Stuffed French Toast Bento

Wow! I'm running out of posts! I'm blogging in almost real time! This is what I had for lunch yesterday. And yes, I had French toast for lunch. (Eeeep!) MB had pinakbet for lunch. The guy needs to eat rice.

It's that time again when I'm sick of eating rice. We had stuffed French toasts for breakfast so I decided to make an extra to pack for lunch. To make, spread some cream cheese on a whole wheat bread and top with cooked ham. Place another bread on top to make a sandwich. Cut into half. Beat an egg and some milk together. Dip the sandwiches into this mixture and fry on a pan slathered with butter. This cooks fast so be alert. Drizzle with honey if you like. I did. Yum!

I packed this with some orange slices and some potato chips, garlic and cheese flavor. I had a nice lunch. Not too heavy, not too light. I also packed some Elle et Vire yogurt in mixed berries which I ate for merienda. Elle et Vire yogurt is on sale at the Landmark Supermarket Makati for only P33.50 each.

Buttered Chili Garlic Shrimps

If you're wondering if we were able to get through 2 weeks on seafood alone, the answer is YES! It's easy because MB and I are both seafood lovers. Shrimp is one of my go-to ingredients when I'm too lazy and too hungry to cook. With shrimp, you can still end up with decent, satisfying food without slaving in the kitchen. You can boil 'em, steam 'em or cook 'em this way.

Chop some garlic. Lots of it! Slice some green finger chilis (panigang) and 2 pieces red chili (labuyo). Heat some butter on a pan then add the garlic. Cook until fragrant then add the chilis. After about 20 seconds, add the shrimps. Season with fish sauce (patis) or Maggi Savor. Serve with lots and lots of rice. Yum, yum, yum!

MB's Sweet & Sour Fish

This is one of those dishes that MB makes that makes me want to pretend to be sick and stay in bed for a week. (Grin). MB can cook as long as you give him detailed directions. But there are some dishes that he's already mastered such as arroz caldo, sinigang and frying fish and bacon to perfection. This is a fairly easy sweet and sour fish recipe.

We fry the fish first. He used dalagang bukid. Coat the fish with salt and pepper and cornstarch. Fry. On a separate pan, heat some rice vinegar and brown sugar. When the sugar has melted, add ginger, onions and carrots. Sometimes we put red bell pepper. Season with salt. Pour on the fish and serve with rice. Is that easy or what?

This is the first time MB cooked this dish and it was spot on! The heated leftovers were even more flavorful. This lasted us for 3 meals. 

I made another version using fish fillets and tofu. I fried the tofu first then fried the coated fish fillets then proceed with above. We had that for baon. It was delicious!

Hoisin Sesame Fish Rice

There are so many things that I want to improve on this dish. First, I wish I bought frozen fish fillets instead of the fresh ones. The guys at SM Makati did not do a good job on picking out the bones from the fish. They said the fillets were a mix of lapu-lapu and maya-maya. I thought it was all maya-maya. For a few small pieces of fish fillets, I paid a little less than P200 whereas had I bought the frozen ones, I would've paid about the same price for bigger pieces of meat. And without bones too.

The hoisin sesame fish went to our baon. The leftovers went to this dish. To make the fish, first wash the fish thoroughly. If they're too fishy smelling, wash with some calamansi or lemon juice first. Make sure you rinse off all the juice. In a bowl, combine cornstarch, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Dredge the bite size fish fillets then fry in oil. Discard the oil. In the same pan, put about 3-4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce and spread onto pan. Add the fish and coat with the sauce. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. 

For the rice, saute some chopped garlic and onions in a pan. Add the chopped leftover fish. Add mashed rice then mix. Add about 2 tablespoons of bagoong then mix well. 

I would've liked it had I put some gochujang and Kikkoman. I didn't put gochujang because my mom doesn't like spicy food and I had to feed her that day. So I skipped that. I also didn't add soy sauce because we're watching her pressure and all. 

Another thing that bothered me were the bones which became a bit hard because of repeated cooking. It made the texture of the fish terrible. So, if you would like to try this dish, I suggest you get the best ingredients possible to make this a success. 

My First Pesa: Pesang Tanigue

Sorry for being MIA. I have two reasons: I ran out of posts (gasp!) and I got sick. Anyway, I'm back. I've decided to go on a seafood diet last week and this week. This is one of the first seafood dishes I cooked. And like what the title says, this is my first pesa.

Sorry for the photo. I didn't bother arranging the fish and vegetables as I was really hungry already. I got this recipe from pinoycook.

I used 2 slices of tanigue, one bunch of local pechay, the trinity of garlic, onions and tomatoes; some ginger, one small packet of whole peppercorns and some patis to taste. For the miso sauce, I used half of the yellow miso (leftover from sinigang na miso), garlic, onions and tomatoes and patis.

Let's start cooking!

Saute the garlic, onions and tomato in a little oil. I put the tomato first so that by the time it gets soft, the garlic and onions will be just right. Add the fish. Be careful not to break the fish. When a bit cooked, add some water, just enough to cover the fish. Bring to a boil. Remove the froth/scum because it's kadiri. Hahaha! You need to remove that because you want a clear soup. Next, add the pechay and make sure that they're all submerged in the soup. Cook for about 2 minutes more then cover the pot and turn off the heat. Prepare the miso sauce.

Saute garlic, onions and tomatoes in a little oil. Add the miso. Mix, mix, mix. Season with patis. Add some of the soup little by little because this will be too dry. Add soup according to the consistency you want. Taste. Add more patis if needed. I like my miso sauce like this:

MB asked me how to eat this dish. Take some rice, pechay, fish and a little bit of miso. I also mix the miso with the soup and pour over my rice. This miso is different from the Japanese miso that you use for miso soup. I don't know if this kind of miso is available abroad. If you know where/how to get this abroad, please leave a comment for the benefit of our international foodies. Thanks!

Fish and Vegetable Kebab

I've been making seafood kebab for years now. I always use the same ingredients - lemon or calamansi for the souring agent, sugar or honey for the glaze and Maggi Savor or salt for flavor. And of course, the ever reliable pepper. This is the first time that I'll be tasting Portobello mushrooms. I often use fresh button mushrooms or other vegetables. I also use shrimps, scallops and squid for my kebabs. I don't buy Portobello mushrooms because they're too expensive and it has only been a few months since they made an appearance in the Landmark Supermarket in Makati. One tray costs P188 but I think it's worth it. There were more than 10 pieces of mushrooms inside. It's made in Malaysia though. Local farmers, can't we grow Portobello mushrooms here? You've got a great market for it in the city! If you can lower the price, I promise I'll buy Portobello mushrooms every week!

If you feel that the fish you're using is too malangsa (fishy smelling), Squeeze some lemon juice or calamansi juice onto them, making sure all sides come in contact with the juice then rinse with running water. For the marinade, put the fish fillet, chopped onions, red bell pepper and mushrooms in a bowl. Put some calamansi or lemon juice in a separate bowl. Add some honey or brown sugar, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, some Maggi Savor classic and a little salt and pepper. Let this marinate for 3 minutes while you prepare the grill or in my case, a huge pan. Brush the grill or pan with olive oil. You can also add some olive oil to your marinade to be sure that your kebabs won't stick to the grill. Place the stove on low heat because you still have to skewer your fish and veggies. Place the kebabs, about 3 at a time and brush with the marinade. This cooks under 5 minutes. Be sure to turn every now and then.

Oh, wow. The reason why I don't cook this often is because I want the taste to remain special. It feels so good to savor every bite with rice. MB dipped this in his favorite Kuratsoy. As for the Portobello? Well, it was okay. Nothing special there.

I removed the kebabs from the two sticks and reheated it with EVOO and more Maggi Savor the next day for a wonderful baon. This time the mushrooms rocked! I think I'll be experimenting more with this ingredient when budget permits

Ground Chicken in Tomato Cream Sauce

Looking for a quick snack or a light dinner? Try this recipe! You only need garlic, onions, ground chicken, a can of tomatoes, cream, salt, pepper, basil and oregano to taste.

Cook the ground chicken first. As always, discard any excess oil or water. You can actually cook the ground chicken without adding oil. Just be sure to use a nonstick pan. After discarding the oil, add some olive oil. Add chopped garlic and onions and mix. If you're using whole peeled tomatoes, chop them up first. If you're too lazy, buy canned chopped tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and the tomato water to the pan. Allow to boil. The moment it boils, turn down the heat to the lowest setting then add cream.l I used one tetra pack of Nestle cream. Stir. Season with salt, pepper, basil and oregano. Top the sauce on farfalle/bowtie pasta.

This recipe was able to feed me and MB. Then we reheated the leftovers and had them for dinner again and also gave some to mom. After all that, there was still some leftover sauce so we reheated that and boiled the leftover pasta and gave it to the cats. = )

The sauce is so flavorful that you only need a small amount to satisfy you. That's why I separated the sauce. This also makes a great baon. Just be sure to pack the sauce separately.