Taste & Economics

Christmastime is eating time and surely there will hardly be a household without a festive table for the whole family and well-wishers to enjoy.

The cook in each household will certainly be busy chopping, cutting, seasoning, roasting, etc. but it will be a happy busy-ness because there is pleasure in this chore, when one is able to spread out a fantastic feast for the eyes and the palate, when one sees the glee in children’s sparkling eyes, when the mature (sometimes very discriminating and now health-conscious) members of the family show signs of delight and great expectation for the mouth-watering meal.

When lights are ablaze, carols fill the air and everybody has excitedly opened his/her presents, the next question on everybody’s lips will be, "What are we eating?" Indeed, a major question this time of year is, what will be on our holiday tables?

These days, the main considerations when planning the menu, especially the holiday menu, would be taste and economics. We need to have flavorful food, we need to mind the budget and we need to look at the nutritional value of what we are going to serve. Let’s be a bit non-traditional this year and go for a nouvelle menu– delicious, easy on the pocket, not too complicated to prepare but would please everybody in the family, from the young ones to the young once.

Planning the menu and cooking can be great fun, more so when it is shared by everyone. Way in advance of D-Day–or, in this case, C-Day or Christmas Day–you should be ready with the list, the cost, the ingredients and the garnishings for what you intend to prepare. Keep tab of current prices and remember that prices tend to go up during Christmas week. If you can buy most of what you need in advance, you will avoid the crowds, the traffic jams, possibly higher costs and supplies would still be aplenty.

As our Christmas special we have prepared a menu that would be ideal for a family with young children (hence we have included chicken, a favorite no matter how it is prepared), the gourmet who would welcome the Middle Eastern Moussaka and the senior who would rather have fish than meat (Salmon Steak with Cream and Sorrel). On the side we have a novel Capsicum Salad with our own bagoong for a flavorful, unique taste; traditional Leche Flan, our own Matamis na Saging , Matamis na Macapuno and, of course, a basket of fresh fruits–peaches, grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, mangoes, longans and even the rare dragon fruit and definitely a Fruit Cake made from the Ultimate Australian recipe given us by a friend.

If you need to serve starters, make your own dips from cream, mustard, left-over wine and herbs cooked in olive oil. Ideally, you can buy flavored crackers, which will be perfect with your dips.

Muster your creative talents and decorate each dish with colorful items like napkins, candles, a Christmassy table-cloth–it’s easy to just buy a length of cloth and have a tablecloth made to the size of your table–and you are ready to surprise one and all with a meal everyone will enjoy.

This spread, which will serve a family from 8 to 10 people, will cost no more than P4,000–a reasonable price for a delicious blend of varied tastes and flavors.

Our sources: Recipes from The Private Kitchen and various cookbooks; Magnolia chicken, 1.6 kgs from Rustan’s Makati; Focaccia Bread from Baker Brothers, BF Homes; fresh sorrel, sage and capsicums from Shopwise Alabang; ground beef from Price Smart Alabang; Salmon from Cold Storage; glazed fruits from Killion in Quiapo; Matamis na Macapuno from Conti’s in BF Homes Parañaque; Leche Flan from Rosario’s in Quezon City and fresh fruits from Dizon Farms .

Have a very Merry and blessed Christmas!

Egyptian Rice and Lentils

Ingredients:
1 cup brown or green lentils
2 large onions, one chopped, the other cut in half circles
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup rice
salt and pepper
Parsley (for garnishing)

Procedure:

• Wash the lentils, drain and cook until just tender.

• Drain lentils when done, drain and set aside.

• Heat half of the olive oil and sauté chopped onions.

• Add the drained lentils, salt and pepper and spices.

• Add the rice and equal amount of water.

• Mix and simmer until rice is done.

• Fry the onion half rings in the remaining olive oil. Mix in with the rice and serve, garnished with parsley.

Salmon Steak with Sorrel

Ingredients:
2 pcs. salmon steak
2 tbsps. olive oil
2 pcs. shallots
1 tbsp. dried onion
1 small can cream
3 oz. sorrel leaves, wash and pat dry
Fresh sage for garnish

Procedure:

• Season salmon steaks with salt and pepper; set aside.

• In a large pan, sauté shallots and dried onions in half the olive oil.

• Add the cream and sorrel and cook until the leaves are a bit limp.

• In a separate pan, fry salmon steaks in the remaining olive oil, turning it only once.

• When done, transfer to a serving plate and pour sauce, garnishing with fresh sage.

Egyptian Moussaka

Ingredients:
1 kilo ground beef
1 big onion, chopped
2 tsps. each of dried thyme, sage, margoram, basil, rosemary
1 can tomato sauce
salt and pepper
1 block cream cheese
3 tbsp. grated mozzarella cheese
cooking oil
6 eggplants, each cut lengthwise and fried

Procedure:

• Heat oil, then sauté onions.

• Add ground beef, salt and pepper.

• Cover and let cook for a while.

• Add tomato sauce and the spices. Mix well and let simmer.

• Add cream cheese. Mix well.

• Let cook until liquid is reduced. Set aside.

• Prepare pyrex for baking. Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees centigrade.

• Put a bit of the sauce at the bottom of the pyrex.

• Arrange half of the fried eggplants.

• Pour the rest of the sauce mixture.

• Top with the rest of the eggplant.

• Run a knife on each piece of eggplant without cutting through.

• Sprinkle with the mozzarella cheese and bake for about 5 minutes.

Blended Capsicum with Bagoong

Ingredients:
2 pcs. capsicums–yellow, red and green, roasted with seeds taken out, sliced thin and long

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. bagoong isda
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tsp. white wine
Nuts–preferably cashew (crushed)

Procedure:

• Place capsicums in a deep bowl, set aside.

• Mix all ingredients for dressing.

• Pour over capsicums.

Focaccia-Stuffed Roast Chicken

Ingredients:
1 chicken (at least 1.5 kgs raw weight)
2 pcs. focaccia bread, cut into cubes
half a lemon
salt and pepper
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tbsp. chopped parsley
2 tbsp. butter or mar-garine

Procedure:

• Clean and drain chicken. Let drip.

• Rub chicken with lemon and salt and pepper. Set aside (can be prepared the night before and kept in refrigerator).

• Pre-heat oven to 220 degrees centigrade.

• In a sauce pan, heat butter or magarine and sauté onions until trans-parent.

• Add focaccia bread, rosemary and parsley. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes, mixing very well.

• When bread mixture is cool, stuff chicken, even the neck.

• Cook in the oven for at least an hour, checking doneness after about 45 minutes.

• Turn once. Cover throat and bottom with aluminum foil to avoid burning.