Paella Valenciana

It Tastes Like Christmas

CANALONES MONTANER

This is a recipe that comes from my mother-in-law's old recipe book. It is a dish she always served during Christmas since her children were young. When you serve this to my husband or any of his family, they say, " it tastes like Christmas". Once you take a bite of the soft thin crepe swimming in the Bechamel sauce, the flavors of the meat filling- made up of grounds meats, liver paste and Majestic ham scraps- burst in your mouth and according to them," triggers loads of many memories of Christmases past" . When Canalones  is on the table, it must be a very very special occasion ! Now, even the next generation– Enzo, Iya, Jan,Jovi and Jack - look forward to having it every Christmas morning.
It is a definite family favorite, but Lola Nanay's recipe note says," A favorite of the Gutierrezes and President JFK", making me wonder where the origins are of this recipe.

 Filling :

½ kg ground lean pork

½ kg boiled ground chicken   (save the broth!)

¼ kg ground ham (Majestic scrap ham)

1 large onion chopped fine

liquid seasoning (Maggi) 

½ cup milk

¼ cup flour

½ cup broth or water

¼ cup chopped parsley

½ cup liver spread

Saute onion with pork, chicken and ham.

(Nanay puts the chicken and ham in a food processor so the filling turns out very fine.)

Season with a little Maggi seasoning.

Add flour, mix then add milk and broth, parsley and liver spread.

Savory Crepe Wrapper:

1 cup APF

½ tsp salt

2 TBSP Knorr seasoning

½ cup milk

½ cup water

3 eggs

Mix until well blended using a wire whisk.

For fine crepes, pass thru a sieve.

Cook in a Teflon pan as you would crepes using about ¼ cup batter per crepe.

Makes 8-12 crepes. May need to double the recipe if using a Pyrex rectangular dish.

Bechamel Sauce:

¼ cup all purpose flour

¼ block Magnolia or Anchor butter

½ block Queso or Magnolia Cheddar cheese

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 250 ml carton Nestle cream

¾ cup milk + ¾ cup water or chicken broth

½ Knorr beef cube

Melt butter in a saucepan over low medium fire.

Stir in flour. (Actually I’ve seen Nanay toast or brown the flour a bit in the dry saucepan before she put the butter.)

Mix with wire whisk. Add in water/broth and rest of the liquids. Mix well.

Add Nestle cream, grated cheese and beef cube. Stir until thick.

To assemble: 

Put 2 TBSP meat filling in the middle of a crepe. Roll tightly. Lay out filled crepes in a glass baking dish. Pour Bechamel sauce over the crepes.

Top with thin slices of Quickmelt cheese.

Bake at 275 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

  

Betty Crocker's Chocolate Chip Bars

My family loves desserts. Every meal has to be capped by dessert. And it cannot just be a banana or a slice of fruit. It has to be scrumptious because we all have a sweet tooth.

This chocolate chip bar is yummy and my kids love it, especially with cold milk. I have learned to cook a big batch of it because we eat it for snacks and dessert. Here is the recipe I use:

1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 block Magnolia Gold butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 packages or 12 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat over to 375 degrees ( but since my oven is hotter than usual, I put it at level 2 or 325 degrees).
Grease and flour a large rectangular pan ( around 16 x 10 x 3  inches).
Mix sugars, butter and vanilla. Beat in egg. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in nuts and chocolate chips. Spread the thick and heavy dough in a pan making sure it is even all throughout.
Bake until light brown ( around 25-35 mins). Cool; cut into bars , about 2 x 11/2 inches.
Makes around 30-36 bars.

I have been having some baking mishaps lately. Some of my cakes rise too much in the center creating a dome. The centers would often be undercooked while the edges of the cake were already brown and crisp. When I studied what the possible cause was, it was often due too an oven that is too hot. So when I tried this recipe lately, I put my oven temperature one level lower. I had to adjust my cooking time though, because it needed more time to cook. But yes, it turned out even and flat, well cooked all around - center and edges - and there was no dome! Finally. I should remember to do this until I get my new dream convection oven.

Pasta Alegria

1 whole breast of chicken , boiled, shred into chunks
1/2 cup olive oil
1 small head garlic , minced
2 shallots, minced
1/4 cup sliced black olives
12 pcs capers
1 large can diced tomatoes
Salt and pepper
1/8 tsp oregano
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil leaves

Spaghetti or fettucini noodles cooked al dente

Instructions
Saute garlic and shallots in olive oil. Be careful not to burn garlic.
Stir in chunks of chicken, olives, capers, basil, oregano and season with salt and pepper. You may add 1tbsp sugar if you want it sweet.
Simmer in low fire and sauce is well blended and cooked.

Pour over cooked noodles. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. 

In my Garden

   

  

Pink Ginger

 I can think of very few tasks which bring me closer to the earth and so in tune with God than tilling my garden. Under the early morning sun, with a fresh breeze every now and then, and a symphony of different birdcalls, I dig. This is always a happy time for me...I am in a world of my own..I relish digging the soil, sweating it out, feeling the warm moist dirt with my hands, amazed that these dark brown crumbs can actually sustain life. And how can you describe the smell of earth? With my little shovel I plow and peer, and marvel at the unrecognized realm of life that exists underneath (yes, the roots coming from nowhere and everywhere, the fat earthworms, the little bugs and ants that live subterranea). I study every leaf and petal, much like the doctor that I am, doing my daily bedside patient rounds, watchful of every nuance of decay and growth.

Gardening can be a very spiritual experience. If I am sensitive, each act of poking and digging, pruning and repotting can become an act of spiritual meditation.There are many universal laws that can be gleaned from a garden: laws that govern personal growth and how to handle people  are very similar to laws that govern plants and gardens.

I am not surprised. God is the creator of gardens; he is the Supreme Gardener.

 Jesus said,"I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener." 

Yellow vine

Look at these pretty flowers below. I did not put them there. I woke up one morning and found a sturdy seedling 4 inches high jutting from the ground. Before long, it has grown into this wonderful bouquet. Who planted them? I didn't. Maybe the birds did.  Or the butterflies. Or God. Who fed them? watered them? I don't know. But they are there and they are beautiful, and I enjoy them...it happened without my planning or my planting. Sometimes good things or great things just come about without me planning them and working for them.
These are called "blessings" or gifts. And life is like that, sometimes.
I don't always have to be in control.

 Another precious lesson I learned is each plant is unique and will grow best and bloom where the soil, sunlight and water suit them the best. "Bloom where you are planted" as some pop
motivational psychologists declare just does NOT work for plants in a garden. 

I was an amateur gardener wanting to grow an English cottage garden in my backyard in Sta. Rosa. I wanted roses, vines, impatiens and hydrangeas to surround me. I wanted bursts of colors from flower boxes and baskets. So I started planting impatiens in flower boxes and hung them by my windows which happened to face the scorching afternoon sun. They grew lanky and tall, bloomed scarcely and then wilted. Even if I fertilized them. They didn't look happy at all. I told my landscaper friend about this and he laughed at me like I did the most stupid thing.  English cottage garden, hah ! In the Philippines? So, I have learned to study plants and their specific needs for soil, sunlight and water and the times of the year when they bloom the best. Much like people, there are sensitive plants that you need to handle with care and just need the exact amount of water or sun, while there are also plants that can withstand days without watering or can be left to the mercy of the hot tropical sun in summer. If you want people to bloom, put them in an environment which will be conducive to their growth. You cannot go against nature, force them in a place where they struggle with their survival or worse, make them do things which they are not gifted to do and expect them to excel.

Now, let's go to deadheading. In gardening, deadheading is the removing dead flower heads from a plant to encourage further blooming, i.e. pruning.. Do you know that deadheading is a Jesus principle? In the Book of John chapter 15, Jesus says "He cuts off every brach in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful."

Bougainvilla 

I
In the beginning, I loved the sight of flowers so much I didn't have the heart to deadhead. In the Philippines, some old folks even advise against pruning because plants may feel slighted and stop growing or blooming ("baka magtampo").  I did not want to touch my plants with pruning shears until I talked to my gardener friend who advised that the more I cut dead flowers, the more the plant will bloom. I don't know why or how deadheading works but it really works. Maybe pruning streamlines the plant's use of nutrients and water, redirecting them to producing flowers and fruits instead of being wasted nourishing dried up stems and petals.

Golden Crossandra (photo taken by Patrick Gutierrez)

When God starts using his pruning shears in my life, I don't readily welcome it. Pruning can be painful! But Paul in Hebrews 12 says, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of rigtheousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."
Do I want my life to bear fruit? I should be willing to be pruned.
So many aspects of my life steal my joy and productivity. It may be pride, unforgiveness, bitterness, anger, envy, sloth, addictions, procastination, excessive ambition or materialism. Deadheading or pruning is cutting away these parts of my life so that all my energies go into bearing fruit.

          

Love and Devotion from my garden

                 

Crab's Claw

Lantana camara or Verbena

The other important thing I learned from my garden is, just like with seemingly hopeless people, you just don't give up on your plants. There have been so many occasions in my garden when a plant looked so sick or so completely infested their leaves and stems have fallen off or dried up, I condemned them as goners. Then I took a second thought and started cutting away all the dead and infected parts of the plant, invested in bit more care than the usual, tended
them daily, put them in the gentle shade with enough moisture, and the plant came back to life.

Love and Devotion- the other color.
I took this picture from Taal Vista Lodge along Tagaytay,not from my garden. 

 

Christmas Family Traditions

December 18,2011

       Christmas preparations for my family start right after Halloween's Trick or Treat. As soon as the last horror mask and artificial pumpkin is packed ( artificial, of course, we're in the Philippines), our house transforms into Christmasland with the Christmas tree in the center and the twinkling star lanterns or parol outside the windows. Then, there are the fairy lights. We can never have enough of fairy lights.

        For the celebrations on Christmas eve and day itself, I must tell you, we really get goin' in my family. I belong to a very big family on both my mother's and father's sides. Mommy and Daddy both have 10 brothers and sisters on their sides,so I have 20 uncles and aunts... and with an average of 3-6 children per uncle and aunt,I must have around 100-120 cousins, who in  their generation, have 2-3 children each. Our family is also extended : my dad and his sibs, having been orphaned early, were taken into families of their aunties and uncles and grew up, dormed and studied in the city with their cousins and so are sibling-close with them, to that effect. How many guests do we have in the house for Christmas? You do the maths and you better be good at permutations.

        And then I married into a family with nine children. You can do the maths again. You can imagine how much shopping, gift giving, eating and partying happens during Christmas for me and my family.

      On Christmas eve, my sister Vicky has made it a tradition for the past few years to invite our immediate family to her home. She cooks up a feast but that doesn't stop us from bringing our favorite foods. So we have a table groaning with food, glorious food. Until now, there are still no staples. Each year is experimental. We love trying new recipes in the family, and Christmas justifies buying all these expensive ingredients. One time it was a New England Dinner with pot roast, potato salad, mashed potatoes and classic apple pie.The only thing missing was the Yorkshire pudding, a trifle or a plum pudding and snow.

        For breakfast on Christmas Day, we  wake up at 4 am and start packing for what we call a Christmas marathon, for indeed we will show up in three family parties for the day, from breakfast to dinner, in three different locations.

        Breakfast with the Gutierrezes in Cavite is a pot luck affair. Lola Nanay prepares pans of Canalones Montaner, a savory canneloni casserole made from ground pork and Majestic scrap ham and livers, wrapped in very light, homemade crepes and topped with cream and melted cheese.This goes well with warm pan de sal or the sweet moist raisin bread a la Baguio Country Club which Patrick and Annie bring from Marikina. There is also Lola Nanay's homemade ham, rich in flavor and aroma, cured lovingly for 3 weeks and then baked with cloves, pineapple juice and brown sugar. Nothing is like it, not Majestic nor Purefoods nor Adelina's Christmas ham. Christmas is not Christmas without Marca Pina queso de bola, grapes and apples, potato/fruit/macaroni salad on the table. Lola's apple-walnut cake and lemon poppy seed cake recipes  have been perfected by daughter-in-law, Maricor, and caps the delicious homey breakfast.

        The lunch menu with my mother's relatives at Quezon City or Alabang is very traditional Filipino. The main star is always Lola Andeng's Karekare, tripe and oxtail, fastidiously cleaned and tenderized, then stewed in a thick orange sauce made from garlic, onions, achuete, real ground peanuts and thickened with ground rice. No peanut butter for the karekare in this family. Everyone scoops around the dish looking for that thickest soft slice of 'tuwalya', best eaten with a sweetish bagoong, hot rice and bites of pechay and talong from the karekare. The sauce is so good we pour it over our rice, or even sip it (horrors) from our cups.

         Everyone also looks forward to a good sized, crispy lechon during Christmas. And if some Titas are up to it, we have hot Dinuguan too. Having more aunts and uncles with strokes and hypertension, seafoods are served more often now- fried sugpo, steamed oysters from Tito Nick. The younger generation is lazier and just order pasta or Pansit Malabon, Red Ribbon cakes and ice cream for their contributions. It is understood that we  also bring out our noche buena leftovers of ham, macaroni salad, grapes, apples and castanas(chestnuts) to share with the rest who are having leaner Christmases. Children line up for their Aguinaldos given in small, red ampaw envelopes. For the grown ups, gifts are shared and there is a lot of updating,gossip, chatting and picture taking for the rest of the afternoon.

            There is some time for a nap in my family's house after this. My dad being the eldest son, hosts the family party for the Casanovas in the evening. The big family starts trooping in at 7 pm. With roots in Romblon, and intermarriages with people from the North, the evening menu is a mishmash of urban, Visayan and Ilocano cuisine.  Staples on the table are Lechon funded by dollars from our US based relatives (we look at the lechon's head and voila, they are with us in spirit every Christmas), Tita Munding's  tart and spicy dinuguan (my favorite), my mom's karekare, Julet's Kalderetang Kambing, Reggie's Papaitan, Lolet's excellent tasty balut from Sta. Maria, Bulacan cooked in a flavorful seasoned broth, Tita Au's Buko salad with a “secret” or her refrigerator cakes. Tita Abel and Tita Cely are sure to bring in special pastries or pansit. And my mom makes sure there is lots of fresh fruits like mangoes, ponkans and bananas to balance the heavy meal. Young aunts and cousins bring in Red ribbon cakes. There is always a cousin who emcees the games and talent shows for the  children, and then the litany of names and gifts over the sound system until midnight. You think people would have given up on food by this time, but after the fun games and raucous laughter, the family is again hungry and hovers around the long dinner table, checking out newly served dishes or desserts.

          It is a indeed a Christmas marathon, but a pleasurable and fun filled one. Food, laughter, stories, gossip and gifts shared make it all worthwhile. The daily grind can be lonely and predictable and can sap our life of memories, of joy and laughter, of sense of belonging to  big warm families.  I'm glad there is Christmas to bring it all back, even for just a day.

Chicken Wings, Gangnam Style

We love chicken wings at home although i know it's not the healthiest part of the chicken we should be eating. Tonight, I tried to do it Gangnam style, err.... I mean Korean style with the soy garlic glaze and it was good!
1-1.5 kg chicken wings or about 20 pieces. My kids eat an average of 4-5 pieces each
marinated in :
Juice from 3 pieces kalamansi
4 pcs garlic, minced
1 very small onion, minced
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
Flour to coat chicken
Deep fry chicken in medium heat. Takes 15-20 minutes frying to make chicken golden brown. Once cooked allow to drip and cool in paper towels. Meanwhile...prepare the glaze.

Glaze:
3 Tbsp soy sauce, premium Lee Kum Kee
4 pcs minced garlic
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp minced ginger
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp rice wine or mirin
4 Tbsp brown sugar
2/3 cup water

Boil everything in low to medium heat in small sauce pan. Stir constantly until thick like the consistency of syrup.

Put in a large deep bowl. Glaze the chicken pieces one by one. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.