Chicken Adobo...

Adobo is the quintessential Filipino dish.  If you know anything about Filipino food, there are two dishes that come to mind, (1) adobo and (2) lumpia.  So, for this week’s Sunday dinner and this week’s “leftover” meal, adobo it is.

So what is adobo?  Adobo is meat or seafood that has been stewed in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and bay leaves.  Adobo can be made out of anything under the sun; fish, pork, beef, or chicken.  It can be on the drier side, it can be more saucy.  It just all depends on what you’ve grown up with.  My version is saucy and made with chicken thighs.

So how is it made?  Here we go…

1 package of chicken parts (I used thighs)

1 large onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

4-5 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tbsp. pepper

equal parts soy sauce, vinegar, and water

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp. of vegetable oil

Black Pepper and Bay Leaves

Shallots, Garlic, and Onions

Vinegar and Soy Sauce

Chicken Thighs

Let’s talk about why I’ve put shallots in the adobo.  Shallots are not classically used in adobo, and neither are onions for that matter, but I feel like adobo is one of those versatile dishes that you can add or subtract certain flavors as long as your base is the same (the soy sauce, vinegar, and water).

In your largest pot, sauté your onions and shallots until they are translucent.

Shallots and Onions Sauteeing

 Then arrange your chicken parts in the bottom of the pan, skin side down, and attempt to get a decent browning on the skin.  Add in your pepper.

Then add all of your liquids and make sure that all of your chicken parts are in the liquid.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.  Add your garlic and bay leaves… then simmer for another 45 minutes.

Simmering Adobo

Once all of your chicken is cooked, meal is ready!  Just cook up a pot of rice, defrost your favorite vegetables and you have dinner made!  And I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t like adobo chicken.  Try this one out on your family… It’s even better the next day!

Adobo done!!!

Adobo, Rice and Veggies

Let's DIG IN!!!!

Onwards and upwards,

-Vince

P.S.  YOU FINALLY GOT A FILIPINO DISH!!!! BWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

A Grocery Shopping Trip

So, E and I have been back from the San Francisco Bay area for about a week now.  But this entire week, we’ve been eating all things frozen, delivered, and “taken-out”.  It was about that time to go grocery shopping.

A little back-story about my first grocery shopping experience… I moved out of my parent’s house at 22 years old and immediately moved in with my brother in Oakland, California.  A few months later, I moved into a place of my own (with a couple of roommates of course).  I never did the grocery shopping when I lived with my parents, and my brother did a great job of teaching me the basics.  Although there was a Safeway not too far away, I discovered Trader Joes… the place where my culinary experiences began.  I walked into the store in awe, that it was so small, but had everything that I could’ve needed.  Unlike other large-scale grocery stores, Trader Joes always felt like a warm hug; non-intimidating, and welcomed me with open arms.

TRADER JOES!!!!

Back to present day.  There isn’t ONE Trader Joes close to our place.  So I either drive to Annapolis, MD or Alexandria, VA to go grocery shopping.  Don’t judge me, it is just where I am comfortable.  (Even though I am doing more of the every day shopping at Wegmans… hehehehehehe).  So I drove out to Annapolis this morning, and walked into Trader Joes with my reusable bags so that I could stock our fridge, freezer and cupboards with food. 

What was on the shopping list, you ask?  Better yet… you should be asking… what “wasn’t” on the shopping list.  I feel like every time I walk into Trader Joes, I walk out with a TON of food.  Everything from eggs and cheese, fresh salad mixes and chicken breasts to frozen veggies and juice.  I tend to keep a lot of things in the freezer and cook from what is in stock.

What made this particular shopping trip “a trip” was that, as I entered the line with my FULL cart, the person behind me in line said something to the effect of “wow, you must be feeding an entire family.”  I had to break down and tell them, “Nope, not at all, it’s just my partner and I in the house, but I only do big shopping once every month and a half.”  The lady looked at me in awe.

As the “Crew Member” (what Trader Joes calls their employees) started to ring me up, he said… “Gosh, this has got to be at least $200 worth of food.”  I looked at him and simply smiled.  As he rang up the last item, the bill came in at $126.  BOOO YA!!!!  He had to call over another crew member and show her my bill.  She sat in awe of my bill… the fact that I rolled out with tilapia fillets, ground turkey, drumsticks, a TON of frozen veggies, 4 bottles of juice, and a bunch of fresh things made her jaw drop.  She says to me “I’ve never seen ANYONE walk out of this store with this amount of food for that amount of money.  You must be a power shopper.”  I flashed the pearly whites and said, “I never spend more than $130 dollars here, ever.”

I write this to say, you can eat well and healthfully, for fairly inexpensively.  Do the math for you and your family… and see how you can take advantage of the savings… and the flavors…

Onwards and Upwards,

-Vince

Gourmet Food Trucks

 As a Washington D.C. Native (yes, Filipinos live here too… ), growing up with the dirty water hotdog/pizza/ egg roll vendors along Constitution Avenue is a long cry from what we see today riding the streets; the GOURMET FOOD TRUCKS!  You can get everything from Korean Food to New England Lobster Rolls.  In D.C., all of the gourmet food trucks can be found downtown along K Street and the surround area, catering mostly to the D.C. office worker.  But alas, as you’ve seen in previous posts, I work in Georgetown, an exclusive area that is known for their boutique shops and white tablecloth restaurants.  Needless to say, I’ve never been to a gourmet food truck in D.C.

But while attending a wedding celebration in Oakland, CA, I got to experience my very first food truck.  Even better… it was a FILIPINO FUSION FOOD TRUCK!  So let’s get to it!

Firstly, how does one find the food truck of choice?  I mean… it’s a truck… it moves around the city… so how do you know where it is going to be located at any given moment?  In the age of the Internet, specifically Facebook and Twitter, all you have to do is subscribe to your favorite food truck, and the proprietors will let you know via postings on Facebook or Tweets on Twitter.  WHOO HOO!

So, lets get back to my food truck experience.  Señor Sisig (Check out Senior Sisig) is a Filipino Fusion food truck that takes sisig (a Filipino dish made that is usually made from parts of pig's heads and liver, seasoned with calamansi and chili peppers, cooked and served in a cast iron pan) and mixes it with tacos or burritos!  AMAZING!  Ok… the classic version of sisig may not sound good to everyone, but its classically eaten while drinking alcohol… so just about anything is good!  But to please everyone’s palates, Señior Sisig makes a pork version, a chicken version, and a tofu version for you Veg heads!  Man… so good!

So on the night of the Wedding Celebration, Señior Sisig was right out front of the venue.   

PERFECT drinking food!  I walk up to the window and order beef sisig with rice, atchara (pickled unripe papaya) and a fried egg on top (better known in the Filipino community as being siloged).  Needless to say, that lil bit of food got TORN DOWN.  The beef was perfectly cooked, flavorfully seasoned bringing you that hint of umami or savoriness.  The egg was perfectly fried, the broken yolk creating a fatty sauce to cover the rice.  The atchara rounded out the entire meal, giving you the acid to cut the richness of the rest of the plate.  Perfect in my eyes.

You could also get a side of lumpia shanghai, the Filipino style eggrolls with no frills, just meat filled rice paper, deep fried to a precise crispness and dipped in a sweet and spicy sauce.  GOOD GRIEF!  JUST THINKING ABOUT IT JUST MAKES ME WANT SOME RIGHT NOW!

Peep this menu!!!!

I write this for you to explore your local food trucks… you may be pleasantly surprised at what you find.  You can try foods foreign to your palate for cheap and can help you expand your food horizons.

Onward and upwards,

-Vince

Your Local Farmer's Market

I know, I know, I know… this is oh so Californian of me (and for those who know me personally, I do know that I am from Maryland, so SUE ME!  LOL)… but there is something to be said for checking out your local Farmer’s Market.  They can be amazing places: the farmers that bring their produce to the location can give you great recipes to make that include the goods that they have.  You can even find artisan bakers that take pride in bringing you the perfect cheese roll or sourdough bread.  Or even better, merchants that import free trade coffee.

Very recently, my partner and I went to check out the The Greenbelt Farmer's Market.  We hadn’t been to a real farmer’s market since we lived in California, so we were really excited to check out what this one was like.  All kinds of questions entered our head; would the produce be as fresh as we found on the West Coast?  Would the farmers be as informative?  What other kinds of products were going to be offered there?  Well… we decided to explore.

As soon as we walked into the parking lot of the Roosevelt Center in Historical Greenbelt, we were met with the smile of those who enjoy being outside and the fresh smells of produce.  We made one walk around the market to check out what each vendor offered.  We were so surprised to find a plethora of goods; everything from fresh beef, vibrant red and green peppers, spring onions, and baked goods such as croissants and ham rolls.  I can only speak for myself on this one, but as the Filipino Foodie, I was in HEAVEN.  

So we made our decisions and left one vendor with a bag full of peppers, onions, summer squash and zucchini, and a pint of tomatoes.   

We walked around again and hit the baked goods vendor.  We left there with a bag with 2 blueberry scones and 2 cheese rolls.  The smell of the baked goods was DIVINE.  

 As we exited, we noticed the fruit vendor, who had the most ridiculous summer peaches that Maryland had to offer.

There is one thing to remember about Farmer’s Markets.  Most farmers that sell their produce at these markets sell ORGANIC goods.  This means that the produce is not treated with pesticides and growth hormones that most grocery store grade produce is treated with.  So don’t expect “perfect” produce… its going to have some dents and things in it.  But it’s ALL NATURAL!  So it’s just better to go that route!  Just think, everything that is put on the produce to make it “perfect” goes right into your body.

So grab your reusable bag… and get to your local farmer’s market!  Support your local farmers… it’s worth it.

Festival Foods… The Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Washington D.C. is a great spot for festivals.  You can have anything from your common traveling carnival to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.  The Folklife Festival is a yearly event that exhibits different cultures from around the world.  So, along with learning how Columbians weave baskets or how the Peace Corp goes to developing countries to teach their people to “make something out of nothing”; essentially using the things around them like bicycles to charge cell phones, there is GREAT food to be had!

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival 

This year’s Folklife festival featured different types of foods; from Columbian, American Barbecue, and Southeast Asian Food.  Of course, my partner and I came to the festival with our stomachs ready to try some different foods.  With the heat blaring, we headed over to the Southeast Asian tent.  

 Menu for the Southeast Asian Food

After perusing the menu of what was being offered, E and I settled on a couple of different dishes.  He went with a chicken marinated in Lemon Grass with some fluffy Jasmine Rice, while I went with the pad thai, a Thai noodle dish that incorporates fresh vegetables, rice noodles, and tofu.  The food was great and had us prepared to take on the rest of the festival.

 Pad Thai Noodles

 Minced Chicken

Festivals like this are important and fun… they allow you to try a variety of foods for fairly cheap.  They also showcase different cultures that you would not normally be in contact with.  Check out how the Columbians smoke meats!

 Smoking Meats

In the case of the Folklife festival, a portion of the proceeds support the Smithsonian Institution.  When there’s a festival in town… check it out!

Onward and Upwards,

-Vince

Differences in "same" foods...

I was talking to my mother a few days ago and we got to discussing the differences in adobo (Filipino Stewed Chicken... recipe to come in another post) dependent on what region of the Philippines you are from.  Some people go very basic, incorporating the simple flavors of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and peppercorns, while some folk add onions and coconut milk.  But why is everyone's adobo so different?  I mean, really, does it just depend on where you live or what you grew up with?

This is my theory.  As someone who cooks on a regular basis, how one makes certain dishes is a matter of taste.  Growing up, my mother NEVER put bay leaves and onions in her adobo, while I put both!  There is something to be said for that hint of bay in the background.  I've also come in to contact with folk who like their adobo really dry, while people like me don't think its adobo without the salty and sour sauce that goes on top of the rice.

What about the controversy of using Velveeta in Mac and Cheese?  Do you use Velveeta?  How much do you use?  When I first started making Mac and Cheese, I never thought it was ok to add Velveeta to the cheese sauce.  But as I started to perfect my recipe, I started using Velveeta.  It adds a great texture.  Yeah... make fun of me if you want... I know I'm the Filipino Foodie and all... but DUDE!  VELVEETA HAS ITS PLACE!  lol...

I write this blog to say... just because your Mom made things a certain way... or that the "family recipe" says to use real parmeasan cheese versus the green bottle stuff... do what works best for you.  That's the beauty of cooking; not everyone has to do things the exact same way.  Experiment... make mistakes... and just have a good time in the kitchen.

Onward and upward,

-Vince