My husband’s favorite pasta dish has got to be lasagna. Whenever we have guests, he makes this special request and I tell him that it gets to be boring. Well, I think lasagna is an all-time favorite for most pinoys.Lasagna involves three steps: The tomato meat sauce, boiling the pasta and the preparation of the bechamel sauce.

Let’s make the Bechamel sauce first:

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cans evaporated milk (i can is equivalent to 225 ml or 1 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

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Posted: November 10th, 2009 under Beef, Pasta, Recipes.
Comments: 18

Nothing beats eating tapa for breakfast. With garlic rice and fried egg, it’s a breakfast fit for anyone expecting a busy day. My beef tapa recipe is a mixture of pepper and sweetness the way I like my lean and tasty beef tapa to be. Remember to marinate overnight (two days for better absorption) so that the seasonings seep well into the beef slices.

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Posted: August 28th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: 8

Recipes today will be different. I attended an event organized by Argentina Corned Beef, the “Canned Cuisine Chef’s Series” which aims to inspire kitchen creativity by bringing culinary experts and have them share their own corned beef recipe creations to consumers. Like most of you, I only prepare corned beef as “ginisang corned beef” or with diced potatoes. I don’t normally offer canned goods to my family as daily fare but I do indulge every now and then. Just remember that high salt diet is not good for the kidneys and to always drink lots of water. I will share 6 recipes especially to my readers who choose to eat canned corned beef as a viand.

With a little kitchen savvy and a taste for reinvention, anyone can come up with unique corned beef dishes or meals that the whole family will find healthy and deliciously enjoyable. Showcasing the versatility of corned beef were Chef Eugene Raymundo of Five Cows Ice Cream Bar and Restaurant, Chef Sam de Leoz Jr. of the UST-Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management and Chef Mia Carla Yan of the Heny Sison Culinary School and Magsaysay Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. Each chef presented their own recipes of an everyday meal and a “Weekend Couture Cuisine” dish with corned beef as the main ingredient.

Chef Mia presented her Argentina Corned Beef Frittata and tummy-filling Easy Argentina Shepherd’s Pie/ Cottage Pie.

Easy Argentina Shepherd’s Pie/ Cottage Pie

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Posted: July 15th, 2009 under Beef, Press Release, Recipes.
Comments: 1

I already posted a Beef Mechado recipe but that version used vinegar. The one featured here will use calamansi. It was supposed to have no tomato too. There are other versions of mechado that doesn’t use tomato but I prefer my mechado to have tomato. I just like my beef to have that tomato goodness in it. However, you can choose to remove the tomato. So here is the beef mechado recipe.

Ingredients

1 1/2 kilos kilo beef (strip of fat inserted) or kabilugan
4 calamansi (Squeeze the juice and set aside)
5 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 tomatoes cubed (optional)
1/4 cup tomato sauce (optional)
1 large onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons sherry
1 1/2 cups water
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon peppercorns
1 small bay leaf
3 tablespoons all purpose flour (toasted)
2 tablespoons butter
2 potatoes, quartered

Olive Oil

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Posted: June 12th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: 1

Wikipedia says that Arroz a la cubana, means Cuban-style rice. Maybe the Philippines version came from our Spanish ancestors. The Philippine version consists of rice; ground beef sauteed with onions, garlic, tomato sauce, diced potatoes and diced carrots; a fried egg and a native plantain (saba), sliced length-wise and fried. I love dishes with anything that contains “saba” so here is a simple recipe I want to share with you.

1/2 cup ground pork
1/2 cup ground beef
1/4 cup raisins
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup onion , sliced
1/3 cup tomatoes, sliced
4 saba bananas
salt and pepper to taste
cooked rice
eggs

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Posted: June 7th, 2009 under Beef, Pork, Recipes, Rice.
Comments: 2

I first ate Korean Beef Stew at the old Kimchi Korean Fastfood in the mid-seventies. My love for Korean beef stew inspired me to make my own version similar to the Kimchi Korean beef Stew. Here is my version that is a hit with my guests.
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Posted: May 6th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: none

I first learned to cook after college. Remember I baked first before I actually cooked. One of the first recipes that I cooked was Beef Stroganoff. Despite being a newbie in cooking, the dish came out really well. Beef stroganoff is actually a Russian dish with sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream. It tastes best with pasta noodles or even just plain bread. It became popular in other countries and of course the Philippines. For those first-time cooks, try this out.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo beef Tenderloin, cut into 3 x 1.2 inch slices
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup mushroom juice from the mushrooms
1 cup sour cream ( substitute with 1 cup evaporated milk and 1 tablespoon calamansi juice or vinegar. Let stand until curdled)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon refined salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese or gruyere cheese (optional)

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Posted: April 27th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: none

Chili Con Carne is one of the comfort foods that I remember in my childhood days. I remember placing chili con carne over rice enjoying the right amount of spicy flavors. It’s an all-time favorite food with my children. My kids are different. They also eat it with rice but add grated cheddar cheese on the top of the chili con carne. I know there are variations of Chili con Carne.

Chili con carne (often known simply as chili) is a spicy stew-like dish. The essential ingredients are chili peppers and meat. Variations, either geographic or by personal preference, often include tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, beans, and other ingredients. The name “chili con carne” is a slight corruption of the Spanish chile con carne, which means peppers with meat.

There are indeed many variations and I prefer to have more of the beef than beans. I also like to add tomato paste which some believe shouldn’t be in the recipe. Here is my recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 kilo lean ground beef
400 grams red kidney bean
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1 onions, chopped

1/2 cup Tomato paste
1-2 cups water
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
4 pieces siling labuyo
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
7 leaves of Cilantro (optional)

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Posted: April 20th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: 4

Mechado is a usual stew served in our dinner table. Traditionally, it is cooked with beef briskets, potatoes, pimiento (red bell peppers), and tomatoes. It is similar to a beef stew, with elements of Filipino ingredients such as patis. I don’t use patis so that’s out of the question. Here is the recipe:

1 kilo beef (strip of fat inserted)
1 heaping teaspoon peppercorn
3 cups water
1/3 cup vinegar
1 bay leaf or laurel leaf
1 big onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic crushed
1 red pepper, in strips
1/4 cup green peas
1 tomato, cubed
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 slices bread, cut to crouton sizes or cubed
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cooking oil

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Posted: March 12th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: 1

Before the ready-mix Kare-kare came into the market, I cooked kare-kare the old fashioned way. Of course, busy homemakers prefer that method. Wikipedia notes that the kare-kare is made from Oxtail, with the skin on and cut into 2-inch lengths, and ox tripe are boiled until tender. Sometimes pieces of ox feet or shins are added. In some varieties, other types of meat are used, such as pork or (rarely) chicken (there is an instance of one version omitting the meat altogether and using vegetables). When the meat is tender, the soup becomes glutinous and to this is added ground roasted peanuts (or peanut butter), ground roasted glutinous rice to make the soup thicker. Atsuete (annatto) is added to give color. The basic vegetables for kare-kare include young banana flower bud or “heart” (puso ng saging), eggplant, string beans, and Chinese cabbage (pechay). Kare-kare is often served hot with special bagoong alamang (sauteed salted shrimp paste)..

Now for those that want the old, traditional way, here is how I do it.

Ingredients

1 buntot ng baka (ox tail) roughly 1 1/2 kilos
1 pata (ox leg) – Note: (You can always substitute the ox tail and ox leg with beef brisket)
6 cups water
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 head garlic, crushed
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
1/2 cup atsuete seeds for coloring
1/2 cup water (for atsuete)
4 eggplants, cut in 1/2 inch slices
1 banana heart, sliced crosswise
2 bundles stringbeans, cut in 2 inches length
1 bundle Chinese Cabbage (Pechay)
Optional vegetables (ampalaya, celery)
1/2 cup bagoong alamang
1 cup ground peanuts (if you prefer, substitute with peanut butter)
1 cup toasted to light brown, ground rice (if using peanut butter, reduce to 1/4 cup toasted ground rice)
Juice of 5 calamansi
salt and pepper
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Posted: March 10th, 2009 under Beef, Recipes.
Comments: 2

My daughter Lauren was dying to cook paella for our Christmas Eve dinner over 2 years ago. I bought all the ingredients in the morning but I wanted to cook it already while the seafood was still 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, Filipino Style recipe. Lauren assisted me with the cooking.

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Posted: November 21st, 2008 under Beef, Filipino Food, Pork, Recipes, Seafood, chicken.
Comments: 9