Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
I wanted a nice comfort food for the rainy first day of spring. I had a slab of pork belly sitting in the freezer so I figured it had to be the meal of the night. Problem was, I didn't know what to do with it. I wanted something different that I haven't cooked yet so my usual lechon kawali (deep fried pork) was out of the question and so was my pork adobo and pork afritada. I did a quick search and realized I could do this awesome dish that I haven't had in a while! One problem was I didn't have tomatoes. That was easily remedied by Google and this recipe I'm doing as I type:

1 1/2 - 2 k pork
3/4 c vinegar
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 bay leaf
1 T black peppercorns
3 T Bagoong Alamang (Shrimp paste) or add to taste
How To:
Place pork in a pot with first 4 spices. Boil gently for half an hour and skim off the scum that forms on the surface of the liquid. When tender, strain the meat and other solids from the broth. Set aside broth for use later.
In a pan, heat up 1 t vegetable oil and sauté chopped garlic and onions till fragrant with the onions translucent. Add the pork and shrimp paste. Mix well. Optional, you may add some pork broth if you prefer a version with more sauce. Skip this step if you want a more dry version. Add some freshly ground black pepper and cook a few minutes longer. You may also opt to include some chopped banana peppers for a bit of zing.
Serve hot with lots of white rice and a vegetable side.
VH sauces are a great shortcut for all the busy cooks out there. Just open a jar and marinate your chosen meat overnight and it's ready to cook for dinner the next day. No frills and almost no prep time! But tonight, I wanted to do something from scratch that I normally use VH sauces with. I'll be basing my recipe on the one below:

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 2 tbls. corn starch 
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 3 tbls. soy sauce
  • 1 tbls. honey
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed or 2 tbls. garlic powder 

How to make it

  • Combine sugar with corn starch, and garlic powder if using it.
  • Add water, soya sauce, honey and fresh garlic, if using fresh.
  • Bring to a boil stirring constantly.
  • Pour sauce over your cooked meat and serve immediately or keep warm in low heat oven.

Although instead of making just the sauce, I won't cook it on a stove top but just mix all the ingredients and use it to marinate the pork spare ribs. Then, I can opt to bake it along with the sauce and basting every 20 minutes or so, or cook on the stove top, first sauteing the garlic then adding the spare ribs to brown and letting it simmer in the marinade for a bit more to get it all tender. Before serving, a drizzling of honey should keep everything nice and moist (especially if after baking).

We haven't had a pasta dinner in a couple weeks so to mix things up, I decided to forgo the Chinese fare I was going to dish out and instead go for an Italian meal. Big problem was that I didn't have the usual ground beef/pork or chicken breasts on hand. I, however, did have some knackwurst slowly getting freezer burn. I don't particularly like wasting food and to prevent its sorry freezer burn from getting the better of the both of us, I figure it'll have to do as a replacement for whatever meat I usually have in my pasta dishes. Mind you I haven't actually tried to cook with this particular kind of sausage before, but it has a mild taste to it and I think it'll go well with some herbs and tomatoes. I found this recipe that I'll be basing our dinner on, but with a lot of substitutions with what I have in my cupboards and meager spice rack.

  •       Ingredients:
  •  
  •         2 1/2 pounds Italian sweet sausages, casings removed, crumbled
  •         3 tablespoons olive oil
  •         1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, thickly sliced
  •         3 cups chopped onions
  •         1 1/2 cups chopped fresh basil
  •         1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano
  •         6 large garlic cloves, chopped
  •         1 cup dry white wine
  •         5 cups canned crushed tomatoes with added puree
  •         2 cups diced tomatoes (about 4 medium-large tomatoes)
  •         2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
  •         1 1/4 pounds pappardelle or mafaldine pasta (or any wide, flat noodles)
  •         1 1/2 cups grated pecorino Romano cheese (about 4 1/2 ounces)

Sauté sausage in heavy large pot over medium-high heat until brown, about 12 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Add oil to drippings in pot. Add mushrooms and onions; sauté until tender and brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in 1 cup chopped basil, oregano, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add wine; cook until almost absorbed, about 4 minutes. Add sausage and crushed tomatoes; cover and simmer over medium heat until thickened, about 25 minutes. Add diced tomatoes and butter; simmer until tomatoes are soft, stirring frequently, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)
Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain well; return to pot. Pour sauce over pasta; toss to coat. Add 1/2 cup cheese and 1/2 cup basil; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta to serving dish. Serve, passing remaining cheese separately.

taken from: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pasta-with-Sausage-Tomatoes-and-Mushrooms-106961#ixzz1Awpk5UDA
The weather keeps becoming colder and colder as winter progresses. More and more, I'm pressed to look for comfort food that'll make staying indoors not entirely a bad thing. I have actually yet to do this recipe as I have yet to get some cloves and star anise (my temporary sorry excuse for a spice rack only has cinnamon out of all four spices listed!), as well as the dried bean curd puffs. The photos this came with looked so good and the blend of spices just seemed too good to pass up on. I plan to do my version in a slow cooker but until then, I'll let you know how it goes.

Ingredients:
300gm Pork belly, cut into chunks
10 pcs canned button mushroom, halved
5 pcs Dried bean curd puffs (tau pok), halved
2 nos Cinnamon, rinsed
2 nos Star Anise, rinsed
3 nos Cloves, rinsed
1 tbsp Black peppercorn, rinsed
5 cloves roasted garlic (retain skin), rinsed & bruised
2 nos Shallots, sliced
approx; 600ml Water

Seasonings:
2 tbsp Shao Xing Chinese rice wine
1/2 cup Light Soya Sauce (adjust according to taste)
1 tbsp Thick Soya Sauce

Methods:
1. Blanch pork belly with hot boiled water. Drained and set aside.
2. Heat up 3 tbsp oil, sautee garlic & shallots till fragrant.
3. Add in cinnamon, star anise & cloves. Sautee for 2 mins.
4. Add in water, bring to boil. Add in black peppercorn.
5. Add in pork belly, mushrooms & bean curd puffs. Bring to the boil & simmer for 5 mins.
6. Add in seasonings except thick soya sauce. Simmer in low fire for about 20 - 30 mins or untill pork belly is soft & tender.
7. Water should have reduced to half & gravy turns thick. Add thick soya sauce, mix well.
8. Dish up. Serve with hot steamed rice.

Note:
• Adjust the water for simmering accordingly. The water should be enough to cover all the ingredients.
• Adjust the seasonings according to your taste.

taken from: http://bits-of-taste.blogspot.com/2010/07/braised-pork-belly-with-spices.html