Chefie’s World

After all the healthy dishes and demonstrations I did in Davao last week, and before leaving for Manila, I went on a dessert feasting. I had a number of dessert sampling from Lachi’s and Sugar Munch, both known cakes and pastry shops in Davao, only a few steps away from each other, each specializing on a certain type, but has more to offer for the people of the South.

I have written about Lachi’s Sans Rival which is made the old fashion way with crisp meringue and rich buttercream with loads of cashew nuts. They also have different cakes that is very discriminating since it very distinct to them. Its only them who have it.
They have a lot of good food too like Barbecued Ribs, Laing, Red Pesto Pasta, that’s so good and delicious. I was so full and happy.

I also had the frozen brazos of Tiny Kitchen, plain, chocolate and strawberry were just right to the bite since it had right thickness of all the layered components of the dessert, wasn’t so sweet and the meringue was soft even if it was frozen.

Sugar Munch had an array of small miniature cakes all with chocolate….tempting!…so I had all of them wrapped, mocha praline, white chocolate mousse, strawberry mousse and rich chocolate cakes, all luscious and was right since it was a size you can eat alone or share with someone. All cakes come in attractive boxes with exciting colors. They also had all the versions of the small cakes in regular 6 – 8 inch sizes. Brazos de Mercedes is also sold in this store.

Davao has become my sweet haven enjoying all the food and desserts.

This is the third installment to my healthy two weeks of events that I went through. Last March 14, I was invited by the Nutritionists and Dieticians Association of the Philippines to give a lecture on spa cuisine. It was exciting with loads of work since I had to prepare a tasting set of three dishes for 800 participants, this I had to do for three days with the help of my students based in Davao. Sponsored by California Raisin, I had one of the most nutritious and great tasting dried fruit in all 3 of my recipes. All three I am sharing with you.

So what did I talk about, spa cuisine, healthy eating that’s actually common sense cooking since you remove the use of butter and cream in all the cooking. Also methods of cooking are kept to the simplest without the addition of any oil or fat in the process so poaching (again?), grilling, roasting, cooking in papillote – that’s steam kept inside the paper cooks the food inside. Interesting, right? Even the latest trends in ingredients I also discussed with the new set of grains, like quinoa – a grain with tons of protein that originates from the Andes mountains, couscous becoming so popular now with Moroccan type of stew and the blend of Asian ingredients to increase the flavor of food. I also used a lot of fresh herbs to complement the main ingredient of any dish as oppose to the use of too much salt in the dish. Marination was a technique that I discussed since it was done just before some of the cooking for absorption of the marinade which is needed for better eating for everyone. Salsas, vinaigrettes, yoghurt based sauces are the in thing to use in this type of cuisine.

I like doing something as large as this one to promote healthier methods of eating. A lot of us don’t eat right and it is maybe time that more and more people know about this. When I found out I had diabetes I tried my very best to change a lifestyle that was family based and I get to continue doing it since now I cook for myself and I hope that someday people around me will get infected with it. It is really the cooking that will matter, remove the fat all of it as much as possible.

And here is what I served during the talk. Enjoy the recipes! (more…)

Early part of January, I was approached by a medical executive asking me if I can cook and demonstrate some healthy food for a launch of a new medicine which, combined with exercise will make you lose weight. As you know, one of the courses I took last year in America was Healthy Cooking and later on, here in Manila, on Spa cuisine. I have researched extensively in this area since I know this will be the trend in the next few years. I obliged and in a week I got to submit a menu that I have done also for some friends here in Manila.

Healthy cooking is easy cooking that removes cream, butter and other saturated fats as an ingredient and method is also changed to those that doesn’t involve so much fat in it. Plenty of grilling, roasting, poaching and fast cooking is done. Flavor is intensified by not adding too much salt but more on the use of flavor enhancers like herbs, spices, pepper. Also by using complimentary taste elements that intensifies the qualities of the main ingredient. Marinating the dishes ahead of time was done for better tasting. A lot of fiber is also used which is very good for our body since it makes us full and is good source of cleaning up our insides.

It was a great dinner to do because it was also a different approach in presenting a medicine to doctors who knew what the benefits of the type of cooking I was doing. Enjoy the recipes and cook them with gusto.
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Do you still remember, chefie? Sorry haven’t written any post for the last three weeks, it has been grueling for me. I was in Davao for quite a number of functions and some work for a good friend. I was hoping that I could get some time to write during my breaks but my mind was somewhere else and I couldn’t focus on writing. There were also several events happening and it became harder for me to concentrate.

I had to food style four of my recipes for the next issues of Yummy and it all happened just two days before my trip to Davao. It has always been a fun learning experience for me to prepare food for print. You can see me making my “poached fruits with yoghurt and homemade granola” which was a staple breakfast when I was in New York last year. It was my grab meal that I would eat in the subway and I wanted to re create it for my readers in my healthy column.

For this issue, layering was very important. I had to put the fruits in such a way that they could be identified easily by the reader and they must looked poached. Then I had to slowly pour the yoghurt so the glass container has to be clean and I won’t have a hard time messing up the layering and the star of the whole thing, I guess making the homemade granola is really easy as long as you have an oven.

Healthy, wealthy and wise…more adventures to talk about…this is just the first part of a series of healthy post since it was what my whole three weeks was all about except from some lip smacking dessert eating!

Never got to post this week, there was just an abundance of work for me, teaching, supervising a buffet and more that I am not allowed to say here. I also got to eat in different restaurants this week but forgot to bring my camera so that’s another reason to visit and savor the good food again. But, I got to go to one of my favorite restaurants this time not waiting for so long to get a table. I had dinner a few nights ago at Conti’s with some friends who entertained me in Koronadal. A simple dinner with old comfort food – I really enjoyed the salad which had grapes a bit frozen and a tangy, sweet dressing, textural approach to a dish in the beginning of a meal makes me think of the other dishes to follow. I had my porkchops with rosemary gravy and it was just right and a paella which was correct in taste and was cooked perfectly. My dinner guests had US Black Angus Ribeye Steak, 250 gms for almost 600 pesos. It was good, cooked to medium and cheap. Conti’s is where can you find a steak with this price.

The baked salmon still activates my taste buds with its simple taste with just the right amount of cheese so as not to overpower the salmon’s delicate flavor, it is still as heavenly as the first time I had it.

For desserts, we opted to have the mango bravo which is composed of a thick meringue encrusted with walnuts and had a chocolate filling, mangoes and lots of whipped cream.
Simply divine and gratifying after a good meal. Got some cheese puffs which you should try since it brings together the saltiness of the kesong puti inside and a sweet glaze brushed on its surface of puff pastry. I gave them to my guests to eat when they get home.

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