Tilapia in Coco-Pesto

We concocted this recipe for tilapia belly which we got recently from one of the weekend markets in Makati. We call the dish Tilapia in Coco-Pesto sauce. You can also use medium size lapu-lapu. Take approximately a kilo of fish, clean, pat dry with paper towel, then lightly season with salt and pepper, and the juice of half a lemon. Julienne a knob of ginger, cut one medium red onion. Have ready one tablespoon of Pesto Paste (available among the Thai spices and condiments in many supermarkets), one half cup coconut cream and wash two finger chilis (use the small red ones if you want it more spicy). In heated oil, fry fish, set aside. In the same oil, sauté the ginger and onion. When the latter turns transparent, add the pesto paste and mix well. Lay the fish on the pan and pour the coco cream over it and add the chilis. Continue to cook until the cream thickens, basting the top of the fish occasionally. Turn once to seal the flavor on both sides. Serve at once with this soup suggestion. Make a broth of some leftover chicken bones. In little oil, sauté garlic and onions, pour in the broth., then add equal amount of evaporated milk, stir. Add fresh or dried sweet basil, ground pepper and a pinch of salt. Let simmer for a while. Both are refreshingly great!

We diverted one day from the usual supermarket we go to and went to the back of the Filinvest Mall to Save More, a member of the SM chain. We are pleased to report that the staff has become more gracious and accommodating and, most of all, a lot of them know their inventory, therefore are ready to tell shoppers where specific items items are. Generally the items are priced a little bit lower than in their counterpart stores. Country style pork barbecue sells for P177 a kilo, so does the Korean. Again we got some Monterey lamb tapa and Magnolia chicken (this is about the only store where they come weighing more than 1.3 kilos). We were delighted to find Kikkoman tempura sauce for P169 a bottle and teriyako baste and glaze at P74.50 each. When in a rush and if you have a couple of chops or steaks, marinate them in the latter and throw on your grill.

We had a brief stop at Market! Market! mid-week and noticed quite a few additions (in eateries) on the highway side of the fresh market. As usual we got our mangoes from Pelican (P70 a kilo) and mangosteen (P80) and some other fruits–the naturally ripened Gold Honey pineapples (so sweet), Nenita pomelos plus native Ilocos garlic from Dizon Farms. There is a bread kart called Tinapayan Festival and our sibling always gets some of their specialties. We particularly like the potato bread and the macapuno-ube blend.

Catch what the Scholasticians call The Ultimate Foodie Bazaar, the Gourmet Food Fair set on Sunday, 1 September, at San Antonio church in Forbes Park from 9 a.m. From the roster of participants we can predict a good mix of merchandise from food, linens and tableware, even plants and one-of-a-kind items. It promises to be a whole day activity, with cooking demonstrations, massages, a café. This is being held by the St. Scholastica’s Alumnae Foundation Inc. together with the High School Class ’74 to fund their outreach program and scholarships for children of Scholasticians. It is not too late to reserve a booth should one have goods to sell. Call Gigi at 815-6393 or Marimi at 525-1177.

Hainanese chicken rice is one of our favorite dishes. We used to look forward to having an authentic interpretation of this Singaporean specialty at the Sheraton hotel in Hongkong. Today we need not travel far. Westin Philippine Plaza’s coffee shop offers this and we must say it deserves almost a 10. MYLK stands for My Little Kitchen in Greenbelt 3. Some friends took us there one day and happily we discovered another place for well-cooked meals. The Mediterranean lamb stew was perfect, the meat was tender and the tomato-herb based sauce was very flavorful.

We remember dining in Macau and enjoying the chicken specialty. The Macau Government Tourist office brought in three Macanese chefs from the Macau Institute of Tourism Studies to the Shangri-la Edsa. We will write about it next week.

Speaking of restaurants we would like to commend Jovita Manalo, who owns Algero’s restaurant beside the Ateneo de Naga church. We arrived in Naga hungry after a 9-hour trip and hers was the place we anxiously entered. She had just closed her books for the day but one look at us and she graciously went back to her kitchen to prepare a good meal of sisig, sizzling pusit and breaded lapu-lapu fillet. The following day, she opened one hour earlier to accommodate us for breakfast. That was service par excellence!

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