Spaghetti

(Pinoy spaghetti sauce on whole wheat pasta.)

If there was one thing I looked forward to during my birthdays while growing up, it was my grandmother’s spaghetti. (Okay, I also had balloons and gifts and other party items to look forward to until I was around seven. Then the Gestapo in our house banned parties when I started school.) The culinary critic in me would go as far as saying that my grandmother’s spaghetti was no fantastic dish. Anyone born in the Mediterranean would not recognize the thing. In fact, its only resemblance to the authentic dish is its slightly reddish sauce and the ground beef, or should I say, lack thereof. It had a glaring red sauce that was both sweet and sour, with no hint of tomato whatsoever. There was the occasional bit of beef, outnumbered by slices of red hotdog. And who could forget the slivers of hard-boiled egg, and the copious amounts of grated American cheddar on top? Yes, it was one of the many incarnations of the Jolly Spaghetti that have invaded Filipino households.

My grandmother was the only cook in the family (or perhaps no one dared to share her kitchen). My mom never cooked. But the same Gestapo that banned my parties banned me from playing outside with other children. Hence, the TV became my playmate. Optimus Prime became my role model; Sesame Street became a devotion (dare I say religion?); and Nora Daza became my source of wisdom. Well, okay not entirely. But yes, I learned to cook at an early age.

Eventually, I concocted my own version of spaghetti. It had more meat. It made use of tomatoes from cans, and had nothing to do with banana catsup (and who knows what they’re really made of?). My pasta was al dente, and not soggy. Best of all, it had mushrooms! My dish was initially a hit. My folks loved it. I loved it. But nothing drew me as close to the fire as that plateful of soggy noodles bathed in glaring red catsup sauce that my grandmother makes.

Perhaps because it brings back so many memories of my childhood. Perhaps, it reminded me of the other things that my grandmother made for me and my parties. That spaghetti was her. It was her own creation, and a statement of her culinary skills. It was a product of her years of experimentation. Further, that spaghetti was my party. It always brought back memories of other children running around our house, and the times I would open the gifts they brought for me!

In medical school, I had a classmate who worshipped his mom. While that is usually an adorable attribute of any straight guy, he took it to levels that would disturb any sane person. He once brought a large tub of baked macaroni that his ‘legendary’ doctor-mom made. It was enough for maybe three hungry wrestlers; and athlete he wasn’t! He apparently wanted to “share” his treasure. A close friend of mine, imbued with much wisdom, declined a taste. But my culinary ego could not resist and he gladly offered to share some of it. I barely made it beyond the second bit of pasta. The macaroni was pasty, to say the least. The sauce was bland and anemic. Even that shaving of cheese seemed out of place. There was nothing else to say. It was like eating air. He abslutely loved it though. Well, he worshipped his mom. That was what I kept repeating in my head, and it kept me sane until I finished the spoonful.

I don’t worship my grandmother, or any other member of my family for that matter. But I have utter respect for her and the years she spent learning and toiling in front of the stove to keep our stomachs satisfied. For most of us, there is always that dish, no matter how bland or spicy or weird which will always bring back memories of our childhood, or evoke memories of our special moments. Sometimes, and especially for gastronomes and gourmands, our tongues may object to the combinations of flavors, or lack thereof, in whatever we are eating. But we have to “eat with our brains,” too. We have to treasure all those memories, respect our elders, and relive those special moments.

Over the years, I have learned to make different types of pasta sauces – Bolognese, a la puttanesca, marinara and even my own version of Pinoy spaghetti. I would like to think they are better that anyone else’s. But nothing, as I’ve said, would be as significant as the one I grew up with. And sometimes, I wonder, if somewhere down the road, someone else will grow up eating my cooking, no matter how “off” the seasonings may be.


Pinoy Spaghetti

Half a pound of chopped bacon (I know, but you won’t feel it, trust me)
One or two Spanish chorizos, chopped
Two or three sliced sausages/ hotdogs (use whatever sausage you like if hotdog gives you nightmares; even longganisa and/ or salami is okay, just don’t tell me about it)
One pound lean ground beef (I prefer lean, to lessen the guilt of the bacon)
One to two bay leaves
Four cloves chopped garlic
Two chopped onions
Chop together: one small carrot, one large stalk celery, one small red bell pepper, one small green bell pepper
Two to three large tomatoes, chopped
Two cups tomato sauce
One bottle banana catsup (if you do know, don’t tell me what they’re really made of)
Two to three cups beef broth (water and instant bouillon works, too. Go ask your conscience)
One teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried basil.
Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

In a large saucepan set on medium heat, render the fat off the bacon. Saute until lightly browned before adding the Spanish Chorizos and sausages. Add in the ground lean beef and cook until browned. Add one or two bay leaves as the beef is sautéing.

When the beef has browned, add in the garlic and onions together. When softened, add in the rest of the chopped vegetables. Deglaze pan with beef broth and tomato sauce. Add the rest of the ingredients and the dried herbs. Simmer until the sauce has thickened and the meat has become tender. Adjust seasonings.

Filipino tradition is to top the spaghetti with sliced hard-boiled eggs and grated American cheddar.

(Traditional Filipino-style spaghetti)

Bacon and Seafood Pasta

I wouldn't really credit the Italians for this one. (My previous pasta blog isn't Italian anyway.) As far as I know, bacon and seafood isn't a classic combination, at least by European standards. (And the 'bacon' Italians use - pancetta - is not smoked!) Yes, the Italians are quirky about their seafood - 'cheese and seafood do NOT go together,' 'only white wine can be used,' 'smokiness of the bacon masks the flavor,' etc. I quite agree, and this is probably the first time I am making a pasta with both bacon and seafood combined. Well, blame my freezer. I was only trying to dispose of the bits I found while cleaning it.

On a hot pan, add in about a handful of chopped bacon, around 200g (nowadays you can just buy bacon bits, so no need for chopping). Render the fat until the bacon bits have become crispy. Push them to one side of the pan then add in one chopped onion and about three to four cloves of chopped garlic, more if you like.

Then toss in about 200g each (about a handful) of shelled and deveined shrimp, and scallops. Make sure the seafood are really fresh, and should not smell fishy at all. Also, the meat should be firm. If they're spongy, then they've probably been in and out of the freezer too many times, and you'll notice them shrink to the size of raisins as they get sauteed. Toss the seafood around the pan just until most of the shrimp are pink. Quickly, scoop all of the shrimps and scallops with a slotted spoon and set aside. We only want them to be slightly cooked at this point.

Then, deglaze the pan with a cup of white wine and reduce by at least half. Make sure to scrape the bits sticking at the bottom. Add in about one teaspoon of fresh thyme. After the reduction, pour in two cups of cream (or two cups half and half). Add in the seafood, then adjust the seasonings. As the sauce comes to a simmer, dump in the pasta (I prefer linguine) and toss until all strands are coated. Finally, sprinkle with a handful of chopped Italian parsley. Serve with garlic bread. NO cheese!

Quick Chorizo Pasta

This one is really quick and simple. On a hot pan set on medium heat, dump in around 200g of chopped chorizo. I prefer the fresh ones that you buy from delis, not the ones that come canned. The fresh ones tend to crisp up during cooking, and tastes better.

The pan has to be set on medium heat in order to render the golden fat out fo the chopped sausages slowly. A pan that is too hot would have just burned the outside of the chorizo bits while the inside is still rubbery. This takes around five minutes - just until the sizzle has died down a bit.

Next throw in one chopped onion, and cook until tender. Then dump in two cloves of chopped garlic and two large (or four small) chopped fresh tomatoes. Cook until tender, which takes absolutely no time at all (about a minute). If the pan gets a little too dry, pour in half a cup of white wine or water.

Dump in the pasta and cook one minute. Dish up.

Nigella's Crab Pasta

I just love everything Nigella! I love the simplicity of all her recipes. And they are quite flavorful, too!

A friend of my dad's recently sent us a shipment of mud crabs from his farm. I made several batches of stir-fried crabs - one a Vietnamese-style tamarind crab then the Malaysian Ketam Sri Wangi. (will post the recipes when I have the time).

The small crabs left after we sorted out the large ones for the stir-fry were steamed for later use. I was pondering what to do with them as I almost never cook with already-steamed crabs. I decided to make some pasta with the meat.

I just followed Nigella's recipe, but left out the watercress which is rather hard to find locally, and I am a bit squeamish of raw greens grown on freshwater plots (but I do eat a LOT of veggies).

I used up two medium-sized crabs, although I think I should have used more. There were only two crabs left, so I used crab sticks as extenders. However, I do caution against using too much of it as it has a different flavor versus the real crab meat. This "sauce" tastes better if you leave it to marinade about a day in the refrigerator before tossing it with the freshly-cooked pasta.

Tuna Macaroni

In the good old 80s, and thanks to the absence of cable tv, Pinoys had absolutely no knowledge how the Italians had their pasta - simple, often meatless, and prepared just before the meal with only a handful of quality ingredients. Or at least that was my impression. After all, with the mention of spaghetti, only one thing came to mind in those days - spaghetti noodles with a sweet Bolognese sauce (ground beef in tomato sauce). Baked macaroni likewise was Bolognese-based, had elbow-shaped pasta and was baked with tons of cheese, and apart from these three things was basically the same as spaghetti.

Pinoys were largely oblivious of pasta puttanesca as well as the seafood-based sauces. Hence, recipes like this tuna macaroni were largely a novelty, especially during Lent. I think it was a good way for manufacturers to advertise products, like tomato sauce and cream that can be used on Lenten seafood dishes apart from the usual caldereta and fruit salad, respectively. Why the mention of advertising? Because recipes like these usually come out as features on broadsheets the week before Lent. In fact, this one was from a newspaper clipping that my aunt pasted on her cooking diary. She used to make it for Lent. Everyone, even myself I suppose, loved it. Keep in mind, this was the time that tomato-based dishes, for them to be special had to have a touch of cream; and the cream-based pasta dishes had to have a hint of tomato. During the pre-Asian Food Channel/ Food Network, this was a really good. This is your typical back-of-the-carton Magnolia Cream or back-of-the-label Del Monte tomato sauce recipe.


My aunt, who by the way is a pious old maid, gave me a copy of this recipe in the hope that it would one day inspire me to be more religious as I would be eating fish instead of meat during Lent. So I took the recipe and inserted it on an old notebook and forgot about it for years. Fastforward 2008, this recipe fell off that old notebook as I was clearing away some of my things. I thought of making it, for old times' sakes, and because I thought that it required ingredients that needed to be disposed from the pantry. I updated the recipe, of course with other stuff from the pantry.

Tuna Macaroni
On a large saute pan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Saute one chopped large onion and one medium carrot until tender. Add in three cloves of chopped garlic and saute until you can smell the garlic.

Add in one can of drained sliced mushrooms, one cup sliced olives (green or balck, whichever you prefer) and two cups of canned (or leftover) tuna (salmon works well, too).

Pour in 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, one cup cream of mushroom soup and one cup milk. Simmer. Season with salt, pepper and one teaspoon fresh thyme, and a bunch of chopped basil. Turn off the heat and add in one cup of cream. Adjust seasonings.

Toss in one package of cooked macaroni (I used fusili). Arrange in ove-proof dishes and bake until top is browned.

The original recipe calls for two cups to cheese to be incorporated into the sauce, plus another cup for topping. I try not to blaspheme the Italians, so I did not bother adding cheese to my seafood. No one missed it.

Creamy Prawn Pasta

Everyone kept complaining that my prawn chowder was too rich and creamy. I admit, I may have needed some watering down.

I was already too tired of this chowder that I decided to just make in into a pasta sauce. I know, I put in potatoes in that chowder, but if I water (err, maybe milk) it down a bit more, then it wouldn't matter.

So that's what I did, I boiled the chowder with two cups of milk added and some chopped fresh basil leaves for added flavor. I adjusted the seasonings and tossed it with some pasta.

The chowder that no one dared to touch for two days in my ref was gone in less than an hour!

Pasta alla Puttanesca

My brothers and I used to snicker at the name of this pasta. "Puttanesca" sounded the local word for the lady of the night. Lo and behold, this dish IS named just after that. Check this out. I did not know that Italian and Filipino (by way of Spanish, of course) shared more words in common that spaghetti (ispag-get-tee, as pronounced by the natives)!

I saw Martha Stewart whip this up so quickly on one of her shows and thought of making good use of the canned tomatoes in my pantry. I however, used a combination of canned tomatoes (for flavor and sauce) and freshly chopped ones (for texture). A simpler recipe could be found here.

It is really amazing that this recipe is so simple yet so flavorful and filling! It sauced up a whole pound of cooked pasta and most was gone the moment i dished up.

A note about the pasta: cook it about two minutes less than package directions, then add them to the simmering sauce just before it thickens to desired consistency. The remaining liquid and heat from the sauce will cook pasta through and it will even absorb most of that flavorful sauce.

Serve this as a main course with some crusty bread, or as the "starch" dish with some roast meat or fish.

Spaghetti alla Bolognese

A kiddie birthday party would not be complete without the spaghetti with red meat sauce: strands of soggy white pasta doused with a glaring red ground beef and hotdog sauce that is in no way reminiscent of tomato. In the Philippines, spaghetti sauce is always sweet, slightly spicy and not a single bit sour. Not surprising since many put catsup to the sauce. It tastes more like the Neapolitan sauce the Japanese are accustomed to. Perhaps because of its sweetness, or the tons of cheese heaped on it, children just love spaghetti.

Here in our country, we just call it “spaghetti.” The spaghetti that the Americans introduced has evolved into a Pinoy dish of its own. Today, this Pinoy version is served from the lowliest of street stalls to fast-food chains to well-established restaurants.

Over the years, however, I have developed a taste for the authentic Italian spaghetti alla Bolognese – a red sauce rich in tomato flavor, accented by meat and herbs. The dominant flavor is of course is that of ripe tomatoes – slightly sour, but sweet on its own without the addition of sugar or catsup.

Hence, this recipe foreshadows the Italian version, but you can always modify it to your taste by, yes, adding catsup and sugar. It is a versatile sauce. You can pour it over spaghetti or penne, or use it for lasagna!
This recipe, by the way, can dress up to 1 kilogram (weight of uncooked) pasta. I make this big a batch and store the excess in the freezer in small containers. It is very handy if you need a quick fix – just boil some pasta and heat up the sauce! Then grate some fresh parmesan over it.

Sugo di Carne (tomato and meat sauce)

On a large sauce pan set over medium-high heat, add in 200 grams chopped bacon (but preferably pancetta). Let the bits sweat and release all its oil. When the bits have started to brown, add in enough olive oil to cover the pan, around three tablespoons. Sauté the chopped vegetables: one large onion, four to five cloves garlic, one medium carrot and two stalks celery. Cook until wilted.

Dump in the meats. I usually use a mixture of ground beef and Italian pork sausage. If you cannot find FRESH/ raw Italian pork sausage (or any sausage you like), then use ground pork. (Make sure to take the sausage out of its casing. You want to mash it into the sauce together with the beef.) Break the meats into the pan and sauté until “browned.” At this point, you can add in some fresh mushrooms. I usually use a cup of mushroom stems, rather than throwing them away. But this is really optional and will not affect the flavor much.

Next, add in two cups of red wine. Make sure the wine you add in is good enough for you to drink. Taste it before adding. You may even add white wine if you like a milder flavor. But red wine in this recipe goes well with the beef. Add a little more wine if the two cups was not enough to cover the mixture. Now, increase the heat to high and boil away half of this liquid. Stir occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom.

When the wine has reduced to half, pour in around two cups of canned crushed tomatoes (one large can – I only use the Italian brands), two cups of tomato sauce, one cup of milk and around two cups of water or stock.

At this point, you may now add in your seasonings. I prefer fresh herbs: one tablespoon of fresh chopped oregano leaves, and one bunch of fresh chopped basil leaves, plus a pinch of nutmeg. If you have only dried, add one and two teaspoons, respectively. You may need to add more towards the end if you feel it needs to be more herb-y. Feel free to add some sage or thyme, but oregano and basil is okay for me. Season with some pepper and half a teaspoon of salt. I only worry about the salt towards the end. You can always add more, but adding too much now may only ruin an afternoon of hard work!

The sauce at this point will be very soupy or watery. Cover pan and reduce the heat. Simmer for around one and a half hours, or until meat is tender. The sauce will also reduce and thicken. I usually leave the pan only slightly covered to allow evaporation. By the way, you need to stir this once in a while to prevent it from sticking, maybe around every 30 minutes but other than that, you can pretty much leave it alone.

At the end of the cooking time, stir the sauce and check for the right consistency. If it is still soupy, then increase the heat and boil away the excess liquid. If it lacks some more tomato flavor, then troubleshoot with some tomato paste. Add only a little (a teaspoon or so) at a time. I only add salt at the very last minute. Season accordingly.

You may add some more fresh chopped basil to liven up the taste. Just before serving, dump in the pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve on a plate topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese.
If you are heating this sauce from the freezer, it is best to add a leaf or two of chopped basil to the sauce while heating. This will “wake up” the flavor, so to speak. Enjoy!

(huge amounts of liquid are boiled away towards the end of the cooking process, giving a rich thick tomato meat sauce.)

(more about the other party grub on the coming days - buffalo wings and veggie pizza)

Penne with Five Cheeses

Five Cheeses Cream Sauce

(The 5 cheeses: cottage cheese, cheddar, mozzarella, blue, and parmigiano reggiano - not shown here, plus the other dairies: milk, cream and butter.)

Ina Garten’s Penne with 5 Cheeses on her cooking show looked really sinful yet simple to make. But I thought the addition of tomato and basil ruined the whole cheese thing. I decided to make my own version, without the tomato and basil and with some bacon instead.

This is basically a milk or cream-based sauce with tons of cheese in it. It doesn’t really need any other flavoring as it would only spoil the creaminess and richness of the cheeses. I decided to add some bacon just to give it a slight smoky flavor. And to appease the carnivores here at home. You can leave it out, or add something else, like ham or leftover shredded chicken – basically anything that would complement, but not mask the flavor of the cheese. Prosciutto, I feel is too strong. Its porkiness steals away the show from the exquisite combination of cheeses.

Penne with Five Cheeses
Cook 500 grams of penne according to package directions.
On a large sauce pan, preferably non-stick, add in 100 grams of chopped bacon. Allow to sweat and brown over medium to medium-high heat. Add in ½ a bar of butter (equivalent to one stick) and melt. Add in two cups of milk. And bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and dump in one cup of cream, one cup (250 grams) creamed cottage cheese, 100 to 200 grams each of grated mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan - depending on how cheesy you want this dish to be. I find adding too much cheddar and parmesan can make the dish too salty, especially with the bacon already in. Last, add in two to three tablespoons of blue cheese. Finally, season with freshly cracked black pepper.

(use only freshly grated cheeses!)

Do NOT use bottled parmesan!!! Use only freshly grated parmesan!

Pour sauce over pasta and toss. You may garnish with more parmigiano reggiano and cracked black pepper on top.

(to make it soupier, you may add more milk or cream.)