Kubiertos

A salad is a mixture of different food/s usually including vegetables or fruits, served with a dressing or sauce. There are times that salads come with chicken or shrimp or bacon (my favorite!), and other times with cheese.

Over time I have acquired a liking to green salads especially the caesar salad. Other than that, I stayed with eating safe ones like fruit or potato salad that are often served on special occasions at our house.

When a friend raved about Italianni’s Sicilian salad, my ears perked up. It was a sign that I was meant to try this so called concoction. I readily accepted an invite to eat at Italianni’s in Greenbelt 2 just for the sake of tasting it.

My friends were telling me what it was made of - lettuce, grapes and mangoes. I almost turned back. I was thinking “salad with mangoes? and grapes??”. I was expecting to be disappointed.

Three of us shared a full portion of the Sicilian Chicken Salad since I did not want to pay Php500 for something I wasn’t sure I would like and probably will not be able to finish.

I confirmed that the salad was indeed mixed with some grapes, and mangoes, plus nuts and chicken breast. It wasn’t too scary so I dug in. The dressing was creamy lemon dijon as the menu indicated but the taste of garlic was prominent. Don’t get me wrong. I was enticed by the tangy flavor and I loved it but I was thinking more of “creamy garlic” instead of “creamy lemon dijon”.

I might have to experiment with creating this kind of dressing as the taste of my caesar’s is slowly wearing out my taste buds. Maybe its time for a change. What do you think?

Sicilian Chicken Salad
Diced chicken breast, mangoes, ripe red grapes with pine nuts, tossed in a creamy lemon-dijon dressing, served on a bed of crispy romaine.

Italianni’s
Ground level, Greenbelt 2
Makati City
Tel. No: 728-0291, 728-0289

Leche flan is a favorite dessert that is ever present in many Filipino families’ dinner tables. This is especially true during special occasions, like Christmas.

I myself do not care what occasion it is or even if there is one, I just love leche flan that I find myself cooking it many times in a year.

There are many variations to cooking leche flan. I have tasted many different kinds throughout the years but only to come back to my mother’s recipe. Hers is a tedious and tiring process so I will just share the quick, no frills way to creating this yummy tasting dessert.

Ingredients:
8 egg yolks
1 cup milk or 1 can of evaporated milk (370ml)
3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depending how sweet you want it to be)
Vanilla
Lemon zest
2 tablespoons white sugar (will be caramelized)
2 Oval metal containers (Llanera that costs about Php8 in the local market)

Directions:
First step is to caramelize the sugar. Place the 1 tbsp. sugar in one of the metal containers. Using a thong, hold the container over the stove on very low heat. As soon as the sugar starts to melt and turn liquid, spread around the container to make sure every area is covered with caramelized sugar.

This process should be done quick as the sugar will burn if held longer over the fire and it will make your leche flan taste bitter. Repeat using the other container.

Set aside to cool. After a few minutes, you will notice the sugar harden like candy.

Next, beat the egg yolks until light and fluffy. Mix in the milk and sugar. Stir in the vanilla and zest. Pour into the two metal containers. Cover each with aluminum foil.

Steam for 45 minutes. When the kitchen fills up with the smell of the custard, I take it as a signal to check if the leche flan is already cooked.

Serve and enjoy!

Its funny how a lot of people mistake "banoffee" as being made up of banana and coffee. I can only say that it is primarily due to how the word banoffee is pronounced that is causing this confusion.

Banoffee is actually a dessert made of bananas, cream and toffee on a base made of pastry or crumbs of graham or biscuits. That is the foundation of the delicious dessert but can be enhanced to contain nuts, chocolate, or yes, even coffee. So the term Banoffee is really a word combined from "banana" and "toffee". If only people here pronounced it correctly as banofi rather than banowfi. Even the Red Ribbon commercial says it incorrectly.

Red Ribbon’s Banoffee Pie is true to its name. It is made of bananas, cream and toffee filling over a pie base made of crushed graham crackers. That alone is scrumptious enough for anyone’s palate. But they added more to the basics to stamp it with the Red Ribbon taste. The filling was made of bananas, nuts, toffee and chocolate. The whipped cream was drizzled with caramel and chocolate syrup. Yummm.

It is so delicious, my hubby crowed like a rooster after the first bite. Personally, I love the touch of chocolate and nuts as it dampened the sweetness brought about by the toffee filling. The 9-inch pie will set you back about Php520 but it is worth every bite.

Red Ribbon Bakeshop
Metro Manila Delivery: 8-77-77

I would not call potatoes as the Philippines staple but I can say that it is very popular. Almost everyone loves french fries, others prefer the healthier baked potato, or mashed potatoes which come as side dish to most fast food dishes.

My mom has done mashed potato in several different variations. I myself have done a bit of experimentation on this popular dish and would like to share how I do my yummy garlic mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized potatoes
half a head of garlic, minced
1 cup of butter (about 2 sticks - softened)
1/2 cup of milk or cream

Directions:

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil and continue to simmer until the potatoes are soft. To confirm that the potatoes are done, pierce the potatoes with a fork and if the fork easily goes through or it breaks apart then they are done.

In a separate pan, heat the mixture of milk and garlic.

Mash the potatoes, mixing in the butter and milk mixture. Season with salt and pepper. You can add parsley to give some color to this pale dish. How long you should mash the potatoes depends on what texture you want it to be. If you want creamy and smooth, you need to mash until the bits and lumps disappear. If you want it chunky, you can mash the potatoes until you have just mixed all the ingredients together. Lastly, make sure to taste so you can determine if you need to add more seasoning or if you don’t.

And Viola! You have super duper garlic-y mashed potatoes.

Other serving suggestions: You can replace garlic with grated cheddar or parmesan cheese.

I don’t know if I am the last to know, but there is something new with Fish&Co.

A few months ago, I wrote about how I almost died when I ate the NY Fish and Chips, and the next time I ordered it I wasn’t even able to finish it.

This time, they have introduced several variations to the Fish and Chips dish. The Philadelphia fish and chips is served similarly with cheese filling. In this case though, they used cream cheese. The other choice you have is the one filled with garlic and herb.

Knowing what I know about cheese fillings and lemon butter, I opted to order the one filled with garlic and herb. And I made the right decision. Because of the taste brought on by the lemon butter topping the fried fish fillet, the garlic gave you a contrast that totally made the dish more flavorful (and bearable). If you are challenged to finish the NY Fish and Chips, then this is for you. You will definitely not notice that you have managed to eat your way into the whole thing.

I am not sure if this is just a Holiday offering or a permanent menu item, but just in case, you might want to head on over there now so you can have a taste of this seafood yumminess.