'Appetizers' archive

Baked mussels with butter and cheese

The night I made the baked mussels with olive oil, garlic and cheese, my daughter Sam slept through dinner and missed the event. I did set aside some of the baked mussels for her but by the time she got up the following morning, the mussels had spoiled. In the summer heat, that wasn’t surprising. So I promised her I’d make another batch but she should make sure to stay awake for dinner.

Instead of olive oil, I used butter this time. Sam is not a big fan of olive oil and I thought that having missed the previous batch of baked mussels, I’d go all the way and please her so she’d stop feeling bad about what she missed.

Baked mussels (tahong), the simple way

Soaking the mussels to expel sand takes several hours. Preparing them for cooking takes several minutes. But the actual cooking takes no more than a minute.

There are only four ingredients and the recipe itself is no more than six steps — four, in fact, if we don’t include the preparation. No kidding.

Samosas, a delightful vegetarian appetizer

I am not one to shy away from strong spicy smells. I have long been intrigued by Indian cuisine but never had the chance to really explore it. A major factor is the availability of traditional Indian spices. While Malaysian and Thai spices are becoming more available in the country, it has always seemed that [...]

Pot stickers (fried siomai)

Let me take a break from the series of dishes I cooked using pre-boiled pork belly. I still have two recipes to post in that series — a fast and easy pancit canton (chow mein) and repolyo guisado (sauteed cabbage) with a new twist. But I am excited about something I cooked a couple of [...]

Easy hors d’œuvre: herbed fish sticks

It’s still the same tilapia fillets in the first and third of the four-part series on hors d’Å“uvre using tilapia fillets. No spring rolls this time though. Just crisp herby fish sticks. You don’t even have to use tilapia. Fillets of maya-maya, talakitok or labahita will be just as great. Nothing can be simpler to [...]

Easy hors d’œuvre: fish and fresh dill spring rolls

The third in the four-part series on easy hors d’œuvre featuring tilapia fillets is fried lumpia (spring rolls) with whole strips of fish fillets and chopped fresh dill as filling. Now, I’m not saying that you absolutely have to use fresh dill. It just so happened that among the herbs growing in my garden, the [...]

Easy hors d’œuvre: fish, ham and cheese spring rolls

This is the first of a four-part series featuring fish hors d’œuvre using one main ingredient — tilapia fillets. These dishes — two rather eclectic spring rolls (lumpia) and fish sticks — can be served as hors d’œuvre (appetizers) or as main entrees. It all depends on the occasion. If you’re serving them for cocktails, [...]

Baked scallops

Because scallops have a natural sweetish flavor, I didn’t want to overpower them with a heavy sauce. I started by sprinkling them with a little salt and pepper. Then I mixed together some olive oil, chopped basil leaves, garlic and onions. I placed a teaspoonful of the mixture on each scallop then baked them in a moderately hot oven for about two minutes–just long enough until they turned opaque. Scallops cook fast and the meat toughens when overcooked. So, two minutes in a preheated oven was just about right.

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House On A Hill

Amateur baker

• Corn muffins
• Oatmeal, mango and cheese pie
• Banana nut muffins, fresh bananas, coffee and some thoughts about baking
• Corn muffins a la Kenny Rogers
• Mixed berries muffins
• Mango cheese pie
• Blueberry and apple squares
• Chocolate crinkles
• No bake chocolate-almonds-cream cheese cookie squares
• Chocolate chip cookies

Oh, so sweet!

• Crepes a la mode
• Mango-rum sorbet
• Mango custard
• Coffee jelly dessert
• Easy dessert crepes
• Peaches and cream
• Chocolate coated gummy bears
• Choco-mocha-cinnamon pudding
• Mandarin Orange Royale
• Mango Royale