COOKING INGREDIENTS

Beefsteak Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef (filet mignon is best, but a nice sirloin works well too).
• ½ cup fresh lime or lemon juice
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Medium size onion, cut into rings
• 3-4 garlic cloves (crushed)
• Cooking oil

Directions

1. Cut beef into thin strips and marinade in lime/lemon juice, soy sauce, pepper, and garlic for at least an hour before cooking. Heat skillet on high, add cooling oil and sauté onions until transparent. Remove onions and place in serving dish. Add beef (minus marinade) to remaining hot oil and cook until done. Add the remaining marinade and cooked onions to the beef and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Serve with steamed white rice and steamed vegetables

Hamonado Ham Recipe

Ingredients

1 kilo prok pigue or kasim

3 tbsp calamansi juice

2 cups pineapple juice

5 tbsp sugar

pepper to taste

Directions

Marinate the pork in the mixture of calamansi juice, pineapple juice, salt, pepper and sugar. Make sure the pork is entirely covered in the mixture.

Let it soak overnight.

In the morning, drain the pork and save the marinade mixture.

In a frying pan, put in about 2 tbsp of cooking oil and put in the pork and cook until brown.

Pour in the marinade mixture and cover until pork is tender. Wait for sauce to thicken.

Beef Pochero Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 lbs stew beef, cut into cubes
• 1 small head of a cabbage quartered
• 1/4 kilo Chinese cabbage krinkley edged
• 2 medium sized potatoes quartered
• 5 plantains peeled and sliced in the middle
• 1 big can of pork and beans
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• 1 small onion sliced
• 3 cloves garlic minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• i like to add a selection of hot peppers.

Directions

1. Start by frying the plantains.
2. fry until slightly golden brown.\
3. Drain off the oil and set aside.
4. Saute the garlic and onions.
5. add in the beef.
6. Saute until it changes color.
7. Season with some salt and pepper.
8. Next add in the tomato paste and water.
9. Mix and let it boil.
10. Cover and simmer over low medium heat until beef is tender.
11. Once the beef is tender, add in the potatoes.
12. Let it simmer some more until the potatoes are cooked.
13. At this point you can add in the rest of the ingredients.
14. The veggies, pork and beans and plantains.
15. I usually just pile them in and cover for a few minutes allowing the veggies to wilt a bit.
16. Afterwards I gently mix them until their well incorporated into the sauce.
17. Serve with crunchy rolls or bread.

Creamy Lasagna Casserole Bake One Freeze One Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 can (29 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 pkgs. (3 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
• 2 Cups (16 oz.) sour cream
• 2 Cups (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 12 to 14 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.
3. Add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat & simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
5. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth.
6. Add sour cream, 1 cup cheddar cheese and onions; mix well.
7. Spread about 1/2 cup meat sauce into two greased 8-in. square baking dishes.
8. Place two to three noodles in each dish, trimming to fit if necessary.
9. Top each with about 1/2 cup cream cheese mixture and about 2/3 cup meat sauce.
10. Repeat layers twice.
11. Sprinkle 1/2 cup cheddar cheese over each.
12. Cover and freeze one casserole for up to 1 month.
13. Bake remaining casserole, uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly and heated through.
14. Let stand for 15 minutes before cutting.
15. To use frozen casserole: Thaw in the refrigerator for 18 hours.
16. Remove casserole from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.
17. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 40-50 minutes or until heated through.

Spicy Chicken Kebabs

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You can cook these chicken kebabs on the barbecue or under a hot grill. Either way you are in for a tasty treat as well as a versatile dip.

You know your family and friends best, so if my ‘one chicken breast per person’ seems a little excessive to you, feel free to reduce the number to six. You could also use thigh fillets instead. In fact, I nearly always do.

This recipe is for eight people. You need:

8 chicken breasts or thigh fillets
200g of plain yogurt
½ tsp chili paste
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp cumin
1tsp of grated ginger
2 crushed garlic cloves
Some chopped oregano or tarragon
Salt and pepper

Cut the chicken into kebab sized pieces.

Mix all the ingredients together, including the chicken and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, and not before, thread the chicken on to bamboo skewers (I cheat and use stainless steel!) which all the cookbooks tell you to soak in water for 30 minutes. Good luck!

I tried this by attempting to soak half the skewers and leaving the rest natural. The result was the same with both sets of skewers, they all burnt at the ends. Which is why, of course, I use stainless steel. One added bonus is that the steel skewers conduct heat and help to cook the chicken from the inside.

So why do I mention bamboo skewers at all? Well, some people like to be traditional in their approach to cooking over naked flames, and chook was cooked on sticks long before there was steel.

I’ve taken the time to explain all this because there’s nothing else to do except cook the chicken over your favorite barbie, or under your red-hot grill.

Oh yes, the dip. Take one small cucumber, deseed it, grate it and squeeze out as much water as you can. Stir this into 100g of plain yogurt, add 1tbs chopped mint (or 2 teaspoons of thick mint sauce), 60mls of cream and some freshly ground black pepper. Taste and add a little salt if necessary.

Spicy Chicken Wings

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In this recipe for informal entertaining, whole chicken wings are marinated in a spicy paste before being roasted in a hot oven.

These go great with a cold beer and can be eaten hot or cold. Very easy, very quick and very economical. The following will cook 1.5kg of wings

Cut the bony tips off the wings but otherwise leave them whole. Then put the following into a large oven bag:

3tbs olive oil
Juice of a lemon
4 crushed garlic cloves
1tsp dried oregano
2 tsp paprika
2tsp grated fresh ginger
2tsp ground cumin
1tsp salt
1tsp cayenne pepper
1 fresh chili, chopped
1tsp black pepper

Add the wings to the bag and toss them around in it to coat thoroughly. Leave the wings in the bag inside a bowl in the refrigerator for at least six hours and preferably overnight, turning from time to time.

When you are ready to cook them, preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, arrange the wings in a suitable roasting dish, ‘elbows’ up, so that their collective shape resembles the roof of a house, and bake for 45 minutes.

Test one by cutting into the thickest part of the flesh with a sharp knife. If the flesh is uniformly white and the juices run clear, your wings are ready.

Aussie Chinese Chicken

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First of all let me apologize in advance to any Chinese person reading this – I know it’s not really Chinese chicken, but it does have something of an oriental flavor and it does make a nice little family stand-by cook-in sauce.

You can use any cut of chicken, including drumsticks, but thigh fillets cut into strips will give you the most tasty and quick result. Here’s the sauce:

75ml soy sauce
50ml rice wine or dry sherry
2tbs oyster sauce
2 star anise
½ cinnamon stick
2tbs palm sugar (or brown sugar)

Bring all the ingredients to the boil in a deep skillet or wok. Add the chicken and cook while stirring.

Serve over rice or buttered noodles.