Sometimes, I wish there were 48 hours in a day. Or that I have four hands. You know, so I can do everything like cooking and packing Alex’s school lunchbox and still be able to take photos in an unhurried manner. But I can’t get that lucky although some mornings are less frantic than others. Like today. So, I have photos. And two recipes to share with you.
This entry is filed under school lunches because the rice and pork went into Alex’s lunchbox today but you can prepare the braised pork tenderloin and serve it with the herb and garlic rice for breakfast, lunch or dinner too.
Recipe: Herb and garlic rice
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 c. of cold cooked rice, mashed to separate the grains
- 1/2 tsp. each of dried rosemary, thyme and Thai basil (or 1 tsp. each of chopped fresh rosemary, thyme and Thai basil)
- 2 to 3 tbsps. of butter
- 1 to 2 tbsps. of toasted garlic bits (see related entry)
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- freshly ground black pepper, as much as you wish
Instructions
- Melt the butter over low heat. Low. VERY LOW. Add the rosemary, thyme and Thai basil. Allow to cook slowly to let the herby flavors go into the butter. If using fresh herbs, the oil will turn a bit greenish. Add the rice and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well to coat every grain of rice with the flavored butter.
- Keeping the heat low, cover the pan LOOSELY (to prevent steam from building which can turn the rice soggy) and reheat the rice for five to seven minutes, stirring occasionally.
- You can cook herbed rice over high heat a la Chinese fried rice but I find that the cooked rice is more flavorful when allowed to reheat slowly over low flame. Besides, butter burns really fast and cooking over high heat might cause scorching before the rice is heated through. It’s your choice really which way you want to do it.
- Note too that you can use your own combination of herbs, and even substitute olive oil for butter, or use a combination of olive oil and butter.
- For other variations of herbed rice, see herb-loaded rice versions one and two, and the garlic, basil and onion fried rice.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: p10 minute(s) p
Number of servings (yield): 3
Recipe: Braised pork tenderloin
Ingredients
- Half of a whole pork tenderloin (lomo), about 200 to 300 grams
- 1/2 c. of barbecue sauce
- 1 tsp. of vegetable cooking oil
Instructions
- The great thing about pork tenderloin is how little time it needs to cook. To make sure that the sauce permeates the innermost parts of the meat, use an ice pick to pierce the meat in several places.
- You can use you own recipe for the barbecue sauce or you can use bottle barbecue sauce.
- Place the pork tenderloin in a small pan. Pour in the barbecue sauce, 1/4 cup of water and the cooking oil. The cooking oil will prevent the fatless meat from turning dry.
- Cook over low heat, covered, for about 20 minutes, turning the meat often. When the meat is almost done, turn up the heat and cooked uncovered until the sauce is reduced to a thick sticky mixture.
- Transfer the meat to a slicing board and cut into thin rings.
- Pack into lunch box or serve at once.
Cooking time: 20 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
Hi Connie,
Is your cookbook coming out yet?
waiting longingly…
The first one came out last year.
Hello Ms. Connie!
Been following your blog for quite sometime now (along with Market Manila…both of which are well-written blogs) and have recently found the time to try out your recipes (like the shrimp with coriander paste & kecap manis… yummy!).
I will definitely try this one. BTW, naiba na pala yung page design (or whaterver it is you call it)… nawala na yung ina-aspire ko na figure now that I’m trying to lose weight… haha… anyway it’s still nice. I like sunflowers.
Thanks and more power.
HAHAHA You want a header with an image of a really, really thin girl? LOL
Seriously, I thought the banner with the curvy lady was too dark.
LOL… just want the curves thank you.
Funny, I didn’t notice it was dark… I was only seeing the lady.
Di bale, every month the banner changes and if run out of graphics,the curvy lady just might be back.
Very simple recipe! I want to try this, too. Tamang-tama, it’s my son’s birthday next week.
Question lang po: If I will be using fresh herbs, should I add them before or after adding the rice?
Thanks.
Before.
I do this for my daughters a lot ‘coz i’m always in a hurry but i never had a name for it, now i do!
I use pork sukiyaki often because it cooks even faster.
Oh, I haven’t uploaded the recipe where I used pork sukiyaki. I’m behind with my posting.