For the first anniversary edition of Lasang Pinoy, hosted by stef of stefoodie.net and Noodles & Rice, the theme is to define what being Pinoy is all about. I think this may be the hardest topic of all. It is like having to choose which of your children is your favorite. You love them all, but they are all different and they all have something that makes them special, and you love them all for different reasons but you love them all the same, without one having more advantage over another. Read the rest of this post...

Here is my Lola's Kamote Salad:

Although I did plant some green beans in our garden, I have to admit that these were not from mine, but from my fave warehouse store, Costco. These are French beans or haricot verts according to the packaging. I bought a pack a few weeks ago before our plants started bearing fruit.

INGREDIENTS:
1 Lb. Green Beans
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons Butter
3 Tablespoons Water
Salt to taste
Toasted Pinenuts

Heat/melt butter, add garlic and saute' until fragrant. Add beans and roll in the butter & garlic mixture for about a minute. Add the water and sprinkle with salt. Cover and let cook until water evaporates. Take the pan off the heat as soon as it starts to dry up. Place on a serving dish and sprinkle with pinenuts.

I know I've mentioned before how ramen noodles are a staple in our house. It is the Clone's meal when we are serving fish or any other dish she does not care for or when I am feeling lazy and don't feel much like cooking but still want something warm and comforting anyway, we turn to ramen noodles. Luckily, the Clone has developed a taste for sinigang or sour soup and I managed to slip in some vegetables in her by making her this bowl of soup during another one of our seafood inspired meals.

For this version, I omitted the packet that comes with the noodles and instead flavored the soup with a couple of tablespoons of tamarind powder, a few slices of onion and seasoned with salt. Added the noodles and collard greens and cooked until the greens are tender. Voila! instant meal for the Clone :)

How do you dress up your ramen noodles?

As promised, here is another easy recipe to go with Cinco de Mayo Pork Roast or any other meat dish. It also stands well alone, if you are on a vegetarian diet like the Clone. I don't know what it is, but she has been on a self-imposed vegetarian diet lately. She doesn't eat any of the meat dishes we cook, just the starches and vegetables. However, she makes exception for chicken nuggets that come with a toy. Go figure!

INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
2 cloves of Garlic, chopped
2 cups of long-grain rice
1 can black beans">Black Beans
Salt & Pepper to taste
Water

Heat the olive oil and sautee the chopped garlic until it is fragrant. Add the rice, and stir until all grains are coated with oil and slightly browned in some parts. Add the drained black beans and about two cups of water. Season with salt and pepper and let it come to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked.

With me working, I like either quick and easy dishes or dishes that cook long but without a lot of fuss. This dish requires a long braising time in the oven, but it is easy to cook even by remote. All you need is a 14 year old girl and a phone. While at work, I told Asi what to throw in the baking dish, cover it, put it in the oven to bake and by the time I got home from work, dinner was ready! This was served with black beans & rice (recipe later), pico de gallo(my version is here), and fried tortillas.

INGREDIENTS:
2 lbs. Country Style Ribs
1 10 oz. can of Enchilada Sauce
1 onion, chopped
Black Pepper

Put all the ingredients in an oven safe dish. Notice that I Asi did not add any salt. This is because the enchilada sauce is already seasoned. All it needed was some cracked black pepper before it was covered with foil and put in the oven to bake for about 1 1/2 hours (or until the meat is tender) at 350 degrees F.

What do you do when tomatoes from your garden start filling up your kitchen counters and the freezer too? Canning would be a good answer, but I haven't had much time to do that. What we do, we make salsa instead! These will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, so they come in handy to serve with just about any meal or to use as a dip for chips.

The ingredients are your usual:
Tomatoes
Onions, sweet vidalia preferred
Fresh jalapeno or serrano peppers
Cilantro
Lemon or lime
Salt

Chop the tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro finely or coarsely, depending on your preference. Squeeze the juice from half a lemon or whole lime and season with salt to your taste. Mix well.
With this batch, we took about half of the mixture and blended it then mixed it back in. Depending on our mood sometimes we leave it all chunky, sometimes we blend the whole thing, or do it half and half like this time around.

Barbeque to me had always meant large chunks of meat, be it steaks, ribs, chops or whole chickens, cooked over coals. So when we first moved to NC and hubby said he had a hankering for some good old NC bbq, I was unprepared for the chopped bit of pork served up on my plate. Here, this chopped up concoction is simplly called barbeque. When North Carolinians say barbeque, they are do not refer to the sauce slathered chunks of meat, they refer to the pork shoulder (or whole pig) slow cooked over coals that is then pulled or chopped fine and dressed with either a peppery vinegar dressing or a similar vinegar based tomato sauce. North Carolinians are very particular about their barbeque and most families will have their own version of the vinegar sauce ranging from bland to mouth puckering spiciness. I like the later version. If you would like to learn more about North Carolina Barbeque, start with this article.

After my initial apprehension, ok so I wasn't thrilled by the looks of this dish that has been sometimes described as something that has been chewed up and spit back out, I have learned to love this style of barbeque. As I chewed and let the flavors seep through my palate I realized this dish is very similar to a Filipino dish called sisig. Sisig is a regional specialty of the Pampanga region in the Philippines which refers to dishes that are infused with something sour be it from vinegar or other souring agents like citrus. Actually, NC barbeque is a much tamer version of sisig. NC barbeque utilizes meat high on the hog whereas sisig is more commonly known to utilize parts that are low on the hog; cheeks, nose ears, even intestines and internal organs.

Listening to my husband's stories about his family, I am reminded how this dish, in both cultures also encourage it's consumption with one form of alcohol or another. I remember my dad and his friends having sisig for "pulutan". Pulutan is a term that describes anything that is snacked on while drinking. My husband has similar stories about his dad and grandfather doing the same thing while manning the barbeque pit.

With its auspicious history on both sides of our family, it is of little wonder then that this dish has become a regular in Our Kitchen. Not to mention that is also a great way to re-hash leftover roast pork. Whether you chop your pork fine or like it in chunks, what makes this dish is the vinegar dressing. I happen to like mine with lots of spice so I always throw in at least a couple of freshly chopped hot peppers and when those are not available, I use dried pepper flakes. There is no set recipe, you just have to taste your way until you get the balance between vinegar, salt, pepper, peppers, onions, and any spices you desire, until you get it just right. When you do find the right combination, you will know for it is just like stradling the fine line between heaven and hell where it is heavenly and sinfully delicious at the same time.

This week, Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by Christa of Calendula & Concrete.

Thanks to Kalyn, this event has been a constant source for me to find new recipes to try with the produce from our garden. This week, I'd like to feature a vegetable we call "sitaw" in the Philippines. This vegetable goes by many names and many faces as Karen's post on it would tell you. Here in the U.S., it is simply called yard-long beans because its pods can grow up to a yard long. I had posted a recipe for yard long beans last year when I had an abundance, and as I look to my archives, I am surprised I didn't post more recipes for it since I had so many! So here goes another one.

The title, gising-gising, in Pilipino means "wake-up wake-up" literally. I suppose it could be translated as a waker-upper for it would certainly awaken your palate if it isn't already. This dish can be made using the common green beans found in most supermarkets, or if you're lucky enough like I was and happen to have these yardlong beans in your garden, then we're in business to wake up our palates.

I had an abundance of these beans last year and they were so wonderful that I wanted more this year. Imagine my disappointment when I couldn't find the seeds anywhere this year. Last year, I found a packet in our local Home Depot. After my futile search for seeds this year, and I didn't want to resort to ordering them online, I had resigned myself to doing without them this season. I must have been a very good girl though, for the garden gods or my resident composter/gardener/husband had blessed my garden and three of these bean plants sprouted up to surprise me. I have been harvesting a handful of these yardlong beans just about every other day, to my delight.

With these beans on hand I finally get a chance to try out this waker upper recipe that has been touted by blogger friends. Mec finally posted her recipe for this, and although I don't have all the ingredients she used, this dish turned out wonderfully. Even with the spiciness, which is optional but of which I don't think this dish would be the same without, the girls actually liked it!

Mec's Gising-Gising

2 Tbsp. Cooking Oil
3 cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups chopped Yard-long beans (about a pound and a half)
1 Tbsp. Maggi Seasoning
1 Tbsp. Patis or Fish Sauce or to your taste
1 can Coconut milk (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 fresh chili peppers, minced (I used serrano chilis from the garden) - optional if you don't want it spicy.

Heat the oil and saute' garlic and onions until they are fragrant but not browned. Stir in the beans and the rest of the seasonings and bring to a simmer. Don't let it come to boil so the coconut milk will not separate. Let it cook just until the beans are tender but not overcooked.





Filipino Cookbooks

Here's another simple dish, but very satisfying. When pork loins go on sale here they usually sell the whole length which is about two feet long and good for three meals at least. I usually cut them up according to the dish I will be using them for i.e. cutlets for chops, strips for stir-fry, and whole like this one if you plan on roasting it.

This was prepared by Asi as she was my sous chef for the day. She mashed the tons of garlic that went into this and also prepped all the other ingredients for the marinade.

2-3 lb Pork Loin roast
1 head of garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons chopped rosemary
2 lemons, juiced
4 tablespoons olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together and pour over the pork roast and marinade overnight. We used a large plastic zip bag so it's easier to turn and distribute the marinade. When ready, place roast and marinade in an oven safe dish and bake at 350 degrees F for two to three hours until tender. When done, remove the roast from the pan and transfer to serving dish, reserving the pan drippings. To make the gravy, melt a half stick of butter in a sauce pan and add a half cup of flour and stir until flour is browned and caramel colored. Add the pan drippings and add enough water or broth to make one cup of liquid. Stir well and cook until thickened. Serve with the roast.

With summer's rising humidity, I'm sure I am not the only one who has encountered this problem. Upon opening this not too airtight container, I found this block of brown sugar that is so hard, I probably would have had to have a chisel to break it up. Luckily, I remembered this tip from one of the many cookbooks and/or magazines I've come across (sorry I can't remember which one now). To 'thaw' it out, simply stick it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds and it is back to its soft stage again! No need to break out the chisel.