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

 

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.

Classic Baked Macaroni

It was my daughter Sam’s Christmas party and parents were asked to dish out something for the buffet spread. Swamped with yuletide chores, I flexed some muscles, mustered energy to whip up a great dish of pasta. Classic baked mac was to be. Scrumptious, relatively easy to make and a universal favorite, I knew I cooked the right thing.

Baked Macaroni

Cheesy Baked Mac

1 pack elbow macaroni  noodles

1 box quickmelt cheese, grated

3/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 cup mozzarela cheese, grated (optional)

Meat Sauce:

1/2 kilo ground beef

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium-sized onion, minced

1 tomato, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

750 grams tomato sauce, Italian blend

1 can chorizos, cut lengthwise and sliced horizontally (optional)

Bechamel Sauce:

2 boxes  all purpose cream

1 cup milk

1 box cheddar cheese, grated

1/4 cup  butter

1/4 cup curly parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 cup  flour

___________________________________________________

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.

2. In a separate pan, saute garlic, onion and tomato. Add beef. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer until cooked. Add tomato sauce and chorizos. Continue stirring for the next ten minutes. Remove from fire then add cooked pasta in the beef mixture. Set aside.

3. In a skillet, heat  butter then add all-purpose  cream and milk. Mix well. Add cheddar cheese. Slowly add flour to thicken the sauce (the thicker the better!). Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. In a baking dish, assemble the pasta. Scoop up some beef mixture that would be the first layer. Smother with a generous amount of bechamel sauce on top of the beef mixture. repeat the layering twice.

5. Top the dish with the remaining cheeses.

6. Preheat the oven to 350c and bake for 15 minutes or  until cheeses are turned into golden brown. Once cooked, let stand for 15 minutes. Sprinkled with chopped parsley. Serve with you favorite toast.

Chicken Adobo Flakes (Ilonggo Version)

My favorite version of chicken adobo, I stack up on this when I do it in big batches. I use it making a crusty pannini, fried rice, canape topping or simply to papak like chippy! Lol. The crunch, savory appeal of this adobo just breaks my diet(?) everytime.

One of the many heirloom recipes from my Ilongga grandmother who had the most intense affair with the pots and pans, this Ilonggo adobo version uses ONLY vinegar as the the prime acid minus the soy sauce. Of course, slathered with LOTS of garlic and LOTS of LOVE! Lol.

Chicken adobo

1 and 1/2 kilo chicken breasts

3/4 cup cane vinegar

2 heads of garlic, minced

2 laurel leaves

1 tsp pamintang buo

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup canola oil

water

________________________________—

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

In a frying pan, combine chicken, garlic, pamintang buo, laurel leaves, vinegar and cover with water.

Cook until chicken is cooked, crumbled and flaked. Once totally flaked, add about 3/4 to a cup of oil and fry some more until chicken becomes golden brown and crunchy.

Scrambled Egg With Burong Mustasa

The first time I caught a glimpse of  burong mustasa (pickled mustard greens)was during a trip to Gapan, Nueva Ecija many years back. My folks just loved driving away weekends visiting towns that sold scrumptious, exclusively native and inexpensive chow goodies. We would get these burong mustasa  sold in the markets for us to bring home to Manila. This fare is quite famous in the northern part of Luzon, spanning Bulacan to Tarlac. Ahh, super sarap!

Apart from the great taste, it is nutritional in that these mustard greens are proven to be loaded with health benefits saving us from certain diseases like respiratory disorders, gout, etc.

My Tita who shuttles from Pamapanga to Manila at least twice a week just sent me two big packs of these pickled mustards.

Pickled mustard or locally known as burong mustasa, is made by immersing these mustard leaves in rice water and coarse salt for a couple of days.

Anyway, I did not have the patience to wait it out for days. Thanks to tita for just handing me over these packs.

So what did I do? I just chopped about 3 buro leaves and mixed it with two slightly beaten eggs and added about 2 pinches of coarse salt. My mom does it by sauteing garlic and onion first before throwing in chopped burong mustasa and mixing in the egg before it hits the pan for scarambling. Definitely, a good option, too.

However, I like the mustard greens a bit raw and exclusive to egg only– yeah, date silang dalawa lang!

Cooked it on low heat stirring the egg mixture continously. Ahh, it went well with my tapa for breakfast. Happiness!

Asian Chicken with Shiitake and Green Beans

One of the most popular species in the mushroom family, the shiitake mushroom has remained to be a favorite ingredient in a lot of Asian cookery. Its wonderful texture, excellent flavor and health benefits are just but few reasons why it is a preferred choice by foodies all over the world.

Originating from the Japanese word shii mushroom which describes the Japanese tree Castanopsis cuspidata that gives the dead logs on which shiitake mushrooms come from, these dark-colored mushrooms have been proven to contain medicinal properties. Studies show that steady use of these mushrooms may reduce the risk of cardiac disorders, certain types of cancer, allergies and promotes good blood circulation.

Given these nutritional facts about shiitake mushroom, it has become a favorite ingredient in a lot of food stores that advocate health and wellness. It’s even become a substitute for meat! Why, the taste of shiitake is said to be four to ten times more flavorful than the other type of mushrooms like button, Portobello or pearl mushrooms.

The flexible characteristic of the shiitake transcends from being just a second-fiddle ingredient to being the main ingredient in certain dishes. There was even a restaurant that once served adobo made out of shiitake mushrooms!  No wonder, it’s been around for centuries now.

2 whole breast fillets, skinned and sliced into bite-size pieces

5 pcs shiitake mushrooms, sliced

1 whole head of garlic, minced

1 medium onion, minced

2 pcs thumb-sized ginger, sliced

4 pcs green beans, cut 1 inch-long

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

3 tbsps sesame oil

1/2 cup canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp chili sauce (optional)

_________________________________________________

Season Chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute ginger, garlic and onion. Add chicken and stir-fry until chicken is cooked (about 5 minutes).

Add hoisin and chili sauce. Stir until chicken pieces are well coated with hoisin sauce. Toss in mushrooms and green beans. Cook until green beans are medium-well in doneness. Serve hot.

Ye Dang!

It was my first time to try Ye Dang Korean restaurant today and was I enthused to try EVERYTHING that was laid on our dining table. Thanks to my NFF (newly-found friend), Mariel Lee, for taking me there and advancing her delish birthday treat for me!

Not only did I feast on great Korean food but also had a wonderful time with all the chit chats that went with it.

Okay, what did we pluck out from the menu? For starters we had the Korean appetizers. Kimchi was on top of my list.

Strangely, the first few years that I have been trying this dish, I wasn’t sure if I really liked it. I mean, fermented pickled cabbage with all the Korean spices just did not tickle my fancy. I thought the strong taste plus the out of this world flavor just turned me off! But the Koreans are crazy about this! They even have a kimchi-flavored pizza!

Fast forward to today, the tart, mildly-sour and spicy flavor of  kimchi finally made me a convert. I’ve developed a strong liking for it— no, a LOVING for it!

The other appetizers included the spiced raddish slices–

The fishcake that I so liked–

Not to forget my fave Korean dilis in sweet and spicy blend–

And, the bean sprouts that I gobbled up like I do with lapid’s chicharon! Hahaha! So addicting!

Yes! And, we’ve only just begun!

The appetizers came with a bunch of iceberg lettuce and sesame  leaves. The leaves were supposed to be wrappers for the starters and the main dishes. The concept just got me excited. I made several of these wraps one of which was this:

I raved about the rawness of the leaves that made perfect combination with the filling. The sesame leaves rendered a nutty-crunchy taste and texture that left me going for seconds.

The novelty in the dining experience here was in the fact that we were given the choice of having our food cooked before us, yes, on our table (similar to shabu-shabu) or in the kitchen.

The cooking on the spot began with a flaming-hot bunch of charcoal–

I couldn’t look away from the charcoal because of two things: curiosity and hunger. Arg, bring it on!

Finally, the dak-kui (grilled chicken) and the kalbi (sweet beef ribs) were on board!

My eyes were as big as my plate when our serving  of  kalbi jim (beef shortribs stew)  was laid before me. I was actually settled with KIMCHI restaurant’s beef stew already until this came along.

Fall off the bones and totally scrumptious– this was today’s dining superstar, hands down.

The chapchae tasted okay but my top pick in this category remains to be the version of Sorabol which we used to frequent in Greenbelt.

On the whole, I was more than delighted swinging by this Korean restaurant. The ambience, food and feel totally felt Korean!  I swore to return with a bigger appetite and more friends to bring.

Meralco Ave., Ortigas

Mandaluyong City

(02) 636-1461

 

Sole Fillet In Quick Tomato-Mushroom Medley Sauce

In one of our trips to our favorite Belinni’s Italian Restaurant at Cubao X, we decided to look away from our staple-usual faves of pasta and risotto to try another Italian dish that we haven’t tried. SOLE FISH— the menu emphasized how bestseller their sole fillet was via the marking that meant it was a must-try.

With great expectations, we looked forward to having the first bite of the dish. When the plate of sole arrived, what greeted us was a payatot (thin) piece of fish, bone in and all. The sauce didn’t even help at all. Ugh, what a letdown.

So this explains why I made my own. My style, my way and you can’t say otherwise because this is MY blog! Hahaha! In Filipino, walang kokontra!!! (Nobody can’t oppose!)

____________________________________________

Sole Fillet In Tomato-Mushroom Medley Sauce

5 whole sole fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper

5 large tomatoes, diced

2 medium-sized red onions, sliced

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup flour

1 can button mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 tsps dried basil

1/2 cup white wine

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

_____________________________________________-

Lightly dredge sole fillets on flour. Pan- fry until slightly brown on both sides. Set aside.

In a skillet, saute onion, garlic and tomatoes. Continue stirring until tomatoes have been completelycrushed and mashed turning into a chunky tomato sauce. Add basil, mushrooms and white wine. Let it simmer for another 3 minutes.

Top on sole fillets while hot. Serve immediately.

Bam-i

I once made my bully love me after I fed her with my Mom’s bam-i. Almost abruptly, she started being nice to me after her first plate of my bam-i. This dish is so good, I eat it like there’s no tomorrow.

One of mom’s many signature dishes, I love this one for many reasons. For one it is a symphony of flavors that get me going for seconds ALWAYS when it is served. The linamnam factor of the canton and sotanghon combined, the juicy chicken that dictates the general taste of the pansit, the asim (sour component) of the calamansi that goes well in contrast with the garlicky taste and aroma the garlic gives  just blows me away. Ahh, give me that plate of bam-i now!

BAM-I

500  grams canton

300 grams sotanghon

2 whole chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

2 medium-sized carrots, cut into strips

1/2 cup dahon ng sibuyas, chopped

3/4 cups celery, chopped

5 pcs calamansi, halved

1 onion, sliced

2 heads of garlic, minced

1 liter chicken stock

3 tbsps fish sauce (patis)

oil

salt and pepper to taste

___________________________________________________

In a casserole, saute garlic until golden brown. Drain excess oil. Set aside.

In the same pan, saute onion until translucent in color. Add chicken and celery. Season with salt and pepper and fish sauce. Throw in carrots and stir for about two minutes.

Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Mix in pancit canton and sotanghon.

Cook until liquid is gone and pancit tender and moist.

Prepare roasted garlic, calamansi and chopped dahon ng sibuyas in mini containers and use as ‘budbod’ once pancit has been served.

Serve with your favorite toast.

Roasted Eggplant And Feta Spread

Next to manchego cheese, feta is my ultimate comfort cheese. A brined curd cheese, I use it best as topping on melba toasts, pesto or sundried sauces or as the final touch to my moussaka. Let’s put it this way, I can simply gobble up feta with NOTHING. Yes, eat it like I do with Chippy. I LOVE feta— enough said.

This weekend had me making some spread made of some roasted eggplant and red bell peppers smothered generously with crumbled feta cheese. It was to be the ‘crowning glory’ of my grilled whole wheat pandesal round. I was amused at the combo of this cheese and the medley of eggplant and peppers that I threw into it. The creamy-soury nature of the feta just did some kick to the almost neutral-tasting but smokey qualities of my veggie roasts. Ahhh, how I devoured this spread on my open-faced pandesal rounds! It’s a must-try, absolutely.

Roasted eggplant with feta spread

2 medium-sized eggplants. cut vertically

2 medium-sized red bell pepper, seeded and cut vertically

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsps balsamic vinegar

Season eggplant and bell peppers with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. Drizzle with some olive oil. Grill until they’re cooked or bellpeppers’ skin can peel easily.

On a plate, scrape the flesh of the eggplant discarding the skin. Do the same with the bell pepper. Cube the bell peppers, cut the flesh of the eggplant into bite size pieces and mix them together. Toss in feta cheese.

Use as topping for your favorite toast.

Cream Of Chicken Soup

Nothing beats sipping a warm bowl of soup that was made from the heart. No offense meant to canned soup lovers, but soups made from scraps and scratch are the ones that genuinely rock. Why,  the homemade soup’s edge lies in the fact that it’s healthier, none of the ‘can’ taste and you know a hundred percent what went with the soup when it was cooked.

Okay, this soup (again) was a proud product of a makeover from a leftover (nice rhyme!). The previous evening saw me baking some lemon pepper chicken and had some leftover. Not that it wasn’t good enough to be devoured in one sitting (Ha, defensive me!) but that, Jake and I had quite a big bingeing spree shortly before dinner that left us full til the next day!

Anyway, frankly, I don’t like the idea of reheating  leftover baked chicken for my meals. The overnight period usually leaves the skin stiff, rubbery, greasy and all. The flesh too firm and totally juiceless. But the good news is– I love doing a makeover of baked chicken. First step is to chunk the meat and sometimes the skin, then stir-fry coating  it with a favorite sauce– either bbq or charsiu sauce. Either way would land in between two slices of bread! Sarap!

Today was different, my leftover surprise was made up of these chicken chunks, celery stalks and cream. Cream of chicken soup— now, are you hungry?

Cream of chicken soup

3/4 cup left over chicken (baked, boiled or even fried!), cubed

1 box all purpose cream

1/2 cup celery, chopped

1 medium-sized onion, finely minced

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup quickmelting cheese (optional)

4 cups of water or whole milk

1 chicken cube

2 tbsps flour diluted in 1/2 cup water

Saute chicken, onion and celery in butter.

Add cream and cheese. Bring to mild simmer until mixture becomes thick. Add water or milk .  Add flour mixture. Let it simmer and continue stirring until desired consistency is achieved. You may actually adjust consistency (to thin the soup) by adding whole milk or water until you reach your desired consistency. Serve hot.

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Filling

Sam pleaded to do carrot cake with me yesterday. Our bonding over this cake goes a long way. We’ve had carrot cake baking sessions quite a number of times already. Sam obsesses with all the whipping, mixing, pouring and tasting involved in baking. She’d trade baking for two episodes of Handy Manny or Angelina Bellerina at any given time.

And, because this cake is  kinda tedious to make (yeah, baking isn’t my thing. So…) , a third hand is always a welcome thing. My little hand, hands down, is the best third hand.

Inspired by a recipe I plucked out from epicurean.com. We started rolling up ur sleeves to get this cake done.

The bright orange colored carrots didn’t escape my sight as I cruised the vegetable aisles of my fave grocery. I thought they looked perfect for my carrot cake. Ahh, how I looked forward seeing Sam glow from 10 watts to 80!

And so the project began..

Carrot cake with cream cheese filling

4 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1 and 1/4 cup carrots, grated
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cup flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
1 cup oil
2 1/2 Tbsp
hot water
1/2 tsp baking soda

FILLING
1 box cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar

FROSTING
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F. Mix together egg yolks and 1 cup of the sugar. Stir until yolk becomes light in color.

Throw  in carrots, nuts, flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, salt and oil.

Combine and mix  together hot water and soda and stir into flour mixture.

Beat egg whites until foamy and slowly add remaining sugar. Beat until stiff and glossy.

Fold egg white mixture into carrot mixture.

Turn mixture into a greased 13×9-inch pan lined with greased wax paper and bake for 45 minutes or until done. Cool.

Slice in half horizontally, to form two layers.

Meantime, to do the cream cheese filling, soften the cream cheese and mix in sugar. Using an electric mixer, mix until mixture is creamy and a bit fluffy.

To make the frosting, beat the whipping cream until slightly stiff, then add the sugar and continue beating until mixture creates soft peaks. Frost the entire cake with whipped cream.

C Italian Dining– A Must Eat And C Place!

Finally, there’s one great reason to drive to Pampanga. And, the reason starts and ends with the letter C!

Voted not once but twice as Restaurant of the year by The Philippine Tatler, wouldn’t you scratch the itch to hie off to Pampanga to check what C Italian restaurant is all about?

Foodies talk about this restaurant ALL THE TIME!

Nestled right smack in the bustling area of Angeles (very near the Clark airbase), I was just too happy driving over to C to finally sample the very famous Italian dishes they serve. And yeah, nevermind if I missed the television coverage of PNoy’s presidential inauguration, tsk…

The out-of-towners!

Okay, the ‘front act’ of the lunch was an awesome basket of Italian bread– dipped in pesto sauce. I was raving non-stop about the crusty-chewy-oomph loaded characteristics of the bread. It was love at first bite! And to think, we were just starting to warm up!

Italian bread in pesto dipping sauce

 The next to arrive was the jando Italian salami panizza– a certified C bestseller. The novelty of this panizza is in the way you eat it. Oh, my eyes rolled in delight even before I rolled the panizza!

C super classic panizza–jando Italian salami, Php 655.

 You eat the panizza this way: Take a strip of panizza, top with arugula leaves and alfalfa sprouts then roll or fold the strip to make a bite size piece. Arugula+cheese+perfect crust spelled YUMMY font 99!

The first pasta we ordered, Spaghetti con frutti di mare, was loaded with the bounty of the sea. Fresh salmon, mahi-mahi, grouper, prawns and imported green lip mussels sauteed with light extra virgin olive oil in pomodoro sauce, it really got us digging in for more of this yummy pasta fare.

Spaghetti con frutti di mare, Php 580.

 The second pasta was penne calebrese. Ahh, it was super. Made of chunks of US Angus oxtail meat that was tender-braised with red wine, tomatoes, green peppers and capers.

Penne calebrese, Php 580.

 We also ordered a second kind of panizza– Don Carmelo. It had spicy chorizos, anchovies, thyme and pecorino cheese. I’ve always been a fan of pizzas with anchovies and that one, I so enjoyed!

C Italian Dining

1210 Don Juico Avenue

Clarkfield, Pampanga  045.892.4059

Pasta Milano

Like a child handed with a choochoo train, I was ecstatic getting a pack of some whole wheat spaghetti pasta direct from Italia. My husband, Jake, is back from a week-long conference in Italy and he came home with spices and other kitchen stuff that totally got me excited.

Okay, what to do. I scoured our freezer for possible ingredients to go with the pasta noodles. Ohhh, I saw a pack of ribeye (sukiyaki cut) and  mentally screened other potential ingredients that could to go with it. I wanted something light, healthy and very Italian tasting. So I settled for some olive oil-coated pasta with meats, peppers, tomatoes and herbs!

In fact, if I had roasted eggplants, zucchinis and capsicum peppers available in my ref, I would’ve let them join the rest of the ingredients. That would have been the ultimate. But hey, this one was a mighty hit just the same.

Oh, just a side comment– I’ve been going to SM Hypermarket Centris Stn and can I just say, the prices of their veggies are far lower than the standard prices of veggies in most supermarkets. Our helper even quipped, “Eh Mam mas mura pa ho dito ang gulay kesa sa palengke namin eh!”.  Just a quick tip for the budget-conscious shoppers.

Anyway, I immediately donned myself in my new apron from the land of pasta and risotto and off I went to cook away the pasta and everything that went with it!

Pasta Milano

1/4 kilo ribeye sukiyaki cut meat

1 red bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 can diced tomatoes

3 tbsps fresh basil, chopped

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup black mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions.

In a skillet, saute garlic. Add meat, bell peppers and mushrooms. Stir until meat is cooked (about 3 minutes). Pour in the mixture tomatoes and  basil.

Season with salt and pepper. Mix with drained pasta noodles.

Sprinkle with cheese on top. Serve with your favorite toast.