Eat Matters

Saturday's Dinner:Cottage Pie

                   

I visited the Ukrainian Museum of Canada recently. One of the things that caught my eye was a wooden door with a bas relief detailing the harsh living conditions of the early batch of Ukrainian immigrants who, because of political and cultural suppression, left Kiev via Antwerp to the vast, fertile but still unexplored  prairelands of Canada. They came to establish homesteads with dreams of a better life. On the lower corner of that bas relief was engraved the words: Sons of the Soil. This statement was a profound attribution rather than a sorry indictment  that theirs was an existence of survival based on the bounty of a fertile land. However, that bounty can only be reaped by an efficient system of sustenance-- the distribution of  back breaking labor to each member of the household, children included, that responded to the demands of the cyclical four seasons. It was perhaps a monotonous life of clearing, plowing,planting in the spring, tending the crops and animals as summer blooms, harvesting and preserving the produce to curb starvation as winter cloaks the land.

I can imagine a bone-weary farmer at dusk trodding home to his  small cabin eager to enjoy a hearty nourishing meal with his family. In the comfort of a handcrafted table they would  share stories, laugh, bond and partake of a meal in lamplight where the ingredients are literally the fruits of their hard labor. It is in fact a simple everyday celebration of the Earth's goodness.

I suspect these were the images that urged me to prepare  a meal reeking with the colors and flavors of the earth -- something traditionally comfy that loosely replicates a farm to table meal.  Although not of Ukrainian origin, I decided on Cottage Pie.

Cottage Pie is minced beef--Shepherd's Pie if minced lamb-- sauteed in onion, garlic,oregano or a herb of choice, simmered in brown gravy and layered with  cooked corn kernels, peas or carrots. A can of of cream of corn added can do wonders. The ingredients are placed in an oven-proof dish covered with mashed russet potatoes dotted with butter and baked until the top layer of mashed potatoes turn brown but not burnt.

There is nothing  specific about the ingredients or the measurements when preparing the dish. You can add, subtract or substitute any ingredient.Traditionally, the logic in the harmony of the dish depends on the available produce of the season.

Cottage Pie is the quintessential farmer's dinner that packs a wallop of  energy required for gruelling manual labor. For us couch potatoes, remote control freaks and sedentary bloggers, this is a flavorful meal  that should enjoyed sparingly.

I served mine with whole wheat dinner buns and lotsa butta on the side.

Now dig that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Marinated Pollock Baked in Black Bean Sauce & Cilantro

                     

A much deserved special Friday dinner can be enjoyed at home in a simple yet flavorful and visually appealing way.  No need to burn your hard earned big bucks in a fancy sales-oriented resto or to parry the server's rehearsed suggestive selling lines subliminally egging you to order more. Keep that plastic in the pocket. Stash that cash for later. The home, where the hearth is, is still the best place to unwind on the weekend.

The kitchen is the ideal room to de-stress if you do things slowly. Think of cooking not as a chore but as creative pleasure. Let those artistic juices flow. Fill the air with soothing jazz or candlelight music. Diana Krall if you like.

On your way home, drop by the liquor store and get a bottle or two of wine. Hey, there are lots of  honest-to-goodness inexpensive wines out there waiting to  be discovered.  Don't even bother about those blah-blah about this wine or that, etc. That will confuse you. Get the wine you think you would enjoy. Obey your intuitions. At the end of the day, or the evening, it's the whole experience of the tongue, the mind, and the body (if you have a lovey dovey) that matters.

Last night, I switched on my dish-up-what's on-the- fridge mode and came up with a Lemon Marinated Fillet of Pollock Baked in Black Bean Sauce & Cilantro. All I did was to defrost what was left of the frozen filleted Pollocks  and marinated them in a mixture of fresh lemon juice, oil, sugar and fresh cracked, black pepper for about 20 minutes. I placed the fillets on a ceramic bake ware, thoroughly dabbed each piece of fish with about a teaspoon of garlic black bean sauce, liberally layered the top with a dozen sprigs or more of roughly chopped Cilantro, covered the ceramic with tinfoil and  baked it in a pre-heated 350 degree oven until done. After individually plating the fillets, I poured the remaining sauce on top, drizzled it with sesame oil, and garnished the dish with a sprig of fresh Cilantro. What came out was a trio of mellow Asian flavors that oozed salty, sweet, and sour to the tongue. Just the tender kind of gustatory turn on you want on a Friday night.

So how did my Friday evening end? That is a secret. And another matter altogether. This is a food blog.

 

 

PanSip

                        

We received a package of goodies from Bangkok, Thailand a few weeks ago. On it were 5 packs of this delectable Thai snack that I especially requested to be included in the set. They are called Pansip/Pancip. Individually, they are the size of about a fourth of a forefinger.Small.They resemble miniature empanaditas with a filling of brown, sweet and spicy paste of shredded dried fish. Tuyo empanaditas, perhaps? They can be called that except  that the taste has no hint of intense saltiness on it. On the bite, they are firm and chewy mildly hinting of nam pla  and an occasional burst of  hotness from  a healthy seasoning of cracked black pepper.No red chili on this one. What I like about  Pansip is that it doesn't give  the expected jolt of the proverbial Thai hot treatment that makes the spice-challenged taste buds want to swoosh on liters of water. Instead, because of the base sweetness, the heat of the spice builds up slowly and  stops to a comfortable level that makes you  want to nibble some more. If you ask me, its a perfect companion for  blogging. Hooks up well with beer too. Am actually nibbling on one right now. Haha.

Gusto nyo?

 

Chanos Marines

                        

Chanos Marines is a  Filipino seafood dish that has been adapted by the    world famous French Cuisine.

If you met the statement with surprise and questioning eyebrows, then smile and bring them back down. The statement is false.

I am just sharing my amusement about the  product labeling regulations here in Canada. Packaged products in English or any language should have an equivalent French translation. So if I tell you that today I had Creme de Crevettes Sautees for lunch, you would think  I ate in a chi-chi  French fine dining restaurant. Actually, ang kinain ko lamang po ay Sauteed Shrimp Paste or Bagoong Guisado  o kon sa amon sa Iloilo Guinamos nga Guinisa.Saucy eh?  Now, don't ask if I had some Chardonnay to go with it. Sina-ing lamang po at cold water. Ehem and tenk yu.Chanos Marines is naman, is nothing but marinated milk fish. Daing na Bangus and nothing else but.

One of the reasons why we trek to the Oriental store on the other side of the city is this vacuum-packed ready to cook Daing  from Sarangani Bay in South Cotabato in Mindanao. A pack usually comes with three medium sized bangus( roughly about 6 to 8 inches) and costs about 5 to 6 Canadian dollars a pack.

We make sure our freezer doesn't run out of  stock. It's a fave pull-out menu for anytime meals.You can just shove it right in to  a pre-heated oven or, nuke it to defrost,  then fry until golden brown and a bit crispy.

I might sound redundant but there is no other way to eat it but kinamot guid wtih a bottle of sinamak on stand by. Rice should be steaming hot.

Grilled Queso de Bola Sandwich

                        

Christmas is far long gone but we still  have a remnant of the  feasting-- a bored Magnolia Queso de Bola still virginal  in its shiny red garb sitting idly in one corner.This still unwrapped cheese was actually a pasalubong that came too late for the holiday celebs and too early for the next one. But, better late than never.

So before this year's Yuletide season sets its frenzy again (Six months na lang. Xmas starts in September, right?),  I decided to use the QdB in our everyday meals. It's almost gone now because my  daughter just loves to nibble on this creamy flavoured Edam like an underfed mouse.

For this somewhat harried Monday morning, I made a grilled sandwich using the QdB.Easy did it because all I needed to  do was slice the cheese, slip it in between two pieces of pain a 100% de ble entier (100% whole wheat bread, a. Saying it in French makes it a little sosyal, e)  and slap it on a slightly oiled and well-heated grill pan. Apply  a little pressure on the bread with a flat ladle  to get that professional looking grill marks and..... Presto!

Almusal 7.01: Pinamalhan,My Way

                     

Another simple  Ilonggo breakfast that brings  finger licking goodness to your otherwise drab morning is Pinamalhan.Pinamalhan comes from the Ilonggo/Spanish word mala which means dry. Pinamalhan is a cooking process where fresh is fish cooked in native vinegar with sliced garlic,ginger, onions and a souring agent of either a tomato, batwan, or iba(kamias). The fish which is normally a choice of Bilong- bilong, Gurayan,Sapsap or Bangus cut into sections crosswise, is simmered slowly until the vinegar  dries up in the cooking pan. Leaving a little of the liquid though, to drizzle over steaming hot rice is a wise option.

Way back when organic eggs were still aplenty in the backyard chicken coop,Pinamalhan is eaten with hot steaming rice mixed with raw chicken eggs seasoned with  a bit of salt. Today in our infectious existence, with  Salmonella and friends invading from all fronts, it's an eat at your own risk game.Super delicious though, if you're willing to put your gastronomic life on the line. But if you happen to chance upon a mungga nga Bisaya(native hen) who still lays those bacteria-resistant golden eggs, the itlog nga sinamo is one grub you wouldn't dare miss on an early morning. I couldn't think of another perfect match.

Frozen Chub Mackerel was the only option I had  for my pinamalhan the other day. Oh, by the way, Mackerel is one of those fishes on the watch list with high mercury content. The reason why am getting rid of my stock fast. The Mack didn't do bad in it's debut as a pinamalhan; as was the "Canadian" vinegar. But how I wished the ingredients were all sea fresh and native--tuba or palm langgaw (vinegar).

If my pinamalhan looks somewhat brownish on the picture it's because I added a little soy sauce on the simmering liquid.The soy sauce caramelized when the cooking liquid dried up.So I deglazed it with a little water and poured it over the fish. Not bad eaten with sauteed guinamos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Cooks and Eats Good

It appears that Google doesn't only want to be  the world's leading search engine. It also wants to make its presence felt in the corporate eating world as well. San Fransisco Chronicle staff writer  Olivia  Wu reports that:

With its dedication to providing free and largely healthful, organic and artisan-produced meals three times a day to its employees, Google may well be leading the way in corporate food-service programs in the same way it has set the bar for search engines.

Inside its vast corporate campus, Google  has encouraged the proliferation of  restaurants and cafes whose repertoire of recipes represents the taste buds and flavors of its multi-cultural workforce plus, that of  the other  foodies who make it a point to visit these cafeterias.

What  is unique  about  Google's  food service concept inside the Mountain View premises is that it goes beyond the basics  of providing  accessible  and  affordable dining to its  employees. It has embraced and put into place a forward-looking and synergistic  food  program that involves and benefits  not only the company but the community and the environment as well.  According to Olivia Wu's article:
               

By the sheer numbers of its employees  --  Google is mum, but estimates put it at 4,000 and growing  --  and its purchasing power, the company will likely affect the survival rate of local, small, organic farms as well as what ingredients appear in local markets and, down the line, how much agricultural land is saved from development.

 Besides the impact on the local economy and food producers, Google is creating a new model for how corporate cafeterias serve their employees, both by the wide variety of offerings and the creative freedom allowed its chefs.

Amazing isn't? And the notable thing is that it's achievable. Why am I blogging about this?

In the aftermath of last weekend's  crude political thrilla in Manila, I got to thinking if the only way out of the quagmire where the Philippines is helplessly drowning would be to incessantly  babble and squabble  for power, favors and positions.

Perhaps the Internet's mogul corporate food service  agenda can serve as a model for  both  the political administration, for those at the odd end of the  spectrum and for us Pinoys.

If  we could only stop talking and start thinking like Google.

This is just my little exercise in wishful thinking. Really.

Read more about the article here .