One advantage of living in New England is the seafood. Since we are on the coast, the price of seafood here is comparatively cheaper than let's say Nebraska. Every summer, dh and I always look forward to having lobster. Lobster can be bought all year round of course, but it is expensive. During the summer months, you can get lobster for $5.99/pound if it is on sale. The most popular way to cook lobster is to steam it (don't boil it!) and another popular restaurant dish is stuffed lobster. I use the steam method if I feel lazy and don't want to spend too much time prepping. But if I'm in the mood to cook (just like the other day), I cook lobster the Cantonese way.

This recipe is from Eileen Lo's Chinese Kitchen. The original recipe calls for fresh live lobsters to be chopped up. I tried this the first time but found it disconcerting. First, I felt guilty cutting up something that is still 'alive' and second, it grossed me out. So the next time that I cooked this dish, I steamed the lobsters for about 4 minutes so it's partially-cooked. You can also use shrimps in lieu of lobsters. Read more for the recipe.

I omitted the part which calls for ground pork and eggs. It's just personal

preference, I think this dish is best with just the lobster and the sauce. If you like sauce on your rice, then double the marinade. Yummy!

LOBSTER CANTONESE

by Eileen Lo

The Chinese Kitchen

Marinade:

1 3/4 tsp soy sauce

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

3/4 tsp salt (I omit this since it's already salty for me)

1 1/2 tsp sugar

pinch ground pepper

2 tsp sesame oil

Lobsters, chopped into pieces

1/4 lb lean ground pork

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/8 cup peanut oil

2 tsp minced garlic

3 large eggs, beaten

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

2 tbsp Chinese white rice wine

2 scallions, trimmed and finely sliced

1. In a large bowl, combine the marinade ingredients. Place the lobster in the marinade and allow to rest 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the lobster from the marinade and reserve both separately. As the lobster marinates, mix the ground pork with the salt and sugar thoroughly; reserve.

2. Heat oil over high heat and add 1 tsp of minced garlic. When it browns, add pork mixture. Stir to separate and cook for 3 min. When the pork changes color, add the eggs and mix into a soft scramble. Turn off heat, remove all the ingredients and reserve.

3. Using a clean pan, heat oil and add minced ginger. Add the remaining garlic and stir until brown. Add lobster pieces. Spread in a thin layer. Turn the lobster pieces. Add the wine at the edge of the pan and mix thoroughly. When the lobster meat reddens, add the pork-egg mixture and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Add the reserved marinade and stir. Add the scallions and mix well. Turn off heat, transfer to a heated platter, garnish with cucumber and serve with steamed rice.

1. Place the water in a pot and bring to boil over high heat. Add the noodles, stir and cook for 2-4 mins. for fresh noodles and 4-7mins. for dried noodles . depending on the size. Turn off heat and run cold water into the pot and drain.

2. Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.

3. Heat the oil and add the garlic and stir. When the garlic is golden brown, add the onions and cook for a minute. Add the pork and shrimp. Saute for a minute or until the shrimp turns pink. Add the carrots, celery and Bokchoy stems. When these have softened slightly, add the Spinach and Bokchoy leaves. Make a well in the middle,stir the sauce mixture and pour into the pan. Stir well and cook until the sauce thickens.

4. Add the cooked noodles into the pan and mix until the noodles are coated with the sauce and vegetables are evenly distributed.

5. Serve in a platter with sliced lemons and soy sauce on the side.

My sister Giselle used to work in the Embarcadero area in San Francisco. There is a small Chinese restaurant a block away from her office and it is where they always eat for lunch. She brought me this Scrambled Eggs with Shrimp dish one day from work. I never thought that eggs with shrimp would taste so heavenly, but it does. (My personal opinion, of course. :)) If you are an egg and a shrimp lover, this dish is for you. You can make different variations of this dish, make it as complicated as you want by adding veggies or spices. I for one prefer it just the way it is.

We went to my in-laws last weekend for a late Easter Egg Hunt. They just arrived from wintering in Florida last Holy Week, hence the late Easter celebration. I always bring Lumpia Shanghai every time dh's family get together. I serve it as an appetizer and they all like our Lumpia (even the teenagers).

This time though, I didn't have time to make it. So on a fly, I decided to try a new recipe I found online. It is very easy, uses a cake mix, instant chocolate pudding, sour cream, chocolate chips and Kahlua creme. I didn't tell dh that there's Kahlua in the cake but he noticed. You can't really tell unless you've tasted Kahlua creme. I saw one recipe that called for one cup of Kahlua, wow, that will be very strong. In this recipe though, it only calls for one-third cup so the Kahlua flavor doesn't overpower the chocolate.

This is the moistest chocolate cake I've made, very chocolatey and of course, delicious. :) The addition of the sour cream makes it moist. You should try it and you'll know what I mean.

CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix
1 (3 3/4 oz.) pkg. vanilla or chocolate instant pudding mix
2 c. sour cream (16 oz)
4 eggs
3/4 c. oil
1/3 c. Kahlua
6 oz. pkg. chocolate chips

Combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, eggs, oil, and Kahlua. Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a well-greased and floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Enjoy!

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL HERE

To celebrate my dh's Irish heritage, I always serve Corned Beef for St. Patrick's Day (March 17). This is one of those 'no-brainer' dishes that is very easy to prepare. Corned Beef in the Philippines always comes in a can. :) Fresh Corned Beef here in the US is completely different. Most Corned Beef sold in the grocery stores are the 'brisket' kind and that is what I have been using years before. This year though, I'm using the 'eye round' part of the beef which is much leaner. I personally prefer the brisket but dh ends up taking out a lot of it out because of the fat.

The Corned Beef is placed in a pot of water and brought to boil. Lower the heat and let simmer for three to four hours until fork-tender. I also cook the potatoes with the Corned Beef. Make sure you add the potatoes while the water is still cold. If you add the potatoes when the water is already boiling, you will end up with potatoes that are mushy on the outside but still hard on the inside. Cabbage is also part of the dinner and green beans, if you prefer.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! :)

Whenever I have leftover cooked rice, I make some kind of 'Sinangag' (fried rice) with it. Usually I'll just add garlic, carrots and eggs. But if I have some shrimp leftover from dinner, I recycle it and add it to my sinangag.

Nothing special with this recipe, as you all know, making sinangag is a 'no-brainer'. The trick to making a 'great' sinangag against a 'so-so' version is the rice. It has to be dry or else you will end up with a 'mushy' blob. Cooking it long enough to get the right texture is the key. Wait, did I say 'it's a no-brainer'? I guess not. LOL

In most of the Chinese restaurants I've been to here in New England, their fried rice is very dark because they use soy sauce in it. It was quite a shock really, after being used to the ones in California. I made it once with soy sauce but it didn't turn out quite as dark. I tried adding Oyster Sauce but found it too sweet. In my one and only Chinese recipe book (authored by Eileen Lo), there is a recipe for fried rice. If I remember it correctly (since I'm too lazy to get up from my seat and check) there is a concoction of Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, etc. I made it a couple of times and it is very good but surprisingly not as dark as the restaurants'.

If you are having Tocino, Longganisa, daing na Bangus or some kind of dried fish like Tuyo or Danggit, it won't be as satisfying if you do not pair it with sinangag. I guess it's just nostalgia. In the Philippines, our maid always cook sinangag for breakfast every time we have Tocino, etc.

Old habits die hard, wouldn't you say so?

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL HERE

If there would be a 'national dish' for Filipinos, I think Adobo would be on top of that list, would you agree? There are different variations of Adobo, depending on which part of the country you're from. Is Humba considered Adobo? It would seem so, they taste the same unless of course it's the version with the black beans.

Adobo is a favorite 'baon' whenever we go on vacation while I was growing up. In the summer, on the way to Baguio or going to the beach. I remember stopping for lunch and there would always be Adobo and kanin along with the sandwiches and chitchiria. It's good to eat even though it's cold, isn't it?

In Pasig, where I'm from, my grandmother will sometimes cook a different version of Adobo. All of the ingredients are the same except for the addition of tomatoes. This results in a more sweeter and tangy Adobo. Instead of putting everything in the pot, the garlic, onions and tomatoes are sauteed first. Then when it's all soft and wilted, the meat is added and sauteed until you see it cooking in it's own juices. The liquid is then added (water, vinegar and soy sauce). It is simmered until the meat is cooked/tender. After it is done, I put it in the oven and broil it until brown. I like it browned and crispy. It can also be done on the stove top but I don't like to deal with the splattering oil. Too messy and hot oil hurts.

I've been trying to make Humba the way my cousin from the province makes it. Her version is dry, no liquid left unless you call the loads of fat liquid. LOL The resulting meat is tender and sweet. Although I can feel my arteries getting clogged while eating the pork. That was before, now I rarely eat the fat portion of the meat unless of course I'm eating Lechon.

Here is the Adobo recipe I used:

Adobo ng Pasig

1 lb. pork, chopped into medium-sized pieces
1/2 cup vinegar
3/4 cup water
6 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp whole peppercorns
1 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp oil

Heat oil in a pan, add garlic and onions, saute until tender.
Add the tomatoes and cook until it is soft.
Add pork and soy sauce, saute until you see some liquid from the pork.
Add water and let it boil for about 15 minutes.
Add the vinegar (do not mix - let it boil for 10 min).
Let simmer until pork is fork tender.
Drain cooked pork and set aside the adobo sauce.
Place pork pieces in a pyrex dish.
Broil in the oven until the outside of the pork is brown. It is very important to always check on the pork since it will brown quickly.
Add the sauce back into the pork.
Serve over steamed rice.

SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL HERE

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