FYA for Potato Pork Pie

Potato Pork Pie

It’s the triple P satisfier. If you like pork, potatoes, and pie, this comforting meal will definitely feed your appetite.

Prep Time: 20 Min

Cook Time: 50 Min

Servings: 8

Ingredients

- 3 Carrots (Peeled and cut into ¼ inch slices)

- 8 to 10 Fingerling Potatoes (Cut into ¼ inch slices) Variety is best

- Ground Pork

- 1 Tbs. Cumin

- 1 Tbs. Garlic Powder

- 1 Tbs. Paprika

- 2 Tbs. Butter

- 6 Minced Garlic Cloves

- 2Tbs. Flour

- 1 Can Mushroom Soup (10 3/4 oz.)

- 2 Cups Milk

- ½ Cup Whipping Cream (can use another ½ cup of milk)

- 1 tsp. Crushed Basil

- Salt

- Pepper

- 1 Egg for Egg Wash

- 2 Ready-to-Bake 9 inch Pie Crusts

Tools

- Medium Sauce Pan

- 9 Inch Casserole Pot

- Large Bowl

Directions

1) In a saucepan, combine carrots and potatoes. Add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and reserve in large bowl.

2) In same sauce pan, combine ground pork, cumin, paprika, dash of salt, and a dash of pepper. Cook until browned. Remove from heat, drain and add to bowl with carrots and potatoes.

3) In same sauce pan, medium heat, melt butter. Add garlic and cook until lightly browned and fragrant. Stir in flour. Add and stir in mushroom soup, whipping cream, milk, crushed basil, and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Add to large bowl with other reserved ingredients.

4) Mix ingredients reserved in large bowl. Reserve.

5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

6) Line buttered Casserole Pot with 1 pie crust. Brush with egg wash and bake for 5 minutes

7) Place the pork mixture in bottom pie crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Brush with egg wash. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.

8) Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tip: Cover edges of crust with foil to prevent over browning.

FYA for Fried Flat Chicken Breast and Opo Squash Noodles

This morning I was discussing with Steve my plans for tonight's dinner. I wanted to make squash stuffed with 100 different ingredients, bone marrow and toast, and a whole bunch of yummy ambitious things. Then Steve suggested that I should make something simple because simply prepared dishes can be even more delicious than the most extravagantly prepared... and it would mean we get to eat earlier ;)

After a whole work day of thinking of what can fulfill my appetite this evening I decided to take Steve's suggestion and made this simply made Fried Flat Chicken Breast and Opo Squash Noodles. Only two main ingredients!


Ingredient 1: Opo Squash

This is one squash I have never made before. I had to ask Steve what this squash he grabbed from the grocery store was. He called it an "Oobo" squash. The internet corrected us, it is actually Opo :P In tagalog the phrase "O Po" means "Yes Sir/Maam"...

While I was slicing the Opo, it texturally reminded me of a soft eggplant, especially with its white inner coloring. It would be a great substitute.

Ingredient 2: Chicken Breasts

I made a schnitzel-like chicken that was quick to prep and cook. I was very excited to finally use my new meat tenderizing hammer thing! .. instead of my canned goods...

The Recipes


Opo Noodles Recipe


Prep Time 5 Min


Cooking Time 20 Min


Ingredients


1 - Large Opo Squash
3 TBS - Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Tsp - Ground Oregano

2 Tsp - Garlic Powder

Directions

- Peel Squash an slice into noodle like strips

- Toss in squash and all ingredients in a baking dish

- Cover with foil and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes

Fried Flat Chicken Breast Recipe

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: Varies

Ingredients

4 - chicken breasts

3 - Eggs

1/3 cup whipping cream or milk

4 cups - panko bread crumbs

1 TBS - Paprika

1 TBS - Garlic Powder

1 tsp - Ground Thyme

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Olive Oil for frying

Parmesan Cheese

Directions

- Beat eggs and whipping cream or milk together in a medium size bowl. Reserve.

- On a baking sheet, casserole dish, or plate combine panko bread crumbs, paprika, garlic powder, ground thyme, salt and pepper. Reserve.

- Filet chicken breasts in half so you have 8 pieces

- Pound flat with tenderizer hammer thing, or frying pan, or can good until about 1/8 of an inch thin or thinner.

- Soak chicken breasts in egg and milk mixture

- Then coat chicken in dry mixture

- Fry in pan filled with olive oil in medium high heat until golden brown

When plating grate meal with parmesan cheese.

Feed Your Appetite for Pork Stir-Fry and Curry Rice

I love stir-fry! You can put just about anything and it'll turn out delicious. There are just so many possibilities. Best of all it's quick and easy. Which is especially needed when you come home after a long day at work and need something fulfilling fast!

For tonight's dinner I made Pork Stir-Fry and Curry Rice. The stir-fry contains an abundance of not only pork but also sweet chinese sausage. <3 I also threw in a couple parsnips I bought from last week's farmers market, and fresh spinach. However, what really makes this tasty is the Chili Sauce, so sweet, so savoury, and so spicy! Serve it over curry rice and you have a meal packed with so much flavor :) Steve went back for a few more helping than he probably should have.

My Pork Stir-Fry Recipe

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 20 to 25 min

Ingredients:

1 lb - Boneless Pork Chop or any other pork cut you would like to use (Thinly sliced 1 inch strips)

6 - Chinese Sausages

1 - Parsnip (sliced diagonally)

2 Tbs- Peanut Oil

3 Cloves - Minced Garlic

1 Tbs - Paprika

3 Tbs - Chili Sauce

2 Tbs - Dark Soy Sauce

1 Handful - Spinach

1. On the same baking sheet, bake Chinese Sausage and Sliced Parsnips in Preheated 450 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Then slice diagonally. Reserve sausage and parsnips.

2. Fry garlic in peanut oil until fragrant on medium high heat

3. Toss in Pork strips and season with Paprika. Stir until pink color disappears

4. Add Chili Sauce and stir

5. Add Dark Soy sauce and stir

6. Add Sliced Parsnips and Chinese Sausage, stir

7. Add Spinach, strir until wilted.

Serve over Curry Rice.

Curry Rice

Make as you would steamed white rice. However, stir in 1 tsp curry powder, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, and tsp of basil flakes before water begins to boil.

~ Liezl

Feed Your Appetite For A Juicy Burger

The meatier a burger is the better. I can skip the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, ketchup, mustard and especially the pickles, and just eat a plain old greasy cheesy burger. I can even skip bun!


Tonight's belly filling dinner wasn't extravagant, but not plain either. I made a broiled double patty burger with roma tomatoes and spinach, sandwiched between cheesy garlic dutch crunch bread. I don't think it's necessary for a recipe since all it is is seasoning beef patties to taste, then broiling until at your desired doneness. Then toasting a dutch crunch roll with butter, garlic powder, grated parmesan and mozarella cheeses, then assembling it as pictured.

When eating this burger, you may have to figure out a good gripping method as the bottom patty may want to slip away. Steve mastered it. Otherwise, do as I did, slice it in half.

The beauty of burgers is that it can be altered to your liking. Add more ingredients, take away others, or substitute it to your taste. After all it is your appetite you are feeding.

Feed Your Appetite for Coconut Chicken and Ginger Rice

When I do non-recipe based cooking, I don't measure at all. I use a little bit of this and a little of that, until the flavors of each individual ingredient I randomly grab from my pantry finally marries into a magically delicious taste. Like today, I made Cocounut Chicken. I always make Coconut Chicken, but it's never the same dish twice. Sometimes I'll make thin and spicy, other times milder and creamier. Once in a while I'll use chicken breast, other time chicken drumsticks. And still, each time it is devoured. I think the two main ingredients, coconut milk and chicken is so flexible in taking what ever you add to it that it'll work no matter what. Unless you burn it ;P

For today's Coconut Chicken I used the following ingredients and steps (measurements of spices omitted):

2 lbs - Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Thighs (seasoned with pink salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic powder)

Peanut Oil

3 Cloves - Smashed Garlic

1 lb - White Potatoes (1 inch pieces)

1 lb - Red Potatoes (1 inch pieces)

3 - Carrots (1/2 inch slices)

1/4 C. - Peanuts

1 Can - Coconut Milk

1 Cup - Whipping Cream

1 Can - Chicken Broth

2 to 3 Handfuls - Spinach

- Heat 3 Tbs of peanut oil in large pot and throw in smashed garlic cloves until fragrant.

- Brown seasoned chicken thighs on one side. Add 3 tbs of peanut oil on non-browned side of chicken then flip to brown. Do not over cook.

- Stir in potatoes, carrots, and peanuts

- Stir in coconut milk, whipping cream, and chicken broth

- Bring to light boil and cover, stir occasionally until potatoes are fork tender

- Add Spinach, cover until wilted and stir.

- Simmer for 3 to five minutes

- Serve with Ginger Rice

- Reseason to taste, using the same seasonings used for the chicken

Ginger Rice was made with regular white rice, mixed with tumeric and ginger powder, while steaming.

Feed Your Appetite for Bibingka

Bibingka. It's an extremely moist, spongy, sweet coconut rice cake usually baked on a banana leaf, sometimes with a salty egg in the middle, and served with shredded coconut.

I grew up with this cake. Almost every single family holiday or event included Bibingka. I remember a time when my mom was cracked out on baking these giant sponges of heaven every day for a week, and I was cracked out on eating them.

Steve asked if we had sugar. I told him we did. Then he suggested that we should have sugar cookies. Eh.. I didn't feel like making nor eating sugar cookies even though I could have been able to crack open the Star Wars cookie cutters that we purchased in May. Then I remembered that I had picked up a box of Mochiko, sweet rice flour, at the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and that we could make something delicious out of that. And so I did.

Bibingka Recipe

adapted from GroupRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 Box (16 oz) Mochiko rice flour
• 1 Cup White Granulated sugar
• 1 Cup brown sugar (or another cup of white sugar)
• 2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 Cup (1 stick) Unsweetened butter (softened)
• 6 eggs
• 1 Cup coconut milk
• 1 Cup evaporated milk --> I had to substitute this for whipping cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Steps

• Preheat oven to 350° F

• Cream the butter and sugar together well


• Mix eggs in one at a time


• Mix in the rest of the ingredients


• If you want to serve it in a banana leaf, cut banana leaf to fit pans (either two 9 inch round cake pans, or one 9x13 inch pan) and spread a small amount of oil on top of leaf. If you are not using banana leaves, grease or spray the pan with oil (Pam will do just fine).


• Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown or tooth pick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.

Feed Your Appetite for Something Crispy, Fatty, and Salty - Crispy Binagoongan

Yesterday, I stopped by the Asian grocery store, Oceanview Supermarket, right after work to grab some veggies for dinner. I only had 20 minutes to shop before I needed to pick up Steve from the Bart Station, but like always I couldn't resist checking out the meat to see if there were any good deals. I skipped the butcher section which was packed with people preparing for their 4th of July celebration and special Friday night meals. It looked like it would be a fifteen minute wait, so I went to the pre-packed meat aisle and at the very end I found what I had been longing for before I even knew it, a 2 lbs pack of Pork Belly for only $4.00. Instantly, I knew this would be the star of a traditional Filipino dish I loved eating but never had a chance to make, Crispy Binagoongan. It's a crispy, fatty, salty, stroke inducing dish made with pork belly glazed with bagoong alamang (shrimp paste), and usually served with grilled eggplant and fresh diced tomatoes. I grabbed my pork belly and rushed back to the veggie aisle to grab an eggplant before I checked out. When I picked Steve up he reminded me that we had cubed short ribs still waiting to be cooked for a few days now. So I delayed making the pork belly.

I'm sure glad I waited because this dish took some time to make. I didn't have that much time to execute this dish properly yesterday anyway. Since today is a Saturday and I had nowhere to go and nothing to do, it gave me all the time I needed to boil the star of this dish, pork belly, to a soft buttery state, and then crisp up the skin for better texture. Not to mention this would be my first time making this so I had to keep referring to online recipes throughout the whole process which slowed me down a bit. Although it is not the quickest dish it is truly a simple recipe.

These are the two recipes I referred to. The first one is for Lechon Kawali, the pristine basis of Crispy Binagoongan and the second one is to complete the dish.

Lechon Kawali Recipe (Crispy Pan-Fried Roasted Pork) – Posted by PinoyRecipe.net

• 1 1/2 lbs pork liempo (pork belly)


• 3 garlic cloves, crushed


• 2 laurel leaves (bay leaves)


• 1 teaspoon peppercorns or 1/2 teaspoon black pepper


• salt


• water, for boiling


• oil (for frying)


• Cut the pork belly into serving pieces then combine with the garlic, peppercorn,laurel leaves, salt and water in a pan.


• Bring to a boil and simmer for 35-45 minutes or until skin is tender.


• Drain, cool and air dry.


• Deep-fry liempo pieces in batches until golden brown and blisters appear on skin.
  

Crispy Binagoongan over Grilled Eggplant – Posted by FilipinasMag

Ingredients:

· 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

· 1 lb. cooked lechon kawali

· 1 cup of bagoong alamang (add more to taste)

· 1 ripe mango (diced) --à I didn’t add this

· 2 large tomatoes (chopped)

· 1/2 cup green onions (minced) -à I didn’t add this

· 1 grilled eggplant (sliced in half)

Procedure:

· Chop up the lechon kawali into bite-size pieces and re-heat in 1 tbsp. cooking oil for 2-3 minutes

· Add the bagoong, coating the lechon kawali. Cook for 5 minutes until the bagoong forms a glaze around the meat

· Serve the crispy binagoongan over the grilled eggplant, and top with diced mangoes, tomatoes, and minced green onions.

I will have to admit that there were some struggles along the way when I made this. Let’s just say, be sure to make sure your boiled pork has completely drained and DRIED or else like I, you will be experiencing fireworks in your kitchen before the fourth of July. I had to stop trying to fry, because it just wasn’t working for me today and honestly after the grease fire, I was scared that a huge amount of hot oil would pop into my face if I continued. So, I got a baking sheet and baked the pork at 500 degrees F. Well, it worked! The skin had its bubbly texture and had the perfect crunch without any chew at all. I could have eaten it just the way it was. Next time I may bake it just the same because of the convenience of not having to wait until it’s completely dry and it just maybe a tad bit healthier than drenching it with oil when frying.

Also, I didn’t have any Filipino shrimp paste to make this dish, but I did have a small container of Thai shrimp paste I smuggled back from my trip to Thailand a couple of months ago, but I’m one of the Asian stores around here sells this exact same shrimp paste .It wasn’t fluid like the one I’m used to, it still worked out perfectly.

At the end of the meal I was full and proud that I was able to pull this off.