I grew up in a family that loves to cook and eat. Both my parents loved to get busy in the kitchen - my Mama at one time ran a small canteen/kitchenette out of our house and my Papa would make his specialties whenever he would be home. They also both insisted in cooking dishes the traditional way (or how they were also taught by our grandparents, I guess). And this meant tedious preparation of ingredients, long hours of cooking and the need for additional hands in the kitchen.
Hence, I became a "sous chef" at the tender age of five.
My chores ran the gamut from grinding toasted rice and peanuts for the kare-kare (oxtail stew), shelling shrimps, flaking the smoked fish and pounding chicharon to fine bits for the pancit palabok sauce, peeling garlic cloves, to fanning the charcoal flames for the barbecue. As I got older, I was given "heavier" tasks - kneading the dough for the empanadas, sauteing, slicing...and the dreadful dishwashing post-cooking (a chore I often argued over with my other sisters!). Through it all, I watched and learned - and most importantly had fun.
There were no recipe cards to follow, no nifty gadgets like microwave ovens, stove top grillers or food processors to work with, no bouillon cubes or ready-made mixes for cooking shortcuts. But there was a lot of laughter, stories passed around, silly food fights and the occasional real fights (where my Mama would step in, handing us knives and calmly telling us to finish the fight and to call her so she'd know whom to bury - at which point we will look at each other, burst into tears and hug each other! Worked everytime, believe me).
And there's the wealth of wisdom and experience unconsciously, all but naturally being passed from one generation to another.
To me these are what wonderful and lasting memories are made of.
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Slow Cooker Pork Loin
I wanted to make my own version of Pork Asado and this was the closest I got to it. The ingredients are all pantry staples and best of all, you can put this baby in the crock pot in the morning and forget about it for the next 4-6 hours!
Ingredients:
1 boneless pork loin roast
1 cup plus 1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 piece star anise
1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt and pepper
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp butter
Prepare pork loin. Mix 1 cup brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper and rub all over the pork loin. Pour water in the crock pot and lay down the pork loin. Drop the star anise in. Cover and cook (on LOW about 6 hours, on HIGH about 4 hours).
Mix together the remaining brown sugar, cinnamon and butter. Spread this on top of the pork loin for a nice, finishing glaze.
Serve with rice or roasted vegetables.
(Leftover tip: This is really good for pulled pork subs or tacos).
1. Nothing beats a free and easy food steam facial (just remember to stick your face out when you lift that lid of simmering stew or draining a pot of cooked pasta on the sink - low enough so you get the blast of steam but not to the point of scalding your skin!).
2. I get to recycle (leftovers), reuse (tried and true recipes) and reduce (my stress level). Am a green hero! (sort of...).
3. I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want. Provided I have the ingredients of course, I can make chicken adobo for breakfast, or a small bowl of hot noodles with peanut sauce for a midnight snack.
4. Because I don't have to dress up, drive (or ask someone to drive me) and pay $50 just to eat something I want. Okay, sometimes it is good to do those things and I do get lazy (this is me admitting that I do eat microwaveable meals, too - something that I promised to do away with this year!). But how can you beat eating Pan-fried Scallops with Mushroom Risotto in your pajamas? I can also get as crazy as I want with my food and not have some chef huffing out of the kitchen indignantly asking me why I just doused his Sirloin Steak with soy sauce and sugar (my dad's seasoning for everything!).
5. Cooking and plating food that looks appetizing and actually tastes awesome is my way of saying I can be a Picasso or a Mozart in my own kitchen. I have never been good at painting or drawing however much I tried (my sisters made all my art projects in school!). I tried my hand at piano and violin but they both gave up on me (yes that's my story and am sticking to it!). But when I cook and I am able to bring the symphony of flavors together and a plain plate becomes a canvas with colors and life, then I can say my hands are creative after all.
And I take a bow amongst my pots, pans and a sink full of unwashed plates.
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Call me a leftover diva. Wherever I live, it seems my fridge would always have that one piece of pork chop left, two slices of bacon saved in plastic wrap or a small tub of unused tomato sauce. I don't like the idea of just throwing them away, so I come up with ways to use them and still have a brand-new dish!
Here's something I made out of 1 1/2 pieces of Chicken and Gouda cheese sausages (seriously!), 1/4 box of farfalle (or bowtie pasta), half an onion and a pepper. Of course if you are cooking for your family, you have to adjust the portions accordingly so I am leaving out measurements this time.
Easy Chicken Sausage, Onions and Pepper with Farfalle Alfredo
Cook farfalle in boiling water and salt, according to package instructions (or until al dente, usually around 10-12 mins).
Slice the sausages thinly and diagonally. Slice the onions into thin slivers. Do the same for the pepper (you can add more onions and pepper if you want).
Heat up about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Add onions and some minced garlic and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the sausages and cook until the onions turn soft and caramellize. Add the peppers and season with salt, pepper, oregano, basil and thyme.
Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 1/3 cup of grated parmesan and stir until the cheese starts to melt in the sauce. Taste and adjust salt and pepper at this point.
Top the farfalle with the sauce.
Enjoy with some crusty garlic bread and a glass of white wine!
It took me a while to find my groove.
I have always wanted to do a food blog (actually, I did start a couple which I abandoned after a post or two) but I just can't seem to find the right voice, the right style, the right things to post. Food and recipe blogs are a dime a dozen and I wanted to find a niche of my own. You can be your own worst enemy and critic when starting new projects like this, and again defeatist me scored big points for some time.
And then I was asked to try my hand out in a recipe blog. It was a paid assignment so naturally I just went ahead and did the required number of posts. I also thought it was a good way to test the waters and see how friends would respond to it (okay, so I was actually looking for an affirmation!).
The results were not earth-shaking, I wasn't miraculously offered any long-term blogging or a book deal because of it. But what I learned was far more valuable.
I learned to say "So what?"
"So what" if there are a gabajillion food blogs out there? If I want to write about something, post a picture of something I made and share the recipe because it makes me feel good to do so, then I shouldn't worry about what others are doing. I find inspiration from some of those blogs anyway and it is my hope that mine will also get to inspire even one soul to say "Hey, cooking is not rocket science!"
"So what" if the food has been done and written to death? That's the fun in cooking. There is no singular right way to do it (no matter what stuck-up, egotistical chefs say) - there's magic in creating a dish and it's always in your hands. Like most things in life, it can be messy, it won't always be perfect, there may be one or two ingredients missing but as long as it's fun, then it's worth the adventure.
"So what" if I don't have pretty plates and utensils or a kitchen worthy to be featured in Architectural Digest? My dishes may not even be photogenic at times (at which point I will beg for your indulgence and say right now that I will occasionally borrow a Flickr photo) but if they can get you to start cooking or having your own ideas about how to improve them, then I have earned my brownie points (and a brownie for dessert, too!).
"So what" if only a handful of people get to read it? I have no illusions of being a Julia Child or a Nigella Lawson (and especially not Rachel Ray!). When my recipe blogs ran for a week, I was happy enough with friends who left good comments or said that they will do the recipe. It reminded me of what food and cooking meant to me all this time - sharing and enjoying it with people who matter to me.
And if in the end it turns out bad...well, I know it won't stop me from cooking and still creating.
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Here's an easy recipe for one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. The Cubans call it Picadillo, Filipinos call it Giniling or Arroz a la Cubana.
I just call it yummy.
Picadillo
1 lb. ground beef (or use ground pork)
2 tomatoes, diced
Diced green peppers
Diced white onions
1/2 cup green peas (or you can also use corn if you want it sweeter)
1 tbsp garlic, minced
2 pcs bay leaves
1/2 cup beef stock
2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sweet pimenton
salt and pepper to taste
Garnish with: Fried banana slices and egg
Saute garlic and onion. Add diced tomatoes and green peppers and cook until tomatoes are soft. Add ground meat and mash down so there are no big and uneven mounds of meat. Brown the meat and add stock, soy sauce, bay leaves, cumin, pimenton, salt and pepper. Stir and cover, letting it simmer for about 20 minutes. Check the seasoning level and adjust according to taste. Add the green peas and continue simmering for about 5 minutes.
Serve on a bed of steaming white rice with fried bananas (or plantains) and a fried egg on the side.
(Have leftovers? Heat up some tortillas, shred some cheddar cheese and scramble up a couple of eggs. Layer the picadillo with the scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese, roll them all up in the tortilla - and you've got yourself a yummy breakfast tortilla! You can also add some salsa for that extra kick.)
