Pulled Pork Sandwich Saskatchewan style

This pulled pork sandwich is awesome made by sous chef brett from Hotel saskatchewan. it was made from premium quality pork shoulder slow cooked until they get very tender and so juicy with lots of spices like local mustard, garlic, shallots mixed in Homemade Barbecue sauce.. You must try this one.

Shanghai rolls a.k.a Filipino spring rolls

It feels awesome when someone praises your job, give good compliments and asking you to have more specially when making food like this very fantastic filipino food springrolls. Yes its the pinoy's ultimate soul food and totally cocktail food.Its been a long time since i made this dish for a big party here in Canada until one day i have my cravings for it again. But this time i had share it to my canadian friends and turned out they very much like it. Maybe because i added some twist on and set the authenticity of this food aside. My objective why i had to share it because i'd like to introduce Filipino foods in a western territory and to make food in the form of fusion.  Normally, when making this food you have to get the very fine and fresh ingredients in the supermarket in order for your dish would come out perfectly or otherwise it will turn into crap. Filipino spring roll or lumpia  in filipino words is traditionally made of sauteed ground pork with some veggies then wrap in paper thin flour wrapper and then submerge in hot frying oil until crispy. It comes with the dipping sauce like spiced vinegar or the Thai chili.

 

 First, you will need a good mirepoix,small dice of carrots,celery,and sweet onion and at least a cup of dried cranberry but in the authentic springroll we usually put raisins instead of cranberry. I intended to do that to give this dish a sweet and tarty flavor.

Next is saute' mirepoix together with fresh ground pork in thick bottom skillet (cast iron skillet is good one if you have)at high heat. Saute them until the meats are no longer pink and the vegetables are barely tender. Season with some salt, fresh cracked pepper and a little sugar.

 

As i've said, i put some foreign ingredients in my springroll. I stirred a dollop of cottage cheese, sounds insane but it really did so good. Cottage cheese gives perfect salty and moist texture and tasted very nice with the pork. The cheese also plays as the finisher for the dish.  Well, in my opinion, I would like to accommodate western concept in my dish.  A fusion of western and Southeast Asian cuisine. I put this on top right after turning the heat off and they were done. I let the cheese melt and spread through the entire dish and then give a little stir.

 

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes. I let them sit for awhile to absorb all the flavor and let the excess juice absorb by the meat. The most important is when you are about to wrap the meat mixture into wrapper it will not ripped up. Cool completely is the best before wrapping.That's important and must not forget.

 

Place a wrapper sheet in a plate and put one and half scoop of mixture. Arrange in the center,fold the two sides and the bottom side, carefully roll tightly away from you.

( You can get nice wrapper at the Asian store or at the TNT supermarket close to Marlborough station North east.)

Wrap very tight! Ensure no holes on it otherwise it will burst when fry. Fry them in a shallow pan filled with canola oil or any neutral oils you have. A quarter of pan at least. Please do not fry springrolls in a very hot oil as the wrapper is easy to burn up. Take a 300F of heat will do make the rolls crispy and brown nicely. Fry them in a batch and do not over crowd in a pan.Too much in  a frying pan will tend oil to get cold and the spring rolls will get soggy or they might burst in a pan while frying it. So, please make enough room for each rolls.  

Serve with any dipping sauce you want but i would suggest to make your own sweet chili sauce. Its very easy to make. Just boil  a cup of red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup deep brown sugar or more just to taste and at least 2 tablespoon finely chopped red hot chilies. Boil and reduce to 3/4 cup or until the sauce thicken. Cool to room temperature and there you have it. Home made thai chili sauce. Quite easy!!!

Good Asian stuff

Have you heard about japanese sandwich? or have you tasted moss sandwich?? You won't believe what i've found at Asian supermarket at the North east- TnT supermarket. ( i have separate post for this wonderful supermarket so stay tuned ) Its a Nori moss sandwich.

Introducing Japanese moss sandwich wrapped in nori sheet. This sandwich has a very soft bun not crusty seasoned with japanese mayonnaise and highly season black moss. Moss is a fine seaweeds that has thin and thread like texture, The color takes on yellow to deep brown that resembles ground pork when it cooked. It cost only a $1.00 per piece. Not so bad for a better sandwich like this!! hahahahahha!!

Taro bun is  made from soft dough with yucca paste creamy fillings with some sea salt.So soft  and mild root flavor. It so easy to cook. just throw them in your basket steamer and gently steam for 10 minutes and you'll have a good snack on the mid day. A roughly $3.00 you'll get a 6 pieces in a bag. Pretty cheap!.

You can get them at the TNT Asian supermarket bakery section...

Mochi-glutinous japanese snack

Mochi is a Japanese snacks made in glutinous rice grind to fine paste and molded into ball shape. A traditional snack in japan and eaten year round specially new year. Mochi has a special fillings inside which represents the flavor. Most common fillings are red bean paste and green tea like shown in the picture, dusted by very fine caster sugar or sometimes coated with black sesame seeds, dessicated coconut or served plain


This lovely snack is extremely soft and a bit chewy. Mochi is fairly natural sweet with no artificial sweeteners added.There is a possibility to stick in between your teeth and into your upper jaw so i suggest to have a ready toothpick when eating this. I can compare this snack with the pinoy favorite snack called "PALITAW". Both are made with rice and has the same soft texture mild flavor. Mochi is like small golf size ball shape filled with rich fillings whereas palitaw is made with sticky rice shaped into half inch thick flat ball and cook in pot of boiling water until it float. ( indication that palitaw is already cooked )It has only three flavorings- sugar,toasted sesame seeds and fresh grated coconut.


Another version of mochi is sesame bean paste filling coated with black and white sesame seeds
Pretty much BUCHI but definitely not. I have never realize mochi is a great snack until i decided to buy one of the best kind,the green tea mochi. ooooohhh!!!! taste so good with smooth texture that pair nicely in my hot tea in the afternoon. For those who love rice in the their snack, this could be the best substitute to heavy rice soup or any other kind of sweets and danishes during mid day meal. You can buy Mochi in any Asian store/deli.Or in any Asian-Japanese shelves in dry supermarket. TRY it,,, I am pretty sure you'll love it,,,

Farfalle and Penne Bolognese baked with cheese

I love the idea of pasta being baked. Most likely with lots of assorted cheeses on top before putting into oven. oh man so so good with a thick tomato/pomodoro sauce or much loved meaty bolognaise sauce that run thru every strand of the pasta then topped with mixed sharp cheddar,mozzarella,and parmigiano romano cheese. What more could you ask for??
a couple of sliced bread and cold drinks??


Cheese melts over pasta and toast focassia

Serves two

Preheat oven to 400F

500 grams mixed farfalle and penne pasta
Grated cheese such as Sharp cheddar, parmigiano romano, and mozzarella
Chopped flat parsley
2 ramekins or any oven proof bowl dish
Bolognaise sauce
For bolognaise sauce you'll need

300 g lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion-diced
1 small carrot- fine diced
1 stalk celery- fine diced
1 sprig rosemary- chopped
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 and 1/2 cup beef stock, consomme, or vegetable stock
1/3 cup tomato paste2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground black peppercorn
little unsalted butter
Boil pasta in a medium casserole pan with water and salt. Cook pasta for 5-7 minutes, Set aside. Meanwhile make bolognaise sauce.

Pour 2 tablespoon olive oil in heavy medium sauce pan until hot and sweat onion,carrot,celery for 10 minutes. Do not brown. Add ground meat,chopped rosemary and tomato paste. Saute' meat to reach the crusty bit and not too burn. Stir vigorously to prevent scorching.Cook 15 minutes. Deglaze the meat by 1 cup red wine and scrape the bottom pan with wooden spatula. Let the wine evaporate and absorb by the meat.Now pour the beef stock and tomato sauce, Stir and season with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Cover with lid and simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce becomes thick.

Baste ramekins with a little butter or oil. Toss pasta into cooked bolognaise sauce. Ladle pasta into prepared ramekins, Put a little butter on top of the pasta and sprinkle the mixed cheese on top. Place in oven. Baked for 15 minutes, Take the pasta out of the oven place in heat proof plate, sprinkle with chopped parsley.Serve with toast focassia or any of your favorite bread

Note If you find my Bolognaise recipe is complicated, I would suggest that use any recipe you have. Italian ragu or Filipino meat sauce works well with this,,