Guam Fiesta

WARNING: Viewing this Dish will cause intense HUNGER.




Hafa Adai!



*SIGH* this is the average Guam fiesta plate that I had at a family party last weekend. Red Rice, Chicken keleguen, BBQ short ribs, and potato salad. The only thing missing was some finnadenne and Pickled papaya!


I really grew my appreciation for food, when i was raised on Guam! Such a melting pot of different foods and cultures! Lanya Nai!

ADOBO Fried Rice

ADOBO Fried Rice
(original recipe)



Ingredients:

Leftover Adobo (chicken, pork or beef)
Day old white rice
1 Yellow onion chopped
olive oil

*any other fried rice items. Be creative!


First mince chop yellow onion and set aside. Then debone the adobo meat, and strain all the sauce and oil from the leftover adobo through a mesh strainer. Heat up a large pan with olive oil and all of the left over adobo sauce. Chop up the deboned meat, in small chunks.

Heat up a large pan or wok, with the olive oil and strained leftover adobo sauce. When mixture is hot enough, fry onions until it becomes translucent and soft. Next add the chopped adobo and mix with the onions. Immediately mix the white rice in and keep on mixing until the rice breaks up completely and is all separated. Add salt to taste. Serve HOT!





My Review: This Recipe was so easy to make.. and didn't require anything to tedious besides chopping and frying. It was also very FULL-PROOF. Next time i would add extra ingredients like green onions, fried egg, maybe a frozen vegetable medley (without the lima beans). The thing i love about fried rice is that its very easy to make and you can be very creative each time. Fried rice also becomes more FULL-PROOF when you add more ingredients and Hella White Rice! =)

Beef Lomo

BEEF LOMO
(Recipe of Filipino origin)




Ingredients:

1.5 - 2 lbs of Boneless Beef short ribs
8-10 cloves garlic
1 large yellow onion
2 large tomatoes
3-4 heads of bok choy
Fish Sauce (Patis)
Ground Black Pepper
olive oil

Wash all vegetables thoroughly
Peel, smash and mince garlic. Slice Yellow onion, and cube chop tomatoes. remove bottom core of bok choy and chop length wise. set vegetables aside. Slice beef in small even cuts, and heat olive oil in a wok of small pot.

When olive oil is hot enough, fry garlic first until it becomes fragrant and golden in color. Add onions and fry together until onions become soft but not translucent. Add Sliced beef and 2 table spoons of fish sauce, with black pepper. Add tomatoes and cook over medium low heat.

Cover and stir occasionally for about 10-15 Min's. when When tomatoes have reduced and skin starts to peel. Add more fish sauce if desired, for salty flavor. Lastly place chopped bok choy in beef lomo and mix together. cover with very low heat until the bok choy is soft but not over cooked.

Remove from heat and serve it warm with white rice!






My Review:
This recipe was taught to me by my Grandma Baby, who is an exceptional cook. This recipe is savory and very FULL-PROOF, especially served over a lot of white rice. I love how the vegetables and meat cooks down and creates such a delicious flavor. Its very easy to cook and is even better the next day because all of the flavors really sit and mix together.

Other variations:
You can use boneless chicken or pork instead of beef. If you like more sauce with this recipe, rapidly boil the meat with 1 can of beef broth until reduced and some what thicker. The vegetables already reduce down to create sauce, but some may want more for their rice. You can also add fresh sliced mushrooms to the recipe and let it cook down. Asparagus is another good vegetable to add or use to replace bok choy. Cayenne Pepper is also good to add for spice and color, depending how spicy you like it. I regularly mix black and cayenne pepper in this recipe.

Spinach & Broccoli potato bread stuffing

Spinach and Broccoli potato bread stuffing
(adapted from Emeril Lagasse's spinach artichoke stuffing recipe)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 pounds spinach, washed (3 cups cooked and roughly chopped)
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions
• 1 tablespoon roughly chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 2 heads broccoli stemmed and chopped
  
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can cream of chicken
  
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 12 to 13 slices lightly toasted potato bread
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.

Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Add the spinach and cook until just wilted, about 30 seconds. Drain and rinse with cold water. Once cool, squeeze as much water from spinach as possible, then roughly chop, and reserve.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, 2 teaspoons of Italian Seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the Broccoli and cook, stirring, another 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and reserve.

Combine the eggs, cream of chicken, chicken stock, lemon juice, remaining 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, remaining 2 teaspoons salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the bread, spinach, broccoli mixture, milk, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and stir to combine. If bread does not absorb all of liquid immediately then let rest until this happens, about 20 minutes.

Pour the bread pudding mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan over the top and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Bake until firm in the center and golden brown, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

My Review
I made a lot of changes to the original to really make it my own. first of all: brie and heavy cream was substituted for Skim milk and cream of chicken. Artichoke was replaced with broccoli an french bread was replaced with potato bread. I managed to make this dish healthy by cutting out extra fat calories.

I <3 Stuffing! so to me, this recipe was really savory and tasty. I don't think stuffing should be reserved just for thanksgiving and holidays. It's a really creative dish that could be made anytime, in my opinion. I know the picture doesn't do it much justice, but it was so flavorful and yummy. Try it next time and let me know what you think.

Food brings Flavor to Life!

So I'm finally creating a food blog to follow all my food sightings, cravings, and recipes. For my first few entries I'm gonna share some food recipes that i cooked in the past. Pardon the poor pictures as I'm just starting this new blog. Most of the photos are from my phone. >_<

I hope my insight to food will make your eating experiences more FULL-PROOF!



Regards,

Lex