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Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts

Garlic-Cheese Baked Mussels for the Lenten Season

Comments (0) | Friday, April 2, 2010

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Baked mussels? Well, maybe a lot of people would tell you that it's easy to cook. I would agree in a more general perspective of just grating cheese over the mussels and popping it in the oven. But I don't think it would taste that good. why? Because as we all know, mussels or shellfish in general have this "malansa" or fishy smell. And if you did not cook or clean it properly, it would definitely taste bad.

Due to the volume of people asking me for this recipe, including my sister, who wants me to cook these for a baby shower she's attending, I decided to post my recipe here in my blog. Well, this is a hard task for me because I am not the measuring type of cook. I just pour and mix together and approximate the ingredients according to my imagination and taste. So bare with me with this recipe.

Well, first and foremost, why baked mussels? Well, a week ago, some colleagues and I went to eat at a seaside restaurant (Dampa in the local term) where you would buy fresh seafood ang ask them to cook it the way you want. We ordered baked mussels and of course, it tasted okay for something seasoned and with cheese on top. Nothing more, nothing special. When I tasted it, it lacked something that tickles the palate and it made me want to cook my own version of it based on my imagination.


So here are the ingredients that I imagined would make the mussels' flavor more palatable and special: (I also put some measurements that I think is approximately what I tossed into the pan.. )

For every 1 kilo of mussels

1 small ginger sliced
2 tsp salt
5 cloves garlic
1 cup of grated cheese (Quick-melt preferred)


Garlic-tomato paste:

1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp crushed dried basil
1 tsp paprika powder
4-5 ripe tomatoes minced
2 heads of garlic minced
2 tsp. butter
3 tbsps cooking oil (it would be better if it's olive oil)
1 tbsp sugar


The measurements above are my approximation. If you cook just like me, then theres no need to measure, just prepare the ingredients and just follow these instructions:

1. Heat the oil in a small pan. Melt the butter. Add the minced garlic then after a few minutes, (Do not let the garlic brown) add the minced tomatoes, salt, basil, pepper, paprika and sugar. Mash the mixture while mixing and turn off the heat once the oil turns reddish, the tomatoes are indistinguishable and mixture is paste- in oil-like. Set aside the garlic-tomato paste.



2. Boil water in a pot. Add the salt, garlic and ginger. Add washed mussels and cook for around 15 minutes until all the shells are opened. Do not overcook. Set aside and let the mussels cool.

3. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Celsius.

4. Pour a small amount (around 3 tbsp) of the mussel broth (the water used in boiling the mussels) in the baking pan. Remove the empty half shells of the mussels and line them in the shallow baking pan. Spoon some of the garlic-tomato paste over each of the mussels and make sure that a few drops of the oil is included. Then top each of the mussels with grated cheese.



 5. Pop the pan in the oven and place on medium heat for around 15-20 minutes.

Note: you have two options: You could add the cheese directly into the garlic-tomato paste before putting on top of the mussels or just do the traditional baked mussels look with melted cheese on top. I tried the two versions and they both tasted great. :)

Enjoy!


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Turnips for a Foodie... Boring.

Comments (0) | Tuesday, March 16, 2010



Singkamas... Turnips in English. For someone who loves food, munching on boring, white, watery turnips is suicidal. But I had to eat them because I consider it a vegetable. And It's Day 2 of my General Motor's Diet. It's Vegetables day. My energy is running low so I forgot that I could buy some carrots so I was stuck with the white stuff all day. Good thing, Arriana, my staff nurse here at Bulacan offered some Pinakbet, a local mixed vegetable dish sauteed and stewed in Alamang or shrimp paste. I know I shouldn't eat oily vegetables but I tried to scrape off most of the oil from her food bowl. Besides, I only ate the Ampalayas (Bitter gourds) and the Okras and stayed away from the oil-soaked eggplants. Ate Rita, the cook in the hospital also tried to go with the flow and cooked Lumpiang hubad (Vegetable spring rolls without the wrapper). She knows I am having a hard time because I am a big fan of her cooking and I usually rave about her food every lunch time... good thing she empathized with me.




Turnips for breakfast, Pinakbet vegetables and turnips for lunch... I am totally scrapping dinner. I was already visualizing turnips drenched in chocolate... or how good they tasted when sauteed with carrots or when they are added to spring rolls filling. Yummy. Or turnips with lemon and pepper vinaigrette... or buttered with sayote and of course, some tenderloin steak on the side... Oops... It's making my head dizzy right now.

Oh well... I know, later in my dreams, I will dream of two things: My hunny and MEAT, MEAT, MEAT!

Note to Pillow: I'm sorry but I know I will definitely be salivating on you.

:)


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A Foodie on a DIET for 7 days.

Comments (0) | Monday, March 15, 2010

A Foodie on a DIET? I bet a lot of people would raise their eyebrows. But believe it or not, after baking Alfajores and making copycat Krispy Kreme donuts, I am on a DIET.

I have always believed that DIET is DIE with a T. But why am I on a diet? Actually, I am on a cleansing diet. Why? Because I have been eating and cooking sinful food and the upcoming Lenten season would be a great opportunity to cleanse my body from cholesterol and fatty food. I have been assigned at Bulacan for the past eight months and as we all know, Bulacan, most especially the town of San Miguel, is the mecca of Chicharon (Crispy Pork Rind) and Pastillas (sweet custard candies made from carabao's milk). This town has the most cholesterol rich food and viands that you could think of that my cholesterol levels shoot up to a daunting 254. And yes it is way above normal levels.

So, I was determined to follow the General Motor's Diet. It's a diet program developed by employees and dependents of General Motors and they said it is effective in cleansing and weight loss. To sum it all up, I am supposed to eat fruits for the first day, vegetables on the 2nd... etc. Just click on the link if you are interested. I am currently on Day 1: Fruits except bananas and other sugary, starchy fruits. So the day is almost done and I have only eaten watermelon and melon slices, pineapple chunks and 1 Fuji apple. I should be proud of my determination! Amidst my staff eating creamy and tasty chicken pastel and sweet and sour meatballs, I was munching boringly on a bland melon slice, keeping myself from inhaling the aroma of the food too much because I know, I might give in...

But still, I am much determined. So, stay with me and see if my adventure on DIETing will end positively. I might go haywire from sugar, cholesterol and sodium withdrawal. :)


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About Me

Ayahnla Sommers. In this world, that is her name. She's just a small time girl with big thoughts. In fact, on the outside, she claims she is just ordinary. But inside her head, she is moving mountains, creating masterpieces, or even traveling the world. Though it seems to you that she is just crazy, she's just as sane as every body else. She's just secretly eccentric... but definitely not ordinary. Each day is an episode. From comical exaggerations of typical day-to-day boring life to disturbing morbid thoughts of dying, the drama in her head unfolds.

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