Easy Creamy Tuna and Mushroom Pasta

by Justine C. Tajonera

Easy Creamy Tuna and Mushroom Pasta

What you'll need:

• Half a pack of spaghetti (I used whole wheat pasta. We used a whole pack but discovered that we only needed half so we set aside the other half for another pasta day).
  
• a little canola oil and salt (for the pasta)
• 1/4 clove of garlic, chopped
  
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1 can button mushroom or shitake mushroom (I used shitake mushrooms), sliced into 1/4 pieces
• 250 ml cream
• 1/2 cup grated cheese
• 1 can of tuna in water (drained), spread out if in chunks
  
• a pinch or two of dried basil
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
  

Procedure:

1. Cook the pasta in boiling water (with a little canola oil, a little salt) until al dente. Set aside.

2. Saute the garlic and the onions. Wait until onions are a little transparent.

3. Add in the mushrooms.

4. Pour the cream and let simmer slightly. Keep stirring so that cream doesn't burn.

5. Fold in 1/4 cup grated cheese. Set aside the rest for topping.

6. Once the cheese has melted, add in the tuna. Make sure it's not in chunks, anymore. Spread out.

7. Add the pinch or two of dried basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. You can opt to cook in the pasta together with the sauce (which is what I did). Or you can just serve the sauce separately.

9. Optional: Serve with buttered garlic toast. We used whole wheat bread.

Serves 3-4 people.

Pasta Loving Badger

This was the only dish, so far, that my son absolutely loved. I could tell that he loved it because he kept eating without letting up and he kept asking for more servings even when he hadn't finished the serving on his plate. Of course, he ate one mushroom and decided it wasn't for him (so more mushrooms for mommy and daddy). But overall, he finished two helpings and a half.

Badger really loves pasta to begin with. However, because this time I cooked the dish, I felt really happy and content to see him shoveling the pasta into his mouth. There's an undeniable sense of satisfaction when a cook sees her loved ones genuinely appreciating the food (by eating it without pause).

I'm excited to make my next pasta dish (since the other half of the spaghetti is still in the fridge)!

Easy French Toast

by Justine C. Tajonera

Easy French Toast

What you'll need:

• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk (I used the low-fat variety)
• 1/3 tsp salt (or less)
  
• 1/3 tsp sugar
• 4 pieces of bread (I used the whole wheat variety)
• a little butter

Procedure:

• Pre-heat the pan and spread a little butter over it.
  
• Beat the eggs and add the milk, the salt (I used a little under 1/3 tsp) and the sugar. Mix.
  
• Pour the mixture on a flattish pan so that when you dip the bread, it can thoroughly soak up the egg mixture.
  
• Dip the bread into the pan with the egg mixture.
  
• Fry the bread over the pan until both sides are golden brown.
  
• Serve with butter and honey or maple syrup. I also fried some lean bacon to go with our French toast.
  

Butter and Brunch Love

I love butter. I know it's bad for me because of all the fat. But I just love it. I love the smell of it, especially when it's cooking. So, when I was making the French toast, I was in butter and milk heaven. I over-soaked some of the pieces of bread and ended up with a not-so-soaked last bread piece. But overall our French toast was yummy and the bacon went well with it.

I love morning treats like these. Pancakes, French toast... one of these days I might make some toaster oven scones (if there's even such a thing). I think I'm a brunch type of person. That's why I love breakfast places like Pancake House, Heaven & Eggs and Flap Jacks. I associate it with family time and lots of happy conversation around the table.

Here's to more of them (butter and brunch)... in moderation. :-)

5 Egg Omelet with Ham and Cheese

By Justine C. Tajonera

5 Egg Omelet with Ham and Cheese

What you'll need:

• 5 eggs
• 2-3 slices of cooked ham
• 1/4 cup of diced cheddar cheese
• a dash of salt (since the ham and cheddar cheese can be salty)
• a little butter

Procedure:

• Pre-heat your skillet on medium-high heat. Put a little butter, enough to cover the surface of the pan.
  
• Slice the cooked ham into little squares and prepare the diced cheddar cheese.
  
• Beat the eggs in a bowl and add a dash of salt.
  
• When the skillet is hot enough, pour the egg mixture onto the pan and leave alone for a few seconds.
  
• When the sides of the omelet start getting cooked, carefully drop the pieces of ham onto the omelet until you've strategically covered most of it.
  
• Then add the cheese after.
  
• Carefully fold the omelet. Turn off the heat and remove from pan.
  
• Serve with whole wheat toast.

Serves 2-3 people.

It's All About the Pan

I never realized how uninspired I was because I had the wrong frying pan. We were making do with an old, cheap frying pan (the thin type that burns most of the food that you put on it while the heat is high). Everything stuck to that pan and I dreaded washing it.

Why did I have to suffer?

Vier and I recently decided to get a proper pan because we had to cook (no household help). We got ourselves a Sunnex skillet on sale: double coated Teflon, thick stainless steel base, built for electric ovens (which is the one we have at home, no gasul allowed in our building). It's in an apple green color.

Boy, I'm happy. It's the first time I've been able to make lovely, perfect pancakes. And now, a lovely folded omelet. When it folded over perfectly I wanted to melt with joy. So, apparently, that's part of the secret of cooking. If you don't have the right instruments, you might not also get the results you were looking for.

Cream Dory Baked in Foil

by Justine C. Tajonera

Recipe taken entirely from my Dad, Augusto Ch. Camacho

Cream Dory Baked in Foil

What you'll need:

• 2 fillets of cream dory (likely 1/2 kilo)
• a clove of garlic
• a bulb of white onion (chopped, but not finely)
  
• tomato (sliced)
  
• 5 calamansi (Philippine lemon)
  
• sliced ginger
  
• dried parsley
• dried basil
  
• rock salt (to taste)
• foil (enough to wrap the entire fish and the other ingredients)
• butter
• olive oil
  

Procedure

1. Wash the fish thoroughly with water. After draining the water, rub down the fish with calamansi.
2. Lay the fish on the foil and spread some butter over the fish. Afterward, put a little olive oil.
   
3. Season the fish with rock salt (to taste).
4. Cover the fish with parsley and basil (not too much, just enough to season the fish).
5. Spread the pieces of garlic, onion, ginger and tomato over the fish evenly.
6. Put in the oven (or toaster oven) and put on the high setting. Leave in the oven for 30 minutes. You can occasionally test whether the fish is cooked with a tooth pick (if the flesh comes with the tooth pick, it's still not cooked).
   

Preparation time takes around 15 minutes. All in all, you will have the baked fish in 45 minutes.

Sundays with Dad

This was the first meal my Dad cooked for us after retiring so it was a treat! He told us that we wouldn't be eating out anymore because he had to watch his expenses now that he's retired. And we totally didn't mind. It would give us an excuse to still meet up at his house and it would give him the excuse to indulge in one of his passions: cooking.

My Dad loves to cook. He's the kind of cook who experiments. Sometimes, it doesn't turn out well but more often than not, his cooking is really, really good. I think it's because he really puts his heart in it. And that's what matters when you're cooking.

I have a sister and a brother who cooks. And I think they take inspiration from my Dad. I was resisting it for the longest time, telling other people that my family has enough cooks. But that's not really true. There's always room for another cook in the family. As long as there are hungry stomachs and love to go around, there's always room to cook.

So, to all those who say that cooking isn't for them. Think about it. Imagine that you're cooking for someone (or a lot of someones) you love. You don't have to be an expert. You just need an open mind and heart.

Image of a fish in foil from http://www.flickr.com/photos/hirefrank/15404211/in/photostream/

Experimental Oatmeal Pancakes

by Justine C. Tajonera

I don't write the word "experimental" for nothing. The story later.

The original South Beach Recipe of Oatmeal Pancakes (with my modifications in blue)

What you'll need:

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal --> I used 1 cup
  
• 1/4 cup low-fat cottage cheese (or tofu) --> I used 1/2 cup
  
• 4 egg whites --> I used three whole egs
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract --> two teaspoons
  
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon --> 1/2 teaspoon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg --> 1/2 teaspoon
  

Procedure:

Process the oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg whites, vanilla extract, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender until smooth. --> I don't have a blender so I attempted to whisk everything by hand.

Spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Add the batter and cook over medium heat until both sides are lightly browned. --> the batter totally fell apart upon frying so I added 1/4 cup flour to keep it at least looking like some kind of cake.

You can top the pancake with a low-sugar syrup of your choice.

Serves 1. --> Serves 2-3

Dealing with Disaster

I really saw myself successfully cooking this dish. No blender? Hmmm, I'll just use a whisk. However, that's the operative part of the procedure, apparently. A blender sort of makes the whole thing really mushed up and stiff so it doesn't fall apart in the pan.

As you can guess, my first "pancake" fell apart in the pan. The first thing I thought of was: I need flour! If anything, flour makes something formless have some kind of form. What I did notice was that I kept my cool. I wanted it to work, somehow.

The result was a kind of oatmeal cake crisp for the ones we fried and for the ones I put in the toaster, a kind of oatmeal pudding. Of course, it wasn't the best thing I ever tasted. But, it wasn't something I would throw out in the trash. :-)

According to Vier, the only thing he just didn't like about the fried version was it used up too much oil.

So there. No tears. It happens. And what you can do with oatmeal-pancake-disaster-in-the-making is to turn it into oatmeal pancakes that you can eat. What helped was seeing it all as an adventure. Nothing was going wrong, it was just a matter of taking a different turn.

(March 2, 2010)
Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nyxie/325008652/

Easy Fish Fillet in Wine Sauce and Creamy Asparagus & Corn

By Justine C. Tajonera

I got this recipe from the South Beach Diet book. It was extremely easy to follow and it's healthy as well. I just substituted the chicken fillet with fish fillet.

What you'll need:

• 4 tablespoons extra virgin oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (but in my case, I chopped it)
• 1/2 kilo cream dory (or two sides of fish), cut into strips
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (in my case, I used the small bottle of wine that we got as a gift: Fortant Sauvignon Blanc)
• 3 medium tomatoes, sliced

Procedure:

1. In a medium skillet, heat the oil and the garlic over medium heat.
   
2. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, then add to the skillet and cook for 7-10 minutes (in my case, 10 minutes).
3. Add the white wine and cook for an additional two minutes.
4. Remove the fish to a platter.
5. Saute the tomatoes until tender.
6. Place the tomatoes over the kitchen and cover with pan drippings.

Serves 3-4.

Side Dish: Creamy Corn and Asparagus (half invented and half lifted from Naty, my Dad's housekeeper)

What you'll need:

• 1 can corn kernels (you can also try creamed corn but for the dish I cooked last Saturday, I used whole corn kernels)
• 4-5 stalks of asparagus, cut into 2-3 pieces per stalk
• 1/2 onion bulb or less, chopped
  
• 1/3 clove of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

• Saute the garlic and onion.
  
• Add the asparagus stalks. Cook until asparagus stalk is no longer tough.
• Add the corn.
  
• Season with some salt and pepper.
  
• Add the cream.
  
• Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes. Then serve.
  

Sacred Sunday

I cooked this dish last Sunday, after swimming with Badger in the condo pool. Just that Friday Badger had been sick (read my poem about it here). But by Sunday, he was excited and full of his usual exuberant spirit. I remember just keeping my beach caftan on, not even bothering to shower or comb my hair because I was excited to cook. Of course, the dish was too sophisticated for Badger who usually opts for tuna hotdog and rice. But it was wonderful to be home, cooking something that smelled good and was easy to make too. With the smell of simmering garlic, olive oil and wine, Badger played with his blocks before settling down for a meal with his mommy and daddy. I wonder if he will remember, one of these days.

Valentine's Day Recipes: Calamansi Baked Fish & Toblerone Chocolate Fondue

by Justine C. Tajonera

We stayed in for Valentine's Day. But I cooked two things: a healthy (I think) fish fillet lunch at home and some (unhealthy) fondue after dinner at my Dad's place.

Calamansi Baked Bangus Fillet (adapted from the Lime Baked Fish of the South Beach Diet Book)


What you'll need:

• 1/4 kilo bangus back fillet (or half the pack)
  
• 1/4 cup calamansi (or Philippine lime) juice (from freshly squeezed calamansi)
• 1 teaspoon dried tarragon leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion tops

Procedure:

1. Arrange the fish fillet in a baking dish (on my end, I lined my toaster pan with some wax paper and then put the fish fillet in it)
2. Sprinkle with the lime juice, tarragon and onion tops (on my end, I added salt and pepper to taste)
3. Bake covered at 325 degrees F for 15-20 min or until the fish flakes easily (on my end, I left it uncovered but put some butter on the tops of the fish and toasted in the toaster oven for 20 minutes)

The Verdict: A bit sour and a bit peppery but overall, pretty good and healthy.

We ate the fish at home and paired with some sauteed crunchy Baguio beans and some corn (scraped off the cob) that we microwaved with a bit of butter. I enjoyed making this as it was really easy to do and I knew it was healthy (well, except for the dabs of butter!). It also didn't take too long to make.

For Valentine's Dinner Dessert: Toblerone Chocolate Fondue with Banana


Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/asbjorn_floden/2402328243/

What you'll need:

• 1/2 cup cream (on my end, I used Nestle cream in a tetra pak box)
• 2 bars of Toblerone chocolate (we bought the V-Day gift variety which consisted of one milk chocolate bar and one white chocolate bar)
• 1 tbsp of brandy (better if Cointreau or Kirsch Brandy... on my end, I made the mistake of putting in 1/4 cup of Carlos Primero Brandy and ended up adding the second bar of chocolate to make up for all that brandy!)
• 1 piling of Lacatan banana (sliced horizontally, just keep adding until the sauce is finished)
  

Procedure:

1. Put all the ingredients in one microwaveable pot.
   
2. Nuke in the microwave (I got the term "nuke" from my sister. I love it!) for less than a minute and stir with a wooden spoon or a spatula and keep nuking and stirring until it's a well-blended chocolate-y and gooey mass of fondue dip.
3. Dip in the sliced bananas and enjoy.
   

The Verdict: Nakakalasing (gets you drunk)! But after adding the extra bar of Toblerone chocolate, we just kept going.

This was really, really easy (except for my mistake with the brandy!). It's great for any kind of cook (although, some would want to cook this in a proper sauce pan on low heat). I enjoyed the simplicity and the yummy goodness of this fondue and I expect to have more of it in the future. Maybe, I can mix in dark chocolate later on. Also, when I do find some Cointreau or Kirsch Brandy, I'll see how this recipe goes.