Chorizo, Capsicum & Semi Dried Tomato Pasta

It's been quite a while since I shared something here in my blog. There has been quite a lot of changes in my personal life and cirscumstances that left me quite tight with my schedule.

Anyway, yesterday I was hosting a get together among a small group of friends from the Philippines. I served them pasta, pork barbecue and spring rolls.

One of my guests, Vi, sent me a text message today to say how she liked the pasta and requested me to share with her the recipe.

I thought, it would be a wonderful idea to also share it with all of you who might be interested.

Over the years, I have learned to cook using just my palate as my guide to taste for what I prepare. In case, the volume of my ingredients here is not enough for your taste, please feel free to make your own adjustments.

Here's the recipe:

Chorizo, Capsicum & Semi Dried Tomato Pasta

Ingredients:

Pasta (of your choice) , 500g., cooked as per package direction.

¼ c. olive oil
1 tbsp. garlic, chopped
2 pcs. brown onions, diced
Spanish Chorizo, 3 pcs, sliced or cubed
semi-dried tomatoes, 250 g.
1 1/2 cups capsicum or bell pepper, diced
1/4 c. parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan Cheese

Procedure:
1. Cook the pasta as per package direction. While it is cooking, prepare the pasta sauce.
2. Saute the garlic in olive oil until lightly browned. Put in the onions. Cook until it turns opaque.
3. Put in the chorizo. Stir every now and then.
4. Drop in the semi-dried tomatoes and capsicum.
5. Stir gently. Taking care not to overcook the capsicum and crumble the chorizo.
6. Season with salt and pepper according to your taste.
7. Sprinkle the parsley. Mix well.
8. Mix the cooked pasta with the sauce.
9. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Tips:
1. Use all three colors (red, yellow and green) of capsicum, if they are available. It makes the dish look more appealing.
2. Use freshly ground pepper. It gives a much better taste than the ready made one.
3. If you want a spicy pasta dish, you can put in chopped chili after the garlic.
4. You may substitute the chorizo with canned tuna, ham or bacon. Or if you want to go vegetarian, skip this ingredient from the recipe.
5. The parmesan cheese may be substituted with cheddar or tasty cheese as you wish.

How to Cook Delicious Food

Yesterday, my husband surprised me with a bar of chocolate! It was a gesture of appreciation he said, for cooking delicious food these past few days.

Wow! That was a compliment! The chocolate was no extra ordinary but the compliment was!

I have been cooking all my 19 years of married life but yesterday was something different for me. I actually have been complimented for my cooking quite a number of times already. But yesterday, i felt there was something different...that made me reflect, what indeed have I done to have cooked those delicious food and thus received such compliment.

In the past, whenever I cook something new from recipes that I have found in books or magazines or have seen over a TV show, and when friends or relatives praised me for them and requested for the recipes, I always give them the same recipes I used myself that earned their praise.

I remember on some occasions when these friends would try cooking the same recipe I've given them, they would tell me that the dish tasted differently from mine. They would insist that I must have a secret to cooking the delicious food and beg me for it. Oftentimes, I would wonder myself what is it. The recipe that I pass on to them is the same recipe that I myself use and follow.

Meanwhile, even in our franchised bakery business, friends and customers will often tell me or my husband that our bread taste more delicious compared with the other franchised branches. This comment usually makes me wonder what makes the difference in the taste since all branches (of our franchised bakery business) are using the same recipe and source and brands of ingredients.



In similar manner, in my own kitchen back in my own home, the recipes that I cook there and the ones i share with relatives and friends (and now here in this webblog) are the same. If there is anything that varies, it probably would be just the salt and pepper.

Now looking back at my own cooking- this week and the last, I realized there is one thing that made all the difference. and that I think is the secret to cooking delicious food. That secret is in...no other than what I call the "cook" factor.

Yes! The "cook" factor- the one cooking. The chef or the baker (for those baked products like the ones in our bakery!).

When the one cooking is happy, and he enjoys what he is doing, it reflects in his food- the one he is cooking. This to me is all that made the difference in my cooking this week and the last.

I realized I was in a very bad mood last week, and it manifested in all the dishes I prepared myself. They were either bland or simply not delicious at all.

This week, however, I'm in a happy mood. Thus, it showed in the food that I have prepared. See? That simple. Just my mood; my disposition. And it showed in my creation- the food I prepared!

Fresh Fruit and a Quick Salad Dressing

My daughters and I have been cooking and baking some sweet goodies for desserts recently. Since we have a lot of fresh fruits available, we've been preparing fruit salad quite regularly.

Actually, we use just about any fruit available- buko (young coconut meat), avocado, pineapple, papaya, banana, etc. When we want more, we sometimes use canned fruit cocktail and add some nata de coco. We just simply mix them up with this quick fruit salad dressing:
All purpose cream and condensed milk mix completely at the ratio of 1:1/2 respectively.

This fruit salad dressing us best used chilled, but just in case your cream just came right from the grocery store, you may mix the salad dressing with the fresh fruits and chill it up before serving.

The fruit salad dressing actually is versatile. you can use it for a lot of other dessert recipes. I personally use the same cream for my Mango Float, Mango and Nata de Coco Delight, and just about anything I can think of for dessert that requires a sweet cream dressing.

Boneless Pata Tim

While browsing over my numerous copies of my favorite Food Magazine, I came across this recipe - Boneless Pata Tim.

While I have already been cooking the regular Pata Tim recipe also from Food Magazine, this boneless version is one that I still have to try in my kitchen. But with the reputation of Food Magazine as one who'll try cooking first any recipe before they feature it, I'm certain that this one would be another excellent one.

Here's the recipe for the BONELESS PATA TIM. This will serve 6.

Ingredients:
1 Pork front leg (pata)
8 cups water
¼ cup Minced garlic, divided
1 medium Onion, sliced, divided
1 tbsp. Peppercorns, divided
1 tsp Salt, divided
¼ cup Soy sauce
¼ cup Cooking oil
3 tbsps sugar
3 tbsps Oyster sauce
1 tbsp. Sesame oil
1 tbsp. Cornstarch dissolved in
¼ cup water

For the Vegetable:
1 tbsp. Vegetable oil
1 medium White onion, sliced
1 medium Carrot, sliced
1 small Bokchoy, sliced

Directions:
1. In a pot, put the pork leg (pata) in water with half of garlic, onions and peppercorns, and salt. Bring to boil. Simmer under low heat for one hour or until pork is tender.
2. Drain pata from the liquid. Set aside liquid.
3. Run a knife inside the pata to loosen the meat from the bone. Discard the bone.
4. Brush pata with soy sauce.
5. In a skillet, heat cooking oil to medium high and fry the pata until golden brown. About 3 minutes on each side.
6. Pour in reserved liquid and add remaining garlic, onions, peppercorns and salt.
7. Stir in sugar, oyster sauce and sesame oil. Simmer over low heat until stock reduces in half. Add dissolved cornstarch in water and bring to boil until sauce thickens slightly. Set aside.
8. Cook the vegetables. In a skillet, heat oil and stir fry onions, carrots and bokchoy about 3 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.
9. Serve pata tim with vegetables on the side.


Source: Food Magazine, March 2007

Enjoy cooking and eating!

How To Make Drop Cookies - for kids and first-time bakers

Back when I was still a young mother, I learned how to bake by just following instructions from the cookbook.

Among the first thing that I baked was cookies. Cookies are actually very easy to make and it also brings a lot of satisfaction in me especially when the cookies are appreciated by my little ones ( and the hubby as well!)

Drop cookies are perfect for first-time bakers. Here are some tips on how to make cookies for kids to follow...

1. Have a grown up close by to help.
2. Carefully read the recipe and prepare the necessary baking equipment/utensils and ingredients.
3. Place cookie sheet in the oven one at a time, on the middle oven rack.
4. Check the cookies at the earliest baking time indicated. Remember, cookies get easily overdone when left in the oven even for just a few minutes.
5. Always use potholders or oven mittens to remove cookie sheets from the oven.
6. When using the same cookie sheet, let it cool first before putting the next batch of dough on them.





3 Steps to making the perfect drop cookies

Step 1: In a large mixer bowl, beat brown sugar, sugar, margarine ans shortening until the mixture is light in color and fluffy in texture. Usually this takes 2 to 3 minutes of beating with an electric mixer, and longer if using wooden spoon. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. The flour, baking soda and salt can be mixed in with the electric mixer or stirred in until completely combined. The dough would be quite stiff at this point.

Step 2: Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chopped chocolate and nuts until the pieces are evenly distributed.

Step 3: To bake, drop small amounts of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet by using a regular sized tablespoon to scoop the dough and a spatula to drop the dough into the cookie sheet, in equal sized mounds, about 2 inches apart (note: this is important to give space to the cookies as they spread out during baking).

The above instructions and tips were gathered from my collection of Pillsbury Cookbooks, which until now I still use although they are already worn and tattered ( evidence of their constant use!)

A Taste of Japan- TEMPURA

Here's a dish that is very common in any Japanese Restaurant- Tempura.

Tempura is actually quite easy to prepare. In fact, it is one of the dishes I first learned when I was still a new wife and was still learning how to cook.

Here goes the recipe of Tempura

Ingredients:
1/2 kilo fresh shrimp
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup water
1 egg slightly beaten
1/4 tsp. salt

Tempura Sauce:
1/2 cup hot water
1 pc bouillon cube
2 tbsps. soy sauce
1 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. vetsin (optional)
1 tsp. ginger, grated
2 tbsps. radish, grated
cooking oil

Procedure:
1. Shell shrimps. Slit the back and open butterfly fashion. Devein and wash. Dry and set aside.
2. In a bowl prepare the batter. Combine water, egg, flour and salt. Stir about 5 times, but still lumpy.
3. Heat oil in pan.
4. Dip shrimps in batter and deep fry.
5. Prepare Tempura Sauce by combining all the ingredients together.
6. Served Tempura hot with sauce.

Got Any Recipe Request?

Yes, dear friends, if you have any recipe request do let me know. I might have it in my collection. Just drop a comment in my Comment Link below.