Kitchen Diaries: Sinigang na Salmon Belly

I don’t really cook fish that much but around a month ago, an office friend shared her blood type diet to me. It entailed eating a few servings of fish every week and salmon is one of the fish varieties allowed for my blood type. This led me to experimenting in the kitchen and I was surprised that it actually turned out good. Well, at least good enough for my first try.

SINIGANG NA SALMON BELLY

 

Ingredients:

• Salmon belly strips
• 1 onion, sliced
• 4 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 bunch of kangkong, leaves and upper stalks
• ½ bunch sitaw, cut to around 3inches long each
• 2 green chili peppers
• ½ pack “sinigang sa sampalok” mix
• Cooking oil, for sautéing the onion and tomatoes
• 6 pcs calamansi, juice only
• Fish sauce (patis), to taste
• Water of your desired amount

 

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat cooking oil in a saucepan and sauté sliced onion.
2. When onion turns translucent, stir in the sliced tomatoes.
3. When the flesh of the tomato begins to separate from the skin, add patis and water.
4. When the water boils, add the salmon belly strips and simmer for around 5 minutes.
5. Add the sitaw and green chili peppers. After around 2-3 minutes, put in the kang kong.
6. Squeeze in the calamansi juice and adjust the taste to your liking.
7. When the kang kong leaves start to wilt, turn off heat.
8. Enjoy with a bowl of freshly steamed white rice! 🙂

 

Kitchen Diaries: Pasta Aglio Olio with Ilocos Longganisa

If there’s only one thing that I would want to eat every time I go home to the province, it would be none other than the infamous Ilocos Longganisa. Nothing makes me feel like home more than those little nuggets of garlicky-porky goodness. The mother recently gave me a bunch and I took advantage of the rare abundance of a taste from home. I played around in the kitchen and came up with this a rather enjoyable dish.

 

PASTA AGLIO OLIO WITH ILOCOS LONGGANISA

 

Ingredients:

• Pasta, around 150 grams
• Salt and Cooking Oil (for boiling pasta)
• Ilocos Garlic Longganisa, 3 links, precooked and sliced thinly
• Olive Oil and a little butter for frying
• 3-4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Fresh Basil leaves, 1 bunch, roughly chopped
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Juice of half a small lemon
• Dried  Chili Flakes, as much as you prefer
• Grated Cheddar Cheese, 1 tbsp
• Parmesan Cheese, for topping

 

 

 

Cooking Instructions: 

1. Cook pasta per package instructions.You may use whatever pasta you like – I had leftover wheat fusilli so used that.
2. Boil a pot of water, put a few drops of oil and salt liberally. Boil pasta until al dente, depending on which pasta you’re using. Mine took around 8-10 minutes.
3. When the pasta is al dente, turn off heat and drain. Run under cold water to prevent soggy pasta stop the cooking process then set aside.
4. In a pan, heat around a tablespoon of Virgin Olive Oil and a little butter.
5. When the butter starts to melt, put in sliced garlic and stir around until they turn slightly brown. Make sure your garlic does not burn.
6. Put in the Ilocos Longganisa. I was using the precooked ones so it didn’t need a lot of time in the pan. If you’re using the fresh kind, just make sure they are thoroughly cooked before adding in your pasta.
7. I like my food spicy so I added a sprinkle of dried chili peppers at this point.
8. Put in your cooked pasta. Toss around so it is properly coated with oil and the sausage slices are properly distributed all throughout the pan.
9. Season with salt and ground pepper to taste.
10. I had some cheddar cheese in the fridge so I grated it and put it in as well, but this is totally optional.
11. Squeeze half of a small lemon in. This adds a bit of freshness into the dish.
12. Turn off heat, throw in your fresh basil and stir to let the leftover heat wilt the basil leaves.
13. Finally, top with Parmesan cheese and a sprig of basil for garnish.

 

Enjoy! 🙂