The Sassy Lawyer & Pinoy Cook on food, family and home.
The star of the dining table. The main dish that will make a meal memorable or forgettable. In this section, find recipes for main dishes that feature poultry, fish and other seafood, meat, vegetables, eggs, noodles, tofu and rice. Most are easy, some are more challenging -- find the ones that best suit your budget, taste and level of skill.
Sam likes buying those frozen seafood balls in the grocery — fish balls, squid balls, shrimp balls, prawn balls, crab balls, lobster balls… I always ask her to choose fish balls over the others because I am allergic to crustaceans. Last time, she wanted lobster balls and she couldn’t be persuaded to choose something else. ... (more)
According to Tastefully Done, age means deep fried and dashi, of course, is the stock made with bonito flakes and kelp. Hence, agedashi tofu. For me, it’s the queen of tofu dishes. Squares of fried delicate soft tofu served with a light salty-sweet sauce. Two characteristics make this dish stand out. First, the contrasting textures ... (more)
Okra has a bad reputation in our house. So bad a reputation that I’m the only one that eats it. Speedy’s and the girls’ complaint? Okra is slimy. Okra makes them think of snot and that’s not edible. But okra is so good and I’ve been trying to convince them to try it. To no ... (more)
When I first came across this spinach recipe in The New York Times health section, it was labeled as an appetizer. The recipe itself was not all that simple — the dressing had to be boiled and reduced. Wondering if there were simpler versions, I searched around using “Japanese spinach sesame seeds” as a key ... (more)
This is an updated version of a recipe originally published on September 22, 2003. Whether you call it pancit molo or molo soup, it is the same basic Filipino soup dish — pork dumpling or wonton soup often with bits of cooked chicken in the broth. I’ve always wondered why it goes with a pancit ... (more)
Alex had been asking for baked salmon with buttered vegetables but we only had a 300-gram or so of salmon fillet and it wouldn’t have been enough to feel all four of us for lunch. So, I deviated from the baked salmon with buttered vegetables by serving the salmon on a bed of very cheesy ... (more)
Eggplants. Inexpensive. Filling. Easy to prepare. Versatile. Cooks in a jiffy. Eggplants are moist and succulent and, if you’re lucky to have Asian eggplants, sweet. What’s not to like? The trouble with eggplants is that cooking them can be tricky. Undercook them by one minute and they would be too tough. Overcook them by a ... (more)
I’ve always been amazed at how the Italians have developed hundreds if not thousands of ways to serve their pasta just as the Chinese have countless recipes for noodles. Come to think of it, they have done pretty much the same with rice. The Italians have their risotto; the Chinese have integrated rice into their ... (more)
If you’re a blogger and you have Google Analytics (or something smilar) installed, you might have occasionally checked what the most popular pages on your blog are. In this blog, there are two consistent topnotchers — bistek and puto. Yep, iconic Filipino dishes with names worth discussing a bit. Let’s start with the puto. I ... (more)
It is a Mexican rice dish but arroz blanco is also found in the cuisines of many other South American and Caribbean countries. There are even some claims that the dish originated from the Caribbean and was merely borrowed by the South Americans. Just as the claims about its origin vary, so do the methods ... (more)
Don't confuse Filipino-style picadillo with the Mexican and Cuban picadillo … »»
The day I cooked the lechon kawali with Pad Thai sauce, I cooked a second … »»
Fried whole fish served with pickled vegetables. That's what escabeche is … »»
After a quick trip to the market, Speedy checked his Facebook account, … »»
Still experimenting with alternative methods of cooking, after using the … »»
If you're looking for the easiest cocktail drink recipe ever, you just … »»
A simple, easy and very tasty pasta dish that you can cook in one pan. … »»
I can't resist a good recipe when I come across one. I was browsing food … »»
Casa is Spanish for house. CASA is also an acronym for Connie, Antonio, Sam and Alex. We are all surnamed Veneracion. We all love to take photos -- of anything that catches our fancy. It's a family obsession.
This is a journal of how we live, eat, learn, play and have fun. Work? Work is part of playing and having fun. Seriously.
In 2003, a time when I hadn't heard of the term "blog", I started a recipe website at cooking.houseonahill.net using a now defunct content management system that ran on ASP. Ok, never mind the geek talk, I'm sure you're not interested in that. The contents easily multiplied and, in 2004, I moved the food site to pinoycook.net. Always unhappy with the fact that the dot com versions of houseonahill and pinoycook weren't … (click here to read all »)
It has a graham cracker crust and it is baked but at a lower temperature … (more...)
If you Google "melon cocktail", you'll find that there are two categories. … (more...)
According to Tastefully Done, age means deep fried and dashi, of course, is … (more...)
Okra has a bad reputation in our house. So bad a reputation that I'm the … (more...)
When I first came across this spinach recipe in The New York Times health … (more...)
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