The Weekend Kusinera

Bibimbap nights!

2010-10-17T00:19:00.002+08:00

I went to Korea for an official business in 2006 and had a couple of free days in Seoul. It wasn't very easy conversing with the locals so the most convenient thing to do when inside a restaurant is to either order based on photos or to get the most familiar dish I could pronounce. In two of the places I visited (not that there were lots), I ordered bibimbap.

Bibimbap is a giant bowl of rice topped with veggies, meat and an egg. In Korean restaurants, it is served with different side dishes like pickled vegetables and dried anchovies.

My renewed craving for Korean food started about three or four weeks ago when I dreamed I was in Seoul. When I woke up the program on National Geographic Channel was about Korean food and the dish being discussed when I opened my eyes was, well, bibimbap. I watched the entire show, which also featured other Korean favorites like kimchi and samgyetang (more on this when I finally get to try making it). The program was followed by another feature, this time about Korean royalties. If that's not destiny, I don't know what is. Haha!

And so I decided to make bibimbap for dinner based on a recipe I got from Maangchi (this website is currently my Korean food bible). I didn't have some of the ingredients but had enough veggies to make my bibimbap may be at least half-authentic.

Basic bibimbap

4 cups cooked rice
bean sprouts
spinach
1 zucchini, julienned
1 small carrot, julienned
1 egg
garlic, minced
sesame seeds
sesame oil
hot pepper paste

If you want to test your patience in the kitchen, then I think you really have to try making bibimbap. Not only do you have to make sure everything is in bite-size pieces, you also have to cook everything separately before putting them all together.

1. Boil bean sprouts for 15 to 20 minutes. When done (which means you can bite the yellow part without chipping a tooth), drain the water, and add minced garlic and sesame oil.
2. Sautee zucchini in sesame oil and garlic. Maangchi suggests letting the zucchini sit with a little salt just before cooking. I'm not very familiar with zucchinis since it's not a native Philippine vegetable but I followed the instruction anyway.
3. Cook spinach in boiling water for one minute. Drain the hot water, then put the leaves in cold water. Drain again. See? You really need patience here. Season the spinach with sesame oil and garlic.
4. Fry an egg, sunny-side up. I think some restos serve really hot bibimbap with raw egg but I don't like that runny texture. I prefer my egg over hard without flipping it so it's still nice and smooth on top. The egg in my first bibimbap was cooked by Gerard and he taught me how to make the "perfect" sunnies!
5. Arrange everything neatly on top of your rice and you're done! You can serve this with more sesame oil and some hot pepper paste.

Here's my first bibimbap:

There was more than enough for four people. It was perfect with Korean beef barbecue (see recipe here.)

There are lots of other stuff you can put in your bibimbap so don't let my simple dish stop you from adding more ingredients. Maangchi suggests the following: kosari (fern), shiitake mushrooms and ground beef.

I added chicken to my second bibimbap. I just marinated three chicken thigh fillets in a little soy sauce, sesame oil, brown sugar, sesame seeds and garlic, and it turned out pretty okay (whew!).

Here's my second bibimbap:

Ciao!

2010-10-16T23:06:00.001+08:00

The very huggable Dinzo Tabamo of Top Gear Philippines just returned from Italy. Check out what he got for me:

Ain't he the sweetest? :) I've always loved pesto. (Whoa, I just remembered my friend G also gave me a jar of pesto when she came home a few months ago! Must scour the fridge tomorrow.)
Here are more pics:

I haven't opened this yet. I don't speak Italian (duh) but based on the label, it looks like I have to consume the contents five days after opening the jar. Besides, I'm still waiting for my pigging-out buddy to come back :)

Grazie, Dinzie!

Just as I thought!

2010-08-25T21:31:00.001+08:00

I bet you can't read that... Here's a bigger version of my quiz result:

If you're still squinting, just click on the images for their readable version. Want to take the quiz, too? Visit this FemaleNetwork.com link.

No cooking this weekend! (I think...)

2010-08-22T01:29:00.000+08:00

I was kinda surprised my boss asked what dish I'm making this weekend. The two-day break is almost over but I haven't really thought much about cooking the past days. Here's what's been keeping me busy:

PIMS 2010 on TopGear.com.ph

I have reason to believe next weekend would be a little bit more special--kitchen-wise, at least.

Pigging out (TWK's version of the famous Balamban liempo)

2010-08-08T02:08:00.007+08:00

I've been lusting over Kristian's Balamban liempo since two minutes after our team wiped out loads of the melt-in-your-mouth treat in Cebu last week. So I thought I'd give it a try with some degree of improv along the way.

Here's a list of the stuff I used:

Part 1
1.1 kilo of liempo
4 cloves of garlic
2 fistfuls of salt (that's a really lousy unit of measurement, I know--and I ended up with really salty broth so maybe just one fistful is enough :P)
2 tablespoons of peppercorns (rough estimate, as always)

Part 2
Boiled liempo
A bunch of green onions
Half a head of garlic
Two sticks of lemongrass, crushed
Salt and pepper
About a tablespoon (or even less) of cooking oil (I read somewhere it's supposed to help in making the pork skin crisp)

Boiling started at 1:30 p.m. Drying at 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. (but I'm not sure if this is totally necessary). Turbo broiling took 30 minutes per side, with the skin-side up on the latter part of the cooking (authentic Balamban liempo is cooked using a rotisserie, and I don't think it gets boiled prior to roasting). Dinner was served at 8 p.m. Here's the grub via TwitPic:

Crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside. It was definitely worth the trouble. More pics here:

The Weekend Kusinera on Facebook

(Thanks to the boyfriend who took and uploaded the photos, and helped clean up after dinner!)

Streetfood adventure in China

2010-08-07T14:16:00.002+08:00

I've made up my mind about dinner so while I'm waiting for the pieces of pork belly to cook, I thought I'd share a couple of photos from my recent trip to China.


Scorpion+Starfish combo. Unfortunately, it isn't offered as a value meal...


So I just had the scorpions. They were cooked on a pan similar to where burger patties are fried. The guy at the stall sprinkled some spices on the entire batch (I'm assuming cumin because it tasted cumin-ish :P). Really yummy! (Pardon the screwed up collar. As you can see, the coat was a tad too big for me.)

Chicken a la King for the royalties in my life

2010-07-13T20:45:00.001+08:00

It's usually an insane level of craving that gets me heading off to the kitchen to play. On June 30--a holiday in the Philippines because we're celebrating the inauguration of our new President--my tummy just ached for chicken a la king. My boyfriend was kind enough to take me to the supermarket where I took forever grabbing all the ingredients for the recipe I saw online. Since it was already late, we ended up eating store-bought roast chicken and pork belly.

My chicken a la king dream finally came true on the first weekend of July. I usually stay in bed on Saturdays but I really wanted to see if I could make one of my favorite fastfood dishes (it's what I always get when we order food from Greenwich). I revisited several sites for the recipe and got moving.

Chicken a la King

900g chicken
2 chicken broth cubes
2 green bell pepper
2 medium carrots
1 medium potato
1 all-purpose cream in tetra pack
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1 can mushroom pieces and stems
loads of quick-melting cheese

I'm not really good at following directions or recipes, for that matter, so I'm just sharing how I did it. Here's how you can do it:

1. Cut chicken in bite-size pieces. I made sure the slices are bigger than the usual teeny-tiny pieces I get from restaurants. This is home-cooked food and it's not like I'm after profits or anything.

2. Cook chicken in water and add broth cubes. Make sure you get rid of the sludge that comes up when the water boils.

3. When the chicken starts to get tender, add in the cubed potato and carrots. Save about a cup of the broth, drain the chicken and veggies, and set everything aside when done.

4. In another pan or pot, whatever you're using for this recipe, melt butter (add a little bit of cooking oil so the butter doesn't burn--I learned this tip from a cooking show ages ago). Saute garlic, green bell pepper (also cubed), and mushrooms.

5. Pour in the cream and about a cup of chicken broth (from where you boiled the chicken). Thicken the mixture with about half a teaspoon of flour melted in a little water (or some of the broth).

6. Add the chicken+veggies and stir everything up until you're happy with the thickness of the sauce and with the overall flavor of the dish. I must admit I cheated a bit here because I added a dash of MSG.

7. When you're done, place the dish in an oven-safe pan and top it with quick-melting cheese. Pop it in the oven for three to five minutes.

This is actually the first dish my mom declared to be "masarap" without hesitation. I received the same compliment from my boyfriend when I topped it on rice for dinner. I should cook it again soon :)

No quacking here...

2010-07-04T14:08:00.001+08:00

It's been months and I'm not quite sure I still remember how to post blog entries. So here goes nothing...

I was in Beijing for a few days last April and had the wonderful experience of enjoying authentic roasted Peking duck. You've probably read about it elsewhere but I just have to say I loved how the crisp skin layered with fat just literally melted in my mouth. I've tried Peking duck here, too, but I guess being in China made a huge difference. You'd say the same thing if you were surrounded by the Chinese. Kidding.

Anyhoo, I had a chance to do a bit of shopping and found vacuum-sealed ready-to-eat ducks in the supermarket. They come in different packaging and I couldn't really tell the difference, except for the pricing. My Chinese friend said there's this one brand that's more expensive than the others and it's very popular but at the end of the day it's all really just the same. So I got this:

Inside the packaging:

I was surprised to find this thin foil pack inside. Apparently...

It contained only half a duck. It had me half-wishing I didn't get the head but I did. And it had me wondering if--considering this is how they pack ready-to-eat ducks--the ducks in China are born with two heads. Maybe I just got ducky, er, lucky.

It wasn't exactly the best Weekend Kusinera experience but it brought a smile on my face. See?

Okay, enough grossing you out. Cheers!

Ouch!

2009-09-19T11:40:00.001+08:00

It's another looooong weekend but I don't see myself making anything more than what I've already prepared. I've marinated the yakiniku beef slices in a Korean barbecue mix I bought at an Asian store across our building and that should be ready in time for dinner.

When the beef was all soaked, I went on to help my tita prepare veggies for chop suey and I ended up cutting my ring finger with a new knife. Now, I love new knives but I hate it when they cut me... not that it's they're fault for being so sharp :P

This whole incident reminds me of a time when I was watching Wok with Yan on television and I was playing with a new paring knife (I was under supervision and it was small but it was still a knife--what were my elders thinking?). It was a tragic ending for a thumbsucking five-year old, I tell you.

Oh well...

My finger looks even more tiny now that it's wrapped in band-aid. It's a teeny-tiny shallow cut but it stings like hell. Argh.

Once upon a lazy Sunday night

2009-09-13T23:56:00.001+08:00

You'd think that after an encounter with a humongous black angus burger at Charlie's last week, I'd shun off burgers for the next 78 days.

Wrong.

I went for retail therapy in a supermarket after an annoying afternoon a few days ago and found this:
How could I possibly resist?

It was right beside a stack of yakiniku beef packages (which I got as well; I'll post the photo when I finally get to do something with it).

I initially planned to make the burgers for lunch but I was totally wiped out after a long night of driving to Subic plus an early Sunday coverage at the Fort (yes, seriously). Besides, the rock hard patties took forever and a half to thaw so we had to wait till dinner for it to be ready.
So here's my cheeseburger:

That's the grilled steak burger patty right in the middle of cheddar cheese (bottom, thanks to my lolo) and blue cheese (top, thanks to Gerard), some lettuce which I tucked in when I was finally ready to wolf down the whole package just before the Italian Grand Prix started. Gardenia's burger buns are nice.

And here's the love of my current life:

Isn't he just absolutely yummy? :P Jenson Button won second place in Monza. To borrow PerezHilton's phrase, he's just super adorbs.

So early...

2009-08-31T17:04:00.001+08:00

I guess this is why I'm "good" at making breakfast [well, relatively.. compared with lunches and dinners and everything else :)]

Quizzes Girls Games

Fish fillet in lemon butter sauce

2009-03-15T09:37:00.000+08:00

Here's something from a friend:

http://eyesgonzales.blogspot.com/2009/02/attention-weekend-kusinera.html

I haven't tried making it but I promise I will.. one of these days.

Yummy breakfast

2009-03-15T08:54:00.002+08:00

Maybe I should just shift to being a "breakfast kusinera" since I usually get time to cook only on Sunday mornings.
Here's what I made this morning:

I just layered store-bought pizza dough with mozzarella, cream cheese, feta cheese, strips of smoked salmon and topped 'em up with three tiny capers for a batch of savory breakfast. I was thinking this is best for brunch so there's an excuse to open a bottle of white wine but my mom got hungry early so we just paired it with coffee. Pretty weird combo, but the pizza rocks on its own.
*****
A couple of weeks ago, I whipped up some pancakes and served it with fruits. Here's the box which made it all possible:

I already have a bottle of maple-flavored syrup so I just used the strawberry syrup which came with the mix to to make the pancakes blush a little.

There were more strawberries and there's always a risk we'd just forget about it in the fridge so I just served everything in one go. I also found yellow watermelon at the grocery. The color is kinda disorienting but it tastes just as sweet as the red ones.

There you go. Now I have another week to think of what to make for breakfast next Sunday :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T22:14:00.003+08:00

Someone greeted me "HVD" this morning. Sounds more like a disease than a greeting, but what the heck. As they say, it's the thought (and perhaps the text) that counts.

A glass of chardonnay is waiting for me to guzzle it up as of this writing. Hardy's has been one of my favorites since I discovered it early last year. For one thing, it's really, really affordable. Less than P300 a bottle. How can you beat that?

It goes well with pizza (especially ones topped with anchovies, but I didn't order that for this evening--my mom said she doesn't like anchovy pizza 'though I swear one time I ordered it from A Veneto, she said it was good).

A couple of photos should be accompanying this entry but I'm still kinda woozy so I'll just edit and add it later. And I'm not exactly sure how much typos are in this entry. Again, I'll just edit later.

Happy V-DAY!

Briegud! Briegud!

2009-02-11T09:15:00.001+08:00

Say "CHEEEEEESE!!!!

My friend, who went frolickin' in Europe for a couple of weeks, came home with this wedge of Brie for moi. I believe it's my prize for helping him pray to get the trip! Haha!

He got this piece of Brie from Maison Collignon, formerly known as Au Marche de la Butte, where Amelie shopped in... well, Amelie.

I almost finished the 125-gram cheese in one sitting. Siiigh... I have turned into a pig. Do pigs love cheese? I wonder. At any rate, thank you Chong Gerard - for the cheese and the shop pic!

P.S.

Read about Gerard's adventures on http://actorenescritor.blogspot.com/. Ciao!

All spiced up!

2009-02-07T13:56:00.004+08:00

If I had a new year's resolution list, it wouldn't include not blogging. Unfortunately, I really had very little to talk about the past weeks. For one thing, like many other households in Metro Manila, we (still) don't have LPG. We ran out of it early January. We did find a tank of cooking gas some time last month but it's defective. We've been cooking everything on an electric skillet for almost two months. Meralco must be very happy these days.
I haven't done much experimenting since the start of the year. I made Veenagoongang Vavoy a couple of times. Made my Fake Cheesecake for New Year's eve and for a friend's husband's new president's post-inauguration party. Last weekend, I made Porky Rolls--only this time they were flat because I now have an amazing plastic tenderizing thingie, AS SEEN ON TV!! (Well, not really.)
A couple of weeks ago, my mom thoughtfully bought me a recipe book while on a business trip in Singapore. What she missed considering, though, is the fact that most of the recipes call for ingredients which demand frustration as I am not likely going to get them here.
One thing that's been bugging me, even before that fateful day of the recipe book's arrival, is Garam Masala. I see it in a lot of Asian recipes. Wiki says:
Garam masala, the literal meaning of which is 'hot spice' (in the meaning of high temperature as opposed to spiciness), is a basic blend of ground spices to be used alone or with other seasonings. It is common in Indian cuisine.
Now, I luuuuv spices. So when a friend said he's going to Singapore, I thought I'd ask for a tiny jar of Garam Masala for future use. He got me this....

... as well as it's seven cousins!! Here's a family pic:

I'm sooo looking forward to cooking with these babies! Thanks, Dax!

Ola!

2008-12-15T11:12:00.001+08:00

My wine stub, taken moments before I claimed my free glass of choice. There were six bottles lined up and I chose what the server described to be "dry red."

2005 Portal red wine

The back label reads:

"You have selected an exceptional and exclusive wine from an award-winning winery. This wine has a dark dense colour, with aromas of cinnamon and jam. It is full bodied with ripe tannins and a long complex finish, with fruit and oak in perfect harmony. Perfect for serving with dark meat dishes. Please enjoy responsibly."

What I should have chosen... simply because of the lovely color.

Yes, the server is Pinoy!

And no, this dude isn't from Batanes. But this guy from north of Portugal should meet our guys from north of the Philippines, dontcha think?

A Chinese guest takes a look at the wines from Tras-Os-Montes.

From the cellar that says, "Portos Carcavelos Madeira Moscatel Colares." The oldest one in this collection is from 1850.

An earthenware used by the Portuguese to store wine. I'd drown in here. It's probably five feet and five inches or so high.

A touchscreen guide to wines inside the Wine Museum.

Some notes:

- Entrance to the Wine Museum costs MOP15, but they accept an equivalent amount in Hong Kong dollars. It comes with the wine sample stub.

- The Grand Prix Museum is just across the hall. Entrance costs MOP10.

- If you want to go to both, you can get a package ticket at MOP20.

- The girl at the ticket counter is Filipina! At least two guards at the Grand Prix Museum are Filipinos!

- There is a wine shop that sells souvenirs and wines (of course). The most expensive one I saw is a 1963 Quinta do Noval from the Duoro demarcated region that sells for MOP38,000. The oldest one is a 1903 D'Olivieras Reserva at MOP6,800.

- The Portal red wine, which I tried, sells for MOP85.

- There's a shelf of "Very Good" wines. Prices start at MOP148 (Portal Lagrima).

Cheers!!

Bad blogger! Bad!

2008-12-03T16:12:00.000+08:00

I had been admittedly lazy over the past few weekends. I haven't really had that much chance to cook - after my mom's surgery, an aunt had to have the same procedure, which meant we had to dine out more; and last weekend, I helped a friend coordinate a wedding, which left me exhausted and sick.

I'm not quite certain if I'd be able to play around the kitchen this weekend since my mom is having some guests over and she's planning a sort-of catered party. I'm not used to cooking for more than eight people or so, so I'll let her handle that.

Anyhoo, I am soooo looking forward to the next weekend, which we'll be spending out of the country. My mom is taking my gramps off to Asia's casino capital. I'm thrilled to learn that our hotel is just a few hops off a wine museum (interest number 1), which in turn is inside or somewhere within the compound of the grand prix museum (interest number 2).

So just to give you a head's up, I shall hopefully be posting some wine-related articles in the next few days or weeks. Bye for now!

The (lazy) weekend nurse

2008-11-16T21:42:00.001+08:00

My mom just had a procedure done (I swear it wasn't because of something I cooked) so it was either leftover hospital food or fast food for me over the weekend. But I do have a recipe to post--something which I didn't get to blog about a couple of Saturdays ago.
My source (pineygrovehomebrew.blogspot.com.. thank you!) simply calls it Tuna Pasta and it's so easy so I thought I'd give it a try. Here's a recipe that serves two:
125 grams pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head of native garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tuna in water
capers
chopped parsley
salt and pepper
- Cook pasta till it's al dente. There should be instructions on the pasta box/pack. If you don't see any, don't buy it. I used fusilli on this dish for aesthetic and utilitarian reasons--they're cute and bits of the sauce cling well to it. Now I'm not sure if there's a hard and fast rule to choosing pasta but I think chunky sauces go well with more complicated pasta shapes.
- Heat olive oil, saute garlic until it's translucent.
- Throw in the tomatoes. I used Hunts, which I later found to be a bit too sour for my taste. Fresh ripe ones always rock but I forgot to grab some while I was at the supermarket.
- Add chopped parsley. I had some basil leaves in the fridge but I chose to stick to the parsley bit, which wasn't so bad because its freshness kinda offset the preserved sourness of the tomatoes.
- Pop in the capers.
- Season with salt and pepper.
I bought a pack of slivered almonds a few weeks ago. It was meant for truffles but I haven't had a chance to make another batch and I've been dying to use the nuts so I decided to toast some and topped my pasta with it. So not only was the pasta chunky, it was a little crunchy and nutty as well!

Now I did mention going to the supermarket before making the pasta. While I was there, I finally had the courage to go up to the deli and get some cheese and cold cuts. I got this little treasure box for only P160!

I don't exactly remember which is which but the list from the lady at the Galileo Enoteca Deli counter says...
Cheese:
Fontalpe (soft.. rather ordinary-tasting cheese)Provolone (I asked for the stronger kind of cheeses and this was one of the lady's suggestions--I wasn't disappointed)
Grana Padano (true to its name, it is kinda grainy and it has some hint of citrus in it, which I found rather surprising and interesting)
About the cold cuts.. You'll have to forgive me. I checked the website of Galileo Enoteca to make sure but the names just don't quite match up. Basically, I got:
Spianata
Pharma (I don't think there should be an H there but the lady..... heheh)
Sacame-something.. I can't read her handwriting. :D
Anyhoo, I made a promise to go back to the deli and get everything right. Maybe I'll even come up with a proper review, not that I'm an expert on Italian meats. Oh, but I do love these things. I paired up this batch with a bottle of 2007 Hardy's Chardonnay.
Yum!

Seems kinda Greek to me!

2008-11-09T20:33:00.001+08:00

The ~~boyfriend~~ took me to a neat Greek+Italian place for dinner over a week ago. It was pretty late and almost everything on their menu was wiped out so he ended up ordering Chicken Souvlaki for me. It took a while to prepare but it was worth the wait--with all the lemon, cumin and garlic flavors oozing off the chicken at every bite. Instant inspiration!

So I've been Googling for a recipe that's easy enough for me to understand and follow. I was surprised, though, that none of the stuff I found listed cumin on the ingredients. Anyhoo, I found "Grilled Chicken Breast in Spiced Yogurt Sauce," which does have cumin. I tweaked it up just a tiny bit but this was pretty much it:

3 pcs skinless chicken breast fillet, cut in about an inch-and-a-half cubes
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 bay leaf, torn to bits and pieces

- Whisk everything from the yogurt down to the cinnamon.
- Marinate the chicken in it for.. hmm.. at least 30 minutes.
- Grill on!

Okay, confession time. I didn't exactly follow the proportions for the spices.. So my so-called souvlaki didn't exactly turn out to be anything similar to what I had two Fridays ago.

For the yogurt sauce:

1 cup yogurt
2 tiny cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
a dash of salt

- Mix everything up and serve with the grilled chicken.

Oh, I also grilled zucchini pieces drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper, and a few tomatoes to serve on the side.
And.. Tadaaaaa!

Pause..

2008-11-02T01:41:00.001+08:00

Okay, I've been really delinquent, huh?

Anyhoo, I've decided to put blogging on hold for four more days, or at least until I get my new camera (which I'm hoping would happen in four days). Blogs, on food, especially, just look better with photos.

And, heck, I'm rather vain and I want the world to see what's been keeping me busy on weekends.

So.. Ciao! See me in four days! :)

Good morning, sunshine!!

2008-10-19T09:15:00.000+08:00

Here's an early-morning experiment..

Cinnamon french toast

**WAIT! Be warned. I basically just mixed everything up without really measuring them but since I've used measuring spoons and cups at least once in my life, I'm giving you estimates. Good luck!**

2 eggs

1/2 c milk

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or thereabouts.. I kinda just tipped the little jar about five times)

a pinch of salt

a lil vanilla

four loaf slices

butter

-Whisk up the first five ingredients.

- Dip your bread one at a time. Now, there are recipes which call for soaking the bread for 20 seconds, others say that makes it too soggy.. so just do whatever your comfy doing.. I mean, for all I know, you may be one of those who like 'em soggy breads, right?

- Melt a lil butter on a pan and fry/toast your bread.

- I believe this is normally served with powdered sugar or maple syrup but we don't have any of that. What we do have is like a ton of canned peaches so I opened one up to make it seem like we're having some fancy-shmancy breakfast!

Identity crisis

2008-10-17T21:41:00.000+08:00

Exhibit A: Pork Binagoongan

Fat. Lycopene. Cholesterol. Anti-oxidants. Hypertension. Cancer prevention. Oil. Vitamin C. The contradictions could go on forever, but I was just really hungry one Sunday night.

Kontrabida:
#1 - 1/2 kilo pork belly, cut in about a square-inch or so
#2 - 62.5 grams regular Barrio Fiesta bagoong (that's about one-fourth of a small jar)

Bida:
1/2 kilo rrred, rrripe tomatoes
2 to 3 tiny heads of garlic (I've been told the huge imported ones do not pack the same ummph! as the native variety), minced
onion, minced

Extras:
Juice of one calamansi
1 green chili (the one that's used for Sinigang.. I'm not sure what it's called, really)
1 tiny chili (err.. labuyo?)
Salt and pepper for the fun of it

- Boil Kontrabida #1 until it begs for mercy (read: just tender). Set aside but keep about a cup of the broth.
- In a separate pot/wok, heat a small amount of oil; saute garlic until it's slightly brown. Add onions and let it sweat haha! Drop in the tomatoes and saute some more. I seriously considered skipping the rest of the procedure at this point. The aroma of the tomatoes and the garlic just made me want to boil some pasta and toss 'em all together. Siiigh..
- Add Kontrabida #2. Saute. Stir. Sing. Dance. (Add the tiny chili if you want.)
- Pour in your calamansi juice.
- Toss in the pre-boiled porkies and coat every slice with the bagoong+tomato mix. Add in some of the broth if you feel like it.
- Simmer. Season to taste.
- Pop in the green chili, turn off the heat, wait until everyone's mouth waters.
- Serve!

(Thanks to Tito Mon of BSP for this recipe! My mom loved it although she had to pop a few pills right after dinner, just to be safe.)

Sneak preview..

2008-10-05T15:31:00.000+08:00

Chocolate truffles (coating variations: chopped white chocolate, plain cocoa powder, cocoa powder and cinnamon, cocoa powder and instant coffee)

********

Panacotta drizzled with caramel syrup

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No-bake blueberry cheesecake

(Thanks to Des of PhilStar!)

Peer pressure!!

2008-10-03T01:52:00.001+08:00

It's technically Friday but it's only 2 a.m. so it would be totally weird if I just suddenly hit the kitchen and started cooking. Besides, I'm still torn between panacotta and chocolate truffles for my weekend adventure. My family is going out of town again (aaargh!) and cooking an actual meal would be out of the question so I will just be experimenting with desserts/snacks. Plus, my only chance to actually make something would be Friday night. Goodbye, social life!

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My college friend G, who taught me practically everything I know about putting stuff on this blog, has unwittingly (or deliberately! haha!) pressured me into posting a recipe of something I made about three or four weekends ago.

My mom is totally crazy about Koreanovelas so I thought I'd treat her with some homemade bulgogi, grilled right on the table, and served complete with the lettuce leaves and raw/grilled garlic.

Apologies to the author of this recipe.. I don't know who you are, and I visited so many websites to get a recipe that's simple enough for me to follow. I can't exactly remember where I got this. Anyway, it turned out awesome so thank you for making it available online. Sharing it now....

~~BULGOGI (marinated grilled beef)~~ Soegogi gui (Grilled beef)

Ingredients

1 1/4 lbs thinly sliced beef (I used half a kilo of sirloin)

1 medium onion (scatter-brained me totally forgot about the onions!!!!)

5 tablespoons soy sauce

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons chopped green onions

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 kiwi fruit, minced (optional)

Lettuce leaves

Thinly sliced garlic

Directions

- Slice onion.

- Mix the last eight ingredients in a bowl.

- Throw in your beef and onion slices.

- Mix everything well and leave for one to two hours in the fridge to marinate.

- Grill up!!

- Grab a clean lettuce leaf and use it to wrap the pieces of meat and slices of garlic (you can grill the garlic or eat it raw as long as it's clean and you don't have to kiss anybody after the meal!)

I also got a separate recipe for pork barbecue, which I can't find right now. I do remember using about 1/4 kilo of pork, bacon-style cut.

I sauteed some bean sprouts and carrots to go with the barbecue. The whole meal of meat and veggies fed six hungry adults and one picky seven-year old.

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Lessons learned:

~ Don't forget the onions. I wouldn't know the taste difference in adding it, but if the recipe calls for 'em bulbs, it must be for good reason.

~ If you're wondering about the kiwi - it works as a tenderizer.

~ Attendants in supermarkets' meat section make really nice and uniform slices. I'm thankful they exist.

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I saw a couple of friends from work yesterday and they gave me new recipes to try out. I am now looking forward to making:

The totally sinful Pork Binagoongan

Bongga Puttanesca

Seemingly stress-less Cheesecake

My ultimate favorite Pesto (love it but I haven't really tried making it)

Yeah, yeah... I just added the exaggerations but I'm hoping my "finished products" turn out as expected.

In the meantime... Panacotta or Chocolate Truffles?

Ham and cheese-stuffed porkies

2008-09-28T21:32:00.000+08:00

I didn't get to cook much this weekend because my family had to go out of town. Before I left, however, I read G's food blog (www.kitchenmaus.blogspot.com) where she featured a recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu. We didn't have chicken fillet but, by some stroke of luck, there was half a kilo of butterfly-cut porkies in the freezer.

I later learned my aunt bought it on Friday as a subtle way of saying she wants pork tonkatsu on Saturday. I've made tonkatsu twice already so I thought I'd take my friend's recipe and just twist it up a little.

This ended up as some sorta midnight snack which we shared with family friends on Saturday night:

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6 pieces butterfly cut pork (small- to medium-sized cuts)

2 slices cooked sweet ham, cut to fit the pork pockets

cheese, cut to fit the pork pockets

dried basil leaves

2 lightly beaten eggs, seasoned with salt and pepper

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

parmesan cheese

- Sprinkle the cheese slices with basil, sandwich a slice between two cuts of ham, and stuff it inside the pork.

- Dip the pork in egg and dredge it in flour.

- Give porky another bath in the egg bowl before rolling it on the panko-plus-parmesan mix.

- Deep fry, baby!

I guess since it's Pork Cordon Bleu, it should go with mushroom gravy or something like that. I served it with Bull's Eye Tonkatsu Sauce (Robinsons Supermarket) and it was pretty okay as well.

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Lessons learned:

~ The rolls ended up rather fat so pounding the meat might help make it look more appetizing next time.

~ Trim the fat for a healthier and yummier dish.

~ Take note of the amount of time it takes for the first batch to cook. I didn't so I ended up guessing every time.

~ Make sure your camera is working. Lol. My digicam refused to cooperate so I used my phone to take pics of my "finished product." Unfortunately, I don't know how to get it out of the phone and on to this blog. No worries though.. I'll post it as soon as I can. Wish me luck with the tech stuff!

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Starters

2008-09-21T16:55:00.000+08:00

I figured I should at least explain why I'm doing this.

I'm no whiz in the kitchen, but I do love to cook. While I can't speak for the people who have tried my dishes, I have some degree of confidence that they generally like what I have made, give or take a few culinary glitches. Almost everything is experimental so I'm not claiming perfection. I decide on a dish, search for two to three recipes online, and tweak things up to sorta "personalize" the process.

I also love to eat. It doesn't really show as one glance of me would easily make one conclude I'm underweight. But I seriously love trying out new dishes, whether at home or at some restaurant.

The blog is called "The Weekend Kusinera" because that's exactly what I am. Weekend affairs with the kitchen make my Saturdays and Sundays extra special.