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.

December 11 - Cathelyn's Penne a la Vodka

Pork menudo became an instant favorite of Daniel. As for Cathelyn, she chose Penne a la Vodka.

Besides the vodka, the sundried tomatoes gave the dish its unique twist.

If you are thinking of making this dish vegetarian, feel free to exclude the bacon and add in more butter or use olive oil to saute the garlic and onion.

Penne a la Vodka
Ingredients
1 package of penne pasta
12 pieces of sundried tomatoes, sliced into thin strips, softened in 1 cup of warm water
1/4 lb chunk of Schaller & Weber double smoked bacon, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, minced
100 ml. heavy cream
1 cup of Vodka or Vermouth
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp butter
freshly ground pepper





Cooking Time
Cook the penne pasta as instructed in the package.
When selecting bacon, get a chunk from your butcher shop or gourmet store.
This kind of bacon is not as fatty when cooked.
In a large pan, fry the diced bacon.
Add the garlic and onion and cook until caramelized.
Add the sundried tomatoes together with the water and cook for 5 minutes or until the tomatoes are tender.
Add the heavy cream, cheese and butter.
Lower the heat.
Adjust the taste (by adding more cheese) to make sure that the sauce is not bland.
Add the vodka (or Vermouth) and quickly mix in the penne pasta.
Add some freshly ground pepper.

December 11 - Daniel's Pork Menudo Dish

This version of Pork Menudo became an instant hit to my son, Daniel.

I was careful not to put so much water. The sauce is just enough to cover the dish without making it soupy.

A diversion to normal recipe is using chickpeas instead of green peas. So if your kids are not used to the taste of chickpeas yet, then feel free to use green peas.


Pork Menudo
Ingredients
1 package of pork tenderloin (about 3 lbs), cubed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tbsp paprika
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, minced
4 medium sized tomato, diced
4 Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced crosswise
1 red bell pepper, diced
4 big Yukon potatoes, diced
1 can of chickpeas
1 cup raisins
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 cup water




Cooking Time (45 minutes)
Heat the olive oil in a large pan or wok.
Saute the garlic and onion until caramelized.
Add the tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are wilted.
Add the pork tenderloin and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the chorizos, potatoes, paprika and 1 cup of water and cook for 10 minutes.
Add the pepper, chick peas and raisins.
Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Cook for another 10 minutes.
Be careful not to make the potatoes mushy.
Add the grated parmesan cheese and cook for just 3 minutes to melt the cheese.

December 11 - A Very Festive Potato Salad

I earned a lot of points serving this very festive potato salad to my husband.

Besides having that wonderful "red" color (make sure you use fresh red beets and not canned!), the different vegetables mixed a lot of unique tastes to an otherwise boring potato salad.

Do not hesitate to add onion and cheddar cheese to your salad!

I served this potato salad with baked ham, another favorite of my husband...

Russian Potato Salad

Ingredients
12 small buttercream potatoes
4 red beets
4 medium sized carrots
1 green bell pepper
1 large sweet onion
4 boiled brown eggs
3 tbsp of tillamook cheddar cheese, diced
2 tbsp superfine sugar
dash of salt
dash of freshly ground pepper
1 cup mayonnaise





Preparation and Cooking Time (1 hour)
Use a big bowl to mix in all the ingredients.
Boil the vegetables with the skin on (20 minutes for the pepper, onion and carrots, 30 minutes for the potatoes and beets).
Peel the skin off and dice the vegetables, eggs and cheese.
Mix all the ingredients together with sugar, salt, pepper and mayonnaise.