Cooking mommas

MILLIE: My youngest sister Dorcie is a lucky momma. She stopped working five years ago to be a full-time wife and mom. She keeps house, brings her kids to school and fetches them whenever possible. Once upon a time, she taught in a nursery school and now tutors her youngest son Benjo when she has the time and patience.  No, she’s not an educator by profession. She graduated with a degree in marketing management from Assumption College then moved on to take further studies to be a gemologist at the Gemological Institute of America.

Dorcie, among us three sisters, is the only one who really cooks every day at home. Perhaps it is because she has all the time on her hands or perhaps because her husband, Benjie Guingona, encourages her to and her kids Bea, 20, and Benjo, 14, inspire her to. Dorcie is so adventurous in the kitchen and is constantly experimenting on dishes on her own. When Dad was still around, she would run to him with a spoonful or a bowl of whatever she was cooking so he could have a taste and comment on it. Last Christmas we dubbed her “DQ” for dulong queen as she had perfected her special dulong creation in olive oil with red-hot chilies and spices, bottled them and gave them as edible gifts to special friends.

Her family enjoys everyday pasta and Filipino food, especially daughter Bea, who loves sinigang and flaked adobo. Benjo adores her and says, “Everything Mommy makes is yummy!”  Although he claims she is a “one-hit wonder” because the first time she does a dish it is always so good but can’t do it again because she never strictly follows recipes and procedures. Benjo went through a humba phase when he was younger, eating it almost daily as if there was no other dish.  Dorcie’s husband Benjie eats fish and veggies but occasionally enjoys fatty, rich yummy food like steaks and veal bratwurst with milk and butter. Dorcie is intimidated but challenged at the same time because her husband’s brother Dino is a chef who runs the Moderne Culinaire Academy at the Global City. Dorcie and family live next door and some nights, the smell of barbecue wafting in the air fills my bedroom and I am often tempted to cry out to her to send me a plate of whatever she is cooking.

Golden girl: Dorcie Reyes-Guingona in cooking action

KARLA: Last summer Tita Dorcie formed a group and they called themselves “The Cooking Mommas,” most probably based on Tita Dorcie’s favorite Wii game, Cooking Mama. The group included some of her friends, namely, Dolores Tan, the only one who could join from Tita Dorcie’s group of Xavier moms and the note taker and recipe re-constructor of the group; Malou Coronel-de Venecia, who generously sponsored aprons from Cinderella; and Melina Te, who so willingly offered her kitchen. Tita Dorcie’s former classmate Meg Figueroa-Pugeda, married to chef Sonny Pugeda, was in town and offered to share a recipe or two. Chef Sonny earned his culinary degree at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), New Hyde Park Campus. Chef Sonny trained under Marcel Desauniers, chef and author of the Trellis cookbook, Death by Chocolate and Burgermeisters, at his restaurant in colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. Right after graduation, he worked for Guest Services, Inc. as a sous chef for the test kitchen, where he had to come out with new recipes every day for critique by the 12 board of directors. If the recipes were up to their taste standards, then these recipes would be implemented in the different restaurants of the company. He then started his own Mexican restaurant, Ay Caramba! The restaurant became the base of operations for his catering company, which serviced several clients such as Mary Tyler Moore, Eunice Kennedy, Senator Alfonse D’Amato of New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, Senator Mike Miller of Maryland, and the Philippine Embassy for private dinners at the ambassador’s residence. He presently works at the executive dining room of the US Department of Treasury for Secretary Timothy Geithner feeding political dignitaries, and at the same time for the renowned Spanish restaurateur, chef Jose Andres at the Arena Stage. And indeed, Filipino chefs have come a long way! When asked for tips, he says, “I always believe in the use of the freshest ingredients available, no skimping in the use of these said ingredients as much as possible! You have to be flexible and adaptable to new trends in the industry, be open to constructive criticisms and learn from these areas of opportunity. Lastly, cooking should be fun, enjoyable (have a glass of your favorite wine while cooking!) and not be considered a stressful routine.”

The weekend after their cooking class with chef Sonny, Tita Dorcie bought ingredients to try out her new risotto skills since, as mentioned earlier, her cooking is a one-hit wonder. So finally she decides to serve some risotto for our weekly Sunday dinner. I decided to go next door to her house early since I was already pretty hungry and as soon as I entered, she was handing me a platito with a teaspoon for me to try her risotto. Apparently, I’m on the list as one of her taste testers next to my Lolo Joe and her immediate family. When I told her that the rice still wasn’t cooked enough, she started to panic because it was already 7 p.m. and she had run out of chicken stock. That’s when I took over. I offered to help her out because of the increasing pitch of her voice and a frazzled look on her face, plus the fact that people had started to arrive and she had to prepare the other items on her extensive menu. Thankfully it was wiped out and a huge hit with the family, which made Tita Dorcie very happy.

Chef Sonny Pugeda with Secretary Timothy Franz Geithner (left) and Deputy Secretary Neal S. Wolin of the US Department of Treasury

MILLIE: This week, my youngest sister turns half a century old. As a fitting tribute, Karla and I are writing about the one who become a substitute for me whenever I can’t be around to do something because, whenever I was too busy or abroad, she’d fill my shoes when Karla was growing up.  She’d pitch in for me whenever I could not be in two or three places at the same time. Especially in recent years, she’d gladly drop everything to have lunch with Dad when I had to attend to an event or a client. Happy birthday to a golden girl with a golden heart! 

RISOTTO MUSHROOM BY CHEF SONNY

Ingredients:

1 box Risotto Arborio or Reis S from Santi’s or Arborio from Rustan’s Supermarket

1/2 cup Reggiano or Millel cheese, grated

Fresh shiitake and oyster mushrooms

Sun-dried tomato in a bottle or sun-dried tomatoes rehydrated with olive oil, thyme and parsley

Minced shallots

6 pcs. Knorr chicken cube

Spring onions

Butter

Procedure: 1. Saute onions and garlic in a stockpot. Add in 5 cups of water and 6 Knorr chicken cubes and spring onions.

2. Slice shiitake mushroom and oyster mushroom (don’t soak in water).

3. In separate pan, sauté butter then add the mushrooms. Add in sun-dried tomatoes and set aside.

4. In a separate casserole: use a small amount of oil from the sun-dried tomato. Add in butter, 1 tsp. onion, 1 tsp. garlic. Over medium fire, add in risotto. Continue mixing. Pour soup stock little by little or 2 ladles at a time, alternating mixing with adding more soup stock.

5. When risotto is cooked, mix in the grated cheese, add 1 ladle broth then thyme and parsley. Lastly, the mushroom and sun-dried tomato. Mix well. Note: To test if the risotto is cooked, the risotto should slide down the plate and should not be lumpy.

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Send e-mail to milliereyes.foodforthought@gmail.com and karla@swizzlemobilebar.com. Find us on Facebook and read articles you might have missed: Food for Thought by Millie & Karla Reyes.