Food articles posted in Apr 2008

A typical lunch in Roxas City

After Boracay, we spent a few days in Roxas City. A friend, PJ Juinio, hails from the place and his parents built a beautiful home there to enjoy their retirement years by the sea. We stayed at the Junio residence, they brought us to their fish pond to witness a bangus (milkfish) harvest, we went sightseeing, we ate out… In short, we had a wonderful time.

But wonderful as restaurant fare in Roxas City was, there was still nothing better than a home-cooked meal. Let me show you a typical home-cooked lunch during our three-day stay at Roxas City.

Molo soup for a hot summer night

… just as we decided to stick to a fish, chicken and vegetables diet, there was a sale at the fresh meat section of the supermarket two days ago — ground pork mix for making lumpiang shanghai. Buy one kilo, get another kilo for free. I couldn’t resist. So much savings. Besides, it’s not like we’re reverting to the meaty diet we have been used to in the past. And although the package said shanghai mix, I didn’t use the ground pork mix for lumpiang shanghai. On Tuesday, dinner was fried hito (catfish) and molo soup or pancit molo…

Steamed fish with oyster sauce

Just last month, I did a steamed fish experiment and both turned out well… Let me add another to my repertoire. Minus the minimal preparation time, this one is ready to serve in 30 minutes and cooks inside the oven in a tent of aluminum foil. I suppose that makes it a baked fish recipe rather than a steamed fish recipe but if we’re going to be strict about definitions, the fish was cooked in the steam inside the foil tent so I still say it is steamed fish.

Lo mein, not chow mein

If you ask a Filipino what the noodle dish in the photo is, he would probably say “pancit canton”… Strictly speaking, however, that is chicken lo mein in the photo.

Although both lo mein and chow mein refer to noodle dishes with stir fried meat or seafood and vegetables, there is one distinct difference between the two and it is not the crispiness of the noodles. When cooking chow mein, the noodles are fried separately albeit not to a crisp but simply to coat it with oil and give it better texture. The frying stage is skipped when making lo mein.

Bamboo shoots stir fry

Whenever I cooked bamboo shoots in the past, I always used fresh. The trouble is the amount of time it took to make the bamboo shoots tender…

So much has been said about canned bamboo shoots. The “true gourmets” claim that the delicate flavor that defines bamboo shoots is lost with the canning. Truth is, except for the convenience, the shorter cooking time and the wider cooking options, I have nothing to complain about canned bamboo shoots.

About Pinoy Cook

• About the author
• Cooking philosophy
• Food photography
• Where I cook
• Where I used to cook
• The noche buena section
• Product review policy
• Terms of use
• Privacy policy
• Recipe archive
• Published articles
• Food from all over
• E-mail the author

House On A Hill

Noche Buena

• Spaghetti with longganisa (sausage) meatballs
• Pre-Christmas callos
• Christmas ham from Majestic
• Chicken in sour cream
• Bangus belly steaks
• Corn muffins a la Kenny Rogers
• “Bibingka” and “puto bumbong”
• Chili garlic prawns
• Pepperoni and cheese stuffed bread rolls
• Fried lapu-lapu with pineapple sauce

School lunchbox

• Ground pork and vegetables frittata
• Adobong kangkong
• Shrimps, ham and asparagus fried rice
• Pork barbecue fried rice
• Butter-fried fish and corn
• Tapsilog in the school lunchbox
• Butterscotch and chocolate fudge combo brownies
• Buttered Pork Guinataan
• Roast pork and cabbage fried rice
• Crispy chicken strips with sweet and sour sauce