Apo's Kitchen and Beyond!

Pinoy-style Tri-Tip

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:22:46 -0400

One thing about living in Uzbekistan - you can get decent cuts of beef. The cuts don’t exactly look like the conventional American cut I’m accustomed to, but I’ve learned that uttering the magic words “Bon Filet/Бон филе” at the butcher counter will result in almost 2 kg of beautiful skirt/sirloin. That’s 4 lbs. of beef for the equivalent of $20. Now I don’t eat this all in one go (just to reassure you, Mom!), but I’ve divided it up, marinated it, and freeze what I am not eating for later use.

I started doing the South Beach Diet a few weeks ago after noticing that excess carbs were making me feel quite yucky. The diet promotes balanced meals of lean proteins, vegetables, and a stark decrease in the “bad” carbs. For those on Phase One, I’d sub out the rice for a salad - white bean salad is awesome with this. I am now on Phase Two - where the “good” carbs are reintroduced - so I’ve started eating this with veggies and half a cup of brown rice (which is rich in fiber). Basmati also works as well.

This is my “Pinoy-style” tri-tip recipe using quintessential Filipino ingredients - garlic, some form of acid (this time lemon juice) and soy sauce.

1lb of tri-tip = at least 3 meals for me.

Ingredients:

2 kg Tri-tip

Marinade

Soy sauce or teriyaki sauce - 1 cup
Extra virgin olive oil - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 3 cloves chopped
Fresh thyme - 1 tbsp
Lawry’s seasoning salt (or any dry rub you prefer) - approx. 2 tbsp
Cracked pepper - approx. 1 tbsp
Juice of 2 lemons

Veggies

2 zucchinis sliced long
1 can straw mushrooms, rinsed an drained
1 tsp chives
Kosher salt and cracked pepper to taste

Meat:

In a bowl, whisk together soy sauce/teriyaki, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, thyme, and lemon juice.
If planning to freeze, divide tri-tip into one pound portions.
Season liberally with Lawry’s seasoning salt and cracked pepper. Rub this into the meat.
Put the meat in a large bowl and pour the marinade over the meat. Ensure the meat is evenly coated.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinade in the fridge overnight.
Divide portions into freezer bags for freezing. I let them marinade in the fridge overnight and then put the ones I’m not using in the freezer.
To prep meat for roasting, heat skillet to medium-high w/ 2tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Sear meat on all sides - about 3-4 minutes per side. This will hold the juices in when you put it in the oven.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (~200 degrees Celsius)
Place meat thermometer in center part of the cut and put into greased baking dish (I used PAM, but olive oil will do).
For medium rare, remove from oven when the thermometer reads 150 Fahrenheit.
Allow meat to rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing so that juices distribute properly.

Veggies

Using the same skillet as the beef, lower temp to medium heat and throw in the veggies.
Cook veggies in meat juices and sprinkle w/ salt/pepper to taste.

Pennete and mushrooms in a tomato cream sauce

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:08:00 -0400

My school has just opened it’s new and improved canteen last week. I have taken advantage of the faculty discount and enjoyed the daily lunches. This has made it a bit easier for me to prepare my home meals. Moreover, I am not easily bored now by what I cook because I only eat it for dinner versus twice a day. Living on my own has taught me quite a bit about managing weekly menus. It was challenging in the beginning because I was accustomed to prepping family-style meals back home in the States. Vegetables here also go bad quicker - thanks to the lack of preservatives, etc. in the food. Nevertheless, I’ve trained myself to shop for most produce that will be eaten within few days.

This weekend my taste buds fancied a cream sauce dish. Quick, fresh and very easy to prepare. This is quite similar to a penne ala vodka - but I didn’t feel like trekking to the liquor store to get a cheap bottle of Uzbek moonshine so I left it out and it still came out quite good.

Ingredients:

1 box pennete (mini penne) or regular penne
1 tomato - diced
1 13oz bottled tomato sauce
1/2 cup cream
4 cloves garlic
4-6 fresh basil leaves for garnish (the basil used in this recipe was fresh from my own plants)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano
1-2 cups button mushrooms sliced (depending on how chunky you like it)
salt
cracked pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Recipe:

In a stock pot, bring salted water to boil and cook pasta until it’s al dente (8-10 minutes). Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. When cooked, drain pasta and set aside.
Heat a skillet on medium heat and add olive oil.
Saute garlic until it becomes aromatic.
Add mushrooms and coat them evenly in the oil and garlic. Throw in a couple pinches of salt.
When mushrooms are browned, add the tomato sauce. Throw in a few more pinches of salt and cracked pepper.
Once the tomato sauce reaches a simmer, add the cream and parmigiano. Stir to blend the cheese and cream into the sauce evenly. Salt and pepper to taste.
Add the fresh diced tomato and reserved pasta water, lower the heat, and allow it to simmer for a 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. This will also allow the sauce to reduce and thicken.
In a large bowl mix pasta and sauce together. Roughly cut or tear basil into pieces in the mix as a garnish. Salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy with fresh grated parmigiano reggiano on top, a crusty slice of bread and/or salad. Makes 6 servings. This also goes well with any protein - sauteed italian sausage, bacon, or chicken breast.

What to do when you want a quick lunch and have leftover gouda...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 04:43:31 -0400

What to do when you want a quick lunch and have leftover gouda and a box of cellentani …Rick Bayless to the rescue! Works well with any sharp cheese. Prep time: 30 minutes.

uzbekvette: Starbucks green tea w/ red bean and ube (purple...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:35:24 -0400

uzbekvette:

Starbucks green tea w/ red bean and ube (purple yam) cake #itsmorefuninthephilippines (Taken with Instagram at Greenhills Theatre Mall)

uzbekvette: Early breakfast of banana turon and Nescafé (Taken...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:34:35 -0400

uzbekvette:

Early breakfast of banana turon and Nescafé (Taken with Instagram at Crown Tower)

uzbekvette: Proper NYC slice (Taken with Instagram at Nolita)

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:34:12 -0400

uzbekvette:

Proper NYC slice (Taken with Instagram at Nolita)

uzbekvette: Shopping fuel (Taken with Instagram at SM Mall of...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:33:59 -0400

uzbekvette:

Shopping fuel (Taken with Instagram at SM Mall of Asia)

uzbekvette: Wings… #itsmorefuninthephilippines (Taken with...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:33:45 -0400

uzbekvette:

Wings… #itsmorefuninthephilippines (Taken with Instagram at Wingman)

uzbekvette: Leggo my Goto… (Taken with Instagram at...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:33:21 -0400

uzbekvette:

Leggo my Goto… (Taken with Instagram at SM-Glorietta-Landmark-Greenbelt)

One of the meals I prepared at home in Manila - pork adobo and...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:33:03 -0400

One of the meals I prepared at home in Manila - pork adobo and kangkong (water spinach).

uzbekvette: Durian. Donut. #itsmorefuninthephilippines (Taken...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:31:56 -0400

uzbekvette:

Durian. Donut. #itsmorefuninthephilippines (Taken with Instagram)

General Santos City: Buko Halo Halo

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 07:06:48 -0400

On our way to Lake Sebu, we stopped to try the famed Apareja Buko Halo Halo. It is a perfect blend of corn, nata, kaong, banana, sweet potato, tapioca, buko juice, leche flan and of course, ube ice cream. They serve the juice of the coconut instead of water - great palate cleanser between bites.

Currently in the Philippines...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:35:25 -0400

I’ll be posting more tasty eats soon. In the meantime, have a look at the three cookbooks I just purchased yesterday. Memories of Philippine Kitchens by Romy Dorotan and Amy Besa, Kulinarya by Glenda Rosales , and Linamnam by Claude Tayag and Mary Ann Quioc.

Why these 3 books? They are arguably the best in terms of describing Filipino cuisine - its history and diversity -as described by foodie friends and blogs. There are a few more on my list…if my suitcase permits. ;)

Coconut leche flan

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:36:42 -0400

These days, aside from red velvet or a dense chocolate cake, I am not a huge cake fan. I do love my custards and pies. I started making my own leche flan aka crème caramel a few Thanksgivings ago for the annual dinners at my cousin’s place or to take to a friend’s potluck. I wasn’t too sure of how my family made it, so I just tried one on the internet. It came out just “okay” and I soon realized that it is a bit harder than it looks. One of the faults of earlier versions of my leche flan was the caramel. I tried a few recipes that called for water, and despite using extremely high heat, it would always crystalize and never caramelize properly. This would then create problems when it was steamed together w/ the custard. It always came out crusty tasting. Gross.

Last Christmas, I asked my Auntie Ester for the trick w/ hers. When I told her what I did before she chuckled and simply said - forget the water. Just use all sugar. It was smooth sailing from then. I then moved away from the standard condensed milk/evaporated milk combo and into using coconut milk. It results in a creamy flan w/ a hint of coconut. A winner at parties I’ve brought it to and completely gone within minutes when I took it to work a few months ago (pictured above before the attack).

Ingredients:

1 can condensed milk
1 can coconut milk
1.5 cups regular milk. (Regular milk can be omitted for a denser flan)
6 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grated rind of lemon or lime (optional)
1 cup of sugar

Custard:
Beat eggs then add milks, rind, and vanilla until properly mixed together and smooth.

Caramel:

Spread sugar in a Pyrex or aluminum pan and place directly on low heat on stove.
Melt sugar and swirl container as it browns so it doesnt burn and stick to bottom.
When it is a nice amber color, take it off the heat and swirl it so it gets onto the sides of container.

Steaming:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Pour custard through a strainer in caramel container and cover with foil.
Place container in large baking tray that can hold water
Put this in oven then pour 1.25 inches of warm water into tray to make a Baine Marie (water bath)
Steam for an 1 hour or until fork stuck into middle of flan comes out clear

Remove the flan and cool to room temperature or refrigerate. Run a dinner knife around the edges to loosen it and flip it over a flat serving dish. Enjoy!

Adobo - The National Dish

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 03:47:40 -0400

For all extents and purposes, adobo, is the national dish in the Philippines. You will see this on every menu in a Filipino restaurant and made in different ways, using various proteins. Certain regions like it very tart or stew it in vinegar/soy sauce, while others prefer it with hardly any tang at all. The key to this dish is the base - garlic, vinegar, and cracked pepper. This is used in many Filipino stews. When I quizzed my grandmother and other family members about the prevalence of vinegar in our stews - the answer was quite simple. In the days without refrigeration in a hot, humid climate, preparing food with vinegar as a base helped keep it from spoiling too quickly. To me, adobo is an everyday dish and the leftovers always seem to taste better than the first batch due to sitting in the juices. One of my favorite breakfasts since I was a kid - is leftover adobo reheated on the pan and served w/ scrambled eggs over rice.

The key to any Filipino dish - is cooking by sight/taste/smell - which is the way I learned to cook. The recipe below is just a guide - so adjust according to your taste.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp whole peppercorns
1 head of garlic
1 onion (chopped)
1/2 cup vinegar
1kg chicken thighs (or protein of choice - pork is usually my favorite, but not easy to find in Tashkent)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 kg potatoes - peeled and quartered.
2 bunches of spinach
1/4 cup soy sauce

Peel garlic and mash it w/ the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle.
Heat a heavy-bottomed casserole or skillet to medium heat and add vegetable oil.
Add half of onion and garlic/peppercorns until they start to sweat.
Add half of the vinegar to the pan.
When vinegar becomes aromatic, add the chicken.
Make sure chicken is coated in the onions/garlic/peppercorns and cover the pot.
Turn down heat to low and let the chicken simmer until cooked.
While the chicken is cooking, heat a small skillet w/ 1 tbsp oil.
Cook the remaining garlic/onion/peppercorn and vinegar w/ the soy sauce. Add this to the pot once it is cooked.
Fry the potatoes (or bake them at 375 for 10 minutes) ‘til they are crispy. Drain the excess fat and add them to the cooking adobo. Some people just add the potatoes in w/o frying, but my family has always preferred the extra crunch.
Prepare the spinach as a side dish - I just cook it down in the same small skillet so it can pick up some adobo juices and serve it as a separate side to add some greens as a meal. If I can find it at the markets, I also like to use bok choy for this.
Serve your adobo w/ steamed white rice and as an added bonus, a little atchara to enhance the bite.

Bistek: A Tashkent Dinner Party Hit!

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 14:41:00 -0400

Two very good friends of mine - George and Amanda - invited me and a bunch of other pals to their new house for dinner this past Saturday. Amanda, a former caterer in Australia prior to her life in the classroom, informed me that she was prepping the following menu: roast chickens, roasted beet root, mashed potatoes, roast feta (this was DIVINE), and salad. Knowing that this was not enough for the 17+ guests, she requested that my contribution be a main dish. I’d previously thought of inviting some friends for dinner this week for some Filipino food since it is our Spring Break, so this seemed like the perfect vehicle to kill two birds with one stone.

I originally thought to prep asado, but I couldn’t get Dad on Skype in time as they had a busy weekend as well in California. So, I decided on Bistek.

Bistek has Spanish roots spanning all of its colonies. It’s not uncommon to see Bistec Encebollado on any Mexican or Latin menu. The Filipino version is quite what I call “Filipinized” as we prefer ours tangy over its salty counterparts from the other Spanish colonies. We use citrus juice, garlic, cracked pepper and soy sauce quite liberally for the marinade. And of course, we eat it over a steaming bed of rice. This is one of my comfort food favorites. Easy to make and satisfies many. By the time the evening was over - it was gone and even my friends who don’t usually eat beef commented on how good it tasted. :)

Given the number of people - I bought 4 kg of beef (1 kg set aside for my dog’s food) at the Alayskiy Bazaar here in Tashkent. Unfortunately, they don’t butcher their meat in any recognizable Western cuts, but this definitely had plenty of marbling and easy to cut which leads me to believe it was tenderloin. Beef tenderloin is the best for this dish because you get the right amount of fat and meat. Also, feel free to modulate the amounts of ingredients according to how many people served. :)

INGREDIENTS:

3kg beef tenderloin sliced thin (about 1/4 inch thick)
The juice of 3 lemons (substitute for calamansi)
1 head of garlic
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
1 tbsp salt
1 cup of soy sauce (or until meat is covered)
2 large onions cut into rings

Peel garlic and mash together w/ peppercorns in a mortar and pestle. Toss together in a bowl w/ salt and meat to coat evenly.
Pour lemon juice and soy sauce onto the meat. Mix together to ensure meat is fully coated.
Marinate for 3-4 hours.
Heat wok/large skillet w/ 2 tbsp vegetable oil on high heat.
Cook beef about 2-3 minutes on each side. Do not cook for too long to avoid tough meat. Once it is cooked, set meat aside in a serving dish. NOTE: do not get rid of the marinade.
Lower the heat in the wok and throw in the onion rings. Cook the rings until they start to soften and get a nice char - but not until they’re translucent. Remove from pan and place over the meat.
Now throw in the remaining marinade from your bowl/container. Allow this to reduce to thicken slightly and pour over bistek/onions.
Enjoy with white rice.

A simple beginning...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 13:37:46 -0500

FINALLY.

Atsara. A simple pickled relish for barbecue and other savory dishes (adobo, asado, etc.) that never truly goes bad. The perfect metaphor for my family’s recipes - timeless and sure to sweeten the palette for generations. For the past 2 years, I’ve been mulling over how I could possibly pay a proper homage to my grandmother’s cooking. I’ve read countless blogs, spoken to her about her recipes, and have cooked on my own fairly regularly since I was in high school. The perennial taste tester among my siblings when Dad would cook at home - typically dishes inspired by grandma aka Apu - I’ve picked up the knack for recreating the Filipino food I love and ventured into other types of food that inspire me. Now that I have moved overseas - far from the Philippines and the United States - it seemed even more important to start documenting the family cookbook coupled with my adventures around the globe.

Let’s start with the above pictured atsara. Atsara is usually made primarily of julienned green papaya, but living in Uzbekistan, I’ve had to substitute it out for yellow carrots and red bell pepper for color. This was my first batch and I am quite pleased with the results. It went perfectly w/ the pork tocino I had marinating in the fridge.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. carrots (orange or yellow) - grated or julienned
1 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. ginger - sliced thin
1 red bell pepper - diced
1/2 head of garlic - lightly mashed
1 cup sugar
1 cup vinegar

Peel grate/julienne the carrots. Dice the bell pepper. Place in a bowl together w/ ginger and sprinkle liberally w/ the salt. Let this sit for at least 1 hour to draw all the moisture out.
Once moisture has been drawn out - wrap carrot mixture in a cheese cloth and squeeze out all excess moisture. Place in a recycled jar for storage.
In a medium-sized sauce pan heat on a low flame the vinegar and sugar w/ garlic until the sugar fully dissolves, creating a simple syrup. Some recipes I’ve seen online call for water - but I find this a big no-no as it cuts down the tartness of the relish. I like my atsara nice, sweet, and tart. Let this liquid cool to room temperature. You do not want to cook the carrots.
Pour cooled liquid into the carrot jar. Close and refrigerate for at least a day to get the best flavor.

I love having atsara in my fridge. It keeps for a long time and it goes great with virtually anything - particularly the saltier Filipino dishes. Moreover, here in Uzbekistan, they have their own version of relish - but I find atsara to have more of a kick, particularly the garlic and ginger.