The Best of Lolo Dad's at The Maya Kitchen

June is not just a month for weddings, it is also a month for the fathers, and one Saturday morning at The Maya Kitchen, Chef Ariel Manuel of Lolo Dad's graced the kitchen to share some of the best dishes served at his restaurant. The theme was about "Simplicity of Flavors," but if you are familiar with Chef Ariel Manuel and / or Lolo Dad's, you know there is nothing simple about the flavors they serve. It was unfortunate, though, that I wasn't able to attend the event, but The Maya Kitchen did send me images from the event, as well as the recipe for each of the dishes.

Before I share one recipe, let me just share to you the other dishes Chef Ariel Manuel prepared for the event:

Mediterranean Duck Rice

Mixed Fruits with Vanilla Ice Cream, Rock Salt, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Romaine Caesar Salad

Salmon Sardine with Fresh Garlic Crouton

Shellfish Open Lasagne

and the White Onion Soup, with the recipe below... simply because it's been raining most days and it is just comforting to slurp piping hot soup during bed weather days.

White Onion Soup

Ingredients:
Butter (unsalted) 200 g.
White onions (sliced) 2 big pcs.
Garlic cloves (chopped) 2 cloves
Bay leaves 2 pcs.
Fresh thyme 2 sprigs
Salt and pepper to taste
Beef stock 1 liter
Bread sticks 4 pcs.
Gruyere cheese (sliced) 300 g.
Red wine 300 ml.

Method:
Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are very soft and caramelized for about 25 minutes. Deglaze it with wine and reduce until the wine has evaporated and the onions are dry, about 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Add the beef broth, bring the soup back to a boil, and cook for another 10 minutes. Using a hand blender, blend the soup just until you get a rough and thick texture. Adjust to taste, with salt and pepper.

When ready to serve, preheat the broiler. Arrange the bread sticks on a baking sheet and put the Gruyere cheese on top, then broil until it bubbly melts.

Ladle the soup in bowls and put a Gruyere crouton on top of each soup.

Yield: 4 – 6 servings

***

For more information about this event and past events at The Maya Kitchen, please check their website - www.themayakitchen.com or message them thru e-mail (contactus@themayakitchen.com).

Thank you The Maya Kitchen for the images and recipes.


*** Jenn ***

Chef Patrice Freulson at The Maya Kitchen

It felt really good to be back inside The Maya Kitchen, as it was another chance for me to learn and discover new things about food. For the month of May, the guest chef is none other than Chef Patrice Freuslon, owner of the Society Lounge.



Chef Patrice was born in France. He studied Culinary Pastry in The Gaston Lenotre School, Taillevant, Fauchon, Ritz. He was given a Rated A, the highest rate for a chef, by the Gault et Miliau, the best food guide magazine in France.

He has served as Executive Chef in Le Berlioz in Grenoble, France as well as on board the renowned cruise ship Maxim’s de Mers. There was also a stint as Executive Pastry Chef in Hotel Hyatt Regency in Houston, Texas as well as successful collaborations in Lebanon and the Middle East.

Chef Patrice describes his cuisine as a ‘passion, a modern labor of love’ as he skillfully combines the flavors of Asian ingredients with French technique.

For this featured class, he prepared five dishes:

Ramen Craze Plus at The Maya Kitchen

Japanese food is something I am not widely familiar of, but is something I want to explore more as there are only a few Japanese dishes I know of. When I found out that The Maya Kitchen is going Japanese for the month of February, I was very excited to tell my mom about it as my mom has been my classmate for the featured class at The Maya Kitchen since she first attended.


Our teacher for the Ramen Craze Plus class was Chef Seiji Kamura, who has written two Japanese cookbooks with The Maya Kitchen, and has been teaching Japanese cooking. For this class, we were taught four Japanese noodle dishes:


Hiyashi Chuka, a cold noodle dish, perfect to be eaten during summer. Topping the bed of noodles are Japanese cucumber (which I learned is a great kind of cucumber as it has less seeds compared the locally grown cucumbers), crab sticks, crepe egg, wakame, and chasu (pork belly seared in little oil and boiled in shoyu base). It also has a dressing made from soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and Ichiban.

The dressing was very flavorful and the combination of the noodles, pork, and cucumbers was amazing! It was my first time to taste wakame and I really loved it!


Yakisoba, which I dubbed as Japanese pancit canton, but tasted very different (of course) because of the ingredients used.


Miso Ramen, which had a very intense miso flavor as the base used had a combination of black and white miso. Personally, I am not a big fan of miso, but the ramen was very hearty and comforting.


Shoyu Ramen, my favorite of all the dishes prepared because the soup base was thinner than the Miso Ramen, and also because it had wakame, egg, and big slices of Chashu (yum yum).

Aside from making the noodle dishes, we were also taught how to make the soup base and other secrets to Japanese cooking, allowing us to make our own at home. I realized preparing the dishes weren't as challenging as I thought it would be, but sourcing the ingredients will be the most difficult part.

I am still learning how to fully appreciate Japanese food, but slowly I am getting there.

Slurp Some Ramen at The Maya Kitchen This Saturday

Hello, hello!

It's been more than a month of no updates here on the blog, and I apologize for that. My netbook has gone bonkers, and I find it really difficult to update the blog using my phone as doing so drains the battery very easily (and it was difficult to tap the letters one by one as well). Right now, my sister is letting me use her netbook - provided my mom isn't using it. Hopefully, I can have that chance to use this gadget even for a few hours everyday so I can update all the blogs, that are now gathering cobwebs. :)

Anyway, weather lately has been weird - the other day it was super hot, and yesterday it was fairly cool. Regardless the temperature, a slurp of broth is always a comfort, and this Saturday, The Maya Kitchen is going to have a Ramen Craze Plus, as Japanese master chef Seiji Kamura will share his tips and secrets in creating wonderful ramen and other dishes like:

Miso Ramen, a chicken or pork broth with miso, lard and sesame for a thick, sweet and hearty soup. The thick, curly noodles are topped with spicy bean paste, butter and corn, leeks, onions, bean sprouts, ground pork, cabbage, sesame seeds, white pepper and chopped garlic.

Hiyashi Chuka, cold noodles served with thin omelette strips, boiled chicken, cucumber, boiled bean sprouts, tomatoes and pickled red ginger and wakame seaweeds.

Chachu or Japanese asado is tender, slow-cooked, marinated, stewed pork belly that can be served many ways. Chef Kamura will pepare Chachu Salad with Sesame Dressing.

Tonkatsu, pork cutlet breaded and deep fried until golden brown. Katsudon is the familiar rice bowl with panko coated pork cutlets with a sweet, savory sauce.

Chef Seiji Kamura has made the Philippines his home. He is regarded with high esteem in the local culinary scene and has been cookbook author, culinary consultant and chef demonstrator. He has penned two cookbooks with The Maya Kitchen entitled Japanese Cookbook for Filipino and Secrets of Japanese Cooking. He attended the Tokyo Cooking Academy and trained in Lyons, France.

To be a part of this event happening this Saturday - 15 February 2014 (9am - 1pm), contact The Maya Kitchen -  8921185 / 892-5011 local 108 / Mobile No. +63947 835 2290, or e-mail them - contactus@themayakitchen.com. You may also drop by The Maya Kitchen Culinary Center, located at the 8F Liberty Building, 835 A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road), Makati City.

For more information on other courses offerings, log on to www.themayakitchen.com.

Media Noche Memories at The Maya Kitchen

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.

The Maya Kitchen Features "Breaking Bread With Our Heroes"

The Maya Kitchen gave Filipino cuisine another spotlight as it featured "Breaking Bread With Our Heroes" cooking demo last 26 October 2013.


"Breaking Bread With Our Heroes" was a culinary event Ilustrado Restaurant had in cooperation with the National Museum. It aimed to showcase different dishes in relation to certain Filipino heroes, and a few years after, these dishes are passed on to those who attended the event. Now, it's my turn to pass on this knowledge to you, my dear readers.

For this featured class, four dishes from the said event were demoed, but the people behind Ilustrado Restaurant, headed by its president - Mr. Boni Pimentel, also shared two dishes from the restaurant. Here were the dishes:


Umbuyan
A dish that traces its origin from Tondo, Manila where the hero Andres Bonifacio hailed from. Back then, that part of Manila was still known for its smoked fish, which was the main ingredient for this dish. Flaked smoked fish wrapped in Pechay leaves and drizzled with olive oil was a good appetizer, although I found it a little salty. Maybe it needed to be paired with steamed rice to mellow the saltiness, but it was a very easy dish to do that my mom and I wanted to try it one time at home. We just have to find a not so salty smoked fish or maybe add a little something to tame that sodium level a little.


Bagnet with KBL
A very famous Ilocano dish for the sons of Ilocos, Juan and Antonio Luna. Not for the weak of heart as this was a cholesterol rich food, but even if the process of making this was a little tedious (from boiling to baking to frying), it was still very delicious! In Ilocos, the best partner for this would be the KBL or the Kamatis - Bagoong - Lasona (tomatoes, fish paste, shallots), but it was made better with the addition of minced ginger.


Manok ng Mga Bayani
A dish that was said to be served in one of the events hosted by the former Philippine President, Manuel L. Quezon. A very interesting dish because it tasted like a cross between Kare Kare (because of the toasted peanuts and rice) and Adobo (because of the tangy flavor brought by the Kamias or Bilimbi). So delicious and so tasty!


Halayang Bayabas
A dish inspired by the National Hero, Jose Rizal because of the abundance of guava in his hometown. Tasted a little bit like guava jam, but made creamy because of the milk. A simple way to end a historic dining experience.

Like I said, Mr. Boni Pimentel and his team also shared two dishes from Ilustrado Restaurant:


Paella Ilustrado
I love fried rice, but I admit I am not a fan of flavored rice, Paella included. However, there was something in this dish that made me like it - rice not resembling the texture of the suman. I truly don't like mushy flavored rice, but since this one wasn't mushy, I quite enjoyed eating it.


Sampaguita Ice Cream
As a treat to the people who attended the event, we were all served Sampaguita Ice Cream, one of the most unique ice cream flavors I have tried. The jasmine scent and flavor was prominent, but the ice cream's consistency and feel in the mouth was so awesome that it made me really thankful to have tasted such delight.

A country's history isn't just measured with the words from the books, or the pictures taken... it can also be seen through food. Thank you, The Maya Kitchen for making me a part of this event.