More Holiday 2019 Food Ideas

Here's a continuation of my post on Holiday Food Offerings.

SEAFOOD PAELLA

This Spanish Rice Dish is a meal in itself. My seafood paella consists of prawns or shrimps, mussels, chicken, pork belly, squid, chorizo, clams, bell peppers, and hard boiled eggs. The seafood content may vary depending on the availability and cost. As much as I love Seafood Paella, I often discourage clients from ordering this dish because the seafood tends to be more expensive during the winter. If someone wants seafood paella, I just normally suggest Prawns or Large Shrimps (depending on the availability), New Zealand Mussels, Squid, Pork Belly for more flavour, Chicken, and Chorizos. If someone is allergic to seafood, I would just normally suggest Chicken or a combination of Chicken. This is one dish that you will certainly enjoy for the holidays.

PANCIT CANTON SOTANGHON

This was the very first Filipino dish I ever learned how to cook. It's inspired by a noodle dish from the Visayas region of the Philippines. It's a combination of Canton noodles (Philippine Egg Noodles) and Sotanghon (Vermicelli). It comes with Chinese mushrooms, green beans, carrots and it can be made with a number of variations - chicken, chicken and pork, or pork and shrimps. For some reason, the one with chicken is my most popular ones for gatherings.

STUFFED CHICKEN PAELLA

Our family loves paella and I love stuffed chicken. So, I decided to use the Asian concept of stuff chicken and stuff the chicken with a sticky Chicken Paella. This is basically and Asian Spanish fusion dish that I just love so much. It is a wonderful, flavourful, and very filling dish.

KIAM PUNG

This comes from the Filipino Chinese (Chinoy) side of my family. It's rice dish with shredded chicken and pork garnished with eggs, scallions, and roasted peanuts. I love the texture and the flavours of this dish and again, this can be a meal in itself.

PANCIT PALABOK

Another family favourite that consists of pork, shrimps, and bihon (rice noodles) garnished with crushed pork rinds, hard boiled eggs, and scallions.

CHOCOLATE FLAN CAKE

I love this cake. This is probably my most favourite cake ever since I learned to make it. It's a Philippine leche flan on top of a chocolate cake. The two compliment each other and is definitely a delight to your taste buds after having a wonderful meal.

CHOCOLATE PECAN CRISP COOKIES

One of my original recipes. The blend of chocolate, pecans, and rice crispies makes a perfect cookie.

Holiday 2019 Food Offering

Here are some pictures of the dishes that I am offering for the 2019 Holiday Season:

CHICKEN TARTS

Finely chopped chicken with a blend of cheeses in a mini tart shell. Perfect for snacking, appetizers, or finger food.

CHICKEN RELLENO

If you're tired of turkey, this would be a nice change. I just love this stuffed chicken so much but I just make it for gatherings or special occasions because of the amount of work that goes into it.  It's a Philippine Boneless Stuffed Chicken stuffed with lean ground pork, sausages, raisins, cheese, olives, sweet pickles, and ham. Comes with gravy on the side. 

GLAZED SPIRAL HAM WITH PINEAPPLE SAUCE ON THE SIDE

Mom's favourite. Perfect for a family of 6 to 8. Mom always asks me to make this for her at least once a year. She usually requests this for Thanksgiving because mom is not a turkey person.

EMBUTIDO

This is one of my popular dishes because it can either be served as an appetizer or as a main dish in itself. It's a Philippine style pork meat loaf with chorizo, hard boiled eggs, sweet pickles, and raisins. 

GALANTINA

My grandmother’s recipe of Spanish origin. This Boneless Stuffed Chicken is served cold. It is stuffed with lean ground pork, sausages, mushrooms, and olives. This is our Christmas family tradition. We always have Galantina for either Christmas Eve or Christmas day.

Above is an idea of what you can serve for gatherings. Last Thanksgiving, we had a small gathering. Mom did not want turkey but I wanted some poultry. So, for the main dish, we had Ham with Pineapple Sauce and Galantina and made potato salad on the side. For dessert, we just had Chocolate Flan Cake. It's simple but very filling and all the flavours just complimented each other.

Pork Spring Rolls

Decided to make some pork spring rolls the other night. I make them once in a blue moon because to be honest with you, frying scares me because of the oil splatter. Plus, I don't enjoy cleaning up after frying but making dishes like this once in a while is fine and fun to do. Frying spring rolls reminds me of my BFF's mom. Mrs.Murphy taught me how to fry lumpia.

These spring rolls are basically stuffed with lean ground pork, carrots, and green onions. Needed to use up some spring roll wrappers. That's why I decided to make pork spring rolls and I am glad that I did.

My Filipino Thai Fusion Creation

My latest food experiment and personal creation is this wonderful Filipino Thai fusion dish. I honestly don't know what to name it but this new recipe I created is a keeper. This was inspired by the stuffings inside the Thai chicken wings at Ban Chok Dee and the Philippine embutido that I often cook. This dish is mainly made out of lean ground pork, black fungus, carrots and vermicelli and comes with a Thai dipping sauce. I love the flavours and the textures. Each ingredient compliments each other. I love this creation of mine and will surely be making it again in the near future.

Beef Caldereta

Once in a while, I like trying Filipino recipes. I hear things from my Filipino clients or sometimes they request me to cook Filipino food for them. The funny thing is I did not grow up on Filipino food. My parents made sure that my brother and I grew up sampling different types of food from different parts of the world just to make sure that we kept an open mind about food.

I must say that when I learned how to make Beef Caldereta years ago, it became one of my favorite dishes. It's basically a Philippine style beef stew with liver sauce, potatoes, olives, and bell peppers. It's not for everyone because of the liver sauce. It's the liver sauce that separates this dish from your typical beef stew. I was hesitant at first because I did not know how I would like liver sauce but after I tried it, it was actually delicious. It goes perfectly with steamed rice. I don't cook it as often as I would like but when I do, I just simply enjoy it.

Roasted Asian Style Quail

Mom loves quail. So, I decided to try another recipe for quail. Not too long ago, I tried a recipe that required me to pan fry the quail but I will be honest, I am not a big fan of frying because I am scared of the splatter.

Decided to try this recipe on roasted quail instead and it came out very well and the beauty of it is that it was not pan friend. So, that means less oil. Plus I lowered the sodium which means less salt. Made a reduction for the sauce. Really yummy and after all the tweeking, I can say that this recipe is a keeper. I always try a healthier way of cooking. It's all about eating healthier at home and caring for my family.