Pizza!
Posted on | April 28, 2009 | 18 Comments
May is just a few days away, and I can’t believe I’ve only made one post in April. I have a backlog of posts in the coming days so please bear with me.
I made this pizza from scratch when I was still living in Los Baños. This was my first time to make pizza from scratch and I so love it I made pizza on consecutive weekends. By scratch, I meant making my own thin crust topped with whatever ingredients we had at hand. It’s easy to do, not much kneading required (which I like a lot). The highlight was finding out how great freshly chopped garlic goes with the rest of the toppings. Garlic pizza, anyone?
I am saving for an oven in my new home in Gen San (perhaps the oven that blogging bought?) and pizza will probably be the first dish that I will cook on it!
My first ever thin crust pizza
(Modified from Yummy magazine)
1/2 tbsp yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cool water
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
Whisk yeast, lukewarm water, 1/4 cup flour in a bowl. Dust lightly with flour then let rest for about 20 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour, water, olive oil and salt. Knead then gradually add remaining flour. Knead the dough until elastic. Shape into a ball, dust with flolur and leave to rise double in bulk. Flatten the ball with a rolling pin to your desired shape and thickness (or thinness). I didn’t use a rolling pin (I knew we had one, but I couldn’t find it!) so I just flattened the dough with the palm of my hands and let it fit an 8-inch pie pan.
To dress up the crust, drizzle the crust with olive oil. Add some chopped garlic. Spread catsup and pesto all over the crust. Add the toppings you have at hand. In my case, I added black and green olives, onions, bell pepper and salami. Top with grated cheese, fresh tarragon, and more chopped garlic. Bake at 300 F for about 20 minutes.
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Homemade Bacon
Posted on | April 2, 2009 | 15 Comments
I’m trying to catch up with my back log of posts as I’ve mentioned before.
Baconsilog - bacon, itlog (eggs) and sinangag (fried rice)
My sister and I have always wanted to make our own bacon given the fact that we love bacon for breakfast. I found a lot of recipes for making homemade bacon but really didn’t have the inclination to do it at home until I read Marketman’s account on making bacon. Last December, my sister and I set out to make not just one but 4x doing two variations - baked and smoked.
The recipe and procedure is basically from Saveur although I did modify the spices and herbs according to what was in our pantry then.
Pork belly and spices
Homemade Bacon
Spice/Herb rub for 1.5 kgs pork belly
2 1/2 tbsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1.5 tsp fennel seeds
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1.5 tsp dried thyme
2 laurel leaves
2 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 tsp paprika
Since I didn’t have a large space for curing the bacon, I chopped the pork belly into three blocks. Mix all the spice/herb rub together and cover the pork belly blocks with mixture. Wrap in plastic bag and refrigerate for a week. Turn over every other day. On the 7th day, wash pork belly and smoke for two hours. Trim edges then cut thinly and store.
To bake, after washing pork belly blocks, bake at 200 F for two hours.
So what do we prefer? I think baking the bacon is better than smoking as the smoke flavor tends to overpower the bacon flavor. In any case, both versions are delicious and will certainly often repeated at home.
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Need weight loss pills?
Coffee braised pork ribs over linguine
Posted on | March 28, 2009 | 5 Comments
Another serving of Presto Pasta Nights this week hosted by Ruth!
General Santos is not all tuna and Manny Pacquiao. Pork and beef is way way cheaper here than back in Los Banos or Metro Manila. Premium spare ribs costs around 110 pesos a kilo while ground beef costs only 155 pesos. You can even goat meat on sale in the market though I have yet to fully appreciate its flavor.
There’s a restaurant in Los Banos called Bonitos. They serve this Brazilian spare ribs braised in coffee then grilled. I decided to braise pork ribs as well though I stewed them in tomato sauce and paired with linguine. I even added dried shiitake mushrooms, but the next time I make this dish, I will leave them out.
Coffee braised pork ribs over linguine
225 grams linguine, cooked according to package instructions
500 grams pork ribs
Marinade
1 tbsp instant coffee
3 tbsp lukewarm water
1 tsp each salt and pepper
For the stew
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 tbsp cooking oil
50 grams dried shiitake mushrooms
2 bell peppers, cut into quarters
2 cups tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Dissolve coffee in lukewarm wate. Rub salt and pepper to pork ribs then add the coffee. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Soak mushrooms in 1 1/2 cups hot water. When mushroom has expanded, squeeze to remove water. Reserve soaking water.Remove mushroom stem then cut the mushroom into quarters. Heat cooking oil in a pan. Add the pork ribs and brown meat on all sides. Remove meat from pan. Add onions to pan. Stir fry till onion is cooked through then add the garlic. Stir till garlic is almost brown. Add half a cup of the reserve soaking water for shiitake. Stir to remove brown bits on pan. Add back the pork ribs then add the rest of the soaking water.Bring to a boil then simmer over low flame for 10 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, mushrooms, and bell peppers. Continue to simmer over low fire till pork ribs are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Tuna and Eggplant in Oyster Sauce
Posted on | March 25, 2009 | No Comments
I could never get enough of tuna here in Gen San and here’s another dish I’ve imagined over a looonnggg meeting that made my thoughts fly to what I’m going to cook for dinner that night. It is simply a combination of eggplant and tuna in oyster sauce that capped a long day for me.
Tuna and Eggplant in Oyster Sauce
150 grams crazy cut tuna
2 eggplants, cut lengthwise then to 2-inch pieces
salt and pepper
flour for dredging
oil for frying
1 green bell, roughly chopped
1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup water
sesame oil for drizzling
Season eggplant and tuna with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour then fry till golden brown. In another pan, heat a tbsp of oil then saute bell pepper for a few minutes until limp. Add the oyster sauce and water and simmer until thickened. Add the fried eggplant and tuna and toss well to coat with the sauce. Drizzle with sesame oil then serve with rice.
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