Foot and Fire

AS SEVENTH POST FOR THE #foodflixflex which my friends and I will be doing this September to celebrate food and cinema, I present you my Duck in Rose Petal Sauce (turned out to be more like Duck with Macadamia Sauce) which is inspired by Laura Esquivel's magical realism novel and the 1992 movie version of it which was very faithful to the book both entitled, Like water for chocolate. I always have a slip of the tongue when saying the title. I say, Like hot water for chocolate. Maybe because this book is about deep longing, true love, hindered desires. So I imagine that Tita melts like chocolate because Pedro is the hot water.     On the March entry, Tita received a bouquet of roses from Pedro to congratulate her on her first year as ranch cook. The roses which were pink became red when Tita clasped it and her blood mixed in the petals. A chemical reaction began without her knowing. Tita felt she has to do something special abou...

Kangkong Tops Black bean and garlic sauce Toasted garlic (optional) Blanch kangkong tops and drain. In a small bowl, mix a spoon or two of garlic and black beans sauce, add warm water. In a serving dish, arrange the tops and pour the sauce. Sprinkle with toasted garlic and serve. Posted via Blogaway

By GERLIE M. UY THE DELIGHTFUL NOT-BAKED MACARONI... with grilled bellpeppers, cheese, chunky tomato and corned tuna. 500g long macaroni 2T canola oil 6 cloves garlic, chopped 1 medium white onion, chopped 500ml Chunky Tomato with Three Cheeses (Clara Ole brand) 1 cup sweet blend ketchup small amount of water salt and pepper 1 can corned tuna 1 cup cheese sliced olives grilled bell peppers, sliced thinly *Cook macaroni according to package directions. Drain and set aside. Grill the Bellpeppers in a frying pan. Slice thinly. Set aside. *In a wok, saute garlic until slightly brown, then add onions and stirfry until translucent. Add the tomato sauce, ketchup and a small amount of water as well as the salt and pepper according to taste. Let boil. *Add the boiled macaroni and mix well. Cook for a minute or two then add the corned tuna, half of the cheese, and sliced olives. Let cook for a minute. *Add the grilled peppers, mix and remove from fire. *Transfer in a serving dish and top with r...

By GERLIE M. UY A serving of Sesame Chicken Teriyaki...  500 gms chicken breast, sliced medium thick and in serving size 2 T sesame oil 1/2 cup white wine 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup premium soy sauce (Lee Kum Kee) 1 T sugar 2 T brown and white Sesame seeds, toasted 1-2 T canola oil for basting In a non-metallic bowl, place the chicken and the next five ingredients. Mix well and pierce the chicken with fork. Chill for 15 to 30 minutes. In a pan, toast lightly the sesame seeds. Set aside. Lightly coat the same pan with canola oil. Pan-grill the chicken breasts, basting each with all if needed.  Let cook for 3 minutes on medium to high heat. repeat until all chicken is done. Place each piece in a serving platter and spread toasted sesame on top of each chicken. Meanwhile, in the same pan, pour the marinade and let boil until the liquid is reduced into half. Put the remaining toasted sesame. Serve in a sauce bowl. A quick capture of the pan-grilled sesame chicken!  The sesame...

This is one of the dishes we cooked up at the Saigon Culinary Art Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Lotus stem is tasteless, aroma-less but super crunchy; perfect for salad. Since this recipe called for pork and shrimps, I omitted these two. In the following recipe, I shall include pork and shrimp for your perusal. Marinade 1 T lemon juice 2 T sugar 2 T white vinegar 2 T fish sauce (patis or nuoc mam cham) A pinch of salt and pepper 180g Lotus stem (cucumber, carrots, green papaya, cabbage or turnip may be used)  100 g pork tenderloin 100 g shrimp 10g celery 20 g carrots Garnishing 1 big chili 1 chili flower 5g knot weed (may use sweet basil) 5-7 g mint leaves 1/2 T fried peanuts 1/2 T fried shallots (may use onions) Preparation MARINADE: Mix all marinade ingredients except fish sauce, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve completely. VEGETABLES: Cut in julienne the lotus stem, carrot and big chili. Cut celery in 1-2 cm length. PORK: Prepare pork by boiling it over medium h...

By GERLIE M. UY Fillings 1 can corned tuna (spicy or regular) 100 grams vermicilli  Cucumber, cut into 2-in long stick Lettuce, cut leaves into strips Carrots, cut into strips Rice Paper Warm water in a big round pan see sauce in earlier blog http://beforesixdiet.blogspot.com/2010/12/vietnamese-summer-roll-with-two-dips.html     The delicate rice paper wrapped the veges and tuna  Up close and personal with the summer roll (salad type).  Another closer look at the summer roll. Stripped cucumber, carrots and lettuce with dried basil leaves The canned corned tuna. The tuna with calamansi is a good alternative. Vermicilli is soaked in a boiling hot water for 30 seconds or until done and then drained.  The Rice paper.  The rice paper positioned on the chopping board. The wet rice paper on the chopping board,  ready to be filled in with veges and tuna. (see photo above)