January 31 - Roasted Cornish Hen in Red Wine Sauce

I like serving Cornish hens even if they tend to be more bony for kids.

Cornish hen is tastier and the serving portion is smaller.

It is less fatty, too, so you do not have the extra grease when baking or roasting it.


Cornish Hen in Red Wine Sauce
Ingredients
2 Cornish Hens, cut in half
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup red wine
3 carrots, peeled
3 beets, peeled
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced






Preparation Time (1 Day)
Combine the salt, pepper, sugar and red wine.
Pour over the hens and marinate for at least a day or overnight.

Cooking Time (90 minutes)
In a large roasting pan, place the hens with the skin side facing down.
Pour the marinade on the hens.
Arrange the onion, carrots and beets in the pan as well.
Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Turn the chicken and bake for an hour at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, occasionally basting the hens with the red wine sauce.

January 30 - Serving Pork Tocino

Pork Tocino is a famous Filipino breakfast dish. Normally served with garlic fried rice and egg, or in short, Tosilog.



The pork is marinated with wine, salt and brown sugar. The optional ingredient of annatto (atsuete) or beet juice gives its usual red color.



For better result, marinade the pork for at least one day.




Pork Tocino
Ingredients

3 lbs pork tenderloin
2 tbsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
dash of ground pepper
50 ml Bacardi rum
annatto or beet juice (optional)








Preparation Time ( 1 day)
Mix all ingredients and marinade for at least a day.

Cooking Time (20 minutes)
Heat 1 cup of water and 3 tbsp oil in a large pan.
Place enough meat to cook (about 1/3 of total marinade).

January 23 - Pan de Sal for Breakfast

Pan de Sal became a favorite of my family. I get pan de sal from Red Ribbon. Their pan de sal tastes really good, sweet and creamy.

My first shot at making pan de sal is impressive enough. It came out soft. I was very generous with the bread crumbs. Bread crumbs made the bread crusty on the outside.

It was not as sweet like Red Ribbon's. So if you need it sweeter, just add more sugar to the recipe.


Pan de Sal
Ingredients
2 cups of sourdough starter (If you do not have a sourdough starter, use 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of water and 1 package of yeast instead)
3 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
1 package of yeast
5 tbsp butter
1 tbsp salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup milk
bread crumbs





Preparation Time
Warm the milk and the butter (about 1 minute in the microwave).
Add the salt and sugar.
Add the yeast.
Add the sourdough starter and 3 cups of flour (Add more flour if the dough is still watery).
Mix and knead the dough (it will be very sticky).
Place in a greased bowl, cover and let it stand until the dough has double its size.
Using a server spoon, make 24 pieces and roll each piece in a bowl of bread crumbs.
Place the rolls (side by side) in a large pan.
Bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit
or until the top is light brown.

January 22 - Beef Caldereta, an Instant Fave

Beef Caldereta is one of my favorites. Especially the way my uncles used to prepare them back in the Philippines.

Honestly, they did it better with goat meat. But beef is good enough.

I have learned to use chuck roast beef for any stew dish. It has enough fat to make it tender in a shorter amount of time.

Also, you do not have to add liver to make this dish. Liver spread is enough to give the dish its authentic taste.

Beef Caldereta
Ingredients
4 lbs chuck roast beef, cut-up
2 tbsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 white onion, minced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
6 tbsp brown sugar
15 oz tomato sauce
2 red sweet pepper
5 red potatoes, cut into 8 pieces each
9 oz (Reno brand) liver spread
2 cans 15 oz green peas





Cooking Time (1 hour)
Mix the beef with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a large pot.
Brown the beef.
Add the garlic and onion.
After 10 minutes, add the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and tomato sauce.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Add the red peppers and potatoes.
In the last 5 minutes, add the green peas and liver spread.

January 19 - Seafood Chowder for Cold Nights

Winter nights are good excuse for hot soups and stews. It's our turn to make seafood chowder.

Chowder has the main ingredients of browned bacon, onions and potatoes. As for a seafood chowder, you add Old Bay seasoning, a familiar seasoning for any seafood dish. You can go wild with the amount of Old Bay seasoning that you put in, depending on how hot and spicy you want your chowder to be.

My kids (and husband!) are not too daring with seafood yet. You could add clams, scallops, and fish in your chowder. I could only put shrimps in mine :(

Seafood Chowder

Ingredients

4 pieces of bacon, cut in small pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 white onion, minced

2 celery hearts, sliced thinly, about 4 cups

4 carrots, diced

16 fluid oz clam juice

26 oz chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp salt

4 bay leaves

4 tbsp Old Bay seasoning

3 cups water

corn kernels from 3 corn ears

8 buttercream potatoes, diced

20 pieces shrimp, shelled and deveined

Cooking Time (1 hour)

In a big pot, brown the bacon.

Add the garlic and onion and saute until caramelized.

Add the celery and cook for about 10 minutes to make it tender.

Add the carrots and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the clam juice, chopped tomatoes, salt, bay leaves, Old Bay seasoning,and water.

After 10 minutes, add the potatoes and corn.

In the last 5 minutes, add the shrimps.

January 12 - Beef Pochero a.k.a Filipino Beef Stew

Summers call for all kinds of barbecues or grilled meat.

For winter, any hot soup or hot stew is comforting enough for those cold nights.

Beef Pochero is one of my favorites. It is very simple to cook and allows for a variety of vegetables. It includes banana plantain (in the Filipino version ,we use "saba") which gives the dish a subtle sweetness.


Beef Pochero

Ingredients

3 lbs beef chuck roast, sliced in big pieces
5 cups of water
3 chicken bullion
4 Spanish chorizo links, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 white onion, sliced
6 buttercream potatoes, quartered
2 yellow plaintain, quartered lengthwise and cut 3 inches long
15.5 oz can of chick peas
10 oz. green beans
1.5 lbs cabbage, sliced in 8 pieces




Cooking Time (1 hour)
Place the beef, chorizo, garlic, onion, chicken bullion and 5 cups of water in a big pot and cook for 30 minutes.
Add the potatoes and plantain and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the green beans and cabbage.
Cover the pot and cook for 20 minutes.

January 10 - Classic Taste of Sweet and Sour Pork

Sweet and Sour Pork is a common Asian dish. Its subtle and sweet taste makes it easy to appreciate.

My husband normally picks sweet and sour pork whenever we eat Chinese food. Naturally, when I decided to prepare it, he instantly likes it.

Some tips to make this common dish extra special.

Use pork tenderloin. Even when you deep fry it, the meat will remain tender.

Take time to marinade the meat with salt and soy sauce. The dish can have a "bam" when the meat is tasty.

Also, do not hesitate to use the juice from the pineapple chunks instead of water.

Sweet and Sour Pork

2.5 lbs pork tenderloin, cut in 1.5 inch cubes

2 tbsp salt

4 tbsp soy sauce

6 tbsp corn starch

oil for deep frying

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large white onion, cut in chunks

1 red bell pepper, cut in squares

1 green bell pepper, cut in squares

20 oz. can pineapple chunks

Sauce:

2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup balsamic white vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup ketchup

1 cup of pineapple juice (from the canned fruit, added with water)

Preparation Time (15 minutes)

Marinate the meat in salt and soy sauce for 15 minutes.

Mix the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.

Cooking Time (45 minutes)

Coat the meat with corn starch then deep fry. Cook 10 pieces at a time for approximately 5 minutes.

After 30 minutes, cook the vegetables.

Heat 3 tbsp of oil in a wok.

Saute the garlic.

Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the red and green peppers and cook for another 3 minutes.

Make sure that the vegetables are not wilted.

Add the sauce and cook for about 7 minutes.

Stir occasionally to prevent the sauce from burning.

Add the meat and the pineapple chunks. Coat the meat with the sauce.

Serve warm with fried or white rice.