Baked Cream Dory

My baked cream dory was a big hit with my boys so I thought I'd post the recipe here. It's Lent too, so this is one dish you can certainly prepare on Fridays.

Ingredients

2 cream dory fillets
1 clove minced garlic
1 white onion, minced
1-2 tomatoes (sliced)
6 calamansi
1/4 tsp. minced ginger
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tbsp. rock salt
1/4 stick of butter
2 tbsp. olive oil

How to prepare:

1. Line baking pan with olive oil.
2. Rub down fish with calamansi, rock salt and dried basil. Place on baking pan.
3. Spread butter on both sides of fish or place cubed butter on top.
4. Distribute evenly on top of fish, garlic, onion, tomato and ginger.
5. Cover pan with aluminum foil.

How to bake:

1. Pre-heat oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius.
2. Bake the fish for 15 minutes.
3. After 15 minutes take out the pan and turn-over fish. Bake for another 10 minutes.

And here's the finished product!

Beef Caldereta (Kaldereta)

I have so far tried two beef caldereta (kaldereta) recipes. One is from the Nora Daza recipe book and the other from Kulinarya. The Kulinarya recipe provides a more traditional taste (with olives and chorizo) and has a longer cooking time, while Nora Daza's recipe uses basic ingredients. I made adjustments to the recipe to cater to what my boys like.

Ingredients:

400 grams beef cubes
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 huge red onion (or 2 small ones is okay)
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
4 medium potatoes, cut into half inch cubes
1-2 medium carrots, cut into cubes
3-6 pieces Purefoods chorizo, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
3 cups water
2 T olive oil
1 cup tomato sauce (237 ml pack)
1 can or 1/3 cup liver spread
2 T soy sauce
1/4 cup green olives
salt to taste
pepper to taste

How to cook:

1. Boil beef and reduce heat to simmer when it begins to boil. Allow to cook until beef is tender. Remove beef from water and set aside beef stock for the sauce.

2. Saute garlic, onion and tomatoes in olive oil. Add beef, tomato sauce, liver spread, soy sauce, reserved stock, potatoes, carrots and chorizo. Simmer for 5 minutes, then add bell peppers and olives. Allow to cook until potatoes are done. Season with salt and pepper.

Now That I have You

I missed making a post to celebrate our first year anniversary last December 26, 2010. We didn't have any plans for that day, but ended up just spending the day with family. We heard mass in the morning and then trooped to have lunch at Max's Restaurant with my siblings and my nephews and nieces. It was truly a fun day and I realize now that's what marriage is all about -- having your own little family.

So much has changed since Sweetie and I tied the knot more than a year ago. I learned a lot of new things and acquired new skills in a short amount of time -- those skills include cooking, doing the laundry, ironing and, managing a household and gardening!

Well, chores aside, our first year has been filled with many beautiful memories - both happy and sad. We managed to have two out of town family trips (Bohol and Iloilo) and countless pig-out foodcourt sessions, movies, grocery days, family lunches with our parents, hang-out times with friends, school activities, college entrance exams etc. Our first few months was spent nesting, spending time at home and catching up with family and friends who we kinda ignored when we were preparing for our wedding.

There were trying times too. A handful of tampuhans which were just really mababaw. The hardest was when I found out my Dad was sick, but I'm glad that Sweetie has been so supportive and has been my rock through the hard times. He's also been taking good care of me which led my doctor to say, "I cannot clinically explain how you got well".

Well, God continues to write our love story and thank you guys for all your support too. Hope to be able to update this blog more often now =)