one filipino dish a week

Being Catholic this is a season of self reflection and self sacrifice also known as Lent. The tradition is to give up something as a sacrifice and in return the practitioner will be more self aware and be able to better themselves. So what did I give up for Lent? Meat. In the next 40 days T and I will eat as vegetarians. Nothing that moos, nothing that flies, nothing that swims, and *gasp* nothing that oinks! What’s a Filipino to do with our pork? Actually, I’m looking forward to these next few weeks. This will be an opportunity to open up my cooking skills to new dishes and techniques and possibly change my outlook on how to cook. It’s like when people lose one of their senses they quickly adapt by compensating with the remaining ones. I’m hoping that this journey will not only fulfill me spiritually but also culinary-ly. My goal is to document the adventures of cooking outside my comfort zone.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been back in the kitchen and have been cooking weeknight dinners but have not been able to take pictures. Tonight I made sure to take pictures. This is tonight’s dinner (which I didn’t cook haha). The Girl cooked this wonderful stuffed eggplant. Eggplants are one of our favorite vegetables in this house. Tortang Talong is a very weeknight dinner. It’s easy to make and quite stuffing. I’m so full right now as I’m writing this post.

Amounts serves 2-4 people (depending how hungry you are)

Ingredients:
2 Asian eggplants
1/2 medium white onion diced
1 medium tomato diced
1 stalk scallion
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying

1. Broil the eggplants until the skin is crispy. To make it easier to peel the skin. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
2. Let the eggplant cool down before peeling.
3. Peel. Take a fork to flatten and spread the eggplant.
4. Place the diced tomatoes, onions, and scallions on top.

5. Beat the egg in a bowl (use 1 egg per eggplant). Pour the egg over the eggplant.
6. Heat the oil medium-high and slide in the eggplant from the plate into the pan. The Girl’s tip: Sliding the eggplant from the plate prevents oil splashing.

7. Cook until the eggs are set and it looks golden brown (or a little darker if you want a little bit more crispier).

Thanks for cooking dinner tonight babe!

Eat Filipino Food!

I’ve been in London the last couple of weeks for work and once again been pretty busy and not much time to cook. I have been eating and exploring the food in London so I’d like to share that with you. These aren’t the highest quality pics because these were all taken from my blackberry.

One of the exciting things here that I found are the markets. The last couple of weekends I’ve gone to two markets and had lunch. The first one is Borough Market which has been around since the 13th century and is frequented by the local chefs, foodies and practically everyone.

It’s winter so most of the goods that the farmer’s had were root veggies and these huge lettuce

When I saw this I knew this was what I was going to have for lunch. It looked ridiculously good Cheeeeese!

Here’s the raclette: melted cheese over potatoes and pickled baby cucumber and pearl onions. Yum!

Everything here is extremely fresh….which one do you want? Pheasant, duck, rabbit, hare or the deer? I can still almost see the heart beating in these animals haha. I think you can adobo and sinigang anyone of these Adobo Pheasant now that would be something I need to make.

It was raining all day yesterday and I didn’t feel like going out in the rain too much. However, today was really nice so I went to the Mayfair Farmer’s Market which is close to where I’m staying.

They had quite a variety of honeys, fresh meats, and vegetables. I got a bottle of apple and black currant juice. Haven’t tasted it yet but I will open it very soon and post an update here.

One of the meat vendors was selling a lamb sandwich which looked ridiculously good so I had to try it. It was lamb, spinach, chili sauce, apricot chutney and pineapple chutney on a ciabatta bread. It was a fantastic lunch!

It’s been great to explore the markets here in London. If anyone has info on where to get good Filipino food in London let me know. I’m here for a few more days.

Friday night dinner is a ritual for The Girl and I to take time and eat and enjoy the meal and not rush. In the last few months everything has been extremely hectic and busy that I have not had many chances to cook meals. Friday night is the only time her and I can sit down and enjoy a meal. Tonight, I cooked fried butterfish and she made a quick pickle of cucumbers and tomatoes. 20 course tasting menus at fancy restaurants have their place but I’ve found that it’s the simple meals with the ones that you love that always become the best meals. I call this a poor man’s friday night dinner but it makes you feel like a million bucks when you’re eating it with loved ones.

What did you have for dinner tonight? Who did you eat it with?

I apologize to all my readers for being an extreme deviant and have not had a post in 5 months. I have extremely missed posting my adventures in the kitchen. To be honest I have not had many adventures in the kitchen in the last few months. I am itching to get back into the kitchen, experiment, and continue learning. I’ve been schemin’ this whole time and got a lot of ideas that I’m going to be executing. Apologies for disappearing but I’ll be back