Blackened Tuna

As I Flip through the pages of our old culinary magazines, I was able to read this recipe, and because we have a pack of cumin that wasn't opened yet (my sister bought it for a different recipe, but wasn't able to cook it anymore), I decided to use the recipe when brother bought some tuna steaks. This recipe was taken from the Vol. 2 No. 1 issue of Foodie Magazine.




Blackened Tuna
{Serves 2}

Ingredients:

• 1/4 kilogram tuna
• seafood rub
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• fresh herbs for garnish

Ingredients for Seafood Rub:

• 1/2 teaspoon dried ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons spanish paprika
• 1/2 tablespoon iodized salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

How to Cook:

• Pat the seafood rub all over the fish.
• Over high heat, sear fish in a pan coated with vegetable oil, about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until cooked through.
• Serve with a garnish of fresh herbs.

At first I was apprehensive about this recipe. That is just way too much spices, and I really felt cumin might not be delicious because of its smell (I always tell cumin smelled like pencil shavings). Still, I wanted to explore the many ways to enjoy food. I cooked this using my brother's griddle, but I wasn't able to get much of the crisscross markings I wanted because I was fearing I might burn it. Talk about being a newbie in using the griddle! Hahahahaha.

Anyway, I cooked two tuna steak cuts, one for me, one for my brother. He was still sleeping when I finished cooking, so I was alone for that lunch. Tasting the fish, I was instantly blown away. It was so delicious! The blend of all the spices just went well with the tuna, and it tasted good with freshly squeezed lemon juice, too. I opted to eat this alone (without rice), although as a way of indulging myself, I made an aioli sauce (mayo with minced garlic) to dip the fish in.

I liked it so much that I wasn't able to resist the temptation of eating some of my brother's share. I did apologize when he saw his tuna steak missing some, and of course he understood it. As usual, he didn't say anything about the taste... but me seeing him mixing the spices and using it with tuna steaks and chicken breast fillet on two separate occasions, I could really say he loved it, too.

In a forum, one member said, "Cumin is an underrated spice," after I made a comment that our pantry has lots of bottled dried herbs and spices, but we still haven't used cumin because of its smell. Now I can understand him. Cumin really is underrated. Thanks to this recipe, I have found a new way to enjoy tuna.

*** Jenn ***

Iligan's Pride

Continuing with brother's pasalubong from Cagayan de Oro... the last for this series.

It was in the early 1930s when Ramon Tan Chingto and Lim Kim Tua left China to do business in Iligan. They would sell peanuts and candles, and some decades after, the business was inherited by Isidra "Cheding" Tan, the couple's daughter-in-law. At first they would just sell toasted peanuts in movie houses, and from there it expanded into what it is now. Dubbed as "The Pride of Iligan," Cheding's products are sold not only in Iligan, but in nearby provinces, and is also available in the US as well.

Some products brother took home:


Cheding's Pinipig Polvoron. Nothing exceptional about this, but the taste is definitely something we all have come to love. Very milky and not too sweet, our family was able to consume this in no time. Be careful in eating though, as it tends to break very easily.




Cheding's Peanut Bars. Typical peanut brittle molded into bars, this is a notch higher than other peanut brittle products I've tasted because it had more peanuts and less sugar coating. It is quite difficult to bite, so do take your time in eating this. What we do here in the house is to place it in the fridge, and take it out while eating our meals, so the sugar would melt a bit in time for our desserts.


Cheding's Peanut Balls. Bite size peanut balls that tasted much, much better than the bars. I guess this one had honey in it (sorry, I forgot to check the ingredients list), because the sweetness was really different from the bars, and this had a deeper shade of brown compared to the other.


Cheding's Toasted Peanuts. The heart of Cheding's. I first got a taste of this peanuts in high school, when we had a field trip in Laguna. Back then, I thought this was a Laguna product, until brother took home a bag (well, it says "Iligan's Pride"). Truly different from every other loose peanuts I have eaten... I could compare it the Sung-Sung Peanuts, but this was much easier to much than the sung-sung, which tends to be really hard. It was slightly seasoned, too... but even if at first one could say it lacked taste, it still tasted delicious. Aside from eating it solo, I also love to use this kind of peanuts for dishes like the Kung Pao Chicken and Lumpiang Sariwa. The toasted peanuts come in different bag sizes, but brother usually takes home this one, the 1/4 kilo bag.

Aside from peanut products, Cheding's also has cashew nuts, barquiron, ampao, and tablea, which we will try when brother travels back to Cagayan de Oro next year (hopefully).

*** Jenn ***

Ice Cream Fellowship

Ice Cream House sa Lagro
Ascencion Road - Brgy. Greater Lagro, Quezon City
21 March 2010

* I already blogged about this before, but because I wanted to document each of my food trips,
here is the full story behind the food trip. *

I forgot to turn off the chat on my Facebook, so I was a bit surprised to receive a message from my friend and co-household member in SFC asking me if I am going to attend the CLP that weekend. She was happy when I said yes, because she was really looking forward to us (the whole household) to have a little fellowship, because it's been so long since we last saw each other.

Unfortunately, our household leader and two of our co-members weren't present. Still, Andre and I pushed through with the fellowship, and since she was craving for some ice cream, we took a jeep to Lagro to eat at Ice Cream House. I wasn't able to take a picture of the whole food place, but it wasn't that big - only a few tables and chairs, and that it didn't have any doors (it's a hole in a wall type) - which meant no airconditioning, too.

While it wasn't much of a problem with me, the very small space in between the tables was a bit of a hassle (especially for a big woman like me). As for the food choices, I initially wanted the tiramisu, but it was not available so asking what was available, I had this:


Oreo Flurry (p65). A plate of ice cream with a scoop each of chocolate, melon, and vanilla ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce, mini marshmallows, chocolate chip cookies, cherry, wafer stick, and half of the Oreo cookie sandwich. The vanilla and melon ice cream were quick to melt, but the chocolate one seemed to hold its shape quite longer. Like what I have said in my first post, the melon ice cream had a hint of saltiness, but it was okay. Among the three ice cream flavors, I loved the chocolate one the most, because it had a good mix of sweetness and bitterness. The vanilla one I think was a bit sweeter, but when eaten with the chocolate chips and marshmallows, the fusion of flavors was quite pleasant. I was a bit disappointed, though, that the Oreo cookie sandwich only had half of it. :(




Banana Split (p85). Andre's choice. Just like my dessert, hers also had a scoop each of melon, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream. Having a sweet tooth, she was able to finish her dessert in a few minutes!

Aside from delicious ice cream desserts, they also had ice cream in different flavors and different tub sizes. They have their own ice cream line, and because their ice cream is very affordable, it was really great to see parents with low income jobs (construction workers and factory workers to name a few) able to bring home some ice cream for their kids. I was able to see one mother treat her son with an ice drop, and the smile on the kid's face was priceless.

To cut the sweetness in our foods, Andre and I also had their pizza. We just opted for their solo size, which was about the size of a regular saucer. It wasn't over the top delicious, but the crust was so soft and it was a joy to eat. Although, for 30+ pesos, I found it a little bit expensive, considering that it was quite small.

There are a lot of Ice Cream Houses all over... but if you're near Lagro and would like to eat some good, affordable, and nicely plated desserts, Ice Cream House sa Lagro is located along Ascencion Road. To get there, just walk the street in between the new Goldilocks kiosk and Chooks to Go. The Ice Cream House is on the left side of the road.

*** Jenn ***