Lasang Pinoy as hosted this month by ChichaJo of 80 Breakfasts explores breakfast food. This months it also happens that I'm kicking off a brand new topic on poverty on Blogkadahan.com. As I was getting my posts ready, I realized how inter-twined the two topics were; at least in my personal experience anyway. I often mention my grandparents in my writings not only because I love them but because not only do they seem to be the source of many of my childhood memories it seems they also are the source of my traits and idiosyncracies. Frugality being one of those traits.

As a child, I heard people say that farmers living in the provinces are poor. My grandparents were farmers and lived in the province, but for some reason I never thought them to be poor. There was always food on the table, and they always seemed happy. I took it for granted then, but I pause and think about it now especially when I am walking around the mega supermarket with a cart full of meats, produce, and every possible food items unimaginable by my grandmother. My grandmother always had a large household made up not just of her grandchildren when we visit during school breaks, but she regularly had at her table any number of relatives, distant cousins, nephews, nieces and sometimes just town mates who they employed to work in the house and the farms. I always wondered how she fed all those people with so little. When I started feeding my own family, and marvel at how much three girls can eat, it finally dawned on me the little tricks my Lola used to stretch a chicken or 4 eggs to feed 10 people.

Breakfast usually consisted of whatever food is left over from dinner the night before. Once in a while though, especially if her hens have been generous, she would serve eggs for breakfast. She didn't invent the torta by any means, but she sure utilized the technique every chance she got. She didn't ever serve an egg sunny side up or over easy, she couldn't afford to give each person an egg. Instead she utilized various means of stretching an egg. That means adding either tons of tomatoes and onions, adding a can of sardines, or in this case, potatoes. I happened to have some left over ground beef handy so I threw those in too.



POTATO AND GROUND BEEF TORTA

4 Eggs, scrambled
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 medium sized potato, finely cubed
1/2 cup cooked ground beef
Salt & Pepper to taste
Oil

In a bowl, scramble the eggs and season with salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat about two tablespoons of oil and sautee the onions until fragrant then add the potatoes. Stir continuously until potatoes are cooked through. Add the ground beef and stir until warmed over. Remove the potato/ground beef mixture from the pan and add to the bowl of scrambled eggs. Return the skillet to medium heat and add 2 more tablespoons of oil. When heated, pour the egg mixture into the pan. Cook over medium low heat until the egg is almost cooked through. Carefully flip over and cook the other side.

One trick I learned from a friend on flipping a perfect torta is to cover the skillet with a plate wider than the pan, flip the pan onto the plate so the torta is now on the plate uncooked side down. Return the skillet to the stove, and slide the torta back in to cook the other side. Comes out perfect every time!

Although it has been a relatively mild winter for us, we are already hankering for spring and summer to come around again. Our garden is waiting to be tilled and the grill is ready for it's cover to be lifted. WE are ready to start cooking outside again...the scent of burning coals and fresh herbs are tickling our noses. WE CAN'T WAIT FOR SUNSHINE!

Something for breakfast will be posted this weekend for Lasang Pinoy 7. Lets get get cooking for breakfast!

Here's another way to use up buttermilk and also over ripe bananas. It's perfect for breakfast or afterschool snack. When I baked this a few weeks ago, I had plenty of buttermilk to use up. This past weekend though, when I found two over ripe bananas and wanted to make this bread again, I was out of buttermilk. So I resorted to the recipe below for making your own buttermilk. However, since I am forever tweaking things in our kitchen, I came up with another variation that works just as well. As I was getting the milk out I realized there was an almost empty container of sour cream that I know will just sit there and mold if I don't do anything about it so I took that out as well. So to the 3/4 cup of milk I added approximately a tablespoon of sour cream and let it sit until room temperature then used it in the recipe as usual. The result was just as wonderful. Here is the original recipe, tweak it as you will.

3-4 Bananas, mashed
3 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1/2 cup Butter, melted

Mix all ingredients until well blended. Pour into a buttered baking dish (9x13 inch glass dish or loaf pan). Bake at 350F for 45-60 minutes or until done. When inserted toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

Variations: you can also add nuts, raisins, pineapple, or any dried fruits for additional texture and flavor.

I noticed from the comments to the herbed buttermilk fried chicken recipe below that many cooks do not have access to buttermilk. No worry, sometimes due to my own laziness to go to the grocery store I don't have buttermilk in my ref either. I have used this substitute for buttermilk before, and have not noticed any significant difference, even in baked goods. You can make your own buttermilk by:

Combining 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar with enough milk to equal 1 cup is a quick and easy way to make sour milk at home. Allow the milk/lemon juice mixture to stand 5 minutes, and the milk should sour and thicken slightly. This homemade sour milk can be used in any and all recipes calling for sour milk and/or buttermilk.

I usually wait about 10 minutes to get the texture really thick. Stir it up, then use as per the recipe.

The next round of Lasang Pinoy will be all about almusal or breakfast. Fittingly, this round is hosted by the queen of breakfast herself, ChichaJo of 80 Breakfasts.

Write about your favorite Pinoy breakfast or if you have any other breakfast that you have somehow blessed with Pinoyness, by all means share your new creation. Visit Joey's blog for guidelines, make sure your entries are ready by February 28th.

LP7 banner courtesy of Mike and Iska.

I just realized that although we've posted a fried chicken recipe before, we hadn't posted a buttermilk fried chicken yet. We just had this recently, as I was trying to use up some buttermilk that was getting close to it's expiration date. This takes a bit of planning ahead as opposed to my usual 30-minute on the fly weekday meals. The extra time and effort is well worth it though. The chicken is well flavored, moist inside and crunchy outside.

The night before, prepare the chicken (wash, cut up, and dry) and marinade in the following:
Buttermilk
Fresh Basil, chopped
Fresh Italian (flat-leaf) Parsely, chopped
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder

After soaking the chicken overnight or at least 4 hours, heat enough oil to almost cover the chicken pieces but not deep fry. Drain the chicken from the buttermilk marinade and dredge in seasoned flour (salt, pepper, garlic powder) and shake off excess. Set floured pieces on a cookie tray while waiting for the oil to heat up to about 375F. Add the chicken pieces skin side down and fry until brown before turning. Try to turn only once. Drain cooked pieces on paper towels. Wait a few minutes for them to cool off before digging in. That's the hardest step :-) Enjoy!

Not too long ago, one of the topics on Blogkadahan.com, the group blog I belong to, is Filipino cuisine where we talked about the food that most of us grew up with. There were so many great recipes posted that I didn't know where to start. One of the recipes that caught my eye is this Shiitake Surprise which, although not a traditional Filipino dish, is a recipe invented by a true blue Filipino.

When I found a huge bag of dried shiitake mushrooms at Costco at a bargain price, I knew then exactly which recipe I would use some of it for. We love vegetables, any vegetables, and this combination was just excellent. The recipe below is just as Lolo Jose posted it, I just changed some of the proportions based on what I used.

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups sliced & dried Shiitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes
9 oz. bag of fresh baby spinach leaves
1 lb. Green beans, sliced
2 tsp of olive oil, extra-virgin
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
5 green onions, cut into thin strips
1 Large green bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 small ginger, minced
1 TBSP of reduced-sodium oyster sauce (sorry Doc, I only had regular Oyster Sauce)
pinch of iodized salt, to taste
pinch of ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot.
Add all the mushrooms and beans and sauté until tender, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.
Add bell pepper, ginger and garlic and sauté 2 minutes.
Add spinach and green onions and stir until spinach wilts, about 2 minutes.
Add the oyster sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately. This preparation makes around 6-8 servings.

This was absolutely delicious! Can be eaten with steamed rice alone or with your favorite meat dish.

Thanks, Doc!

The best thing about comfort foods is that it is usually simple to make. I found the ham bone in the freezer that I saved from the Honey Baked Ham that Sister O sent us over the holidays so I thought I better make soup. This was so easy to make and perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

1 Pk. of dried Great Northern Beans, soaked in cold water at least 4 hours or overnight.
Ham bone with some meat attached
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 cup tomatoes, chopped
10 cups of water - add more as needed

In a large pot, bring the ham, water, onions, garlic and tomatoes to boil. Cook for 30 minutes, then add the beans. Cook until beans are tender (1 to 1 1/2 hour).

If you noticed that I didn't add the usual salt and pepper to taste, it's not an omission. The ham was so full of flavor that no additional seasoning was needed. All we added was a sprinkling of chopped cilantro before serving. Hubby and I also added a dollop of sour cream to make it even more creamier. Delicious! The girls called it white chili :-D

We love Mexican food, and we like making it at home not just going out to eat it at the restaurant. While trying to figure out what to do with some country style pork ribs, we thought we'd try using it in tortilla pie. We just had tacos with Jade's special bean dip not too long ago, so we didn't want to have the same thing again. We still had some tortillas left though, so we thought this would be a great way to use them up. This recipe is based on the Tortilla Pie with Chorizo recipe on Mexican - healthy ways with a favorite cuisine by Jane Milton. We didn't have chorizos or ground pork as called for in the recipe, so we improvised a bit. Here is our version.

In a large pot, add the following ingredients:
2-3 pounds boneless country style pork ribs
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup water

Simmer everything over medium heat until the pork meat is tender and very little liquid is left. About 1 to 1 1/2 hour. Drain meat from the sauce, cool and shred.

To assemble the pie you will need:
Corn Tortillas
3 cups grated Monterey Jack Cheese
1 1/4 cups light whipping cream

In a glass dish or oven safe dish, start layering the meat, cheese, cream, and tortillas until you fill the dish or run out of ingredients. This should make about 3 to 4 layers. Bake in a 400 degree oven until bubbly. Remove from the oven and during plating, top the pie with the tomatilla sauce below.

Make Tomatillo sauce. In a blender, add the following:
2 cups drained canned tomatillos
4 tablespoons water
2 fresh serrano chiles, seeded and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
small bunch of cilantro
1/2 cup of sour cream

Process all the ingredients, except for the sour cream, until smooth. Transfer the mixture in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat until it comes to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the sour cream into the sauce and adjust the taste with salt and pepper as needed. Pour this sauce over the baked tortilla pie before serving and sprinkle with more chopped cilantro.

NOTE:
I hated to throw away the cooking juices from the pork; so in the same pot, I heated the oil and a bit of the sauce left in the pan, added three cups of raw rice and pan fried it for a minute. Added a 3 cups of water to deglaze and cook the rice. Cover until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice and it is cooked through. Mix before serving.

Also, after the pie came out of the oven, it was a bit drier than I would have liked. I think next time I may do away with the cream (too much added calories, not much added in terms of flavor - all I coult think of while eating is how much cream is absorbed in the dish!), and use the tomatilla sauce to moisten the layers instead of waiting to pour it on top. Otherwise, this dish is very flavorful.

Ever since my sisterO gifted me with a potful of saffron and given my love of tiramisu, I had been fantasizing about Rowena's Tiramisu allo Zafferano. I'm actually starting on a new quest of trying out all the versions of tiramisu there is. I found out recently that the ubiquitous ice box cake in the south is a close cousin to the trendy tiramisu. This, our first attempt at tiramisu, was delicious! Rowena said this serves 8-10. LOL! I had to laugh at that, there's only five of us, and we finished three fourths of this bowl in one sitting. It was that good!

Continue to the tiramisu recipe...

The Ilokana Chef tagged me for this meme. Identifying my top ten favorites food is really difficult. That's like making me choose which one of my children is my favorite. They all have different flavors, evoke different moods, and have different purposes. I am more likely to identify food groups rather than specific recipes and when I do it's easier to select what I don't like as more than likely I will favor most of them.

SEAFOOD
1. Lobster & Crabs - I enjoy these most at their purest and simplest forms: boiled or steamed, dipped in butter or lemon/soy mixture. However, any versions or embelishments will not be rejected.

2. Shrimps - in any shape or way is also a favorite. I haven't met a shrimp yet that I didn't like. Again, simplicity tops the list. Halabos na hipon (steamed shrimps) with the head on, dipped in vinegar with garlic, can't lose.

3. Clams, Mussels and Snails - what can I say, I love shellfish! For these steamed and soups are the favored way.

4. Fish including Cuttlefish (squid) and Octopus - Again, simplicity reigns. Try it raw as in sashimi or sushi and I'm one happy girl. If you have to cook 'em, then broiled with tomatoes and fish sauce on the sice will make me a happy camper. :-)

5. Seaweeds and other sea creatures - this includes turtles, sea urchins, and other ocean dwellers I may have missed.

I really do love the ocean, but after this list, the ocean may not be loving me in return :-D

CARBOHYDRATES
6. Pastas - any pasta paired with any of the seafood above would just put me over the top. It doesn't matter what shape, I'll take pasta any day.

7. Breads - I love all breads, except Wonder bread, which should not even be called bread let along Wonder anything. I like breads that fight back and threaten to pull caps off your teeth and crunches when you bite them.

8. Rice - Need I say more? I can eat rice at every meal, at every stage of the meal: appetizer rice, rice soup, main course rice, rice as dessert.

PRODUCE
9. Fruits and Vegetables - If I didn't love sea animals and a good steak so much, I'd be a vegetarian. No meal for me is complete without a vegetable or fruit, ANY vegetable or fruit.

CHOCOLATE
10. Yes, it is it's own food group. Whenever I'm feeling low, high, or anywhere in between, chocolate is my company. That's all I got to say about that, as Forrest Gump would say.