Last Saturday, my mom and I attended November's featured class - Media Noche Memories with Chef Fern Aracama at The Maya Kitchen. I first knew about Chef Fern from the culinary magazines then later on as a celebrity host/judge for the Philippine version of Master Chef. Aside from being a celebrity chef, Chef Fern is the man behind Aracama Filipino Cuisine and is also the culinary consultant for Philippine Airlines.
This event focuses on dishes one can serve for the upcoming holidays, and were inspired by dishes the chef grew up eating as well as those inspired by his travels.
Dishes prepared:
Malunggay and Cheese Dip
A signature appetizer at Aramaca Filipino Cuisine, this one was the local response to the well known Artichoke and Spinach Dip, using Malunggay or Moringa to replace the artichoke. A very, very easy dish to make and was mom's favorite from all the dish prepared. Will prepare this at home this week and share you the recipe on Friday.
Patatas Riojana
A dish inspired from Chef Fern's Spanish trip. Another simple and easy dish to make, but I found the broth a little too salty for my taste. The chorizo tasted great, by the way.
Grilled Ensaimada - Media Noche Style
The heartiest and the richest dish of the day... Ensaimada cut in half and turned inside out and filled with Chinese Ham, mustard, Quezo de Bola then pressed and grilled in a butter greased pan. The dish prepared for the photo shoot was a little burnt, but the dish served at the end of the event was grilled perfectly. I loved this one as it had a great balance of sweetness and saltiness.
Insalata Uva
To counter the richness of the Grilled Ensaimada, Chef Fern prepared Insalata Uva, a signature salad dish chef's old restaurant called Uva. I do love to eat salad, but I rarely prepare vinaigrette, so this was something I am thankful for. Means I can now include vinaigrette on my salad as well.
Bunuelos with Spiced Chocolate Dip
A dessert that was my favorite dish that day. It was like profiteroles, but this one's lightly crunchy on the outside and very soft and moist inside. At the demo, this was paired with a chocolate dip, but at the buffet, this was served with another dip - Dulce de Leche. The Spiced Chocolate Dip was great, but I personally loved the Dulce de Leche more.
With the Christmas coming around the corner, people are not only stressed with thinking which gifts to wrap, stress from thinking what to serve also wears us down. All these dishes were very easy to make and not only would these make the Christmas table look great, these were also great Christmas gifts to family and friends.
I am not sure if there will be a featured class this December... if there will be one, I will share details here on my blog as soon as possible.
I come from a family who loves cooking and eating. I never had any formal training in cooking and that I taught myself how to cook based on the handed down recipes, but I could say that I can cook good food. In 2008, I started documenting my food trips for my