Speckles n Spectrum: My Recipes

Showing posts with label My Recipes. Show all posts

Speckled Cockles

by kris10na ☮♥☺ Thoughts (1)

August yey. It's 30 minutes past 1 in the morning, it's Monday here. I know I'm supposed to have this posted by Sunday but it's Sunday in some parts of the world so it doesn't matter right? Haha

I've been sick for almost 3 days now, colds, runny nose and high fever. I'm feeling awful and I'm glad my mother brought me some seafood to cook because I'm also getting sick eating broccoli and lettuce almost everyday for about 4 months now since she went back from NZ. Didn't I tell you she enjoyed her travel there very much that she wanted to at least do some of the stuff especially the food she ate even back here. Thank goodness because she suddenly appreciates fresh milk, cheeses, pasta and a lot more that I was trying to convinced her to like way back. But broccoli and lettuce everyday is just too much especially it's cook the same way everyday only some other days she had meat, then for some days she uses tofu. It's delicious but because of excessive repetition it's getting bland and tasteless for my taste-buds. I actually have a choice to cook my own food and I do that once in a while.

This shellfish is called Punaw in our language and known as cockles. It's very cheap 1 pack is only 10 pesos, I got 2 packs for this recipe. This is my own rendition of a family recipe I've learnt to cook when I was a kid so this is really very easy to do and very healthy too.

Speckled Cockles

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
garlic
red onion
Cockles (Punaw)
black pepper
ginger diced
salt
butter
1 ½ cup of water
herbs
3 pcs calamansi

How to mess it up:

1. Make sure to wash and clean the cockles with water then drain afterwards.

2. Pour just a little amount of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in a heated pan.

3. Saute garlic until golden brown before adding onions and ginger.

4. Add the cockles and toss it along with the first ingredients while adding just a tiny slice of butter for more flavor.

5. After a while of tossing pour in the water. In low-medium heat let it simmer and wait until all shells had opened.

Opening of shells means it's cook.

6. Add the extracted calamansi juice. Make sure to mix it well.

7. Season with salt, pepper and herbs. For this recipe I used thyme, basil and oregano to kick-up its taste.

Enjoy best while hot.

* We usually cook this with green papaya but we don't have it available the day I cooked this but still it's pretty delicious and comforting on its own.
* Ginger is essential for it helps eliminate the fishy smell and taste of seafood (according to my mum.)

P.S.
This is actually the same with my mum's favorite Geewan's Sinigang na Punaw (I've mentioned in Just Another Day) which cost way a lot cheaper when you cook it at home though mine was pretty plain so you can toss some more veggies you'd like to add with this recipe too.

Oh if you're wondering why the cockles were too cheap it's because my mum got it from Tinambac, our old town which is 45-minutes by car and almost an hour by commute from Naga City, seafood is really very inexpensive there and fresh too. I might as well right something about that place one of these days.

Speckled Alfredo

by kris10na ☮♥☺ Thoughts (0)

According to wiki:

Pasta tossed with cheese and butter has a long history both in Italy and abroad.

It was popularised amongst US tourists in Rome by restaurateur Alfredo di Lelio who served it with his own name attached:

Fettuccine al burro is associated in every tourist's mind with Rome, possibly because the original Alfredo succeeded in making its serving a spectacle reminiscent of grand opera.

The restaurant's story is that the dish was invented by di Lelio at his restaurant Alfredo in 1914 as a variation of fettuccine al burro.

This is my very own rendition of Fettuccine Alfredo except I used linguine instead of Fettuccine. I was getting bored of the usual tomato pasta so I've tried to do a white one enough of the red for a while, let's get on with the milky white. Yep this one is still healthy and will pass for vegetarian, no meat but still very tasty.

Speckled Alfredo

butter
parsley
1 clove chopped garlic
1 whole chopped white onion
2 cans Century Tuna
4 packs of Nestle Cream
1 can Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 soup can milk
Parmesan cheese
450g grated Eden cheese
1 small can mushrooms sliced
500g pack of Linguine or Fettuccine
salt and white ground pepper

How to mess it up:

1. Cook noodles according to package instruction.

2. Meanwhile in a small bowl combine mushroom soup and milk.

3. Add butter in a heated pan. When garlic is golden brown add the white onion then the tuna.

You can add more butter and try to stir fry the tuna until dried.

Toss the mushrooms.

Stir-fry it as well then add the oil drained from the tuna flakes for more flavor.

Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.

4. Pour in the milk and soup mixture in Step 2.

5. Add the grated cheddar cheese.

6. Mix the noodles in or you can just individually pour the sauce for each plate or serving.

But if you think the sauce is limited go ahead
just toss it all with the noodles to have evenly distributed sauce.
But I prefer pouring sauce for every individual serving.

7. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top and decorate it with parsley.

Best serve while hot and eaten the same day it was cook.

Pizza Spectrum

by kris10na ☮♥☺ Thoughts (0)

When my mother was away for about 2 weeks I was having a vacation grande as well at home by feasting nearly everyday with pizza... haha

I was able to come up with my own pizza recipe or at least combination of ingredients for my personal pizza. And yep, it's healthy as usual. That's actually one of my reasons why I like to cook because I can choose what to put in what I eat plus the fun of cooking by unleashing my creative side. It's just simply fulfilling.

For this pizza I used tofu instead of meat and it comes out just perfect. By the way, I cheated on the pizza crust. I just bought it. Why do I have to bother myself making one when it's easier and cheaper to buy a ready made, right? But if you'd like to make one I won't stop you... hehe

Pizza Spectrum

pizza crust
tofu (cubed or sliced into tiny bits)

butter or oil

mushrooms

pineapple tidbits

cucumber

Del Monte Gourmet Beef & Mushroom Pasta Sauce

1 green bell pepper

Edam cheese

mozzarella

How to mess it up:

1. Pre-heat your oven at 375 F (190 C) for 20 minutes.

2. Lay your pizza crust in a baking pan.

3. Spread the tomato sauce evenly on top of the crust. You can actually use any kind of brands of tomato sauce but I prefer Del Monte's Gourmet selection since it has already that distinctive classic taste that you don't need to add anything because the sauce is complete in itself.

4. Add the grated cheese. For this particular recipe I used Edam cheese since that's what we have available. Though it's perfect since it's a bit salty so it became also a substitute for salt.

5. Meanwhile, fry the tofu in butter or oil. I prefer the tofu almost grounded for it's more crunchy and will appear and taste like unsalted chicharon. But if you don't like crunchy you can just slice it into cubes and don't over fry it so this way it will taste and feel like meat. Then sprinkle it on top of the crust.

6. Add the remaining ingredients: cucumber, mushrooms, pineapple, and bell pepper and manage to decorate the pizza as well while adding them. Then sprinkle the grated mozzarella on top.

7. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until crust is brown. Then serve with hot sauce or ketchup.

I like mine with a refreshing cold fresh milk =)

Baked Mac n Spectrum

by kris10na ☮♥☺ Thoughts (2)

The clock strikes 12 and it's May. Yippee fiesta month and as promise I'm going to start getting serious on food blogging. Wish me luck. I would like to establish my background about food. I've been eating since I can remember... he he Seriously, main dish cooking background came from Papa and baking and desserts knowledge came from Mama. (more about that on my personal blog post)

So here's my own version of Campbell's Northern Style Lasagna converted into a baked mac for quantity purposes. This is a more budget friendly recipe and twisted to Filipinos taste buds but if you would want to have the original recipe feel free to message me.

Baked Mac n Spectrum

3 tbsp cooking oil
5 tbsp butter (optional)
1 clove chopped garlic
1 whole chopped red onion
2 pieces diced green bell pepper
750g Del Monte Tomato & Cheese Pasta Sauce
½ kg ground beef
10 pieces thinly sliced Purefoods Tender Juicy Hotdog (optional)
1 can Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 soup can milk
450g grated Eden cheese
200g grated Magnolia Quickmelt
2 packs of 500g Colavita Penne Rigate or 1 kg Del Monte elbow macaroni
salt and black ground pepper

How to mess it up:

You can fill 2 of these containers
using 1 kg Del Monte elbow macaroni

1. Cook noodles according to package instruction.
2. In a small bowl combine Mushroom Soup and milk.
3. In a heated pan pour cooking oil, add the onions when garlic is already golden brown. In low-medium heat cook the hotdogs while adding the butter. When hotdogs are all bright red and cooked add the ground beef. Cooked until meat is browned and is thoroughly cooked and no pink remains, stirring once during cooking to separate meat. Seasoned with black pepper and salt. Stir in spaghetti sauce, let it simmer then add the soup mixture in Step #2.
4. Add all the Eden cheese to the sauce. Stir to make sure that it melts and well distributed within the mixture. Taste your sauce and then seasoned with salt if you think it needs a little more pinch of it.
5. Turn off the heat and add the green bell pepper, set aside at least ¼ for toppings.
6. Add the noodles into the sauce and pour it into a baking pan. Top it with the quickmelt and sprinkle the remaining green bell peppers. Make sure it is evenly distributed and more cheese added the better looking your baked mac will be.
7. Baked for at least 30 minutes at 375 F (190 C) or until the top cheese melted.

* You can substitute hotdogs with mushrooms.
* This dish taste improves better even after 3 days stack in your fridge. Just reheat it in the microwave and add quickmelt on top if you prefer having every serving with food presentation and add your garlic bread then It's good to go.