What do we do with leftovers from Christmas dinner? Most especially scrap ham. The solution….Pochero or cocido. I prefer to call it Pochero as it is a very common dish in my hometown Cebu.

Pochero (Spanish spelling , Puchero) with its bounty of meats, sausages and vegetables is known as the “real national dish of Spain. Brought to the shores through the Spanish conquistadores, it is a favorite dish at Filipino festive occasions. With extra ham from the noche buena, the pochero is one way of recycling left-over meats. This recipe is richly flavored by the ham bones and scrap ham simmered with the beef.

Ingredients

1 kilo cubed beef (with some portions of fat)
1/2 kilo leftover ham bones
1/4 kilo scrap ham
8 to 10 cups water or enough to cover meat
4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in half
4 Saba bananas, peeled, sliced in half
3 pieces chorizo de bilbao sliced diagonally into 2 inch pieces
1 cup chick peas
1 head of cabbage quartered
1 Baguio pechay leaves separated

Continue Reading…

Noche Buena is never complete without the traditional chinese Ham. The common glaze used is pineapple but this time, I used Apple-cinnamon glaze.

Here’s the recipe for Chinese Ham with Apple Cinnamon Glaze:

Ingredients
1 2 to 3 kilos Chinese Cooked Ham
2 cups Apple Juice
1/4 cup cherry brandy
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 medium apple , chopped
2 pieces bay leaf
1 tsp cinnamon powder
slices of green and red cherries
toasted cashew nuts
celery leaves

Continue Reading…

Christmas Eve is known as “Noche buena” (the Good Night). It is a time for family members to gather together to rejoice and feast around the Nativity scenes that are present in nearly every home. Our noche buena usually consists of light meals. This year Marielle prepared Cheese Fondue (see recipe below) while Lauren prepared the Paella.
Continue Reading…

Technorati Tags: Cheese Fondue

It’s Christmas Eve. My daughter Lauren was dying to cook paella for our Christmas Eve dinner. I bought all the ingredients in the morning but I wanted to cook it already while the seafood were fresh. My recipe for paella is one where I can pre-cook everything and place it on the pyrex dish for baking at a later time. It made sense to prepare it now then bake it just before Christmas dinner. I can’t be hassled with cooking just before the Noche Buena.

Here is my Paella recipe. Lauren assisted me with the cooking.

Continue Reading…

Technorati Tags: Paella