Shrimp Potato Salad

During Mother's Day dinner, my mom reminded me about a family recipe of a refreshing summer shrimp potato salad that she had sitting in her refrigerator. I completely forgot about this dish, and many other family recipes we grew up with because I told myself that I would start new traditions with my family that I could pass down. But I couldn't resist making this dish.

 

It inspired me to recreate this dish from my childhood which is perfect for the summer heat. It has to be eaten really cold!!!

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed potatoes, cooked and cooled 

1 cup shrimps, peeled and deveined, poached and cooled

3 cage-free eggs, hard boiled and chopped

2 Tbsps celery, chopped

2 Tbsps white onion, chopped 

1/2 cup pineapple chunks, drained

2 tsps pickle relish

3 Tbsps Kewpie japanese mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together gently, season to your liking and put in the chiller. Serve cold.

Kalitiran with Mushroom Gravy

Rice! My favorite source of carbs in the whole wide world of food! You can take away all kinds of carbs and starch from me, just don't take rice away! I can even eat rice with salt alone, or when I was a child, I used to eat rice with Knorr seasoning or rice with bagoong.

I believe that my love for rice is the reason why I love cooking stews. Saucy stews! From the Spanish cocido, fabada and lentejas, to the Filipino adobo, kare kare and kaldereta, to the French bouillabaisse, pot-au-feu and boeuf bourguignon...the list goes on and on with the endless possibilities of what stew to make and eat with rice!

Today, I felt like making stew! I had a 1.2 kilo piece of oyster blade (kalitiran) in my freezer. It is taken from the shoulder blade of the cow that is rich in connective tissue and a lot of fat marbling. You can use it to replace ox tongue. 

Kevin loves a creamy mushroom sauce, so I decided to experiment a little bit on this one. I came up with a sauce so rich and creamy, that you would need a whole tub of rice to eat with it!

Marinate all together in the fridge overnight. If you don't have the luxury to do so, marinating for an hour or two is fine.

1.2 kilos kalitiran or oyster blade, whole

oyster sauce

laurel leaves

black pepper, freshly ground

After marinating, drain the sauce and coat the whole piece of beef in flour. Heat olive oil in a heavy pot then sear the meat on all sides. 

When brown, add the following to the pot:

2 cups of mushroom broth (beef broth is ok)

2 laurel leaves

black peppercorns

Let it simmer and cook until the beef is very tender. Remove the beef and set aside until it is cool. When it is cool, put it in the fridge and forget about until the next day!

Now, for the sauce!

Add two cans of cream of mushroom to the remaining stock that you used to boil the kalitiran. Add whole mushrooms, carrots and potatoes.

 When the vegetables are cooked, thicken the sauce just enough to coat the back of a spoon and adjust the seasonings.

When ready to serve, slice the kalitiran in very thin slices. This is why I told you to refrigerate it overnight, it makes for easier slicing. Mix with the sauce, heat and serve. With LOTS of rice!

Enjoy!!!

Herbed chicken and portobello mushrooms in coconut gravy, zucchini noodles and bell pepper salad

HERBED CHICKEN AND PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS IN COCONUT GRAVY

Ingredients:

Chicken thigh fillets, trimmed of all fat and cut in strips

Himalayan salt

Cracked black pepper

Mixed dried herbs

Mix everything together and marinate overnight.

Olive oil 

Portobello mushrooms, cut in strips

Coconut milk

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Cherry tomatoes

Stir fry the chicken strips in olive oil. When half cooked, add the rest if the ingredients. Simmer until chicken is cooked thoroughly and coconut milk has thickened. Adjust seasoning to your liking.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES

Ingredients:

Zucchini

Salt

Mixed dried herbs

Olive oil

Salt and pepper for seasoning

Shred zucchini to resemble noodles. You can do this with a serrated peeler, a mandoline or use a knife to julienne the zucchini.

Add salt and let sit for 15 minutes. You will notice a lot of water coming out from the zucchini. Drain that, rinse in water then strain for 30 minutes.

Boil water in a saucepan and cook the zucchini noodles for a minute, make sure it is not soggy. 

Strain the noodles and put in cold water to stop further cooking.

Season with olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper.

ROASTED BELL PEPPERS

Bell peppers, in a variety of colors

Torch

Olive oil

Garlic, chopped

Vinegar 

Salt

Pepper

Use a torch to char the outer skin of the peppers. Put it all in a bowl and cover for 30 minutes. The steam will help loosen the skin for easier peeling.

Do not rinse the bell peppers. Scrape charred skin with a knife, deserts and cut in strips. Marinate in olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Arrange everything on a plate and enjoy!

Almond flour pancakes - paleo

Ingredients:

1 cup almond meal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

3 eggs at room temperature

1/4 cup pure coconut milk

1 Tbsp virgin coconut oil

1 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Put all the wet ingredients in a blender followed with the dry ingredients. Blend all together for a minute or two. 

Cook on a preheated greased griddle or pan. (Use virgin coconut oil)

Serve with pure maple syrup or golden agave syrup. 

You may serve with fruits.

Herbes de Provence Roasted Chicken

The real secret to cooking anything is marination. If you don't marinate your meat, your food will not be as tasty.

Last night I decided on roasting some chicken quarters for lunch. My marinade was very simple yet proved to be very tasty. In fact, this could possibly be the best roast chicken I have made in ages!

My marinade had the following ingredients:

Herbes de Provence

Smashed garlic

Freshly ground pepper

Chicken powder

Fish sauce/Patis

Olive oil

I made sure to clean the chicken quarters  with rock salt to remove all the grime and trimmed it of all excess fat. This ensures the chicken from having any foul odor and foul taste. As we say in filipino, it removes the "lansa".

Marinate the chicken overnight and I assure you, you will have really great tasting roast chicken.

Arrange the chicken on a roasting tray and put pats of butter before roasting in the oven at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

For the gravy, use the pan juices, add flour and cook through. Add some chicken stock and adjust seasoning.

That's it. Very simple and tasty roast chicken.

Herbes de Provence

Herbes de Provence (French pronunciation: ​[ɛʁb.də.pʁɔ.vɑ̃s]) is a mixture of dried herbstypical of Provence. Formerly simply a descriptive term referring to herbs typical of Provence, in the 1970s, commercial blends started to be sold under this name.^[1] These mixtures typically contain savory, fennel,basil, thyme, and, for the American market,lavender leaves, and other herbs, though lavender was not used in traditional southern French cooking.^[2]

Information from: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbes_de_Provence

Lamb Shanks with Apricots

Tonight's menu: Lamb shanks with apricots, couscous with tomatoes and basil and a Mediterranean salad. Simple, yet hearty. 

Please, try this at home!

For the lamb:

Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper, dredge in floor, and pan fry in olive oil until all sides are brown. Set aside.

In the same pot, sauté onions and garlic in the olive oil. After 5 minutes, add canned whole tomatoes, bay leaves, chopped apricots, chopped raisins, carrots, potatoes and add the previously browned lamb shanks. Season with salt, pepper, fine herbs and cinnamon. Add some water and simmer.

When sauce is thick and lamb meat is soft, adjust seasoning. Add herbs, spices, salt and pepper as needed.

For the couscous:

Boil 1 part couscous to 2 parts water until water is absorbed.  Transfer to a bowl and mix with chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, and fresh basil leaves. Season with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Done!

For the Mediterranean salad:

Arrange lettuce leaves in a bowl. Top with tomatoes, onions, olives and orange segments. Dress with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

Lamb shanks with apricots + couscous + mediterranean salad = The formula for a simple, elegant and hearty meal

Enjoy! Eat with gusto!

Delicious Tacos, I promise!

I love pancake house tacos! But I really thinks its ridiculous to pay over 100 pesos for a taco that isn't filling at all! So when I'm craving, I like to make them at home. 

Here is a simple, yet super delicious way of making your own tacos. Affordable too!!

For the meat filling:

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil, then add ground beef and bay leaves. Add tomato sauce and then Add some herbs like basil and oregano, salt and pepper and let it simmer.

Let it thoroughly cook and sauce should be thick. Adjust the seasoning.

For the special taco sauce:

Add all the ingredients together.

Chopped onions

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped parsley

Tomato sauce

Vinegar

Sugar

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Now, time to assemble your taco!

Toast the taco shell.

Layer with meat first, shredded lettuce, taco sauce and lots of cheese!!!! Then DEVOUR!!!!!

Enjoy!!!