Breakfast of (Filipino) Champions

…More Eggs!

I guess this shows you how much I was craving sinangag, but had it again for breakfast… with egg on top… (Not sure how traditional this topping was since I don’t like my eggs sunny side up and I like my yolk well done. ) :-p

Now if I had some tocino or longanisa (store-bought or mom-made until I learn to make both at home) to go with this, I’d be all set (OK…some cucumber salad or tomatoes and vinegar will work, too, depending on how carnivorous I’m feeling. Those I can make on my own.)

…but would I have put egg on top anyway? Who knows…

Sinangag (aka Garlic Fried Rice)…

Sinangag (not to be confused with sinigang) is essentially the Filipino version of fried rice. Often served with breakfast (though good any time of day!), you often find little else but garlic, rice and sometimes margarine/butter, egg. Sometimes you’ll find other mix-ins like hot dogs and abobo (I’ve made batches with leftover chicken adobo before). It’s a wonderful way to use leftovers, no matter how you mix it up…

Growing up, I knew this dish as “eggs and rice”, though it’s pretty likely my maternal grandmother just made a version of this with soy sauce added into the mix. It’s also the one of the few recipes I’ve internalized well enough to just eyeball everything. If you need a roadmap (like I do many times), though, fellow Filipina food blogger Bread + Butter has a version very close to what I make normally (below).

Garlic Fried Rice (from Jenn @ Bread + Butter)

• 1 Large garlic clove (sliced or minced)  - I’m a mincer myself…
• 3 c Cooked Rice (rough estimate)
• 2-3 Tbs Margarine
• 1 Tbs Oil (vegetable, olive or canola)
• Salt to season
• 1 egg (beaten – optional)

Heat the oil in a large pan, pot or wok. Cook the garlic until they start to turn brown, then add in the rice. Toss constantly for a couple of minutes, then season with a little salt and add the margarine. Again tossing constantly

When the margarine has dissolved into the rice you can add the optional egg. Again toss for another minute or so or until egg is cooked, then serve.

–

We usually have brown rice at home, unless we’ve had takeout…

Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying attention and burned my first batch of garlic. Here’s the second batch getting ready to turn brown in the wok:

Note: I took a shot of the burnt batch, and placed it on the blooper reel… Next time, I’ll brown the garlic a little more than I did. I was afraid of burning the garlic again.

I didn’t take any more shots until the dish was done, since I constantly moved the mix around in the wok. (Can’t stop, rice will burn… Can’t stop, rice will burn). Several shots of the finished product below:

In the bowl:

A little closer:

..and with some of the Adobong Manok (chicken adobo) I made this past weekend.

Yep… I went on a bit of a cooking spree during DC’s two snopocalypses (Dan and I were fortunate; we still had power both times). I baked banana bread during the first snowstorm, and made adobo and sinangag the past few days. I guess that’s how I tend to try to stave off cabin fever…

I return to work tomorrow while another snowstorm looms… Let’s hope my neighborhood doesn’t look like this on Wednesday:

–

PS – Fellow local (and Filipina) food blogger I Flip for Food (@I_Flip_For_Food), sent a link to this recipe (from Smitten Kitchen) via twitter earlier today. Definitely want to try this fried rice variation sometime…

These Piggies… Feel Less Guilty

I’ve made this Hungry Girl recipe for Pigs in a Blanket for a number of parties, and guests have finished off the batches I bring every time…

Depudged Pigs in a Blanket

Ingredients:

• 1 fat-free (or nearly fat-free) hot dog (like the ones by Oscar Mayer, Hebrew National and Ball Park)
• 1 portion Pillsbury Reduced Fat Crescent roll dough

Directions:

Cut hot dog into 4 even pieces.

(1 1/2 fat-free Hebrew National dogs pictured here)

Stretch or roll out the triangle-shaped dough slightly, to make it a larger triangle. Cut dough into four long, narrow triangles.

(Sometimes I just go halvesies when I want more  Crescent Dough… This was one of those times.).

Beginning at the base of each triangle, roll a piece of the hot dog up in the dough until the point of each triangle wraps around the center. Place dogs on an ungreased baking pan and cook for about 12 minutes (until dough appears slightly browned and crispy).

Et Voila! Simple (and better-for-you) pigs in a blanket… (Thanks HG!)

Identity Crisis (aka: A Fine, Fine Line…)

–

I had a little trouble trying to explain the difference between a foodie and a food snob to my soon-to-be mother-in-law at dinner the other day, which got me wondering:

First: Am I truly a foodie? Friends have called me a foodie, and I self-describe as a semi-foodie.
Second: Is there really a difference between a foodie and a food snob?

I enjoy food: cooking it and eating it. This applies to everything from the James Beard award-winning restaurant (well, hypothetically) to diner food to home cooking to the occasional pack of Maruchan Ramen. Heck… I like it all… or close-to-all. If I didn’t, this blog wouldn’t exist, really…

I also am willing to try something at least once and I’m nowhere near picky about what I eat (if anything…just making sure I keep a healthy balance and eat what I’m in the mood for, where available).  I definitely love sharing my love for food as well as my knowledge with others; I am humble enough to know there’s much I still need to learn. Food is not a vehicle of one-upsmanship for me (a hallmark of what I feel food snobs are as opposed to foodies), and I don’t think I’m too good for particular foods, restaurants, or what have you …

What I don’t like I’ve had and ended up not having a taste for (see: liver); I know there’s a difference between having a preference for one thing over another and being condescending. There’s also a huge difference between picky eating and food snobbery, and I realize that.  On the other hand, I’ve heard that foodies and food snobs are one in the same, though I really don’t subscribe to that notion (hence the self-description).

I guess “foodie” is just a label…a label that only means so much in the grand scheme of things. While I’ve bounced the foodie/snob question off of Byko and Kechara, I’m curious about what you all think: Is there a difference between a foodie and a food snob? Should I be describing myself another way or not worry about it? After all… it’s all about the food… right?

–

There’s a fine, fine line between love / and a waste of time…. Kate Monster in Avenue Q

My New Lasagna Recipe

Dan: When are we going to have lasagna again?

I groaned, knowing that making a batch would be both labor and time-intensive for me… the latter intensified to a degree since I’m a slowpoke in the kitchen. We agreed that I would make a batch during one of my long weekends off from work during the holiday/winter break.

I also didn’t internalize our old lasagna recipe well enough to do it from memory… it was on the hard drive of my now-dead tower computer. I had to find a new recipe, preferably something relatively healthy.

In my previous recipe, I had swapped a few ingredients to make it healthier: substituting non-fat ricotta and 2% mozzarella for the cheeses, using lean ground turkey and whole-wheat lasagna noodles. This recipe caught my eye since it was low-fat, low-calorie, and loaded with veggies, but I was a little worried that Dan wouldn’t like it because it contained bell pepper.

Just make sure you cut them really small…

…and so I did.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/4 lb. ground turkey
• 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
• One 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• One 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 15 oz. cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
• 8 oz. shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese, plus 2 oz. to sprinkle on top
• One 10 oz. package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• One 24 oz. package of ready-to-bake lasagna noodles
• Salt and pepper to taste
• One pinch of nutmeg (optional)

Step-by-step instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2) Spray a skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat until hot over high heat. Add the chopped onion and green bell pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Add the ground turkey and sauté until browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Stir frequently.

4) Add the Italian seasoning, diced tomatoes (with the juice from the can) and the tomato sauce; stir to combine and bring to a boil while stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper.

5) In a bowl mix together cottage cheese or ricotta, 8 ounces of shredded mozzarella and chopped spinach. Stir together and season with salt and pepper. If you want to include nutmeg, add in a pinch of it.

6) Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray and spread 1 cup of the sauce (from Step 5) across the bottom of pan.
7) Add 4 lasagna noodles on top of the sauce. Spread 1/2 of the cottage cheese mixture (from Step 6) or ricotta mixture over the noodles.
8 ) Top with 4 more lasagna noodles, spread 3 cups of the tomato sauce (from Step 5) over noodle layer.
9) Repeat Step 8 and top with the remaining 4 noodles. Top with the remaining sauce and remaining mozzarella cheese.

10) Place lasagna pan on a cookie sheet in the oven to prevent it from bubbling over onto the oven floor.

11) Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let pan cool 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving.

I think I might have toasted the cheese a little too much. The lasagna looked very colorful, once cut, though..

Another look at the finished product… Yum!

Yep… we found our new lasagna recipe!

Final notes: Using ready-to-bake lasagna noodles cut out a lot of the prep time (Haven’t found them in a whole-wheat version at Giant yet). We will probably need to get a food processor at some point, too…Dicing veggies finely by knife takes an insane amount of time and labor, and while our blender can cut veggies as finely as we need, it extracts a lot of veggie juices (even while using the “chop” function).

While the recipe said that “the lasagna can be stored in the fridge for 2 days or in the freezer for up to a week”, it lasted until Dan and I finished the pan (more than a week). Suffice it to say, the new lasagna recipe made several days worth of lunches and dinners…

Mmmm… Mochi Ice Cream…

While we were in Hampton Roads with my family over Christmas week, Dan and I were sent on an errand to pick up a few things at the Trader Joe’s near where we were staying that week. We mostly had no idea what things we were being asked to buy at the time until Dan, my sister and her spouse, my dad, and I had to try to finish one of the items closer to the end of the trip…

…that item was Mochi Ice Cream. We ended up hooked on the stuff almost immediately!

I picked up a couple of packs after work a couple of weeks ago…

Mikawaya’s is available in a number of flavors including mango, green tea, chocolate and strawberry (plus a few other flavors I can’t find at the 24th Street Trader Joe’s).

A six pack of mango is pictured below…

So what is Mochi ice cream, exactly? It’s ice cream wrapped in a ball of soft, slightly sweet, and fluffy pastry.

I invariably get powder all over my face, and no…it’s not confectioner’s sugar. Oops…

The ice cream got a little runny after running it from Foggy Bottom to our apartment on public transit. The picture below it was taken the next day after the mochi ice cream had some time in the freezer…

A serving of mochi ice cream is two balls, but I typically just take one. One perfectly portion-controlled ball’s great to satiate my sweet tooth… No wonder my sister’s family loves this stuff!

Scenes from a Terrapin Tailgate (Part 1)

A Fall Saturday means College Football in many places…including the DC area. With the games come plenty of tailgating…a great opportunity to enjoy good food, drink, and company before (or after) football games. It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate or vent… depending on how well the team is doing.

Our alma mater, Maryland*, isn’t doing so hot this year, but that doesn’t stop many of the Terrapin Faithful (and we among them) from supporting the team in whatever way we can.

Dan and I were invited to tag along with a couple of our friends after the UMD-Clemson game a few weeks ago (a noon game). Before the jump will be a few shots to set the scene…

Below, a view from under one of the tents:

Am I seeing quadruple, or was it something I ate/drank?

Up the hill were another group of Terrapin fans tailgating…

Thanks to a group member, there was a flatscreen set up so we can see other games. Georgia-LSU was on at the time of this shot.

With this group, there’s generally a contest to see who can make the best dish within a certain theme. This game’s theme was seafood. Since I have a lot of food shots this time, they’ll be behind the jump.

Potatoes with Afritude 2: Electric Boogaloo

As promised in my original post on this recipe, a second try on Potatoes with Afritude, with update…

This time, the usual suspects (redskin potatoes) were cut a little bit longer…

Here are the potatoes with the spices and oil mixed in… The curry powder produces both a wonderful yellow color on the potatoes and an equally nice scent.

The unfortunate thing about curry powder, though is it makes everything it touches yellow, and that tint doesn’t go away easily (I think there’s still a yellow curry powder mix spot on the counter).

…and the finished potatoes…ready for the potluck.

This batch of Potatoes with Afritude was made for the same potluck party I made the Adobong Gulay. I’d say I’m almost there… I don’t remember if I actually mixed the spices and olive oil in separate batches like I said I would (since I was doing a lot of cooking…) , but this batch definitely had a better balance between potato and spice than the first try.

On a Fish Broiling Kick…

Yep.. we’ve been getting mileage out of our toaster oven broiler lately. Below is a quick, easy, and healthy recipe for broiled tilapia fillets that we made on quite a few occasions in the past few weeks…

Broiled Tilapia with Garlic – from Gina’s Weight Watcher Recipes

• 6 tilapia fillets (6oz)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1 lemon

Wash fish and pat dry. Line broiler pan with tin foil. Place fish on the tin foil and season with salt, pepper, oregano, and parsley. Drizzle with olive oil and top with crushed garlic. Set broiler to low and place fish about 8 inches from the flame. Cook until fish is cooked through, about 7 minutes (be careful not to burn garlic). Serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice

---

Since I didn’t have regular ol’ ground pepper at the time, I sprinkled the fish with the lemon pepper that I had handy.  I didn’t exactly measure the herbs either…just sprinkled them onto the fish as necessary…

The garlic was crushed, then diced (Thanks, Dan!)…

Since I was also using a toaster oven broiler, the cooking time was increased to 15 minutes… A couple of looks at the finished product:

“Date Night” with Lotsa Pesto

Last month, I went with Dan and Dork to Adega Wine Cellars and Cafe in nearby Silver Spring for dinner (our party was supposed to be larger, but our fourth was not feeling well at the time).

Adega serves mostly lighter fare… wraps, sandwiches, salads, flatbreads, burgers, and pasta. Dan and I tried their weekend wine and dine special (also known as their date night special), which allowed us to have an appetizer, two entrees, and a bottle of one of their featured wines for $35.00. Dork went with an entree of his own and had some of our appetizer and wine (Dan’s not really a wine person).

For our appetizer, we picked fried calamari… The pieces toward the back made me feel like I was eating a whole squid… (heh).

It was a little oily (as exhibited by the platters and the bottommost piece of the bottom photo), but otherwise good…well-balanced flavors and the squid wasn’t too chewy…

Both Dan and Dork chose the Penne Pesto with Chicken for their entrees… Both guys liked the dish, though I’d say Dork is the bigger pesto fan of the two…

I went with the Greco Flatbread, pictured below.  Their flatbread is pizzalike and mine was loaded with pesto, veggies, and cheese.

Definitely liked that the thin flatbread crust remained crispy all the same. A closer shot shows the pesto and veggies…

For many items on Adega’s menu, it may be more cost-effective to get items a-la-carte, rather than taking up the date night special (unless the featured wine is on the more expensive side, and yes… wine can be). If the combination of what you want (appetizer, entrees, wine) works right, though, the date night special is well worth it…

A serendipitous find for me there that night was a small stash of Saranac...  Yep… they sell some beer along with all those wines… 

Another cool thing about Adega is if you purchase a wine from their store to go with your dinner, they’ll open it up and serve it to you. Their staff is also generally very friendly, and I what food I’ve tried so far, I’ve liked (mental note: try the eggplant or sweet potato fries sometime).  All-in-all, I’m perfectly willing to come back to Adega again, even though I rarely frequent DTSS venues due to an incident there a couple of years ago.