This is a Roast Pork dish that is usually served by our catering business in Pasig. It's simple to make yet elegant enough to serve in parties. The taste is not exotic for non-Filipinos and Americans who have tasted this dish liked it.

You have to start with a good cut of lean Pork Loin, it has to be large enough so it won't disintegrate when you cut it after it had been tenderized. We don't have a special name for this dish. We call this dish 'roast pork'. Big thanks to Mommy for teaching me how to make this dish.

Ingredients:
1 large slab of lean Pork Loin
salt and pepper
4 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 can of small tomato paste
5 cups of chicken stock
1 stick of butter
1 small onion, minced
2 tbsp flour
1 cup broth from the cooked pork loin
1 small can of Cream of Mushroom (use regular not low fat)
1 cup grated cheese (any kind)

Wash and dry the pork loin. Season with salt and pepper. Heat cooking oil in a large pot, brown all sides of the pork loin. Add the tomato paste and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and stir until the tomato paste is dissolved. Cook until the pork loin is tender, stirring the pot once in a while and adding chicken stock if the liquid becomes too low. Set aside 1 cup of the broth to be used in the next step.

Heat the oven to 350 deg F.

In a smaller pot, in medium heat, add butter. When butter is melted, saute the onions until it's cooked but not browned. Add the flour and cook for a minute or two. Then add the broth (that was set aside from the pork loin) a little at a time to prevent lumps. Wait for it to boil. When it's boiling, add the Cream of Mushroom and stir thoroughly.

Take the roast pork loin and cut it into 1/4 inch slices. Set aside. In a pyrex dish, pour 1 cup of the sauce on the bottom. Arrange the roast pork loin slices in the pyrex dish. Pour more sauce on top of the pork loin. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the pork loin. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, just enough for the pork to be reheated through and the cheese to melt. Serve with rice.

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL HERE

I had a craving for Empanadas the other day and no, I'm not pregnant. LOL My best friend's mom makes the best empanadas, I was talking to my best friend on the phone and in our conversation she mentioned that she's learning how to make it. After that phone call, I can't get the thought of empanadas out of my mind. I know, bad for my waistline. hehehe

Anyways, off I went to the grocery and bought the ingredients. I have to admit that I cheated on the pastry part, I didn't make it from scratch. Hey, I'm a mom to a 6yo and a 17-month old! I don't have much time to slave in the kitchen. LOL I used the ready-made pie pastry, the roll-up kind. I just cut it in rounds and filled it with the sauteed filling. Then just before baking, I brush the pastry with a mixture of egg and a tablespoon of milk to get that yellowish color on top.
Here is the Empanada recipe I used:

Empanadas

3 cups of ground meat
1/2 small onion, minced
1 carrot, minced
1 potato, minced
1 cup raisins (you can adjust this to your taste)
salt and pepper
1 pkg of double pastry crust
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of milk

Preheat the oven to 400degrees. Heat a tablespoon of oil. Fry the potatoes until soft, set aside. Saute the onions until it's wilted but not brown. Add the carrots and ground meat. Cook until the meat turns brown. Add the potatoes and raisins. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool down.

Roll out the pastry crust and cut into circles. Fill each rounds with about 2 tablespoons of the cooked meat mixture, do not overfill since this will cause the empanadas to crack. Crimp the edges together to form a tight seal. Brush the empanadas with the egg and milk mixture. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

It's a simple recipe, you can tweak it anyway you want. Add whatever vegetables you have at the moment, any ground meat, season it and wrap it in any kind of pastry and voila! You've got a delicious empanada. Enjoy!

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL HERE