Curiosity Got The Chef

Green Bean and Pomelo Salad with Cashew-Crusted Blush Cheese

What’s even better than freshly-made cheese?  Blush Cheese that’s coated in cashew and fried in butter.  Be still my heart. 

Ingredients:

300 g French green beans

2 ripe tomatoes, cubed

4 pomelo segments, shredded

1 small bunch of fresh basil

250 g Malagos Blush Cheese

3 pcs. calamansi

1/8 cup olive oil

½ cup crushed cashews

½ cup flour

2 eggs

2 cups Japanese breadcrumbs

2 tbsps of butter

2 cups of ice and 2 cups of water

salt, pepper

Directions:

1. Clean green beans by washing and removing tough end.  Blanche green beans in boiling salted water for 1 minute.  Shock in ice cold water immediately.

2. Place flour, beaten eggs and breadcrumbs combined with crushed cashews in their own individual containers.  Season each with salt and pepper.

3. Cut cheese into logs and dredge through the flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.  Fry in oil and butter until golden brown.

4. In a bowl, combine calamansi juice and olive oil to form vinaigrette.

5. Add in green beans, tomatoes, and pomelo into the bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and toss. 

6. Serve salad with fried cheese on top and roughly chopped basil.

Tinapa Carbonara

Rich and creamy carbonara topped with— what ho?!? not bacon but smoked milkfish fried to a crisp! Nevertheless, one of my favorite. Dishes. Ever.

Ingredients:

250 g flaked tinapa ng bangus

1 pound of dry pasta or 1 recipe of fresh pasta

3 cloves minced garlic

2 large eggs

1 cup grated cheese (1/2 Parmesan, ½ Queso Rustico)

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

¼ cup chopped basil leaves

salt, black pepper and Togarashi pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

For fresh pasta:

1 cup flour

2 eggs

About 2 tbsps olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine flour, egg and olive oil to form pasta dough.  Knead to smoothen and then wrap and chill in ref for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

2. Using a pasta machine or by hand, roll out dough and cut into desired noodle shape.

3. In a saute pan, saute tinapa flakes and garlic until golden.  Leave in pan.

4. In a pot of salted boiling water, cook fresh pasta for 3 to 4 minutes, keeping noodles al dente.

5. In a bowl, mix together eggs, black pepper and cheese.

6. Remove pasta from boiling water and pour onto the egg mixture. Add in tinapa and garlic and mix well. If sauce is too thick, add some pasta water.

7. Garnish with chopped herbs and togarashi pepper.

Caesar Salad with Grilled Bacon (serves 4)

The classic caesar is given a meatier, manlier twist - all in the name of BACON!

Ingredients: 1 head of romaine lettuce, 120 g queso rustico, 4 slices of thick-slice honey-cured bacon, 2 egg yolks, 1 tsp mustard, 1 tbsp of bagoong (shrimp paste), 125 ml vegetable oil, ½ lemon, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper.

Directions:

1. In a mixer (or by hand), combine mustard, egg yolks, bagoong, black pepper and cayenne pepper.  Slowly pour in oil until mayonnaise-like sauce is formed.  Squeeze lemon juice onto the sauce.

2. Grill the bacon 1 to 2 minutes on each side until fully cooked. 

3. Assemble the salad by mixing lettuce with the dressing.  Top with the grilled bacon strips.

4. Shave some queso rustico over the salad using a vegetable peeler.