Grilled Eggplant on Multi-grain Bread

I haven't had much time to post the many dishes that I've created lately. My new job has been consuming my creative juices and am really so into it. I do want to share a simple healthy sandwich here though. This is one of the many dishes I've come up with to serve during client presentations.

I suggest you use Le Petit Artisan's Multi-grain bread. I have a photo of this wonderful bread which they gave us for take-home after a presscon. I told the owner Mr. Arnold Co that describing the bread as masarap will not do justice to it...rather I'd say one bite is like a slice of heaven in a bread.

The bread is crunchy on the outside but really soft on the inside. What I have here is the multi-grain bread. And by multi-grain that's rolled oats, flax, linseed, sesame, pumpkin, chia and poppy seeds. The bread has no yeast, fats, sugar or preservatives but believe me you won't feel like your eating cardboard like most healthy sugarless breads.

Here's the recipe for a hearty and filling sandwich that's great tasting but healthy :

Ingredients:
2 eggplants grilled with skin removed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed with your fingers
1/4 cup basil leaves, finely cut (chiffonade)
1 small tomato, sliced thinly
2 slices of cheese (preferrably Vintage cheese available in most supermarkets)


 Procedure:
1. Grill eggplants over your stove top. Place a portable grill on top, brush lightly with a little olive oil and put the eggplants. When done, remove the skin of the eggplants. You may chop for ease of placing on the bread. Add olive oil and dried rosemary and set aside.
2. Finely cut the basil leaves, slice your tomatoes thinly.
3. Now you're ready to make your Grilled Eggplant on Multi-Grain Bread. Place the eggplants with olive oil and dried rosemary first, top with basil leaves, then the tomato slice and lastly the slices of cheese.
4. Cook in a panini grill if you have one or simply cook on a non-stick pan on a stove. Or if you prefer, grill the sandwich where you grilled the eggplants.

Leche Flan

A friend asked me for a good leche flan recipe which she wanted to try for New Year's Eve. Since I stayed in my parent's home for the New Year I had no internet access. Here is a recipe which I learned way back in the 80's with my own tweaks and adjustments. So far this is my most luscious and creamy leche flan recipe. The 9 whole eggs works just fine just let the mixture go through a sieve 3 or 4 times. There are sieves that you can purchase in most baking or specialty stores, no need for the katsa or old flour katsa bags of the old times.

LECHE FLAN

Yield : 4 oval shaped llaneras

Ingredients :

20 eggyolks* (or 9 whole eggs or 10 eggyolks & 5 eggwhites)

2 tall cans evaporated milk or 1 cup

1 big can condensed milk or 1 cup

1 ½ tsp vanilla or lime rind

1 ¼ cup sugar (adjust to 1 cup if using 1 can condensed milk)

Syrup:

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Procedure:

Mix everything in a container, strain 3x if adding eggwhites, once only if using all egg yolks. Caramelize sugar, add water and vanilla; cook until thick then pour into baking pans, let cool. Then pour mixture of leche flan, bake at 275* or 300* for more than an hour on top of a banyo maria or a deep dish with water. If making 2 thick leche flans bake for 2 hours, checking for doneness constantly.

* add 2 eggwhites for body during parties

After Christmas Meal

It’s always a pleasure to take a break from all that rich heavy Christmas gastronomic excesses. Today I decided to serve my boys Fried Tilapia ala Pobre. Since this is a rather simple dish I always make it a point to style the fried tilapia by putting some slices of red tomatoes. I also put a cup of rice with some tomato slices to be served with bagoong that will simply partner well with the Tilapia.

To make the dish a bit more extraordinary, top with roasted garlic chips (please see the recipe for this in an older post).

FRIED TILAPIA ala POBRE

Ingredients:

1 kilo fried tilapia, cleaned and scaled

1 ½ teaspoon rock salt

¾ teaspoon ground black pepper

cooking oil for frying

2 Tbsp roasted garlic chips

Tomato slices

Procedure:

1. Clean the tilapia by shaking off the slimy liquid that comes from the mouth of the fish. Wash then put salt and ground black pepper.
2. Deep fry in hot cooking oil. Remove excess oil.
3. Top with roasted garlic chips and serve with tomato slices

A Christmas Spread

Here are the other dishes served during our family Christmas lunch. My brother’s yaya of so many years never fails to bring an array of the most luscious suman and kakanin from their home in Cabalantian, Pampanga. Note that we have two types of freshly made suman, the Suman sa Lihiya or Sumang Kambal in Tagalog otherwise known as Sumang Bulagta in Pampango and the Suman sa Dahon or Sumang Bulong in Pampango.

We also had an authentic Chinese ham that was not too salty. My sister bought 6 kilos of fresh sugpo which I cooked halabos style. Sharing with you the recipe for the Halabos na Sugpo here. To make the Halabos a little extraordinary I made a sauce out of the marinade the sugpo were cooked in…

HALABOS NA SUGPO

Ingredients:

1 kilo Sugpo

¼ block of butter

1 Tbsp cooking oil

10 garlic cloves, chopped finely

1 cup 7 Up

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground pepper

1 tsp cornstarch

Procedure:

1.Clean and trim sugpo legs. Cut the sharp point of the carapace. Wash the sugpo. Put salt and pepper and add 1 cup of 7 Up. Marinate for about 30 minutes.

2. Saute garlic in butter and oil. Do not brown.

3. Next add the marinated sugpo. When these turn pink remove. Pour the marinade, boil and let cook until reduced into half. Add about a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken and use this as a sauce for the Halabos na Sugpo.

My Father's Favorite Christmas Dish

Our Christmas spread is never complete without my father's favorite Christmas dish, NILAGANG BABOY, BAKA AT MANOK otherwise known as COCIDO. As far back as I can remember the centerpiece for our   Christmas lunch has always been this super yummy dish. Pardon the picture I've posted but as soon as I saw the succulent slab of pork liempo cooked for two hours to perfection together with a whole chicken and a big chunk of beef plus the chorizo de bilbao which adds that distinct Castillan flavor that makes it so special and the uncooked Chinese ham that turns this supposed simple boiled dish into a rich gustatory experience, I simply forgot to take a good picture of the dish whilst the chicken was still whole and the pork liempo was still untouched or the beef still whole. 

Since the recipe comes from my family, the measurements are all tantya tantya or what I call guesstimates…according to taste. You may adjust accordingly though. One day I will have to put a measurement to all the ingredients put into this dish so that anyone in our family can cook it…

NILAGANG BABOY, BAKA AT MANOK

Ingredients:

2 kilos pork liempo, about 4 whole slabs of 1/2 kilo each

1 whole chicken (about 1.2 kg)

1 kilo beef kenchi

12 pcs of El Rey Chorizo de Bilbao

¼ kilo uncooked Chinese Ham

1 whole garlic

3 red onions, quartered

8 potatoes, quartered

3 sayotes, peeled and cut into squares

1 whole cabbage, cut into 8

1 whole pechay

Procedure:

Boil together the pork liempo (pork belly), whole chicken, beef, Chorizo de Bilbao, Chinese ham, whole garlic and red onions. After approximately 1 ½ hours, check if pork and beef are really fork tender, add the potatoes and sayote and cook for another 20 minutes, lastly add the cabbage and pechay just before serving.

Marking the Next 50 Years : Heidi's Feast

We celebrated the next 50 years of our friend Heidi (she just turned 51) by gorging on all these food you can see. For our main dish, birthday girl Heidi brought this fantastic Chicken Cordon Bleu with a Creamy Cheese Sauce. I brought my ever present Pollo al Horno con Patata (please see an earlier post for the recipe) or Roasted Chicken, this time, however, I didn't stuff the chicken with the creamy mashed potatoes. Husband and wife, Tony and Jaena brought their scrumptious Chicken Asado. Notice that we had what I termed 3-Way Chicken : Cordon Bleu, Roasted and Asado.

For the symbol of long life in any birthday party, our friend May, who opened her house for this celebration, cooked her famous Pancit Pata, hmmmm sinfully delicioso. Janet brought some healthy seafood veggie lumpia which I plated for the eye to feast on. Heidi also brought thick and juicy pork barbecue.

For dessert, Janet cooked a whole pot of her luscious Ginatan. Jojo and Monet brought so many boxes of sweet and chewy cassava cake. Rusel brought grapes for us to munch on. Another friend Liz, based in the U.S. sent a Caramel Cake from Estrel's and wine to toast on. I wanted to have a lovely centerpiece so I made the Festive English Trifle (please also see an earlier post) this time using vibrant pink predominantly to match the occasion and my shirt. Now here's the recipe for my heavenly mashed potatoes:

CREAMY MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients :
1 kilo large baking potatoes, boiled and peeled
1/2 block of butter
1/2 cup all purpose cream
1/2 block of cream cheese, softened
salt and pepper to taste
finely chopped parsley

Procedure:

Mash the potatoes together with all the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly to avoid uneven saltiness. Place on a baking dish and garnish with finely chopped parsley. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Making a Festive English Trifle

Trifle making is getting to be a passion. For my friend Heidi's advance birthday celebration, marking her next 50 years towards a hundred...here is what I came up with. I've already given the recipe of a Festive English Trifle in an earlier post.

This time I played with other colors and used other ingredients. I added Kiwi fruits (the green one not the yellow one which is soggy and too tart), mandarin oranges and peaches. Since I couldn't find any strawberries in the supermarket, I opted to use Oreo cookies with strawberry and Regent strawberry rolls. Let the pictures guide you through the fun of making this no-bake dessert. This is a work of art and truly a labor of love....