LEMON INFUSED CHICKEN W/GREEN BEANS

My love affair with chickens began when I was a child vacationing at my Tito Nono's house in Bicol. His place being a farm operating business with lots of animals,  I inadvertently witnessed how they killed chickens by wringing its neck and submerging it in boiling water to loosen up its feathers for easy plucking.

That childhood nightmare should have had  me forsaking it as food,  on the contrary, I feel in love with all kinds of dishes made with chicken. As my Tito Nono said to me a long time ago, " you can never go wrong eating, cooking and serving chicken they are the best protein source all around, plus they are relatively clean, they are not scavengers they eat what you give them."

One of the fastest to cook when doing stir-fry is chicken breast. The recipe below can be made with other vegetables, one  just have to be creative.

1 chicken breast (medium size) cut into bite size strips
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. fish sauce (patis)
3/4c all purpose flour
2tbsp. sweet paprika
1tbsp. black pepper
1tbsp. chili powder (optional)
1/2 k or 1.1lbs. green beans
4 tbsp. olive oil
1c cashew nuts

In a bowl, marinate chicken breast with lemon juice and fish sauce for 20-30mins. Heat frying pan and cook green beans with  2tbsp. olive oil about five minutes, set aside.
Drain the chicken, in a ziplock bag, put flour, paprika and pepper, making sure all ingredients are mixed. Put the chicken in the flour mixture, making sure all chicken bits are coated in flour.
Heat frying pan with 2tbsp. olive oil, fry chicken till golden brown and when prick by a fork there are no blood coming out.
Put green bean beans back into the pan then garnish with cashew nuts.

Remember that the breast of the chicken has lesser fat content than the other parts. It is healthier to cook, but woe to me, I still love chicken  thighs and wings. Happy eating everyone.

COCONUT BUTTER CAKE

For Father's day, I made a cake that contains fresh buco (coconut) juice and desiccated (dry)coconut meat on top. The icing was butter with condensed milk.

This Cake is a tribute to my heritage (Filipino) and also a nice treat for the Dads, on their special day.

The trick to making the cake is to find fresh buco or coconut juice. In the Philippines this is not a problem, us living abroad, unless there's an Asian store selling the fresh coconut, the next best thing is the coconut juice found in cans.

I was lucky enough to find fresh buco in our local Asian store. Opening the husk and getting the coconut water and flesh (hardly any in the one I bought) was challenging. But, I had my heart set on fresh buco juice, I just pounded away till I had the pesky hole in that darn coconut.

Recipe:

2 1/2 c Cake flour (sifted)
1 1/2 c coconut juice (fresh or in can)
1/2 c minced meat of coconut (optional if you are using juice in can)  
5 eggs ( separate whites and yolks)
2 tsp. BP
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3c oil
1 c white sugar

Icing:
1 bar salted butter
1 can condensed milk
1/4c coconut juice

Topping:

1 1/2c desiccated coconut


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat egg whites, slowly drip 1/2c sugar. Beat till soft peaks form, then set aside. In a separate bowl, put shifted flour, salt, remaining sugar, BP, coconut meat (optional) mix all together. Incorporate fluids - coconut juice, egg yolks and oil. Mix all ingredients.  Pour batter into egg whites. Bake for 40 minutes or till toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool cake.

I usually, make my cakes day ahead and then freeze them. On the day of your party, take out your cake ( important to take out your cake from its baking pan before putting in the fridge) and butter for icing.

For Icing: Cut butter in small pieces, in a mixer beat butter small portions at a time, alternately pour condensed milk and coconut juice slowly. Taking time to make sure that all three ingredients are mixed thoroughly.  Then proceed to ice you cake.

For toppings: Heat oven to 400degrees. Put desiccated coconut in a pan and brown them for ten minutes. Once cooled, put browned desiccated coconut on top of cake.

The taste of this cake will surely bring you back to our beloved Island. Enjoy!

STIR FRY SHRIMPS WITH BROCCOLI LEAVES

Stir fry  (ginisa) vegetables together with meat or seafoods are fast, easy and economical  to cook in any day of the week. You spend more in prepping your veggies than actually cooking. My daughter loves these kind of dishes as she likes foods prepared in a simple way. She always tells me " four ingredients lang Ma!"  If I cook too elaborate, she always chides me, so to please her, I usually just keep our daily meal uncomplicated but still flavorful.

To keep our daily supply of veggies fresh, I usually just buy enough to last three days then go shopping again for more leafy vegetables in the end of the week.

When doing stir fry it is best to use a non-stick pan. It lessens the amount of oil you put on your food and at times, you actually don't need to put any oil at all. This is specially true  when frying meats as they have their own fats, which dissolves when you brown them.

1/2 kg. shrimps (shelled and deveined)

1 bunch (tali)  broccoli leaves (chopped, stalks and leaves separated)

1tbsp. chopped ginger

1tbsp. chopped garlic

1tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil

1/4c water 

salt to taste

fresh pepper to taste

Shell the shrimps. Place the shells of the shrimps in 1/4c water, mashed with spoon and reserve liquid. In non-stick pan, heat oil, saute' garlic and ginger. Add shrimps and stalks of broccoli leaves, cook for about two minutes or till shrimps turns opaque. Add water and broccoli leaves. Season to taste. It is done when the leaves is wilted but still green.

The finished product.  When you want to make a meal that is both delicious and healthy, any stir fry dish is the way to go. Happy eating!

 

RED VELVET CAKE

Ever since I saw a Red Velvet cupcake in a bakery here in Vancouver, I've been dying to try my hand to bake my own version.  So last Mother's Day, I decided to make my very first red velvet Cake. I felt that celebrating a wonderful day to honor us, Mothers was the perfect venue to highlight a delicate looking Cake.

( finished product together with the other desserts)

On the onset,  I was quite hesitant to  make the cake because it calls for 2-4 tbsp. red food coloring. I wasn't keen on putting too much artificial additives in any Cakes that I make. Instead of butter for the Cake, I used vegetable oil. Since the icing calls for butter and cream cheese, making the batter with butter I felt was way too much fat.

Anyways, barring caution, I decided to go ahead and make the Cake. I'm glad I did. It turned out to be moist and delectable,  my family  kept going back to the dessert corner for more.

CAKE

2 1/2 c cake flour (shifted)

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/3 c vegetable oil

1 1/4 c white sugar

6 eggs (separate yolks and whites)

1c + 1 tbsp. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

2-4 tbsp. red food coloring

2 tsp. vinegar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4tsp. salt

ICING

1 bar Cream cheese
1 bar Butter (salted)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c icing sugar
1/2c buttermilk

Whip egg whites till soft peaks form, set aside. Mix cake flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then pour oil, egg yolks, vinegar, food coloring and buttermilk. Mix everything together. Pour egg whites to batter mixture and mix. In a rectangle pan, bake in 350degrees oven for 30- 45minutes. It is done when a toothpick pricked in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

For the icing, makes sure that the cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. With  a mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Alternately, pour icing sugar and buttermilk, slowly. Ice your cake, if the icing runs, put your Cake in the freezer for about an hour to harden.

( close up photo of the Cake, which was eaten by the Dessert Monsters right away)

PORK MECHADO/PORK RIBS IN TOMATO STEW

Mechado  is a stew served as a viand in the Philippines. Traditionally, it is cooked with beef briskets, potatoes, pimiento (red bell peppers), and tomatoes. It is similar to a beef stew, with elements of Filipino ingredients such as patis.

This is my version of  Mechado that I call  "the open cans for harried housewives" tomato stew.  When your in a hurry and want something fast to serve your hungry family,  cans of pasta sauce, mushrooms and olives (a must in my pantry) is the way to go. 

In my family, the usual norm is cooking stews during the week days as it is easier to just simmer something away as you go about your other housechores. You can load a laundry, vacuum your floor, etc. etc. Plus the left over stew can be reheated and eaten at a later day in the week.

11/2kilo or 3.3lbs. Pork ribs
1 medium can pasta sauce ( Italian style)
1/4 c water
1 can black olives sliced
1 can mushrooms sliced (button mushrooms)
6cloves garlic
1 small onions
2 bay leaves
juice of half a lemon
salt or patis (fish sauce) to taste
crushed black pepper to taste
1-2 tbsp. olive oil or vegetable oil

Heat oil in stew pan, saute garlic then onions till garlic is slightly brown and onions translucent. Brown pork ribs on both sides. Pour pasta sauce, water and bay leaves, cover and simmer in low heat for about an hour (you can also use, pressure cooker to halve your cooking time). Once pork is tender add mushrooms, olives and juice of half a lemon. Season to taste with pepper, salt or patis.

Just a small tip to make your life easier, when shopping for your groceries, do practice the buying two things at the same time rule. This  holds true for canned goods (specially the ones that your family consumed a lot of)  toiletries, kitchen, bath and laundry soaps, etc., etc. It used to drive my husband crazy when I buy two of each, but now he is so used to my routine, he is confident that whenever we run out of something, he can always find another one in my various hiding closets.