Food articles posted in Jan 2008

Five Cows: ice cream is fine, but…

I must have passed by Five Cows at TriNoma more than once but never really paid attention. Perhaps, I wouldn’t have today either if I didn’t have a bad craving for dessert. The point is, I never heard of Five Cows before. I didn’t know what kind of reputation it has, I didn’t have expectations, I only had hopes based on what I saw on its glass cake display case…

Bay (laurel) leaf

There are several varieties of the bay leaf and they all form part of the Laurel family. It is added to soups and stews more for the slightly sweet aroma than for any distinct flavor. I read somewhere that fresh bay leaves are not as aromatic as after they have been dried. I’m not in [...]

Chili sauce

For some reason, we always have more than one kind of chili sauce in the house. The red kind (center and right), I use mostly for cooking although my husband likes to use them as dipping sauces too. The chili garlic sauce (left) is the kind you’d find beside the soy sauce in the condiments [...]

Rolled pork loin stuffed with garlic, onion, basil and tomatoes

Following the same basic recipe for the rolled porkloin with bacon, basil and rosemary, I did another rolled porkloin dish but, this time, the stuffing was more basic — chopped garlic, onion and tomatoes. The seasonings were just as basic too — salt and pepper.

Self-frosting peanut butter cupcakes

The first time I made self-frosting cupcakes, I used melted chocolate. And I wasn’t able to document the recipe. I did remember, however, that it was inspired by a cupcake recipe with Nutella for frosting. I didn’t bother looking for the original recipe because I only use one recipe for butter cake these days. It was the one I used for…

Herbed chicken and rice

This chicken and rice combo dish went into the kids’ lunch boxes last Tuesday. Cold cooked rice and the meat from the breast of a chicken and there was enough for baon and breakfast as well. This is a variation of the herb-loaded rice recipe in the archive which, in turn, was inspired by the herbed riced I enjoyed at Vieux Chalet.

Fresh garlic

If there is one thing I cannot do without, it’s garlic. I can live without onions and tomatoes but not without garlic. There are generally two varieties of garlic that you’d find in Philippine markets — the smaller native garlic is more pungent and has a stronger flavor. The imported Taiwan garlic is sweeter with [...]

Kecap Manis

Kecap Manis is a thick and syrupy sweet soy sauce that comes from Indonesia (the salty soy sauce is called Kecap asin). Sweetened with palm sugar and flavored with star anise and other Oriental spices, its flavor is more complex than ordinary soy sauce. It’s great as a dipping sauce but works equally well as [...]

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House On A Hill

Noche Buena

• Roast pork with mushroom sauce
• What to do with holiday leftovers: make a pie, a soup and Oriental fried rice
• Pork and pineapple stew
• Pepperoni and cheese stuffed bread rolls
• Food for the Gods and the accidental Christmas cake
• Tiramisu, party style
• Update on the noche buena blog
• Mango cream pie
• Liver paté
• Bangus belly steaks

School lunchbox

• Chicken, ham and leeks fried rice
• Tapsilog in the school lunchbox
• Crispy chicken strips with sweet and sour sauce
• Roast pork and cabbage fried rice
• Shrimps, broccoli and cauliflower with Pad Thai sauce
• Packed school lunch idea: chicken gizzards with fresh asparagus
• Creamed pork, ham, carrots and celery
• Butterscotch and chocolate fudge combo brownies
• Herbed chicken and rice
• School lunch: chicken, chayote and spinach