Beef Stew in Tomato Sauce with Mashed Potatoes

I did this dish when Ondoy hit the Philippines. It was actually the day after I made the braised pork belly dish. This is actually a Filipino recipe that is inspired from the colonization of the Spaniards back in the 18th century. I thought of making this dish because I got some gorgeous thyme at that time and thought of making a stew for it. This pretty similar with the pinoy food they call kaldereta I think. :D

Here are the ingredients.



Look at the thyme, this is the first time I have seen something a thyme this vibrant and this size.



First, heat the pan and throw in some bacon.



When it's a little crisp now with all the fat rendered, sear in the beef! I used brisket in this case. Season it.



When everything is seared, add in carrots, bell peppers and some onions. Sweat those vegetables with the fat. The place should smell good by this time.



Add in some tomato paste.



Mix it and make sure the tomato paste caramelizes.



Add in mushrooms, I used canned in this case.



Add in some white wine.



Add some stock, in my case, I added some frozen stock.



Lastly, add in some thyme and let just simmer until tender, probably 3 hours :D



Now, let's go with the mashed potatoes. I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures with this because I just went automatic :D So I was just able to get a picture of it at the end. Technically, boil some potatoes, then throw them in a food processor, season it and add butter and cream. Pulse pulse pulse!



Serve everything



Opinion

Flavors were really flat. It was as if the flavors didn't merge at all. The whole dish fell apart. It was so bad that it was already the fourth day and it wasn't still finished! However, I have only tasted this dish once during that time when I made this, then, after the fourth day, I tasted it again, and you know what, it was actually better which made me realized that braised food is better to eat it 2-3 days after it was done. It is like marinating it :D anyhow, I will try doing something like this again in the future and will let it sit again for 2-3 days and taste it :D

As for the mashed potatoe, I think its more of a potato puree than a mashed potato. Flavor wise, it's good. It was rich and creamy. Texture, it was gummy.

Banana Fritters with Mango Cream Sauce *Turon*

What I really liked about Filipino food is that I can be more creative about it since am here in the Philippines. I can easily look for Filipino ingredients and give them a twist like my champorado recipe. Because of that, I came up with a new pinoy recipe which is the humble turon or banana fritters. So often than not, banana fritters are fried with a crepe like wrapper with the addition of sugar during the frying part. It gives you this dense sweetness and crunchy texture. In my case, it would be more different. Here is the setup of ingredients.



As you can see, I'll be using a lot of bottled Philippine products as the main sweetener for my banana fritters.

First, cut some bananas.



Next, lay down some wrappers.



Put a slice of banana there.



Then, open a bottle of ube or a purple yam and spread a tablespoon beside the banana.



Then, open a bottle of macapuno or coconut sport strings *I think that's the english translation.* next to the purple yam.



Lastly, fold it. That's technically the main dish prior to cooking it.



Now, let's try making some sauce. The good thing about being in a tropical country, fruits are not only abundant but also of good quality. Furthermore, Philippine mangoes are like the sweetest mangoes in the world! Anyhow, so for the sauce, slice some mangoes.



Get a saucepan and melt some butter.



Add the mangoes in the saucepan. Give it a quick saute.



Then add some rum to add a different kind of sweetness in the dish.



Flambe! Yes, burn it!



Then puree it in a blender.



After which, you transfer it back to the saucepan.



Add some cream in it and give it a quick stir.



That's the sauce. Now, fry some of the wrapped bananas.



Cut them in half and serve it with the sauce.



Opinion

I like this texture much much better than the usual turon. You see, the sugar of the usual turon tend to harden so much that so often than not, there is difficulty in eating it. In this case, it is different because there is a crisp texture on the outside and a very soft and chewy feeling on the inside. This was especially achieved because of the macapuno and the ube.

The sauce was also good. It gave a good contrast of texture with the whole dish. The flavors are better than expected. It was sweet and earthy. Colors were duller than expected. I think it had too much purple ube. Next time, adding more macapuno and lessening the ube would give it a much much better presentation. :D

Chocolate Rice Pudding with Sabayon and Bacon *Champorado*

It took me awhile to make a new post because the internet at home was dead for some time. Anyhow, at least my net is up again and time to write about what I have made during this cold weather.

I wanted to make something appropriate with the cold weather for my snack in the afternoon. Then, I found some left over cocoa tablets in our pantry so I thought of making a chocolate rice pudding out of it – champorado



Making chocolate pudding was easy. First, get some sticky rice. *I also had some leftovers from making the mango sticky rice before* and cook it with some chocolate. Make sure it has more water because you want your chocolate rice pudding to be more watery than dry. Then add some sugar to it to balance the earthiness of the cocoa tablet.



Normally, this dish is served with some evaporated milk and some salted fish. My version is a bit different. I added some sabayon and some condensed milk with the evaporated milk. So, while the rice cooks with the cocoa tablets. Make the sabayon. Get some egg yolks and mix some condensed milk.



Cook it in a double boiler.



Cook until it has thickened and has a creamy consistency. Careful not the overcook the eggs unless you want some sort of ‘yema’ out of it.



After that, mix some condensed milk and evaporated milk.



Lastly, cook some bacon. Cook it until crisp.



Then serve, putting the rice first, then add some of the evaporated/condensed milk mixture at the side. Top it with some sabayon and a slice of bacon.



Opinion
There was a lot of going on with this dish. It was sweet, salty, savory and bitter. However, surprisingly, it went well. The earthiness of the cocoa tablet balanced well with the sweetness of the dish. In addition to that, the creaminess of the sabayon gave a richer flavor to it. The bacon gave a good saltiness to the dish and the texture was heavenly. As you bite the bacon with the chocolate rice pudding, there is a burst of crisp fat that will ooze out from the bacon. I must say, anything with bacon tastes really good.

One of the problems with this dish is the presentation. It lacked structure and color. Colors were dull, I thought the sabayon would give a good color but it didn’t. I think I should have placed something orange or green to make it look brighter or
something.

Lastly, I think the evaporated mix could have been better. Maybe adding some cream could have elevated this dish or I should have reduced it further to give it a thicker consistency.