Fish and Chips

  My personal experience with Fish and Chips dates back all the way 2000, when I lived in London.  To my surprise, I found the best-tasting ones in my neighborhood.  I lived on the high street and the Golden Hind was just a stone's throw away, on Marylebone Lane.  It's a small shop that's not easy to miss because it's always packed.


What makes a good one you might ask?  In my opinion, the fish must be moist while the batter is crisp and, the potatoes should be fluffy inside.  But find room for your better judgement as this discussion can take hours or days at length in a local pub with almost every single person being an expert, having his/her own recipe to share.

Traditionally, Plaice, Cod, or Haddock are used along with Maris Piper potatoes in England.  But, living on a different continent, I had to settle with Cream Dory.   I don't use frozen fish but found myself making an exception because I wanted to try this interesting local pack.

Try this simple Pate a Frire (frying batter) recipe, which you may also use with oysters, prawns, and scallops:

150 grams of Corn Flour or Cornstarch

150 grams of Flour

15 grams of Baking Powder

150 ml of Milk

150ml of Beer (I used San Mig Light)

Nutmeg, Salt, and Pepper, to taste

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and form a well.  Pour the wet ingredients (milk and beer) and whisk.  Add seasoning.  You know you've arrived at the right consistency when it resembles double cream.  Let it rest for a few minutes covered with a cling film.  Then drop your fillets and allow to coat. 

Pre-heat your vegetable oil in a deep fat fryer at 180-190 degrees C.  I've had this Franke one for more than a decade and I'm giving it a really good review!  Deep-fry your fish until golden brown.  And allow it to dry off in  lined paper towels.

Deep-fry your chips using the same temperature and season with salt afterwards.  If you're a purist, you'd want to use another batch of oil so that the flavors are not influenced.

Like most of England (others like curry sauce, gravy, etc.), I love to eat mine with malt vinegar.  The Young Tongue's current obsession, on the other hand, is organic ketchup!  

I caught her candidly as she inspected, smelled, and gave her food the seal of approval!  Someday, I'll bring you to London, so we can eat our Fish and Chips wrapped in newspaper, which they say adds flavor to the dish!

White Jade Mushroom

I received a Cafe de Flore Paris (I miss you, someday, I'll be back!) postcard from my best friend Don, who resides in Shanghai.  We've spent many summers in Shanghai and I've come to love the place because of the food, the art, and the crazy fun people in it.  And so, I found it ironic that I came across these in the supermarket...

 ...White Jade Mushroom.  Quickly wash in running water and remove the edible bits by slicing or plucking it by hand.

Saute in a hot pan with vegetable oil and season with salt and white pepper.  Remove from the pan and plate it along with it's juices.  Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.  Serve hot.

Honey and Black Pepper Salmon

Busy as a bee, I only had ten minutes to spare in the kitchen. 


I marinated the salmon in honey along with crushed black pepper.  I didn't add salt as it tends to dry out the fish.  Pan-sear in a hot pan with vegetable or olive oil.  Season to taste with salt and squeeze half a lemon when it's cooked.  You can serve this on top of salad greens (wish I had some arugula) as a salad or with spinach as an entree.


Most pediatricians do not advise honey for babies, so you can choose to use light corn syrup instead.

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Cream together:   1 cup butter

                                 1 cup sugar

                                 1 cup brown sugar

Add:                        2 eggs 

                                 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together:        2.5 cups flour

                                2 cups oatmeal

                                1/2 teaspoon salt

                                1 teaspoon baking powder

                                1 teaspoon baking soda

Then add:              12 oz. Dark Chocolate Chip Morsels 

Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes.

Cool in a wire rack.

Makes 5 dozen. 

Prime Rib La Carlota

My cousin Alex and I spent the weekend to visit my good friends, Tricia and Ceej, and Wagyu's siblings, Victoria and Albert.  We had a lazy Sunday roast in La Carlota with other friends, old and new.

Alex and I only had an hour in their kitchen to prepare so we marinated the prime rib in Texas Jack No. 2.  We immediately char-grilled the thick piece of meat when we arrived in La Carlota (hence the name of the dish), medium rare.  We let it rest for a few minutes then sliced it and enjoyed the roast over champagne, wine, and beer, along with Dutch cheese and chips.

While we were busy sipping our afternoon poison of choice, our other friend kept busy by grilling crabs.  They were so sweet, Alex and I ate 4-5 pieces each!

It was also served with locally grown aubergines that were roasted then peeled, thrown into a bowl of Sinamak (local vinegar made of sugar cane, chillies, garlic, and ginger), and sliced shallots.  This was the perfect accompaniment for the sweet crabs and grilled leg of lamb.

Alex and I also prepared pasta.  We slowly-cooked sliced garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and green olives in extra virgin olive oil and tossed cooked linguine.  We seasoned with sea salt and black pepper (Tricia hand-carried some from Florence and they were so tasty!) and finished it off by adding basil leaves and cheese.

Some scenes from La Carlota...

 Albert enjoying some mud...

Victoria looking glum with the thought of leaving such a wonderful and restful place...

Crab and Roe

This versatile ensemble can be used as a spread, dip, salad, or as an appetizer.

Cook the crab in a pot with hot water.  Remove all the meat by hand.  In a bowl, combine the crab meat, chopped dill, salt, and pepper with some mayonnaise.  Just add enough mayonnaise to hold it together.  Serve chilled.

As an appetizer, you may add capers and fish roe.  As a salad, you may place this on a bed of mesclun and arugula.  As a sandwich spread, you may put this in between wholewheat toasts.  And as a dip, you can serve this with lime chips.

Prosciutto, Zucchini, Mushroom, and Mashed Potatoes

 

Mashed potatoes, when served with a motley crew of flavorsome friends, can be enjoyable and colorful!

Pan-sear the prosciutto slices in a hot pan with olive oil until crispy.  Set aside.  In the same pan, saute thinly sliced zucchini.  Set aside.  Then toss in portobello or Swiss mushrooms and saute to perfection.

Bring water to a boil, add a piece of peeled potato (per person), and allow to cook in a gentle simmer.  You can test doneness by placing a paring knife right smack in the center, and if the potato falls off the knife, it's cooked to the core.  Remove from the pot and place in a bowl along with a knob of butter per person.  If you're inclined on having a richer flavor and velvet-like consistency, you can go for an added dollop of cream.  Mash and season to taste with salt and pepper.  For this recipe, I chose to season with Sabatino & Co. Truffle Salt.  Then place in a serving bowl.

Assemble the prosciutto, zucchini, and mushrooms on top of the mashed potato and for unctuous goodness, drizzle liberal amounts of truffle oil.  Season with truffle salt.  Garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary.

Sabatino & Co. truffle products are available locally albeit not in a mortar and brick store.  Email:  cecillec12@yahoo.com for orders.

This is NOT a paid advertisement.

Carrot Cake

I love carrots as is or as a cake.  Here's a no-fail recipe I learned from the Le Cordon Bleu.

3 pieces            Eggs

250 ml              Vegetable Oil

250 grams       Caster Sugar

250 grams       Plain Flour

2 teaspoons     Cinnamon, ground

2 teaspoons     Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon   Salt

300 grams       Carrots, grated

                           Icing Sugar, for dusting

1.  Pre-heat oven at 180 degrees Celcius.

 2.  Beat eggs then add the vegetable oil and sugar.

 3.  Sift all the dry ingredients and add into the mixture.

 4.  Fold the carrots into the dough.

 5.  Line the baking tin with parchment paper.

6.  Pour the mixture into the baking tin.  Bake for 50-60 minutes or until nothing sticks into the toothpick when you poke through the center.

7.  Remove the cake from the tin and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Dust with icing sugar.  For variety, you can dust it with flavored sugar (as seen above) or add a cream cheese frosting.

Portobello Mushroom Risotto

My friend, Arlene, requested an easy risotto recipe.  And so, here it is. 

I used Ribe Risotto, but would prefer arborio.  You'll also need some truffle-infused oil to add an intensified mushroom taste in the end.  Both the risotto and oil are available in Santi's deli.

Saute chopped white onions and sliced portobello mushrooms in a pan with extra virgin olive oil.  You can add shell fish (in my case, I added Manila clams) or you can add other vegetables if you want to keep this entirely vegetarian.  Remove from the pan once cooked.

In a separate pan with boiling water and salt, plunge your baby asparagus.  Allow to soften for about a minute or two.  Then remove and set aside.

In the same pan where the vegetables were cooked, toss in the uncooked risotto.   I use half a cup of uncooked risotto for a hefty serving per person.  Allow the grains to get translucent.  This will take about a minute or two.  Then immediately...

...pour your stock, gradually.  If you're serving this to vegetarians, use vegetable stock.  If you added shell fish, you can use fish stock.  You can also use chicken stock or beef stock.  If you're cooking 400 grams of uncooked risotto, you'll need about 1.2 liters of stock.

Constant stirring and attention is required when cooking this dish.  Truly, a labor of love.

Once the risotto is al dente, add some cream and grated parmigiano-reggiano.  Season to taste.  Stir.  The consistency you're after is silky and a slightly runny.  You may also add a knob of butter.

Place the risotto on a deep plate and assemble the shellfish, mushrooms, and asparagus.  Then drizzle with truffle-infused oil, liberally.

Caviar Pie

When I get nervous, I stress eat.  I don't eat hefty portions, but I eat flavorful dishes.  I made this a few hours ago, to keep my mind off of the fact that my mom is being admitted to the hospital for a major spine surgery right about now.  It also doesn't help that gmail has temporarily (I hope) disabled me from being able to send any email.

I decided to make something with an ingredient my daughter dearly loves ... caviar.  This might sound too strange, a 21-month-old toddler eating caviar while two-thirds of our population is going hungry!  But, give me a minute to defend myself.  The first time she came across it was a few months back, while we were entertaining.  I had no idea she had already placed a small teaspoonful in her mouth until I saw some remnants on her chin.  At first, I didn't know how to react -- be amused or get angry!  She seemed to have enjoyed it because she kept signaling for more.  I sat her down and let her know that they're very precious tiny morsels and that they should be eaten slowly, savoring every bite.  And oh, I used affordable caviar (the ones that you can buy in Santi's for under Php500.00).  Really good caviar, in my opinion, should be eaten on it's own with just a squeeze of lemon.


This recipe calls for eggs, so clear with your pediatrician first or opt not to put any.  

 I use a 10-inch mold on a 12-inch plate.  You can always use a smaller mold.

Hard boil 3 pieces of egg.  Remove the shells and chop finely.  Add half a white onion, chopped the same size as the egg.  And mix with about 2-3 tablespoons of mayonnaise.  You just want the mayonnaise to hold it together, so no need to be generous.  Once it's mixed, place on top of the plate and ensure that it's all leveled.

Blend a pack of cream cheese and about 1/4 cup sour cream in a blender or kitchenaid.  Place on top of the egg mixture.  If you want a richer and taller version, use 2 boxes of cream cheese and about half a cup of sour cream (half the container of a nestle sour cream or a third of a bulla container).  Cover with cling film and allow to set in the fridge, overnight.

Remove the mold and top with caviar.  Don't worry, a little goes a long way.  Just spread evenly and gently.  Serve with thin multi-grain crackers and lemon wedges.

 I'll be praying for your safety mama.

Saffron Couscous

The Young Tongue loves couscous.  Whenever we have nilaga at home, I always try to serve this with something a little bit more festive so that she gets excited to eat it.  Today's ingredient of choice happen to be Saffron.

I think I was 9 years of age when I first asked my dad to buy me this ingredient along with polenta and chocolate chip morsels.  He recounts how difficult it was then to buy saffron in the US, the good variety always being under lock and key. 

Allow your saffron threads to bloom in hot water.  I use about 20 threads for 2 people (but you can use less if on a budget).  I used half a cup of boiling water.

 In a hot pan with olive oil, saute a medium piece of white onion.

Add half a cup of couscous once your onions are translucent.  Stir for a minute under gentle heat.

Pour your half cup of water with saffron threads.  Then immediately...

...pour your half cup of chicken stock.

Add about a knob of butter and stir.  Cover with a lid and allow the couscous to absorb the liquid fully.  This will take about less than 5 minutes under gentle heat.  Season to taste.  Serve immediately.

MOTHER TERESA NOTES:

Saffron threads and couscous are readily available in Santi's.  I also came across couscous in Landmark supermarket.