Chicken liver pate

We spent the weekend at home because of the impending rain on Saturday and the temperature drop on Sunday. That ended me up experimenting on two dishes, chicken liver pate and cucumber sushi. I did have plans to cook but these two are not on my list. I was supposed to try gambas ajillo or putanesca but obviously none of them was served in my kitchen. Coming up with the two dishes were both unplanned. On Saturday, I went to the market with Ate Rosie (my first Saturday at the market in my 3 years stay in Taipei) to buy a week’s supply of meat, fish and vegetables. Thinking of something new to grace my daughter’s palate, I thought chicken liver would be nice and healthy as well. I bought an “i-jin” (600gms) of it and planned to have it divided for several cookings. I realized though that the hubby does not eat liver but on the contrary, he loves liver spread and he eats igado (Filipino dish with pork liver). So, few pieces went into the pot, mixed with seasonings and resulted to liver adobo good for three servings but not necessarily in a single day. The uncooked ones were meant to be stored in the freezer. After lunch, I thought of searching the internet for any other liver recipes and found the chicken liver pate (with video shown in videojug) interesting. I told the hubby about it and with delight, he agreed that I try it. We checked the ingredients and it turned out that we’d need bacon rashers and sherry besides the seasonings we already have in the kitchen cabinet. No sherry was found in the grocery and the net showed that to come up with it, two different kinds of beverages need to be mixed. That being said, we opted to use red wine instead. And you know what, the liver turned out to be the cheapest ingredient of the liver pate. This made me realize why pates are costly back home; I’d rather buy the canned liver spread next time, lol. Anyway, the cooking process turned out to be not as simple as I thought; putting the cooked dish in our tiny blender resulted to some mess. The good thing is that we ended up with three servings of homemade chicken liver pate. Please see the complete “cooking story” that follows and give it a try if you’re interested. Of course I’d say you will love it!

The homemade chicken liver pate

Ingredients that I used (sorry, no exact measurements provided):
Chicken liver, cleaned and halved


Rashers bacon
Basil leaves (it should have been parsley but I didn’t have it)

Red wine (it should have been sherry)
Italian spices (I thought it would be nice to add these up)
Chopped garlic
Chopped onions
Butter, two portions (one for cooking and one for topping later)

Bay leaves (for toppings later)
Salt and pepper

My way of cooking it:
1. I melted the butter to have the portion for topping available right away. I used what’s left in the pan to fry the bacon with the onions and garlic added later.

2. I added the liver tossing it ocassionally. I gave it at 5~7minutes before putting the seasonings.

3. I added the Italian spices, sprinkled a dash of salt and pepper and stirred. I gave it 2~3minutes so the seasonings can “get through” the liver and bacon.
4. I added the red wine and left it to simmer for 10minutes. Occassional stirring still needed here. Of course, I tasted (and asked hubby to sample it as well) the sauce to make sure the seasonings are enough.
5. I added the basil leaves and give it another 2 minutes.

That’s it, it’s cooked! The next step is to blend dish. I’d say this is the part that takes most of my time preparing the pate. The dish had little sauce so I had to add a little amount of water otherwise the blender will not work. I know this is not supposed to be done, don’t do it then. Find other means, maybe you can add sherry or melted butter instead.

Finally, after having it blended, I set three small containers (this is advisable so you can open and consume one in a day or two), spread the blended dish and had it follow the mould of the containers. I put few bay leaves on top (for decoration purposes huh?) and topped it with the melted butter. That completed the chicken liver pate. The containers had to be placed in the fridge until the butter solidified.

The story ends with the family enjoying toasted loaves of bread topped with homemade chicken liver pate. Sunday’s experimental dish will follow in a separate post.

Credits: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-chicken-liver-pate - this was my main recipe reference. I altered it to suit availability of ingredients.
Note: Photos in this post are all taken by the blog author.

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Strange-sounding, mouth-wathering recipe: ADOBASIT

Combination of pork and squid invading one of my teflon pots

You’re not a Pinoy if you don’t know and eat adobo! That’s my personal line and I don’t intend to insist. :) Adobo has always been a favorite in our home. The adobo can be anything like baboy (pork), manok (chicken), combination of baboy and manok (the first three can be with or without potatoes), pusit (squid), and sitaw (string beans). The adobong manok can also be varied from a combination of all body parts (except the internals), wings, drumsticks, breasts, and “adidas” (chicken feet). Back home, different provinces have their own ways of coming out with adobos, others prefer dry while others with sauce to mix with the rice later. For me, if I cook adobo, I always include all, if not most, of the following basic ingredients: onions, garlic, ground or whole pepper, bay leaves, soy sauce, vinegar (or calamansi extract), salt and sugar. At times, I add ginger to adobong manok and oyster sauce to adobong pusit. In one of my favorite restaurants (part of Iggy’s Inn or Iggy’s Place) in Baguio, the special adobo served is a combination of lechon baboy and chicken. That didn’t sound strange at all to me.

Recently, I was exchanging comments with my multiply friends when I posted our Christmas celebration with seafoods mainly served. Noeds, also a high school friend back in SJHS, asked Sharon and I if we ever tried cooking adobong baboy and pusit, not separately but combined. Both our answers are “no” followed by same reaction and question of “Really, is there such thing, sounds strange to us! Can you share your recipe?” Noeds in turn told us she just cooks it like the regular adobong baboy and add the pusit. The tastes match, she said. She also mentioned about using something like the pork cubes. I told her I’d like to try. I mentioned it to hubby and he was interested. I told him I couldn’t imagine the taste and he said it should be fine.

Last Sunday, I had no other plans for dinner except for that much awaited adobong baboy and pusit which I simple call ADOBASIT. Sounds like a combination yet contradiction of the Ilocano terms “adu” (many or plenty) and “bassit” (small or not much). As I mentioned in my earlier posts about recipes, I really don’t have an exact recipe. As long as you know how to cook adobo, you’d know how to come up with this. What I did was to cook the adobong baboy first then when the pork meat was already tender, I added up the squid noting that when the later gets overcooked, the meat will harden. I gave the combination less than ten minutes to simmer and tada, dish was readied for dinner. The combination came in just fine. I’d say, the taste of the pusit dominated that of the baboy but was still ok. This is one dish that will get through my kitchen not just once or twice but often.

Don't you think they make a good pair?

You may have to think twice and give it a try!

Thanks to Noeds for sharing this authentic dish!

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The siopao that will change your lifestyle...

We used to simply pass by a store where we noticed many people queued on the ordering counter while others waited for their numbers to be called. To us, it’s just like the long line in Mister Donuts and Dunkin Donuts which we find quite strange and we didn’t want to wait that long to get donuts as we find nothing really special on them. On other occassions, we notice that the line is short but unsure of what the store sells, how to order and what to order, we just head to the nearby coffeeshop. On one Wednesday night however, after bringing Jade to the clinic for one of her vaccine shots, we had to find a place to eat our dinner. Seeing food stalls on the other side of the road, we crossed and noticed that there’s no line in the store. We got the chance to look at the goods they sell and figured out they sell siopaos, colorful and variety of them. Looking at the store’s name, it showed “Mr. Baoz”. There are product portfolios at the counter and we eagerly grabbed them to check the list. To our delight, the prices were also listed and it turned out that one siopao costs around 25~30NTD, price for one donut. There are packages for a single piece, 3pieces, 6pieces and 12pieces. Excited yet quite wary of the taste, we opted to get a package of six.

It's actually the box which says "This food will change your lifestyle."

I bet it will. BTW, bao (or pao) means steamed bun.

While waiting for our order in the noodle house where we settled for dinner, I grabbed one which turned out to be topped with some sweet creamy paste and stuffed with black beans (or was it actually sesame seeds). Upon seeing me bring out the siopao from the box, Jade kept on exclaiming “Eat! Eat! Eat!” I took the first bite which right away made me learn why people queued for it. I gave Jade her share followed by succeeding bits and pieces of the “dough”, stuffing and topping. Dennis was the last to have a bite and was almost tempted to get another one. He was able to control himself and waited for the noodles instead. When we reached home, we left 3pcs for our friends while we brought two for our packed breakfast. The next day, Dennis and I exchanged phone calls at work to describe how our shares tasted. Mine was better I think; I chose the chicken while he had the curry flavor. More to that, our friend said they really liked it. They had the strawberry, squid roll (w/ wasabe) and steak flavors. We thought that we should have bought a dozen instead of just six.

This package of six is called Jewelry Box

Single piece: Dear Me

12pcs: Choose from Forest Box, Royal Sharing Box and Champion Box

For our New Year celebration, we planned to buy a box of 12 so our other friends can have a taste of it but didn’t get any chance to go to the nearest store in Shipai, around 5minutes walk away from the MRT. It remained a plan thus making us crave for several weeks until hubby got the chance to go to Taipei. I asked him to drop by the store on his way home and get us a box of 12. Later in the afternoon, he called me to say that he only had 200NTD in his wallet and there was no ATM machine he can withdraw from. That meant he can only buy 3pcs as he still needs some amount for his fare but at least we can satisfy our craving. When he arrived, I was surprised to see him carrying a box of 6pcs, just like what we bought for the 1st time. I asked how come. He said his MRT/bus card is still loaded. Without worrying of not having extra amount and thinking of the “trouble” he had to go through to get to the store, he better had a full box of six than only three. Good decision he made! We ate three pieces that night, not for dinner but for our evening snack. We brought two again for breakfast the next day while he consumed the last piece for dinner.

Bao pictures collected from the store's website

The first five are part of the Jewelry Box and we tasted all of them.

The sixth one, is something I look forward to eat

We will definitely try other flavors if we get the chance to go to Shipai. I want to try the ones stuffed with icing or ice cream and topped with chocolate flakes.

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Basil and seafoods (updated)

I really love cooking and I’d say my median skills are results of observation, practice, experimentation and exploration. Recently, I discovered how the herb basil contributes to the aroma and savour of seafoods. Perfect is how my husband describes it.

I used to know and use only the dried basil leaves which are also part of the bottle of “Italian spices” I use mostly for pasta preparation. Then I figured that the taste I didn’t like much from fried chicken and squid tentacles sold in the night markets is actually fresh basil leaves added just few seconds before the goods are lifted up from the boiling oil for dripping. It is also the same herb usually added in the viands served in my workplace’s canteen.

One time, we had dinner in our friend’s place and she served us clams filled with herbs. From the smell of it, I told her that was the scent I avoid in foods but she told me it goes well with the clams. I really didn’t have to eat the leaves because the main purpose of having it added in the viand is just to make it smell even better - in other words, the basil leaves were the dish's seasoning. Setting aside the herbs, I spooned only the sauce and the clams and to my surprise, it tasted oh so good.

From there, I searched from the internet facts about basil leaves and realized that pesto is actually made from it, with the addition of pine nuts and olive oil. That made me even more excited leading me to looking for articles on how to make pesto. I found several writings about it which basically say the same thing but presented in different ways. Anyhow, I planned to make pesto by myself but didn’t have the food processor and realized our blender is too small to make a desirable amount. So until now, I still didn’t give it a try.

On the other hand, when I had the chance to prepare various seafood recipes after that “fishing” experience in Taoyuan, I bought a bag of fresh basil leaves and had them as one of the main ingredients in my cooking.

The first dish I cooked was a replica of the clams my friend prepared. The recipe is very simple – all I needed were chopped onions, pressed garlic cloves, small amount of oil, oyster sauce, clams and half-bag of the basil leaves. I sauted the first 2 ingredients, added the clams and oyster sauce and let it boil. Since the clams were soaked in water, there’s no need to add water. I covered the pan and let it boil for few minutes with the clam shells popping out here and there. When the sound lessened, I opened the pan and noting that most of the shells are opened, I added the basil leaves and covered the pan again and left it boiling for another few minutes. My allotted time is not really measured as I am used to estimations.

The second dish I cooked with basil leaves consisted of the crab legs as the main ingredient along with the same items listed earlier but this time, I also had an egg and flour in my preparation table. For ease of eating, I asked hubby to crash the shells with the “pounding” metal before cooking. That time, what I had in mind is the dish that we usually order in a seafood restaurant we visit on an occasional basis. It’s actually quite expensive so I thought of imitating it. I guess I was lucky to get it right on my first try. The crab legs were boiled separately first, a dash of salt to taste is added. After boiling, I set separated the crab legs from the broth and set aside the latter. I took another pan and sauted the onions and garlic on a small amount of oil (mine was olivenol oil) then added the crab meat. After several toss and turns, I added the oyster sauce and the broth and left it to boil while I beat the egg and mixed the flour with a small amount of water. I actually used flour because I didn’t have corn starch in my kitchen cabinet. The purpose of adding it anyway is to make the mixture a little sticky. Now when the boiling mixture matched my taste, I added the egg and mixed flour and stirred what’s on the pan. Then I added the basil leaves, covered the pan and let it simmer for few minutes. The scent of the herbs filled our small kitchen area and extended to the living room and bedroom which made us hungry right away. Good thing the rice is already cooked so after allowing the dish to simmer, it was time to get the serving bowl and lay the dish on the table. We set aside Jade’s porridge and decided to serve her plain rice with the crab meat either from mommy or daddy’s plate. Of course, compliments in forms of “wows” and “sarap” followed while we were feasting on this newly discovered viand recipe. I ate bare handed which made it even better for me to enjoy the meal.

I will still have to work on the pesto but the next thing I have know is where to find the pine nuts.

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Oceanic khanas

Out of grief over Miki's loss, Ate Rosie and Kuya Jack decided not to spend the rest of the day in their home last Friday. After hours of trying to calm themselves, Ate invited me and Jade to go with them to the seashore somewhere in Taoyuan. They prefer to keep themselves busy to help them somehow forgot what just happened earlier. Taking this opportunity to see the place, I said yes right away.

On their last visit to the place, Ate gave me a share of the squid she bought from the wet market in Taoyuan. She boasted about the handful yet cheap seafood varieties they saw in the place and her thought of buying one basin full of different fishes. Asked by her husband how she'll consume them all gave her second thoughts though so she shrugged off the idea from her mind. When she told me about it, I told her she should have just bought them all and we could share among our other friends and pay her back. Knowing that we were interested, she planned bringing us to the place two weeks from now to match her hubby's day-off from work. Somehow, the waiting time was shortened.

Taoyuan is a county located in the northwestern part of Taiwan, next to Taipei County. In Chinese, "Taoyuan" means "peach garden," since the area used to have many peach blossoms. One of the main reasons this county is popular is because the Taoyuan City is home to the then called Chiang-Kai-Shek International Airport, the gateway to Taiwan. The airport's name has eventually been changed to Taoyuan International Airport. So it's not really our first time to set foot on the place because we have been in and out of the airport several times already. That also prompted me to tell them to drive us straight to the airport instead of tagging us home back to Taipei after visiting the wet market.

Anyway, on our way, we saw the usual huge waves by the sea - the highway was beside the Taiwan Strait. I only knew now that the body of water is called Taiwan Strait - earlier during our trip, I asked Kuya if it was part of the China Sea - being sensitive to China-Taiwan things - he looked at me and uttered seriously "this is no China - this is Taiwan!" I should be very careful next time. Locals here are sensitive about this issue nowadays.

The drive to the place was around one hour - I guess it was less than an hour. We headed to the port right away and from today's research, I found out that the place we went to is just one of the ports in Taoyuan and it is called Jhuwei Fishing Port. At the back of my mind, I remember seeing a sign "Taipei port". I captured some excerpt from Taiwan's Council of Agriculture website to tell a little more about the place.

Jhuwei is located in the Dayuan Township near Bali Township in Taipei County. Because of its beauty, it has become one of the top recreational areas for Taipei residents. Tourists go there for the glorious sunset and the grand splashing of the waves against the northern bank. The Jhuwei Tourism Fish Market, the most famous and the biggest fish market in northern Taoyuan, opens all-year round. It has an area of more than 25,000 sq feet (700 ping) and packs 77 stalls. Tourists can buy fresh seafood on the first floor or eat seafood on the second floor. The chefs on the second floor are more than happy to cook the seafood bought on the first floor. (BTW, ping is the unit of measurement they use for floor areas. One ping is equivalent to around 36 sq. feet or 3.5 square meters.)

One of the significant things I noticed as we entered the market place is the absence of foul odors or in other words, fishy smell. The other thing is that I expected the floor to be wet because I am used to going to the fish market that is literally wet, but no, the floor is dry. The first stall that we saw was selling huge fish varieties. All I uttered is "wow" and of course, click click click went my small camera.

We went from one stall to the other looking for the items listed in our minds - salmon, shrimps, squid and anything else (that could be a lot huh!). We surveyed the place first before buying.

Ate and Kuya kept talking to me as I also kept asking them what kind of fish is this or that or what part of a fish is that, is that really part of the fish, etc. etc. Of course, Jade also looked around with curiousity and followed me saying "wow". In one stalls, the owner was talking in a loud voice, I thought he was fighting with the customer but noting that there was no air of fight, I asked Ate why his voice is that loud. I figured out he was just reacting that way because nobody wanted to buy the fishes in his stall. You know why? It's because they're so huge and bunched up in a basin where one contained around three pieces of huge fishes and they are sold not by piece but by bunch. My, I wouldn't by one myself. We can't consume them all. We passed through stalls that sell any of the these - fishes alone, fish varieties, shrimp varieties, squids, crabs, seashells, seaweeds, lobsters, clams, combination of them all, sashimi, octopus tentacles, fish egg, etc. There's this fish meat that looked like a jelly - silky and very white - I was told, it's a part of a fish stomach wall - could be of a shark's. I also saw a quite ugly fish and Kuya told me it's from deep water - the uglier the fish is, the deeper it came from. It reminded me of one show I saw on TV about the discovery of grotesque fishes on one part of the ocean somewhere around the world.

Anyhow, the sea wonder that amazed me most was the humongous crabs that were even bigger than my face. Ate and Kuya kept telling me about it on our way to the stall. At first, I couldn't believe when they told me about its size, and especially its cost - 3000NTD per piece - that's around 4000PHP based on the current forex rate. My, who buy that? I already saw the biggest lobster around the market but was yet to see the largest crab in my entire life. When we reached the stall, I was finally convinced about its size because I saw it myself. They had something like thorns on their shells. I unit thought the length of the legs I saw was just it only to be told they're folded so when I looked closer, I realized how huge they really are. In Taiwan, the common unit of measurement is by 600grams or jin as it is locally termed. Thus 600 grams would be i-jin while 1200grams would be er-jin. "I" (pronounced as "ee") and "er" mean one and two respectively. The stall owner informed us that i-jin of the crab costs 680NTD, Ate and Kuya said it's cheaper this time of the year compared to its price during the Chinese New Year where i-jin would cost more than 800NTD. The couple had already tried this kind of crab and they described it to be very very delicious - I am convinced merely by their facial and verbal expressions. I could put exclamation point at the end of their statements. They told me the shell is very soft and the crabs are from the deep waters of Japan. That time, I learned further that not all seafoods sold in that market are from Taiwan itself but most are imported from Japan.

After seeing most of the place and ending in that humongous crab stall for several minutes, we bought the bunch of shrimps from the ladyowner - it costs 380NTD - we shared it with our other friend. We decided it's time to do the "fishing" but before that, Ate asked me to call our friend Juvel to check what she wanted us to buy for her then off we went to get our shares. We bought squid, crab legs (I prefer the legs because it's meaty compared to the crab body), shrimps, fresh dilis, clams and sashimi. We couldn't find a desirable salmon meat and we didn't want the head part this time so we took it out from our list. I wanted to buy even more but thinking of how small our storage bin is stopped me from getting more than planned. There'll be another chance anyway.

Outside the market building, cooked and ready to eat varieties were also sold. At the entrance/exit door, they were selling cooked small crabs at a price of 100NTD for three pieces. Other than that, the rest includes fried varieties and the popular spiced seashells (bisukol). I asked Ate if she tried that and she said yes and it tasted good. I wondered how they suck the meat out without cracking/biting the tip - the procedure I knew since childhood. They kept asking me what I liked them to buy among the cooked ones but I told them seeing the variety of seafoods inside the market was enough for me. We just went to the store to get hot coffee which we finished outside the store while Jade run around the place.

We strolled further along the shore and I saw that there are other stalls there as well but more of the real wet ones where the fishes are scattered on the floor. I guess it's cheaper there. We didn't stay long because it was too windy. Again, there'll be another chance anyway. We decided to head back home and on our way, Kuya bought us hot sugarcane juice which he said is good for our coughs. We also dropped by a store in Bali to buy salted eggs. We arrived home just before dinner giving me time to cook the first dish out from our "fishing".

I have the complete set of pictures taken inside the market in an album HERE.

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In celebration of the mid-autumn festival

Sept 25 is the declared national holiday in celebration of the mid-autumn or the so called moon festival. Our company also declared Sept. 24 as a non-working holiday but we had to work on 09.29, Saturday, to "pay" for it. Anyway, moon festival is a time for moon cakes and outdoor barbequing. Several moon cakes were shared in the office and we also ordered a box of pineapple cakes from one of our former colleagues. Ate Rosie also gave us a box of curry flavored mooncakes which I only tasted once. Only hubby liked it. There’s also the pomelo which I think by its not so round shape somewhat represents the moon (?).

Other than the mooncake and pomelo, Taiwanese do not skip barbequing either on the night of the moon festival or earlier. Most of our colleagues in the office asked if we’re having barbeque, our common answer is that we’ll just savour the smell that will come in our apartment windows. Eventually, I asked Ate Rosie’s plan. Since they didn’t do any barbequing for the last couple of years, I persuaded her so that we can have a get together with our other friends. She also got excited so we planned on what to prepare. During the weekend, she started to buy seafoods and some frozen stuffs. Then on Monday afternoon, we went to the market to buy meat and vegetables. We prepared the typical pinoy barbeque marinated in soy sauce, ketchup and sprite plus of course, a lot of garlic. We also bought ingredients for pansit guisado and we asked our friend Juvel to prepare macaroni salad. We actually prepared a lot more than the planned varieties. There were sausages, a certain kind of Japanese fish, a local fish like the “espada”, chicken wings, pork pinoy bbq, mushroom and green pepper, shrimp, squid, chicken butt (kimmot in Ilokano) and oyster. The last two were both upon the request of Ate Rosie’s hubby, Kuya Jack. They actually went to buy it after we cooked the pansit guisado, just about an hour before we had lunch. Of course, we didn’t miss to prepare the famous dip sauce (sawsawan) – vinegar with diced onions, black pepper and salt. (Describing it now made me salivate, hehehe).

The men started to set-up our barbeque grills at 2PM and we followed shortly. The apartment compound designated a particular place near the basketball court for people to set-up their “picnic grounds”. Dennis cooked the sausage first and it turned out to be a “charcoaled sausage” so they eventually used a foil on top of the grill to avoid “burning” our food. Andrew even kidded him by saying “Yeah, I like my barbeque burnt”. The oyster was great. At first I was hesitant to eat it because of my fear of having stomach upset later but upon tasting it, yummy, I ate more than two.

While we were cooking, Jade on the other hand, enjoyed her own freedom running around the grounds. She was so proud that she would even run towards the court by herself not minding the people around her and running after her. Huh, it was one of the days where she made me and Dennis tired running after her. She eventually got tired and slept in my arms hours later. That gave me time to enjoy the rest of the food. We packed up at 6PM and went back to Ate Rosie’s home to have dinner. Most of the foods were consumed, that made us glad since at first, we thought there were so many foods prepared and only few came. Our local friends enjoyed the pinoy barbeque.

We ended up tired but satisfied. We look forward to next year’s mooncake festival for another outdoor fun.

I’ve managed to organize our presentable pictures here.

PS. I asked several Taiwanese friends what’s beyond having barbeque during moon festival. They tell me that it’s not really a tradition. It started when a barbeque sauce TV commercial was launched telling everyone to have barbeque during the moon festival. Huh, television commercials are really persuasive in here. Not only one or two people told me this so I really believed the origin is from that tv commercial. You see, one of my friends also told me about a tv commercial of a junk food/ snack food where in that commercial, it asked the viewers to bring that snack food everytime they go on trips, and yeah, people obeyed. My friend said she brings that kind of snack herself and when she taught in a cram school, the kids would bring the same kind of snack food on their educational trips.

On the other hand, some articles say that barbequing is their act of sharing and giving back the blessings they’ve received.

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Of cravings, pasta, passion and quick preparation...

Recently, I have regular cravings for a taste just like this. I guess mine is more of a penchant for the combination of olive oil, butter, herbs (or Italian spices) and parmesan cheese. My passion for cooking has made me come up with two variations from the chicken-shrimp pasta that was served first. The second one was added with salmon and instead of using butter when I sauteed the ingredients, cheese was used. My third variation was served last night. I went to town and decided earlier that my husband and I take care of our own dinner - he would buy on the nearby store in our apartment compound while I choose where to eat in town. The choices I had include McDonalds, Yoshinoya, Moss Burger and Kohikan - all of which are fastfood chains. I was not really hungry and thinking of the choices mentioned didn't boost my appetite anyway. Then came the urge for "that" taste. I thought my daughter could have finished her dinner already by the time I arrived home so she could have settled by then and not be catching my attention while I cook, and Dennis is there anyway. When I got into the bus bounded for home, I called him and asked him to cook the pasta so when I get there, I would only be cooking the rest of the ingredients.

I dropped by the grocery, passed by the vegetable section first and thought adding brocolli would be nice so I grabbed one, headed to the meat section and picked up a packaged boneless chicken. I also grabbed a bottle of orange juice on my way to the counter. That's all I got from the grocery. I checked on Jade for few minutes and without even changing clothes, I started to quickly prepare the stuffs I needed - diced onions, (I left out the garlic this time but I used the powdered one instead), diced chicken, sliced brocolli and... tadah... I started the cooking. In a span of 30 minutes, the dish is ready to be eaten. I forgot to mention that the pasta was timely cooked when I got home so all I did was to drain it and coat it with the butter that I intentionally mixed in the saute for quicker preparation. I guess it was the quickest pasta preparation I ever did. The result was great. Adding the brocolli made it even better. I had a second serving at 10PM as I needed to put our daughter to sleep right after I ate my first platter. Moreover, we had a packed pasta for breakfast at work.

The following are photos from my second variation - chicken, shrimp and salmon.

the buttered pasta

the concoction

the mixed concoction and pasta

the dish - served and ready to eat

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ala jollibee spaghetti

This is post is especially for Sharon, one of my avid blog fans, lol!

She asked me to share the ala-jollibee spag recipe that I learned from my Pinay friends here in Taiwan. To make it easier for me, I tried to search the recipe in the web (which I usually do, I even checked from the Jollibee websited if they have it published but of course, they’ll not do that otherwise, their spag will not be “unique” anymore) but didn’t really find one. I grabbed a near resemblance and did 50% editing. Lol!

Sha, I’ll be happy to hear from you later that this recipe has satisfied your craving, if I may say so, for JB-spag.

PS. Agluto ka ah. Pinagrigatak daytoy, hahaha.

Ingredients

• 1 kg. spaghetti noodles
• 1 kg. ground beef or pork ( 1/2 kg could be enough though)
• 1/4 kg. hotdogs, diagonally sliced (hotdogs here are different from the Filipino versions and I don’t think they will go with the sauce so I skip this ingredient)
• 1 kg. tomato sauce ( if you can find banana ketchup, the better)
• Evaporated Filled Milk 370 mL or the biggest can size
• Sweetened Condensed Filled Milk 168mL or the smallest can size (I think they come in three sizes, 370mL is the L, 250mL is the M and 168mL is the S)
• 2 green bell peppers, diced (I also skip this ingredient. Diced carrots could be added as well)
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 head garlic, minced (the more the better, I love the scent it generates when it is being sauteed)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (again, I recommend Olive oil. Maybe adding butter will help, I never really tried it, hhmmnnn, I can try next time)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup grated cheese (or more, depends on your preference. Cheddar cheese is recommended for a creamier taste.)

Instructions

• Cook spaghetti noodles according to package instructions. There you go; it is not stated “cook noodles as usual anymore” hahaha.
• While cooking the noodles, boil the ground meat in a separate pan. Simmer for at least 10mins. Drain afterwards. You can separate the “soup” if you desire and have it used in another recipe later. (It can be stored in the freezer for future use huh!).
  • PS. Others don’t boil the meat separately, its your choice.
• In a separate, sauté garlic and onions in cooking oil.
• Add ground meat and cook until the meat turns light brown. Since it has been boiled earlier; that is, if applicable, it can quickly turn into light brown.
• Add bell pepper and/or carrots.
• Add tomato sauce, condensed milk, evap milk, salt, pepper to taste then let simmer for 10 minutes. (Tantiya-tantiya kadi will do. Balance the sweet-sour taste. I think we look for that sweet taste, right?).
• Add hotdogs (if applicable).
• Add the cheese (Yup, it makes a difference when you add the cheese while cooking the sauce. Make sure you check how salty the cheese is so you would know how much salt you’d add otherwise, it may turn out so salty. If that happens, you can neutralize it by adding sugar or milk if you have extra on hand)
• Mix sauce and noodles. (They can be served separately of course). Top with grated cheese.

Yummy! You can have toasted garlic bread along with it. HHmmmnn, I’m suddenly hungry.

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Pasta anyone...

I usually cook during the weekends. I guess it has somehow served as my outlet for either good or “not so good” emotions. Definitely, cooking at the height of good emotions would result to a more delicious outcome. Spaghetti, Filipino style (sweet tasting), is the usual recipe I deal with. That would mean that we have to drop by the Pinoy store to buy Eden cheese, spaghetti sauce, evaporated milk and condensed milk. Hmmnn, the last two may be something not known to many. (I learned this from my friends here in Taiwan and I tell you, the taste resembles that of Jollibee’s spag). On Sunday, I thought I am tired of that taste and remembered the pasta one of my friends serve to us several months ago. The taste lingered not only in my tongue but in my mind as well. There were few attempts to cook it but not having the ingredients stopped it from happening. But last Sunday, the drive was there. I thought there is no need to go to the Pinoy store this time since the grocery near us offers a variety so off we went to check what we could get from there and indeed, we found all that we need. The good thing that came with it is the bottle of 2L coke that was sold at almost 50% off its selling price.

For a change and for easier presentation, ito na ang aking tag-lish recipe na maraming side comments. Di ako particular sa exact measurement, basta tantiya-tantiya na lang.

Ingredients:
1/2 kg pasta
1 1/2 butter (use Anchor para masarap talaga)
Ginger cloves, minced
Onion, minced
Salt to taste (di kasi enough ang taste na bigay ng butter, kahit ung salted)
Black pepper, ground
1/4 kg chicken breast (boneless), diced
200gms shrimps, peeled and diced (can I say diced?)
Italian spices (rosemary, basil, thyme leaves)
1 tbsp olive oil (para mas masarap and healthy – you can use more that 1tbsp)
Parmesan cheese (optional, naka-sale gamin isunga naggatang kamin ah)

Cooking directions:

1. Cook pasta as usual (ano kaya ung usual ano? Hehehe). Ung usual ay may asin at mantika para di magdikit-dikit ang pasta. Dapat al dente ang pagkaluto, di under-cooked, di rin overcooked.
2. While waiting for the pasta to be cooked, heat small pan to melt 1 butter (di ko alam kung ano ang measurement nya eh, di naman cube or kg, hahaha). Set aside.
3. Luto na ba ang pasta? If yes, drain and mix with the melted butter. While mixing, sprinkle desired amount of spices. (not too much kasi maglalagay pa ng spices later sa pagluto nung halo). Pwede nang tikman ang pasta sa stage na ito, masarap nang kainin actually pero wait mo na lang muna ung iba. Set aside pagkatapos mailagay ang butter sa pasta. HHmmmn, ang bango.
4. Heat olive oil in a separate pan. Add 1/2 butter. (Masusunog kasi kapag butter lang ang ginamit). Add onions and garlic. Add chicken and wait until tender.
5. Add shrimp (madali lang kasi maluto ang shrimp eh). Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add Italian spices as desired. Ito na ung last na ilalagay mo.
7. Mix the cooked ingredients to the buttered pasta and toss well.
8. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese before and while serving.

Variations: pwedeng lagyan ng mushroom or brocolli.

Ito na yun. The whole family enjoyed the meal, and so did the usual friends. Of course, the priceless feeling that came after it is the joy seen in Jade’s face while eating the pasta together with Mommy and Daddy even if she has already consumed her bowl of porridge 30 minutes earlier than us. J She does have her own way of showing appreciation to what I cook. The more inspiration I got to experiment on other recipes.

Side notes:
My next target is pesto pasta kasi mura lang dito ang fresh basil leaves at simple lang din ang recipe.
Ang pinakamadaling pasta recipe so far na natutunan ko kay sa aking friend housemate sa Cavite ay ginisang corned beef pasta, mas maraming sibuyas, mas mabango at mas masarap. Chunky corned beef ang masarap ihalo.

Another side note:
Unlike the paella recipe, I was not able to take visuals of my pasta. I will do that next time.

PS.
I claim this as my own and original recipe because I can’t find one on the net as of yet. Patented kumbaga. Hehehe. But you are welcome to implement this in your kitchens. I’d gladly like to know how well you enjoyed it.

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Saturday is Paella Day

Alas, after more than two years, I was able to cook chicken paella again……

Few weeks ago, Dennis and I jumped into a CNN featured clip of Spain’s famous dish – paella. The one featured is chicken paella cooked in a very large pan which served around 50 people. Yes, that much – in a single cooking.

It reminded me of the paella recipe our Spanish friend Rebeca has taught us back in Limerick, Ireland during the ADI days. Dennis asked if I can cook for him, I said of course, but then I didn’t have time to do it until yesterday.

I had to recall the ingredients first. I browsed in the net but the recipes there are not as simple as I thought. “Where would I buy those stuffs needed” was the first thing in mind. Rebeca’s recipe was so simple. I only needed 4-5 ingredients such as rice, canned whole tomatoe, chicken and beans. Hey, these could be easily found in the grocery, at least I could see them immediately. Saffron of course is needed but I am not sure if I could find one, I thought of a food coloring as a subsitute (we did that back in LK because saffron is expensive, mind you).

Yesterday was quite a good day to cook the dish since hubs stayed at home (after several weeks of spending OT in the office), he could take care of Jade while I’ll be cooking the paella for our dinner. So off we went to the grocery and I picked up the stuffs I needed. I couldn’t find any food coloring but I thought it wouldn’t matter anyway. Rosemary leaves are also needed but I already got them at home.

Having all the ingredients needed, I started to prepare the dish with excitement. Here are what I had…

5pcs of chicken legs
250gms of beans
2 canned whole tomatoes
3 cups of rice
Rosemary leaves
Salt

…and here are the steps I did to come up to the much awaited paella –

1. Fry the chicken, brown both sides. (not deep fry)

2. Remove most of the cooking oil after the chicken has turned into brown. (and transfer the chicken to the bigger pan, of course a single pan can be used)

3. Add the beans.

4. Prepare the whole tomatoes, squeezed them in a container and added some water. I was able to buy peeled tomatoes so there was no need for me to skin them.

5. Add the tomatoes in the pan.

6. Add salt to taste

7. Sprinkle rosemary leaves.

8. Simmer for 20-30 minutes. This will make the chicken and beans absorb the savor of the tomatoes.

9. Add the rice.

(Tip: Remove some of the sauce and place it in a container. When the rice starts to get cooked, the sauce will be absorbed so if you see the sauce getting dried but with the rice still uncooked, you can pour back the sauce you removed earlier so you can get the rice cooked well).***

10. Let it cook for 20-30mins

11. Serve well and enjoy the dish.

***While the rice is getting cooked, I bathed our daughter while hubby was starting to complain that the smell of the dish made him hungry.

Hhhmmmnn, you can serve it with wine if you are into it. It’s a no-no for me at this time so we had orange juice instead.

I remember a friend told me that lemon can also be sprinkled in the paella before serving.

And here is my “Paella ala Jane” which satisfied Dennis who suggested that I cook paella weekly huh!

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