Food articles posted in Jul 2008

Salmon and tomato soup

We’re not fully operational yet in our new kitchen. Although the unpacking is almost done, we had been cooking on a borrowed “super kalan” for the past few days while waiting for the new cooking range to be delivered…

Not that we’ve been eating badly. It’s a pain cooking with one stove but we manage, believe me. For instance, for lunch yesterday, we had a delicious soup made with salmon head, fresh tomatoes and basil picked from the garden…

Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day

One of the things my family plans on changing is our eating habits. Of course, the change began a while back when we cut down drastically on our red meat consumption. That was followed by the low-fat and low-sugar diet that my doctor required. In addition to all that, we plan on breaking away from our habit of being too lazy to eat breakfast. We will be breakfast eaters from now on. A daily habit is not easy to acquire but, at least, we’ve taken the first steps.

Since the breakfast habit is a phase in our lives that I think is worth sharing, I will be documenting our daily breakfasts…

Scones with preserved seedless plums

It’s East meets West in so many ways. Scones are very English. Scones often accompany the traditional afternoon tea, a beverage brought to England from China. The scones I baked early this morning, based on a recipe for cranberry orange scones, were made with preserved seedless plums, a traditional Chinese food famous in Hong Kong. Scones with Chinese preserved fruit. If they sell something like this in Hong Kong, I’m sure it would be a hit.

Preserved seedless plums

Bought on a whim at an Oriental food shop called The Big Little Store along Gilmore Avenue in Quezon City, I fully intended to eat these preserved plums as a snack. Then I chanced upon a wonderful recipe of scones with fruits and thought, “Why not preserved plums instead?” The result was delicious. Perhaps, it’s the licorice in the preserved plums.

These seedless plums are sold individually wrapped in 400-gram packs. P165 per pack. All natural ingredients (plums, orange peel, sugar, licorice and salt) with no preservatives added.

Bragg Liquid Aminos

I was introduced to Bragg Liquid Aminos by Susan Hassig, owner of Vieux Chalet Swiss Inn. She said I should try it in lieu of salt and I found myself using it in place or salt, patis (fish sauce) and (Knorr) liquid seasoning. It is good…

At P200 per pint, it is a rather expensive substitute for patis and salt for cooking. But as a dipping sauce, or if you like to sprinkle your food portion with additional seasoning…

A different kind of chicken casserole

… a creamy chicken casserole with a bread topping sprinkled with shredded cheese. “Confetti” describes the just-melted shredded cheese on top. I kinda overmelted the cheese on mine so the “confetti” became a “melt-y.” The difference in looks notwithstanding, the result was wonderful. It has the feel of home-cooking written all over it. And the bread topping? It’s oil-free.

To make this baked chicken dish, I had to make some substitutions in deference to the low-fat diet that we’re trying to maintain at home. Yogurt for cream of chicken soup; low-fat milk for regular milk.

Packed school lunch idea: chicken gizzards with fresh asparagus

About a week ago, I cooked 800 grams of chicken gizzards for a soup dish. I only needed half as much but decided to simmer them all anyway. Chicken gizzards don’t cook as fast as chicken meat. They usually require at least an hour of simmering. With the price of fuel, it was wiser to cook them all at the same time and just keep in the fridge what I didn’t need at the moment. When the gizzards were tender, I cut them into strips and reserved half for future use. Three days later, I sauteed the reserved gizzards with slices carrots and fresh asparagus for the kids’ school lunchboxes.

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Side Notes