March 11 - A Complete Meal with Spanish Chicken and Rice

Spanish chicken and rice is a complete meal by itself. And it is really filling.

This is one dish that my kids appreciate. They like it when the chicken itself is really tasty.




Spanish Chicken and Rice


Ingredients
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 piece Italian dry sausage, sliced
1 15oz can sweet peas
6 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
6 tbsp chopped parsley
5 fire-roasted red peppers
1 tbsp paprika
0.25 grams saffron
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup vermouth
2 cups white rice

Cooking Time (1 hour)

Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken.

Set the chicken aside.

Brown the Italian sausage on the same pot and set aside.

Saute the garlic, onion and parsley on the same pot.

Add the red pepper, paprika and saffron.

Add the chicken broth and vermouth.

Add the rice and let it boil for 20 minutes or until the liquid is almost gone.

Place the peas, chicken and sausage back to the pot.

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Mix chicken and rice before serving.

March 10 - Going Simple with Crumbed Lamb Chops

If you ever get tired of eating the usual pork chops, go for this simple dish of crumbed lamb chops.
Besides being tender, lamb chops are tastier.

Crumbed Lamb Chops

Ingredients

8 lamb loin chops

salt and pepper

vegetable oil for frying

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1 cup Italian bread crumbs (or simply, bread crumbs)

Cooking Time (30 minutes)

Place the flour, 2 beaten eggs and bread crumbs in 3 shallow bowls.
Season the lamb chops with salt and pepper.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan.

Dip the lamb chops first, in flour, then eggs, then cover with bread crumbs.

Fry the lamb chops in low heat for 3 minutes each side.

Bake the lamb chops for 20 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Serve with rice and vegetables.

March 5 - A Comforting Bowl of Shrimp Gumbo

One Southern dish that I have learned to like is shrimp gumbo.

This dish is not too appealing (being a thick, dark soup). But when it's cold and snowing outside, this warm dish is comforting.

Shrimp Gumbo

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter

1 lb small pod okra, sliced

1 carrot, diced

6 small zucchini, diced

1 large onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

4 tbsp oil

4 tbsp flour

6 cups water

1 dry sweet sausage, cut-up

1 tbsp basil

1 tbsp thyme

1/4 cup parsley

4 bay leaves

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper
1 lb shrimp, cut-up

additional thickening:

4 tbsp flour mixed with 1/4 cup water

Cooking time (45 minutes)

In a large non-stick pan, saute the vegetables
with 3 tbsp butter.

In a large stainless pot, heat the oil and flour and stir constantly until it is dark in color.

Slowly add 6 cups of water (1 cup at a time, then stir)

Add the sausage.

Add the sauteed vegetables.

Add the thyme, parsley, basil and bay leaves.

Add the soy sauce, salt and pepper.

In the last 5 minutes, add the shrimp.

If the dish is not thick enough, add the thickening mixture of flour and water. Serve warm with white rice.

February 23 - Adobong Pusit Just for Me

I don't think my family would fancy eating adobong pusit (braised squid). I cooked it anyway since it is one of my favorite. Also, I would like to have a record of the recipe for future use.

I prepared it to include it as a topping for Pancit Malabon. The sauce itself gave my pancit a kick!

Adobong Pusit

Ingredients
4 large pieces of squid (cleaned but keep the ink sac, cut in pieces)
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp whole peppercorns
4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar








Cooking Time (10 minutes)
In a pan (or wok), put the garlic, olive oil, peppercorns, soy sauce and vinegar.
Cook for 5 minutes in medium heat.
Be careful not to burn the soy sauce.
Add the squid.
Cover the pan and cook the squid for 5 minutes.

February 15 - The Sweetness of Belgian Waffles

There is nothing sweet with Belgian waffles. It's all those wonderful, syrupy toppings that we put on it.

But what I like about this dish is the sweet smell of the waffles that makes you add a dollop of vanilla ice cream over it.

Belgian Waffle

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Suggested toppings:
sliced strawberries sweetened with Confectioner's sugar
Cool Whip cream or vanilla ice cream
chocolate syrup



Preparation Time
Mix all the ingredients until there are no more flour lumps.
Let it stand for 30 minutes

Cooking time
Pour enough waffle batter in a Belgian waffle maker.
Serve warm.

February 11 - Pizza for Lunch

We have 2 snow days. The school was closed for two days.

As for me and my husband, we have to work from home, since the kids were home.

This is a good time to serve them pizza.

My sourdough starter came in very handy.

I made my first homemade pizza dough. After a lot of practice baking my own bread using my
sourdough starter, the pizza dough came out good.

It came out crusty and chewy.


Pizza


Ingredients
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

Suggested toppings:
6 tbsp of marinara sauce
6 tbsp grated mozzarella
cooked sausage, thinly sliced or
Spanish chorizo, thinly sliced







Preparation:
In a bowl, pour the starter. Add the vegetable oil, salt and sugar.
Mix together.
Add 1 cup of flour.
Knead the dough for 20 minutes, dusting the dough with enough flour.
This dough is enough to make a 12" pizza.
Flatten the dough on a 12" round stone, until the dough does not spring back.
Let it stand for 30 minutes


Cooking time:
Bake the dough for 5 minutes at 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Bring the pizza out of the oven and add toppings.
Bake the pizza for another 10 minutes at 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let it stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

February 6 - Time for Pasta Carbonara

Another pasta recipe that my kids enjoy - Pasta Carbonara.

It's one of my favorite too. I remember a colleague of mine who used to serve this to us and I can't seem to have enough of it.

This recipe gets the zest from the thick-cut black forest bacon and onion.


Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients
1 lb thick-cut black forest bacon, diced in small pieces
1 large sweet onion, minced
3 eggs
1 pint heavy cream
5 tbsp grated Parmesan
1 package of linguine pasta noodles
freshly ground pepper













Cooking Time: (25 minutes)
Whisk the eggs with the cream.
Cook the linguine as directed in the package.
In a large pan, cook the bacon and onion for 20 minutes.
Put back the drained pasta back in a large pot.
Pour over the egg-cream mixture on the pasta. Add the grated Parmesan.
Mix together for 2 minutes or until the sauce is not watery.
Turn off the heat.
Add the bacon and onion to the pasta mixture.
Add freshly ground pepper to taste.