Rainy Sunday Cooking Experiments

I just posted yesterday on my FB wall that I have three food cravings in no particular order: Spaghetti of Mang Recto, Chicken Asparagus Sandwich and Kare Kare.  I am two out of three today.

I called my neighbor, Tita Amor Jalandoni, this morning to ask her how to make Chicken Asparagus sandwich.  One time we had a meeting and she brought the delicious sandwiches!  Her secret is the canned green asparagus.  It was out of stock in Landmark Supermarket, Makati, I called the Trinoma branch and they still have.  I was about to go all the way to Quezon City just to get one can of asparagus!  Good thing I called up SM Makati and they had ONE can left.  The canned white asparagus is too fibrous for me.

I was so happy when I held the can in my hands!!!



A friend suggested that fresh tastes better than canned, so I also bought a bunch of fresh asparagus for comparison.

Chicken Asparagus Sandwich shared by Amor Jalandoni

1 chicken breast, boiled and flaked
1 egg, boiled and mashed
chopped pickles
chopped onions
1/2 C. mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste
canned green asparagus

With canned asparagus





With fresh asparagus





The sandwich with the fresh asparagus looks more colorful but the one with the canned asparagus tastes better.  So it is hard to decide which one I will eat again.  But if you are on a budget, go with the fresh.

I also made vegetable soup.  Mona said I should add milk but what I did not know was I should have added it at the last minute of cooking! The milk curdled in my soup!



I just used all the vegetables I found here at home: carrots, celery, red pepper, canned corn, cabbage and green beans.

Mang Recto is a guy who used to cook very good spaghetti in Palm Village.   My classmates and I would always buy from him after school and sometimes during lunch break.  What was mind boggling to me was that the taste was very simple, the color quite anemic and yet .... I can not imagine how he cooked it!!!  I know there was red pepper and Old English Sauce.  I will try and try until I succeed.

I experimented today, used my Sweet Spaghetti sauce recipe. http://liasfoodjourney.blogspot.com/2010/03/ben-10-party-of-renzo.html



It did not turn out the way I expected!  I just substituted red pepper with green pepper.  I will do better next time.  Nothing wrong with the spaghetti I cooked today, it just was not the taste I was looking for.

Next item on my cravings list: Kare Kare ... soon... this week ... I already bought the tripe .... it means it is really very, very soon ... I just need to buy the ox feet and the ox tail.  I do not use mixes nor peanut butter.  I use raw peanuts, roast it in the oven and grind them to paste.  I  can not wait to cook Kare Kare!!!!