only a few basic ingredients involved that you can probably readily find around the kitchen. So, here’s my personal take on it.

I first marinated the chicken thighs in the pineapple syrup for a few minutes. Aside from enhancing the flavor of the chicken, I read somewhere that pineapple juice is a natural meat tenderizer; hence, the marinade helped completely thaw the chicken. Afterwards, I put the chicken in the pan along with some of the pineapple syrup marinade and cooked it until the chicken skin slightly browned and the marinade evaporated. Then, I set aside the chicken.

After ridding the pan of the chicken fat which oozed out fo the chicken earlier, I put in some canola oil and sauteed 2 cloves of pounded Ilocos garlic (very pungent compared to the normal garlic found in grocery stores) and chopped white onion for about 2 minutes. Then, I put back in the chicken, then added the rest of the ingredients — leftover pineapple syrup marinade, pineapple chunks, 1 chopped carrot, some coconut milk, 1-2 tablespoons of fish sauce, and pepper. After mixing it a little, I let it simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced and the chicken is sufficiently cooked. If you want the chicken to be really cooked to the bone, allow the dish to simmer a little longer on low heat.

Since it was my first time to actually make the dish on my own, I was slightly nervous about the outcome. Surprisingly, it turned out good and my Dear liked it! It was sweet and the coconut milk really melded well with the pineapple.

Unsettled

incarnadine — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:19:20 +0000

I can’t remember the last time it rained THIS hard in Metro Manila. Typhoon Ondoy brought in the rain as early as 3am (from what I recall) and it went on non-stop until 10pm. Streets and major thoroughfares are flooded all over the metropolis.

I got an SMS from my mom earlier today and she said the power went out in our home in the morning, and the rain has entered our home as well. The water level has risen to 4 inches as of 2pm. I was so freaked out and worried about them, I couldn’t think straight. Around dinner time I tried contacting them again but all communication lines were dead. According to my sister who spoke to my mom in the afternoon, the water level has reached their knees.

It’s 11:17pm right now, our electric power has been restored after more than 9 hours, and still no word from my family. Just thinking about them and their possible situation right now just wrenches my heart. God, please keep them safe.

Milkfish Belly Steak

incarnadine — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:30:34 +0000

Milkfish, better known locally as bangus, is, without a doubt, one of my Dear’s favourite food. His food blog wouldn’t be named after it if it weren’t. It’s a very tasty kind of fish, and its belly is cooked here in the Philippines in a variety of ways. The belly is sufficiently fat and succulent but not as fat as that of the salmon.

It’s a very rainy day today (according to the news, there’s a storm coming), and we were supposed to be out all day on errands. However, the floods surrounding our area prevented us from doing so. My Dear has been requesting me to make bangus belly steak (a dish I tried a couple of times and turned out to be good), and I finally obliged.

Making bangus belly steak is quite simple. All you need are:

- bangus belly, of course

- some soy sauce

- calamansi juice

- garlic

- 1 whole white onion (chopped into rings)

- pepper to taste

Since I am on a low salt diet right now, I used very little soy sauce for the dish. As for the “sourness” factor, I specifically use calamansi instead of vinegar because its acidity is more suitable for a dish such as steak. More importantly, the juice has a little sweetness to it, too (because of its fructose content), hence giving the fish a good sweet-sour balance.

I first marinated the bangus belly in soy sauce, calamansi juice, pounded garlic and pepper for about 30 minutes. Afterwards, I took out the bangus belly and fried it in high heat until its skin was crispy. I flipped it over and fried the other side for about 2 minutes then set it aside.

Using the same pan, I then proceeded to cook the onion rings for about 3-5 minutes, or until they turn slightly transluscent. I just love onions in a steak dish.

For the sauce, I poured the marinade into the same pan (while adding a little bit of oil), added some more calamansi juice, then 1/8-1/4 cup of water. Then I allowed this mixture to reduce on medium heat.

After the sauce was done, I poured it over the fish I fried earlier, then added the onion rings on top as a final touch. Ta-da!

I think this is the best bangus belly steak I’ve made thus far. My Dear and I just loved it with steaming white rice.

Pasta with chorizo and tomatoes

incarnadine — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 04:45:08 +0000

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was supposed to prepare and cook vegetable rolls for our Sunday lunch (and probably dinner, too). However, due to the busy and crazy week we had, we were unable to get the necessary ingredients for the rolls (mungbean sprouts, sweet potato, celery to name a few).

So, my Dear suggested that we make a pasta dish instead, since we had some linguine in stock. For sauce of the dish, the ingredients were very simple — chorizo, tomatoes, onions and pepper. My Dear suggested that I fry/sautee the pepper along with the onions first instead of putting it later as the sauce is cooking — a technique he says he got from Keith Floyd in his show, Floyd’s India. After the onions started to become a little bit transluscent, I added the chorizo slices (since it still needs a bit of cooking) and the finally, the sliced tomatoes. My Dear had originally planned to add the tomatoes when the sauce is almost done, to retain its freshness. However, I was able to convince him to let me cook it my way instead (hee hee), wherein the tomatoes are going to be cooked longer until they are soft, creating a subtle tomato sauce base. The total preparation and cooking time took us less than 30 miutes!

The pasta turned out great. Everything was just right, and I noticed that frying the pepper had the effect of making the spiciness of the dish more uniform and suave.