Pork in tomato stew

Boil the pork butt to tenderize (and drain to dispose the fat) - stir fry the pork to release natural oils - add in the potatoes and separate when cooked.

Saute garlic, onion and half a can of tomato sauce and laurel leaf - add the pork in; Put the other half of the tomato sauce in a blender and add oregano powder, rosemary, thyme, pickle relish, sugar and vinegar to pour into the pot.

Simmer until the tomato sauce releases its a reddish oily sauce. Add green peas and carrots and potatoes back in the pot.

Inside out Morcon

We usually have our 'morcon' only on special occasions - seldom do we serve it as a regular meal. Let's try changing that! Or maybe we should "invert" the preparation - Literally!

"Inside out morcon" is the easier way of preparing the dish.

Our "ancestors" normally prepare it by rolling a thinly sliced marinated beef with sliced hard boiled eggs and pickles in it and tie a "pisi" (thread) to hold the beef in rolled position, and then is cooked by steam, and sometimes in tomato sauce until the sauce dries up.

Well, I did it differently: I cooked the tenderloin beef tips in tomato sauce, and used the eggs as the rolling ingredient. Note, however, that I separated the white from the yoke and fried them separately in low fire. This is just to add a little "art" to the visual.

I took some of the simmered beef and tomato sauce mixture and added a lot of pickle relish and onions to get that "morcon" taste.

To give a little variation to the preparation, I used a piece of pechay to help the fried egg white and yoke roll-in the beef, after adding a little more (unsimmered) pickle relish.

...and you have an "inside out morcon"!

Shrimps and Scallops

Chicken, spinach and tomato stuffed baby ampalaya

His and Hers tomato omelette

Flaky adobo penne rigate integrale

Once in a while, we should use our imagination when we have some basic ingredients right in front of us.

I did my usual adobo dish and chanced on the organic 'whole wheat penne rigate' pack that I always planned on using so I can start my "start avoiding rice" diet (as if the switch was going to make a lot of difference at the moment as the adobo was still the calories bearer).

Anyway, I boiled the penne rigate and while waiting for the pasta to boil, I recalled (my friend) Ted's way of eating adobo - FLAKY with rice!!

So I shredded some pork adobo meat, and 0n another pan, fried the adobo flakes to make them crisp. Now just as the pasta was "almost aldente", I drained it and poured adobo sauce on the rigate; let the savory sauce sip in the noodles (notice the darker shade of the pasta) and re-drain. Careful not to let the pasta overcook.

I chose to make a creamy sauce using light mayonnaise - and again, pour a small amount of adobo sauce, add pepper and half a teaspoon of sugar (to reduce the sour taste of the mayo and adobo sauce).

So granting that the whole wheat penne rigate has less sugar than rice - this is a good substitute and another way of eating adobo. This could also rouse the curiosity of the family, looking at the meal as if it was a new recipe instead of saying "adobo nanaman!?"

Thank you Ted, for your idea contribution !!!

Tri-color Bell pepper embotido in Kalabasa

Instead of having rice with embotido, we'll have a different carb: kalabasa!

...And instead of having catsup or brown gravy, we'll have the creamy hollandaise sauce (egg yolks, butter, kalamansi cayene pepper and wine vinegar).

Us Pinoys use the kalabasa with ginataang stringbeans or pinakbet or bulanglang and ukoy... well guess what, it is a very good substitute for rice and it is rich in vitamin E and good to improve the eyesight! (so I was told...)