Something We all Agree To Like — Mango Icebox!

Quite a staple in Pinoy parties, this delicious mango icebox cake never fails to get you hankering for second servings. Why, the mega triumvirate of mangoes, grahams and sweetened cream are enough to make you beg for 2nd, 3rd or even a fourth serving!

Nevermind those extra love handles that might cling onto your waist after wolfing this down! Hello! We live only once! Cheers!

Okay, so how did I make it. Truth to be told, by just looking at the exposed portion of this cake, you will definitely have give-away clues on how it was put together. Just the same, let me spell out to you the ingredients.

For this Mango Icebox, you will need:
3 large ripe mangoes, seeded and sliced thinly in horizontal direction
3 cups whipping cream (plus another cup for frosting)
1 small can of condensed milk
1/4 cup Peotraco sugar
12 pcs graham crackers
1/4 cup crushed graham crackers

Whip cream until it reaches soft peaks. Fold condensed milk onto the cream. Set aside.
Meantime, whip another cup of cream and gradually add sugar to the mixture.

Now you are ready to layer your cake.

Layer Mango icebox cake such that:
1. 1st layer becomes the graham crackers.
2. Second layer is the cream mixture and sliced mangoes (optional at this point).

Repeat layering until you achieve your desired height. Top the icebox cake with the remaining whipped cream, crushed graham crackers and decorate with sliced mangoes.
Chill for 3 hours before serving.

 

 

Cerealicious

Strolling by my lone self in Robinson’s Galleria one lunch time not too long ago, I happened to pass by a Crealicious store and decided to try it for the first time. I figured, since I was on a diet, a cup of oatmeal would stuff and satiate my appetite for the day. Low cal, rich in fiber and good for the heart, I was sold that it was to be the perfect meal for me.

Scouring their menu, the list of cereal choices got me totally giddy. Fruit loops, honey gold flakes, honey stars, coco flakes, etc., it seemed like a wonderland of cereals waiting to be consumed. And since I was dieting, I thought that Cerealicious was excellent for my diet.

The lady behind the counter was gracious enough to offer, what appeared to be, a  list of products with the corresponding calorie equivalent per item. I could not begin to say how amused I was being able to actually count the calories I was taking in! Since that time on, I have been trooping over to Cerealicious very often.

Very recently, I discovered that their outlet in Megamall served savory dishes and ‘unusual’ desserts worth trying. While I examined the menu, I was so tempted to try not one or two dishes but FIVE! Hahaha!

Sigh, I heeded the call of the deep fried dishes!  My curiosity got the better of me and gave in to the chicken, shrimp, bread and potatoes all coated in the goodness of pounded cornflakes!

Hep! Before you judge my crazy appetite, lemme emphasize that these dishes down below were shared with a friend of mine, Trina.

I saw other choices in the menu for the hardcore figure conscious, though. The pasta in pomodoro sauce or pesto would not bloat you out. Of course, all the rest of the Cerealicious choices ARE predominantly low fat and gorgeous tasting!

Well, in the end, I was glad I trusted my instincts and had a fantastic feast!

Sorry but the “SLURP” button of this website is unavailable. Instead, you might want to check out the nearest Crealicious branch near your place (Mine is Megamall, Ground Floor, Bldg A).

Here goes my feast!

Bacon Cheese Munchers

 

Cerealicious Chicken Pesto Pasta

 

 

Bubba Shrimp

Cerealicious Cordon Bleu

Peanut Butter And Banana French Toast

BUrrrrrp. Love it!

Tuscan Canapes

At night, when our little one had dozed off and there’s still little time for a catch-up chat between Jake and myself, I make sure there’s some few yummy bites in between our stories. And, bite would mean finger foods to go with our chatter. After all, food is the perfect third wheeler for couples engaged in some light banter after a long day.

Okay, canapes are my small bites of heaven. They’re pretty, easy to make and very engaging to eat. Its a play of ingredients you top on your favorite melba toast or baby baguette rounds. Ahh, I just love doing them as much as I passionately look forward to eating them!

My ingredients are usually encased in small containers and placed in a mother  container and mentally labeled as the “cocktail kit”. What goes inside my cocktail kit are our usual faves:

grilled eggplant

alfalfa sprouts

feta cubes

pesto

grilled bell peppers

jalapenos

cheddar cheese

These toppings are topped on grilled bread or a store-bought cracker. This should make its way to your tummy soon. Best eaten with a partner and two glasses of white wine. Cheers!

Korean Beef Stew

Trooping over to Korean groceries have been quite a usual habit for me. At the area where we stay, Asian groceries abound and thrive quite lucratively. Back in the day when Asian ingredients and condiments were exclusively accessed only from hard to find Asian specialty stores, I barely knew about, say, mirin or Kasugai! Okay, now is a totally different generation of convenience stores. It has come to embrace spices and other food stuff of countries outside this republic.

Okay, today’s menu had Korean beef stew in it. What I like about this dish is that it infuses flavors that make you savor it, bite after bite. Flavors that make you dump more rice onto your plate and totally enjoy the food! The sweet-salty sauce combo that smothers the fall-off-the-bones kind of short ribs just makes for a perfect meal.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

1/2  kilo beef short ribs

1/2 kilo beef brisket

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 chopped onion

2 laurel leaves

2 tbsps sliced ginger

1  cup soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar (adjust according to your preferred sweetness if necessary)

spring onions, chopped

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup sesame oil

chili flakes to taste

water

Procedure:

Season ribs with salt and pepper. Saute ginger, garlic and onion using sesame oil. Add short ribs and continue tossing the meat until well coated with the gisa mixture.  Add water (just enough to cover the ribs).

Halfway through the cooking add soy sauce and sugar plus the laurel and chili flakes. Simmer until meat of the ribs start to fall off and the sauce has been reduced to half of the original amount.

Note: Adding water may be necessary until meat is very tender.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve hot.

Cream Of Pumpkin Soup

Cream Of Pumpkin Soup

Now, I am so tempted to lick my computer screen to have my cream of pumpkin soup!

This photo has been in my files since a long time ago and being anything but swamped with Mommy duties now, I will be able to share the recipe for this delightfully sumptious soup right now.

Okay let’s do this:

You will need about a quarter portion of a medium-sized pumpkin or from a big squash.

1 carton of all-purpose cream

1 chicken cube

1 onion, minced

1/4 cup butter

1/8 tsp cumin powder

1/2 cup croutons

salt and pepper to taste

Peel pumpkin and chop coarsely, about 1 inch thick and wide (although honestly, it doesn’t matter! It’ll get mashed later!). Put in boiling water. Cook until tender. Drain off from excess water.

In a soup pan, saute tenderized pumpkin in butter and onion. Add chicken cube. Add about 2 cups of water. Bring to a quick boil.

In a food processor, puree the pumpkin mixture. Blend very well.

Bring back the processed pumpkin mixture back to the soup pan and simmer in medium heat. Slowly stir in cream and cumin powder. Continue simmering until soup is creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

Top with croutons

*Note: You may add fresh milk to adjust texture or soup consistency. Be sure to just quickly heat the soup when there’s milk. Overheating or rapid boiling will cause the milk to curdle.

Final note:

Purists, please don’t crucify me for loosely interchanging pumpkin and squash every now and then. They belong to the same specie but are two varieties that differ in size and color. Whatever you use, it will taste almost perfectly the same!

My Mama, Her Food and Me

Tinumis. A native dish from Nueva Ecija, where my late Lolo hailed from. Definitely a must try.

Once, I was asked, “What’s your earliest memory of yourself?”.

The immediate image that got to me was my Mom cooking something one rainy morning.  What she cooked, quite understandably, escapes me now.

This leads me to believe that, just maybe, my love for cooking started right about that time. Yeah, even before I got a grip on my cooking ladle, I knew I already liked cooking!

Sopas for the soul!

What is vivid in my mind now were those episodes in my childhood when I would give a third hand to my mom in the kitchen in between commercial breaks of Sesame Street. I might have resented it in the beginning, but the long ‘haul’ turned into passion, overtime.  Needless to say, I started growing into the idea of learning, loving and experiencing serious cooking.

Calandracas. Soup with beef, chorizos and macaroni. Two thumbs up!

Serious cooking it was for Mom.

Our kitchen was always  abuzz with all the activities she did. Back then, my Mom spent a great deal of time in the kitchen. And despite her tedious load in the office, she never failed to nourish her family with only the BEST meals.

And BEST would mean exceptionally great tasting and  well plated dishes. Yes, kinda like those that you’d be proud to serve to the Royal Family when they visit you at home.

My Dad would hover around the stove hoping to get his share of “tikim” of the food my Mom was cooking. Oh, how we always hankered for her great and well thought out meals. It perfectly went well with all the ‘growing up conversations’ my family and I shared during meal time.

Sinigang sa miso. Fish, sinigang broth and mustasa leaves-- this triumvirate just spells yumminess to the core.

Today, she is still the main moving force in the kitchen. She continues to dish out excellent meals that are loaded with love and passion.

Nueva Ecijano Afritada-- Pork made into adobo 1st before they were made into afritada. Total winner!

Buttered spareribs stew. Mom will never eat meat that's tough. This stew is something else!

Happy Mother’s Day, Ma! Please do know that everything I know in the kitchen is just a by-product of what you have taught me in the many years that you have trained me.

You are the BEST Mom!

Love you!

Garlic tapa. You can't have enough of garlic!

Recipes of Mom:

Tinumis

Calandracas

Chicken Adobo Flakes

Buttered Spareribs Stew

Garlic Tapa

Afritada Nueva Ecija Style

 

Fish Fingers

The thing I like about fish fingers is that it is very easy to make. No hard to find ingredients, salmonella free, rich in flavor and a universal favorite. Best served with garlic mayo (see recipe below) or plain ketchup, it is definitely a certified crowd pleaser.

This is actually my daughter Sam’s flagship food. Like most kids, she thrives in dishes that are big in crunchy texture and juicy-moist- soft filling. This dish has to make its way to your kitchen menu soon!

Fish Fingers

1/2 kilo whole dory fillets

3 cups Japanese breadcrumbs

1 pc lemon, wedged

3/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 tbsps dried basil

3/4 cup flour

1 beaten egg

Dried thyme for garnishing

salt and pepper to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs, basil leaves and parmesan cheese. Set aside.

Meantime, cut fish fillet in finger sizes. Season with salt and pepper.

Dredge  in flour lightly then dip in egg mixture.  Coat with the crumbs. The secret to a perfect coating is pressing it lightly as you coat and letting it stand for three minutes before frying it.

Deep fry until golden brown. Lay on a bed of napkins to blot excess oil.

Serve with garlic mayo dip (half cup mayo, 3 tbsps lemon juice, 3 minced garlic cloves, salt n pepper to taste—then mix everything together).

To have a thicker and crunchier coating, you might want to double coat by dipping in egg twice then breading the  chicken twice alternately before frying.

Creamed Beef With Mushrooms

Creamed beef with mushrooms

The tedious spinning class I had today just had me hankering for a satiating plate of good food. And ‘good’ meant embracing all the requirements to make tonight’s dinner  gastronomic:

1. Relatively healthy  (So I’d be guiltless after the gobble up).

2. ‘Beef related’ (Hey, I spinned hard! I deserved a good serving of protein!)

3. Labor unintensive (Tamad eh! Lol)

4. Nice to plate! (Yeah, for the blog, hee).

Okay, so the cooking began. I defrosted a pack of beef brisket that I would make into creamed beef with mushrooms. From the pantry cabinet, I dislodged a can of mushrooms and a pack of all purpose cream.

Zero transfat and  50% reduced cholesterol — reading the nutrition facts on the newly relaunched Magnolia all purpose cream got me sold in using it for tonight’s dinner of creamed beef with mushrooms.

For this dish you will need:

1/2 kilo beef brisket, thinly sliced

1 carton all purpose cream

1/2 cup butter

1 cup button mushrooms, drained and sliced

4 cloves of garlic

4 tbsps flour dissolved in 1/2 cup water

1 onion

salt and pepper to taste

oil

________________________________________________

Season meat with salt and pepper.

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add beef. Pour water and bring to a boil. Cook until beef becomes tender and water is reduced to half the original amount.

Add butter and flour mixture. Add mushrooms and cream. Stir until desired thickness is achieved. Serve hot.

Paella

Fresh greens lavishly laid on the makeshift shelves, fishes all wriggly from the recent catch (btw, they sell seabass at Suki like it was the most ordinary fish on Earth!), pinkish-bright red meats, quality seafood finds, ready made dishes packed away and very beautiful, ohhh– what a sight to behold! I can live in this wet market twice a week! Lol.

Anyway, I scoured the market for prawns and squid for the paella. All three went straight to my basket. After I’ve accomplished the marketing, I slipped into my apron and started work:)

Well, not really ‘work’. FUN should be it.

Paella for 30 people. Let’s party!

Happy 1st birthday, Athena! And, Yani, please do know that Ninang loves you:)

Paella

8 cups arborio rice

10 pcs chicken thighs, chopped

7 pcs prawns

1/2 kilo pacific white clams or halaan

4 sticks chorizo, sliced

19 cups chicken stock

1/4 kilo squid rings, ink and sword removed.

3 red bell pepper, julienned

1 and 1/2 cups green peas

1 head  of garlic, minced

2 onions, minced

10 spears of asparagus, blanched

olive oil

5 tbsps turmeric powder

salt and pepper to taste

10 threads saffron

8 pcs lemon wedges

1 tsp chopped parsley

______________________________________________

 

In  a paellera, brown chicken until half cooked. Remove chicken and set aside. Using the same oil, fry prawns until they turn pink. Set aside as well.

In the same pan, saute garlic, onion, bell pepper, green peas, squid, clams and chorizos. Add chicken and rice. Throw in turmeric and saffron.

Mix well until rice is well coated. Add stock. Cover loosely with a sheet of aluminum foil. Simmer until rice is cooked. Remove foil.

Garnish with lemon wedges, prawns, blanched asparagus and parsley.

Chicken, Garlic And Tomato Roasts

The wet market I recently swung by down east had me shamelessly hoarding a coupla kilos of some red, juicy and plump tomatoes. Why, they sold for a measly P20 per kilo! Especially now that the Yrastorza household is slowly taking the ‘healthy-food-only’  route, I thought these tomatoes would be excellent for oven baking, stewing and the like.

Over at my kitchen, I slid my baking casserole onto the counter to toss over the tomatoes for some oven-dried tomatoes for bottling. Lately, I’ve developed a penchant for any food/ingredient that is  homemade, organic and artificial processing- free. And yeah, nothing beats having your homemade tomato sauce which you can conveniently pull out from your ref when your recipe calls for it.

But the oven was too big for the few pieces of tomatoes I was to bake. So in the pan, I threw in 2 whole heads of garlic for roasting (top slightly chopped off, leaving the flesh exposed!). What do you do with it? I spread it on toasts, I put in on my mashed potatoes or I just make it as siding for a fave dish like a pasta fare or sweet and spicy tapa! Okay, there goes my 2nd dish.

3rd dish was the two chicken quarters that I turned into baked chicken in sinigang rub. All three dishes had some about two rounds of drizzles of olive oil. Time, energy and space saving for my oven, I was totally starving right after everything got cooked.

Okay, kumbaga sa bus, naunang bumaba ang mga bawang, tapos ang mga kamatis at sumunod ang mga manok galing sa oven. (Please see links for exact directions for recipes of each of the fares).

Oh, btw, the chicken was the perfect topping for the Japchae I made the day before. Can I just say, the noodles got yummier as the sauce completely got absorbed by the noodles. Yum!

Japchae

I took a trip to a public market somewhere down east to find this stall that sold Batangas beef. Foodies literally run the extra mile just to bring home what’s deemed the best, you know. Ha! So, there I was, finding myself all prepped up for the palengke tour.

Scouring the market, I was gawking at the produce lavishly displayed at every stall, corner and bilaos. My, they were totally inexpensive, very fresh and looked picturesque. My eyes were panning from left to right, up and down!

Okay, back to my mission, I looked for a store that had a signage that read “Senya’s Batangas beef”. Upon trekking the aisles and alleys  of this market, lo and behold, I found it and what goldmine I saw. Yeah baby, two kilos of sirloin went straight to my basket.

Yesterday had me do two dishes:  Garlic Tapa and Japchae.

So, what’s the big fuss about Batangas beef? Well for one, this southwestern province of Batangas is well known for its cattle industry. It is home of the best species of cattle. Grass fed, robust in size, they are so special that meat dealers  have made it a ‘claim to fame’ label that the meat is from Batangas. A big smile was plastered on my face as I left with my beef on one hand.

The second dish was japchae. I have been bugging my good friend, Marielle, to take me back to Ye Dang for my Korean food fix but being swamped with household chores would not allow us. So, I decided to just make my own.

So here goes the recipe:

JAPCHAE

500 grams  glass noodles (soak in water for 20 minutes before cooking)

1/2 cup chopped spinach leaves

3/4 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbsps brown sugar

1/4 kilo sirloin, cut in thin strips

1 medium-sized carrot, cut into strips

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 white onion, minced

2 tsps chili flakes

salt and pepper to taste

sesame oil

water

_______________________________________________

Season beef with salt and pepper. In a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add beef, spinach and carrots. Stir in hoisin sauce ang sugar. Pour about 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Add glass noodles and reduce heat  to a medium simmer.

Cook until noodles are tender and soupiness is gone. Add chili flakes. Serve hot.

Pasta And Peas

Still on with our interesting series on “leftover makeover” inspired by some dishes we lifted from the pages of FOODIE magazine. This second dish I cooked for Studio 23’s “US Girls” was such a big hit that it was gone instantly before I could finish saying “bon appetit” to everybody!

Simple, tasty to the core and very elegant, this dish should work its way on your menu soon.

The leftover food was the pasta. In this case, we used salad macaroni. Have you ever had the experience of over estimating your pasta, cooking more than you need  and ended up just stacking them away in the ref to grow those icky molds?  Ha!

Alright, let’s have some great-tasting solution to this leftover dilemma.

The dish I made called for about 5 cups of cooked salad macaroni (cooked according to package directions), 2 tbsps olive oil, 2 tbsps butter, 1 medium-sized chopped white onion, 3/4 cup chopped bacon or pancetta, 3/4 cup frozen sweet peas (thawed), 2 tbsps dry white wine, salt and pepper to taste and grated parmesan cheese.

I Sauted onion and bacon. Added wine and let alcohol evaporate before I mixed in peas which I had to saute a bit longer til I got it tender while still very bright green in color. Tossed them gently onto my pasta and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

Baked Scallops

Baked Scallops

The maddening rush last Valentine’s day discouraged Jake, Sam and I to wriggle our way to the busy streets that lead to the uber packed date places.

So, we decided to just spend the evening at home, in the comforts of our humble dining room where I served some mean minted lamb chops with a siding of french beans and baby carrots and partnered with some rich, creamy and luscious plate of baked scallops.

Baked scallops is one dish that’s a breeze to make and makes for a rockstar viand. This particular recipe is strikingly similar with the baked tahong I always make whenever I want a delish fare pronto.

Looking at my finished product of baked scallops, I suddenly scratch my head in slight dismay. It was one of those moments when I wished I lived in faraway Capiz. Why? I got my frozen scallops from Cold Storage, P180 per dozen. In Capiz, scallops sell for P50 PER SACK!!!

Now, that ‘SACKS’! Lol.

Happy Vday!

Baked Scallops

1 dozen fresh scallops (with shell)

2 heads of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup melted butter

3/4 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

3 tbsps parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

___________________________________

Preheat oven to 300 deg c.

In a baking tray, assemble the scallops and brush each with butter and season with salt and pepper. Top each with a pinch of garlic and smother scallops with the cheeses.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cheeses turn slightly brown and melted. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving.

Squid Ink Pasta, Chorizos And Tuna

I was marveling at the dried pasta selection over at Terry Selection at The Podium when I chanced upon a pack of squid ink pasta. Almost instantaneously, I visualized the pasta to be infused with red sauce, chorizos and tuna. Perfect for Jake’s dinner, excellent for my quest for a pasta eye candy that was to be quite unique and tasty.

Incidentally, my Sister, Tina, and Brother in law, Oliver, stopped by our place that night I made it. Timely and definitely a welcome surprise, I was so ganado tossing the whole pasta ensemble knowing that I had guests to sample the dish.

The black colored-pasta had a stellar taste that I momentarily forgot that I had burned a thousand calories that afternoon from a spinning class and would just gain it back(?) with the bande-bandehadong pasta that I devoured that night. Yikes!

Okay, the recipe:

1/2 kilo squid ink pasta

1 can chorizos, halved vertically and sliced

1 can Del Monte tomato sauce petite cut

2 cans tuna lite, drained

1 cup Del Monte tomato sauce (Original flavor)

1 head of garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

1/2 cup capers

1 cup black pitted olives, sliced

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

2 tbsps fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

____________________________________________________

Cook pasta according to package directions. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute onion and garlic. Add chorizos, tuna, capers and olives. Continue stirring for two minutes. Throw in basil and oregano.

Toss in pasta. Top with tuna and cheese. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve hot.

Minced Pork In Lettuce Wrap

My good friend and neighbor, Myze, invited my family for dinner last Chinese New Year at Spring Deer restaurant in Quezon City. It was to be their celebration for their New Year. Myze, a full-blooded Chinese, talked her way to educating me about Filipino Chinese food vs the “canteen” Chinese food she grew up embracing.

I have featured a coupla posts in this blog about her Chinese “canteen” food and how enthralled I get trying it out. The Makut Theng she once sent me while I was nursing a cold was unforgettable. Likewise, the Chinese style steamed fish dish she taught me was momentous.

One of the viands served that evening was the minced pork in lettuce wrap. I thought it looked pretty and tasted great. They served the meat mixture side by side with the plate of crunchy lettuce greens and hoisin sauce. So, the style was to get a lettuce wrapper, scoop a  tbsp of meat mixture and smother with hoisin sauce on top.

Today, I did just that. However, I decided to incorporate the hoisin sauce already in the meat mixture. Twas quite easy to make. Thanks for great neighbors, thanks, Myze!

Minced  Pork In lettuce Leaves

1/2 kilo ground pork

1 large carrot, cut in small cubes

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, minced

2 tbsps ginger, chopped

3 tbsps cilantro, chopped

2 tbsps hoisin sauce

2 tbsps oyster sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

oil

Lettuce leaves

___________________________________________

Season pork with salt and pepper.

Saute pork in ginger, onion and garlic. Add carrots. Continue stir frying until meat is cooked.

Add cilantro, hoisin, oyster and soy sauces. Continue cooking for about five minutes.

Scoop a tsp of the mixture in lettuce leaves and wrap closing on all sides. Serve immediately.