Ingredients:

1 cup native vinegar

1 head garlic, crushed

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 bay leaf (optional)

2 tablespoon rock salt

1-4 tablespoon soy sauce

1 chicken (about 500 grams) cut up

1/2 kilo pork, cut into pieces

A slice of pork liver, cut into pieces (optional)

1 1/2-2 cups water

cooking oil for frying

Procedure:

In a saucepan, combine vinegar, garlic, pepper, bay leaf, rock salt and soy sauce. Put in chicken, pork and liver. Let soak for 20-30 minutes. Add water and simmer uncovered until tender. Strain sauce. Set aside. Chop liver finely. Combine with sauce. Set aside. Brown garlic, chicken and pork in cooking oil. Return everything to saucepan, cover and simmer until sauce thickens.

To snip parsley, cut it into tiny pieces with scissors or kitchen sheers.

Ingredients:

2 cups coarse white breadcrumbs
1/cup snipped fresh parsley
3/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (2-1/4 oz.)
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 large artichokes
4 tablespoon olive oil
Boiling water
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 large lemon cut in 4 wedges
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Procedure:

Place breadcrumbs, parsley, cheese onion, garlic, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Toss lightly to combine, set aside. Rinse artichokes; cut off stems even with base. Cut off about 1 inch of artichoke tops with sharp knife. With kitchen scissors, snip off all spiny leaf tips. Gently spread leaves open; pull out small yellow inner leaves. With a teaspoon, scrape out fuzzy choke just below inner leaves. Spoon stuffing mixture into hollow centers of artichokes. Place stuffed artichokes in a deep kettle stem-side down. Spoon 1 tablespoon olive oil over each artichoke. Carefully pour boiling water 2 inches deep into kettle. Cover and bring water to a boil again. Reduce heat, simmer until artichokes leaves easily pull away from base, about 40 minutes. Drain on paper towels stem-side down. Pour 1/4 cup melted butter or margarine into each of 4 small bowls. Let diners squeeze lemon juice over cooked artichokes and stuffing if desired. Eat stuffing with a fork. Pull leaves from artichokes with fingers, dip lower part of leaves into melted butter then pull meaty portion of leaves with lower teeth. Makes 4 servings.

WASHINGTON — China Wednesday called for global cooperation to improve food safety, noting that it along with product quality are an international problem.

“No country’s products are immune to problems,” said Zhao Baoqing, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington.

But Zhao added that China will intensify food safety supervision and punish all those responsible for supplying tainted food.

“Food safety and product quality is an international problem, and is also something that all countries pay attention to,” said Zhao, who previously worked for China’s product quality watchdog, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

Zhao admitted that China’s food safety needs improving, but said that the vast majority of Chinese exports to United States are of high quality.

“During 2004 to 2006, more than 99 percent of Chinese food to the US met the US safety and quality standards,” he said.

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It’s too bad zucchini can’t just stop growing when it reaches about 6 inches long. Almost overnight, zucchini can grow to about 12 inches, and it’s not nearly as easy to cook.

Right now, most farmers have more zucchini than they know what to do with, and it was probably a farmer who came up with the idea to designate Aug. 8 as “National Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor’s Porch Night.”

If someone leaves an armload of zucchini on your porch, or you buy too much at the farmers market, here are some reasons to be thankful for zucchini.

Zucchini is low in calories and contains useful amounts of folate, potassium and vitamin A. It’s also an excellent source of vitamin C. Dark green zucchini also has some beta carotene, and all types provide small quantities of minerals. Skin colors include almost black, dark green, pale green, pale green with gray, and yellow.

Here are some recipes from The Spice Hunter.

Zucchini boats

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided

Full Article…

“I’ve been doing a lot of cooking ever since I was 9 and yet this one here is one of my favorite filipino dishes”

Puchero Ingredients:

1/2 kg. pork liempo, cut into serving pieces
1/2 chicken, cut into serving pieces
1/2 kg. beef, cut into serving pieces
2 pieces chorizo de bilbao
6 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1 bunch green onions
1 small cabbage
1/8 kg. green beans
4 pieces potatoes
4 pieces. saba bananas
1 cup chick peas, boiled until tender
2 tbsp. cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, sliced
4 cups broth ( from above meats)
2 tsp mono sodium glutamate
salt to taste

Procedure:

Boil pork, chicken, beef, chorizo de bilbao, in water, salt and green onions. When tender, remove and cook cabbage and green beans separately in the broth. Remove and set aside. Boil potatoes and bananas in water until tender. Remove. Cut bananas crosswise diagonally, quarter potatoes. Skin chick peas. Set aside. Fry garlic and onion in hot oil. Add broth. Bring to a boil then put in meats, bananas, potatoes, chick peas and vegetables. Season with salt and mono sodium glutamate. Serve with eggplant sauce.

Eggplant Sauce Ingredients:

6 eggplants
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup vinegar

Procedure:

Broil eggplants until tender. Peel and mash. Set aside. Chop garlic finely and add to mashed eggplant. Add vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Puchero.

Your ice cream maker never turned out of anything more delicious!

Ingredients :

Blueberry Deco, see below
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup half-and-half or light cream
2 (8-oz.) pkg. Neufchatel cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pint plain yogurt

Blueberry Deco:

1/cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened blueberries
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Procedure:

Prepare Blueberry Deco. In a heavy saucepan, beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until blended. Beat in cream. Stir constantly over low heat until custard coats a metal spoon. Do not boil. Remove from heat. Place waxed paper or plastic wrap directly on surface of custard. Refrigerate to chill, about 2 hours. In a large bowl, beat cheese until fluffy. Add 1/2 cup sugar, lemon peel, orange peel, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat until blended. Beat in yogurt and chilled custard until smooth. Freeze in ice cream maker following manufacturer’s directions. When mixture stops churn ing, remove metal ice cream container from bucket. Use a long-handled wooden spoon to swirl chilled Blueberry Deco into frozen mixture to create a marble effect. Cover ice cream container. Place in freezer until firm, about 3 hours. Makes about 2 quarts.

Blueberry Deco:

Combine water and sugar in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Stir cornstarch into lemon juice until smooth. Stir cornstarch mixture into sugar mixture until thickened. Ass blueberries and cinnamon. Boil 2 minutes, mashing berries slightly with the back of a spoon. Remove from heat. Refrigerate to chill about 2 hours.

Ingredients:

1 cup cashew nuts

1/4 cup cooking oil

1/4 kilo shrimps5 pcs. dried mushrooms, soaked in water then cut in half

1/4 kilo chicharo or sweet peas

1 large pc. bamboo shoot, sliced

1 pc. carrot, sliced

1 pc. singcamas, sliced

1/4 kilo pechay with flowers in 1″ pcs.

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. monosodium glutamate12 pcs. quail eggs, hard cooked

3/4 cup broth

1 tbsp. cornstarch

Procedure:

Fry cashew nuts. Set aside. In hot cooking oil, toss shrimps and dried mushrooms. Add chicharo, cook 2 minutes. Put in pechay stalks, rest of vegetables and lastly the leaves and flowers of the pechay. Pour in broth, continue cooking until vegetables are just done. Season with salt and monosodium glutamate. Thicken with cornstarch. Pour on a platter. Garnish with hard cooked eggs and crisp cashew nuts. Serve hot.

When you roll out dough start in the middle and roll toward the edge.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 pkg. active dry yeast
About 6 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups milk
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 eggs
3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (12 oz.)
1 cup finely chopped onion
Paprika

Procedure:

Combibe sugar, salt, yeast and 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl; set aside. In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter or margarine until very warm, about 125 degrees farenheight. Slowly stir hot milk mixture into flour mixture. Add eggs. Beat 2 minutes by hand or with electric mixer on medium speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough of the remaining flour by hand to make a stiff dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Let rest 8 to 10 minutes. Clean and grease bowl; set aside. Knead dough until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Place dough in bowl. Turn to grease all sides. Cover with a dry cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place free from drafts until double in bulk, about 1 hour. Grease 2 baking sheets; set aside. Press down center of dough with 2 fingers. If indentations remain, punch down dough. Divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each half of dough to an 18 inches by 10 inches rectangle. Sprinkle each with half of the cheese and half of the onion. Roll up from long side jelly-roll fashion. Place 1 rolled loaf on each , prepared baking sheet, seam-side down. Curve loaves slightly. With a sharp knife, cut 1/2 inch deep gashes about 1 inch apart across top of each loaf. Cover with towel. Let rise in a warm place free from drafts until double in bulk, about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheight. Sprinkle tops of loaves with paprika. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in preheated oven until loaves sound hollow when tapped on top. Cool to room temperature on racks. Make 2 loaves.

To whip evaporated milk place a can of milk in freezing unit of refrigerator until partially frozen. Pour contents into a very cold bowl, add 1 tablespoon lemon or calamansi juice to 2/3 cup milk and whip as cream.

Ingredients:

1 kg. pork meat with a little fat, cut in desired pieces
4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and divided into 6
2 big onions, peeled and cut into cubes
1 big head garlic, macerated
2 tsp. black pepper
3 cups native vinegar
5 tbsp. cooking oil
3 pc. bay leaf
2 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 medium-sized red and green pepper, cut into slices
3 tbsp. achuete juice
3 medium-sized tomatoes, cut into small pieces

Procedure:

Place the meat in a saucepan and add vinegar, pepper and 1/2 of garlic, then the salt, bay leaf and soy sauce. Allow it to boil for two minutes. Add 2 cups water and let it boil until meat is tender. Fry the potatoes until golden brown then set aside. Fry garlic, onions and tomatoes, then add meat mixture, potatoes and red and green pepper. Add the achuete juice to the mixture, and cook until done.