i feel like a model! lol!

wear boots until you can! haha!

chinita de carbonara pacham style!

what i'm posting now is a recipe of one of my best friends, mimi. this is her specialty, and she once cooked this for one of our get togethers at aleth's place. we loved it, and so the name of the pasta was born - chinita de carbonara. "chinita" because she has uber chinky eyes (yeah, that's her!).

i asked for her recipe while we were chatting through ym, and she told me that she really doesn't use any measuring cups or spoons in cooking this dish. so she just told me the approximates of each ingredient (while laughing), and she insisted that i add the words pacham style when i post her recipe in my blog. "chamba or tsamba" is a filipino word for chance or luck. since my pasta came out yummy today, i knew i got some luck! hahaha!

as defined by wikipedia, carbonara is an italian pasta dish based on eggs, cheese, bacon and black pepper. but many variations came up, and used cream to replace eggs. personally, i like the idea of using cream instead of eggs because the dish will be more creamy. :)

the ingredients good for 2-3 servings are:

8-10 slices of bacon, chopped

1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 medium sized onion, chopped

1 pc chicken broth cube (or you can use pork broth cube)

1 pint heavy cream

4 oz grated cheese

fresh parsley, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 lb linguine, cooked al dente

fry the chopped bacon in its own fat. remove from pan.

saute garlic and onion, then add fresh mushrooms.

cook the mushrooms for 3-5 minutes until tender.

add the cooked bacon.

add heavy cream, chicken broth cubes and grated cheese.

simmer until the sauce thickens, then add chopped parsley.

toss in cooked linguine. as simple as that!

what a sunny day! i love weekends!

what a joke!

"Fate has a way of putting in front of us, that which we most try to leave behind."

anchovy pizza

another weekend, another food trip! today i made anchovy pizza. i love the saltiness of anchovies, the aroma of roasted garlic and the mild sourness of black olives.

 

of course, anchovy pizza is very easy to make. but first, you have to roast the garlic. here's a link with step by step photos on how to roast garlics: http://www.wikihow.com/Roast-Garlic. smells so good!

prepare the pizza crust. i just used pillsbury thin crust pizza dough that you can buy from the grocery's refrigerated section. roll out the dough on a greased pan, brush olive oil on top and bake in a preheated oven (400F) for 5 minutes.

then put all the toppings!

• pizza sauce (i used don pepino pizza sauce)
• grated mozarella cheese (got a good deal on this! 2 packs for $4 only!)
• sauteed fresh mushrooms
• chopped white onions (or you can cut the onion in rings)
• mashed roasted garlic
• sliced black olives
• capers
• fresh thyme
• anchovy fillets

drizzle olive oil on top and bake for 6-10 minutes at 400F.

i can see the tinik of the anchovy! lol!

faith

bacon, cheese & pepper muffins

i'm a food technologist and i work as a research scientist/product developer of patisserie mixes and fruit/cream fillings and toppings. i know the basics of baking, since i formulate cake mixes and tests them in the laboratory. in my previous job, i usually give the finished cake mix to pastry chefs so they can develop recipes for it. and together we evaluate the cake mix and the recipes made. i love my job, because i get paid to eat! lol!

i only bake at work, and never at home. maybe because it is part of my job and baking on weekends feels like working. and i tried to bake once back home in the philippines, and it was a disaster. but today, on a beautiful sunday, i baked. yes i did, and it was a success! i remembered my pastry chef friend Krisby made mouthwatering bacon, cheese and pepper muffins, so i made some today.

here's the recipe:

10 slices of cooked bacon, chopped
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tsp finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup grated cheese

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp double acting baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup vegetable oil

• pan fry the bacon. chop the cooked bacon and set aside.
• using  the oil from bacon, add chopped onion. stir & cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onions start to soften. then add red bell pepper and cook for another 2-3 minutes. when the red bell peppers are soft, turn off the heat and strain to remove the oil. cool and set aside.
• sift together all the dry ingredients.
• in a mixing bowl, add the eggs, water and oil, then add the dry ingredients in 3 batches. mix until smooth.
• fold in the bacon, onion, red bell pepper, green onion and grated cheese.
• pour the batter onto paper lined muffin pan, enough to reach about 2/3 of the mold.
• bake for 30-35 minutes at 375 F.

smells oh so yummy! *sniff! sniff!*

i love savory muffins! :)

oriental chicken pasta

i miss charlie chan chicken pasta of yellow cab! it has a sweet & spicy sauce, with strips of chicken, shiitake mushrooms and peanuts. i know a people are trying to figure out how it is made, including my kuya & my close friend mimi. i got curious about it and decided to take a shot, too. i searched the web to check out some posted recipes from those who tried to cook it, and i was overwhelmed with the several ingredients they used: lee kum kee char siu sauce, chili garlic sauce, oyster sauce, olive and sesame oil, etc. so i went to the grocery to look for these, and there was no char siu sauce which i think is the most important! good thing i checked every goods in the asian food aisle and found this:

a ready to use kung pao chicken sauce from lee kum kee. i checked the ingredients at the back of the pouch, and it has almost all the things i need!

the sleeping cook inside of me woke up, so i fired up my stove!


this recipe is good for 2-3 servings. i used:

6-7 cloves of garlic, minced (i love garlic, so i always use a lot!)
1 pc medium sized onion, chopped
1/2 lb boneless chicken breast, cut into strips
1/2 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms (caps only), cut into strips
1 pouch lee kum kee kung pao chicken sauce
3 tbsp sugar
dry roasted peanuts
3 stalks of green onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 lb spaghetti pasta, cooked al dente

saute garlic and onion in oil, add chicken. stir fry the chicken until light brown, then add the mushrooms. cook for 5-7 minutes. add the sauce, peanuts and sugar, and let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. remove from heat and add green onion. toss in the cooked pasta, and you're done!

the kung pao chicken sauce is a bit more spicy than the charlie chan's sauce, so i added some sugar so it won't be too hot. and no need to add salt and pepper.

so here is my oriental chicken pasta -

yum! yum! :)