Where the scientist in the kitchen does her grocery

Gone are the days now when I horde all my spices back home in Laguna and bring them here in GenSan so I can cook whatever I want when the mood strikes me. These days, I head to Robinsons’ Place precisely to get the ingredients I regular use for cooking.
Robinsons’ Place GenSan (Photo courtesy of Robinsons’ Place)
What’s not to love? I particularly like their selection of Asian noodles, spices, and sauces. They’re the only ones that sell Japanese miso paste so I can regularly have my soba and miso soup fix.
Soba noodles in miso soup

They also have a relatively good selection of noodles, from Korean to Japanese to Vietnamese.Oh, and they have soju, too! :)
If you like love to cook, like me, quality meats  are very important. Meats are kept in low-temperature fridge, which is a must to slow down spoilage. I usually select Lisa’s Meats, the meats are already wrapped in Saran wrap, so there is less exposure to air. Meat cuts are varied as well so there are lots of choices for me to cook. This week, I’m making ham (wait for that post!) I also like the fact that there’s a separate area for meats and vegetables, less contamination from meats to vegetables unlike the other shops here in GenSan. Cheese selection? It’s good but could be better. At the very least, the cheeses are stored properly unlike some shops that sell frozen cheese!!! What’s great is that they sell blue cheese, a luxury for me.
It’s a bloggers’ hangout, too, with free wifi! (Photo by http://hikersitch.com)
If you’re into rice (like me, who’s dissertation is on rice), you’d love all the rice selections. I get a kick out knowing the varieties and recalling the genes I know they have or particular importance of such variety. An example is the glutinous rice they sell, a Filipino traditional rice, called Malagkit Sungsong. It has a disease resistance stage that’s only expressed at the booting (almost flowering) stage of rice. I recall extracting DNA from that variety! I’m sure to get pure glutinous rice to make my very special palitaw!
palitaw
Palitaw
Based on experience, they have a responsive customer service. One time I bought a local cheese that looked spoiled. I returned it the next day and they promptly refunded me. I wanted a replacement but it seems it was the manufacturer’s fault, all the cheese in the same lot looked spoiled!
There is also the added bonus that most of my friends hang out in Robinsons’. Whether I’m hanging out with them or blogging on the go (like now, since they’re the only mall in GenSan that’s got free wifi), this is one of the cooler places (literally and figuratively) to be in GenSan.

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Grilled octopus salad

What would you do if your friend has an abundant supply of kaffir limes or biasong (in Cebuano)? Make Thai-inspired dishes of course!
One of the higlights of my trip to Iligan was to cook a lot of seafoods. I stayed with a friend’s house on my first night, had time for a quick visit to the market, got some squid and these little octopuses screaming to be grilled. The squid I sauteed with cashew to make a squid and cashew stirfry. The octopuses were grilled and made into a salad.
Grilled octopus  salad
Baby octopuses
Salt
Juice of 2 kaffir limes
Dressing:
Juice of 2 kaffir limes
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
Salt to taste
2 kaffir leaves, sliced thinly
chives and tomatoes for garnish
Marinate octopuses in salt and lime for a few minutes and grill until cooked. Meanwhile, mix the lime juice, vinegar and sugar. Check for taste and adjust salt as necessary. When octopuses are cooked, line on a plate, drizzle with dressing and garnish with tomatoes, kaffir leaves and chives.

This tasted good! The octopus was succulent and juicy and the dressing just right. Both the kaffir limes and chives were grown in my friend’s garden, perfect for sharing with Grow Your Own hosted this month by Andrea.

PS – I’m hoping one of these octopuses is Paul the octopus! Go Oranje!

Who’s getting the pesto?

I have a lot of posts to catch up with, what with my recent trip to Iligan City. So many food to eat and blog about… Hhmm… But it’s back to reality and off to work ago. Good thing there is free wifi here at Robinsons’ Place in GenSan (yey, it’s the only mall in GenSan with free wifi!) so I could blog during lunch break. What to blog? My much awaited winner of a bottle of fresh, homemade pesto with basil straight from my kitchen garden.

There were 16 valid comments in my Pesto giveaway the other week. Congrats to the winner picked by Random.org!

Congratulations Jennie!

Fresh ravioli needs many patience

I love pasta (and not just Pasta) and love to make them fresh. But it needs a lot of patience to make a fresh batch. I’ve got the technique to knead the dough but it’s the flattening that’s really a chore. So by the time that I’ve rolled out the dough thinly, my patience has ran out. Like this fresh ravioli I’ve made recently. I only made eight pieces of pesto-stuffed ravioli since I was too p****d with flattening the dough! But I had this crazy craving for several days already. So there I was in the kitchen making some fresh pasta as Pasta slept by my feet.
Fresh ravioli in red sauce
To make the pasta:
1 cup flour
1 egg
1 tbsp water
Mix the flour and egg till most of the flour is incorporated then add the water. Knead until dough is smooth and soft. Let rest for 30 mins. Flatten the dough thinly, and 1 tsp of fresh pesto for each ravioli square you will make. Cut with a ravioli cutter.
To make the sauce (for one serving):
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped finely
100 grams ground beed
4-5 pcs chopped canned button mushrooms
1 bell pepper, cut into strips
2 whole tomatoes (canned)
3-5 basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add 2-3 pcs of ravioli and wait until they float. Remove from boiling water and drain well. Repeat with the remaining ravioli pieces.
Meanwhile, saute garlic in olive oil, make sure it doest get burned.Add the ground beef and saute untill well browned. Add reserved mushroom broth, mushrooms, bell pepper and tomatoes. Simmer for 7-10 minutes, add the basil and simmer for a few minutes more  until sauce is thick. Season with salt and water. Add the cooked ravioli, simmer for 1-2 minutes more then serve.
This recipe is a perfect way for me to get back blogging for Presto Pasta Nights, hosted this week by Ruth.

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