Dinuguan "Pork Blood Stew"

There has been an abrupt silence in my blogsphere. It is not because of my perennial indolence nor my blogging mood that picks up from time to time to be blamed for this. It is also not because that we are still enjoying a warm sunny weather here in the South that pushed me into quasi-hiatus. No nope, I was not sunbathing reading my favorite novel all this time.

I hope that was really the case, but no. My daughter was sick for a week. I think this is hardest part of being a parent. When you see them suffer and all you can do is to force them to take their medicine against their will. Every medication time is a non-stop wrestling, a pinch in parents' hearts and liters of tears from the little one.

She's doing great now and so are the parents. It is true indeed that on trying times like this we could seek comfort from our favorite dishes. It's been a decade seen I tasted a bowl of dinuguan (pork blood stew) one of my auntie's speciality. My version was still far from her but every spoonful of it was a bed of roses.

I am sending this to Laura of Spiced Life for her October Family Recipes, blog event. You have until October 31st to send in your best family recipes. I added up some of our latest Sunday promenade in the woods.

Dinuguan "Pork Blood Stew"

This Filipino dish normally uses pork innards and fresh pork blood. My version used only pork and Boudin Noir (pork blood sausage) we could find easily in French butcher shops.

half a kilo of pork tender part cut in small cubes
2 Boudin Noir (pork blood sausage)
2 garlic pounded
1 onion sliced
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of apple vinegar (you can use any type of light vinegar)
half a cup of pork broth

In a casserole, sauté garlic, onion and ginger with olive oil. Add you pork. Continue stirring until the pork has changed color. Peel your boudin noir, smash it with fork and add it in your casserole. Continue stirring. Pour your pork broth and let it simmer for fifteen minutes. Before turning off the fire, add your vinegar, pepper and salt to taste.

Roast Pork with fried Apples and Apple sauce (Lechon con Manzanas)

Resisting to tempation.

There are three things I inherited from my dad: his hot-temperedness, his love for corny jokes and his addiction for food. I mean high in calories, artery exploding and not so good for the health food.

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So the other day, I had this craving to roast a pork. It wasn't just an ordinary craving for I really wanted to enjoy the crispy golden and sinful pork skin ala "lechon style" we love to enjoy in Philippines. The fattier the better. And as Oscar Wilde wisely put it, the only best way to get rid of temptation is yielding on it.

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Unfortunately, even before I could enjoy it my naughtty daugther was too fast for me :-)

ps. I must admit that I was such a pain in the ass for my parents when I was a kid. But my daughter inherited all my "naughty genes" plus the ones of my husband :-( she is beyond my powers.

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This is my entry for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging, the great event created by Kalyn and now in the caring hands of Haalo.This week is hosted by Dee of Daily Tiffin.




Roast Pork with apples (Lechon con Manzanas)
1.5 kg of pork loin
half a lemon
Salt
fresh rosemary and sages
some olive oil

for garnishing and sauce
about 5 golden apples (washed, cored and sliced)
one tablespoon of butter

for the sauce:
half a cup of home-made apple compote, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of butter

Rub pork with lemon, salt, sage, rosemary and olive oil. Roll it and tie it. Place the pork in a baking dish and cook in a preheated oven at 220° celsius for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 180° celsius and cook for 45 minutes or until pork is cooked. While roasting, in a pan, fry your sliced apples with some butter. Set this aside. In a sauce pan melt the butter and put the apple compote and put the balsamic vinegar.

Her first attempt......

Her second attempt.....

Try my other pork recipes:

Lemon Pork Roast

Ensaimada : Almond Coconut & Honey Brioche

Brioche de Majorca, Almond Coconut & Honey Brioche

How good are in your french culture?

What day can we hear Serge Gainsbourg, David Gueta, or even Lorie's (the equivalent of Britney Spears in France :-) music played side by side in the street of France?

Every 21st of June, France celebrates its Fete de la Musique (Festival of Music) the day created by Jack Lang a socialist depute where any musician from nobody to wannabes, famous or international artist can play their music for free. In our city alone, imagine this:

On the main thoroughfare, bars have organized some acoustic and jazz music while few blocks away was a stage where they were performing country and cowboy music. And a little down was a group of young boy band serenading their own compositions hoping desperately to be discovered by a talent scout. In the main parking lot fronting the Mayor’s Office was another type of music, I didn’t had enough time to decipher what were they playing my ears were too tired and have no where to hide. And the best part of this was the small park fronting our house that they transformed into a techno party with house and techno music vibrating incessantly. And when the ambiance is like this it definitely puts me in the mood to make some brioche. If you don't like this Ensaimada, blame it on the techno music. :-)

Here's is my entry on Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging that she is hosting this week, a blogging event that she also created.

Ensaimada (Brioche de Majorca) Almond, Coconut & Honey Brioche

3 and half cups of flour
4 eggs
10 g of yeast
15 cl of milk
50 g of sugar
5 g of salt
3 tbsps of honey
180 g of butter (about two sticks)
150 g of almonds
100 g of shredded coconut

Decoration

50 g of icing sugar
1 tablespoon of milk

Start by dissolving the yeast with the milk. Put one cup of flour in a bowl and mixed the dissolved yeast. Add the salt, sugar and one egg. Once the mixture becomes homogenous put one cup of flour. Cover and let the yeast ferment. Normally after an hour you will notice that the flour covering the mixture starts to crack, this means that the yeast have started to work. Add another one cup of flour (which means you still have the remaining half a cup) , the honey and your remaining eggs. Mix them using your machine (I used my bread machine to mix and knead them). Continue mixing them for about five minutes, then add your butter that’s been cut in cubes and continue mixing for another five minutes. Add this point you will add your flour to check the consistency of your dough. It is very sticky and unmanageable at this point. Put some oil on a bowl and pour your dough in it. Cover it and put it in the fridge for minimum of seven hours. After this process you can be able to shape and handle your dough. As if you are handly a puff pastry you will need to make several folds on your dough. Add your coconut and half of your chopped almonds on the dough. Shape a ball form and flatten it a little bit. Grease your pan and put your dough brioche. Brush it with egg wash to give it a golden color. Top it with the remaining almonds. Bake it for twenty to twenty five minutes at 200° Celsius. Before mix one tablespoon of milk with 50 g of icing sugar. Pour this icing liquid on your brioche.

Care for a bite?

My other Filipino dessert recipes:
Mango Ginumis
Kababayan Muffins

You could also try my other brioche recipes:

Pandecoco or Coconut Brioche
Nutella Rolled Brioche

Caldereta: Devil's Beef Stew Blazing in my Cracked Pot

Outrageously Spicy beef caldereta: beef stew in tomato sauce

When I was a kid, I grew up in a family of fried fish-rice-sautéed vegetables routine on the table. Not that I'm sulking about this habitual at home but it's unthinkable that dad would cook something fancy or elaborate. Lack of time, lack of money, or maybe both? But its true, priceless are those moments we are feasting menudo, kare-kare or lechon at home. That is why we would always look like (my sisters and I) famished kittens devouring those dishes when invited on birthday parties, fiestas and other occassions in the neighborhood. Shamelessly, going back home even with doggy bags. Being married now and living far from my family make me long for those funny childhood "feasting" memories.

As Lasang Pinoy (a food blogging event promoting filipino food) celebrates its 23rd edition with Crockpot cooking. I couldn't think of anything better that falls under the category of "slowly cooked" than making a Spicy Beef Caldereta. It is a beef recipe slowly marinated and slowly simmered with vegetables. There exist plenty of versions of cooking this recipe but so far I judge the one my auntie often cooks for us on special occassions as the best. Unfortunately I don't have her recipe (I think her version is the one that uses 7-Up as the secret ingredient). The only thing I could guarantee you is that this beef caldereta is hideously spicy and it's been cooked slowly in my cracked pot. I'm not a fan of crock pot because I don't have one, but all my slow cooking recipes are cooked on my bygone inherited terrine, an earthenware cooking dish that I cook idly in the oven.

Beef Caldereta

Ingredients:

1 kg of stewing beef cut into cubes
250 g of potatoes peeled and quartered
2 red bell pepper grilled, peeled and chopped
250 g of carrots peeled and cut into cubes
100 g of pitted green olives
half a cup of tomato sauce
1 tsp of tomato paste
2tsps of chili powder or cayenne powder
2 tbsps of hot sauce
2 tbsps of chili oil
2 tbsps of olive oil
10 g of butter

Marinating ingredients:
Half a cup of red wine, salt, pepper, 1 tbsp of crushed garlic, 1 big onion minced, half a cup of coarsely chopped chicken liver, some thyme and rosemary

Marinate for at least one hour the beef. In a pan, fry lightly the beef with olive oil and butter. Use the same frying pan for the carrots and potatoes. Then in a crock pot or any deep and thick casserole put all the ingredients including the marinating sauce. And simmer covered over low fire for two hours.

Pretty in red

If pots could talk, this time-worn thing have a lot to tell

You can find my other filipino recipes at:

Adobo Beef Shawarma
Porc Sarciado
Chicken Menudo