Emeril's Drunken Shrimp

Drunken Shrimp

Via: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/drunken-shrimp-recipe/index.html

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 tablespoon Emeril's Original Essence, recipe follows

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup Scotch whisky

1/2 cup green ginger wine

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup heavy cream

2 cups fresh watercress, rinsed and dried

8 lightly buttered, toasted croutons

Procedure:

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the shallots to the pan and cook until soft, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger, and saute for 1 minute. Add the shrimp, Essence, salt,lemon juice, whiskey and ginger wine to the pan and cook until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, about 2 minutes.

Remove the shrimp from the pan with a slotted spoon and cover to keep warm. Add the honey and cream to the pan and cook until thickened. Add the shrimp back to the pan, and stir well to coat and warm through. Remove the pan from the heat.

Divide the watercress among 4 small serving plates. Spoon the shrimp over the watercress, and serve with toasted croutons.

Essence (Emeril's Creole Seasoning):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.

Yield: about 2/3 cup

Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

My Notes:

I halved all the ingredients and used about  ¼ kg baby prawns. I didn’t have ginger wine and watercress and so I made do without them.  Instead of heavy cream, I used coconut milk which I just eyeballed since ½ c seemed like a lot of unwanted calories. I didn’t have whisky and so I used brandy instead. 

This is an excellent dish which will be served again and again this Lenten season.  It has a kick that does not overpower. However, I suggest that you start with ½ teaspoon of Emeril’s Essence if you are serving this to kids. I used ½ Tablespoon of the essence and it was just perfect for us since we love spicy food.

Shrimp, Pomelo and Young Coconut Salad with Coconut and Lime Dressing

Shrimp, Pomelo and Young Coconut Salad with Coconut and Lime Dressing

via: http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/16417/chef-ariel-manuel

Ingredients:

Shrimps, 2-4 pcs.

Pomelo, 2-3 segments

Cilantro, 8-10 sprigs

Peanuts, 15 grams

Mesclun salad (Combination of Romaine, Lolo Rossa and other desired greens)

Young Coconut, off shell, whole

Dressing:

Coconut milk, 125 ml

Lime juice (juice of 2 pcs. lime)

Fish sauce, 30ml

Canola oil, 80 ml

Cilantro oil, 10 ml

Method:

To make the dressing: Combine all ingredients except cilantro oil. Adjust seasoning.

Blanch shrimps in shellfish or fish stock. Cool down and slice lengthwise.

Pan-toast or oven-roast the peanuts and grind in food processor.

In a bowl, combine mesclun greens, pomelo segments, cilantro sprigs and leaves, shrimps, and nuts. Drizzle with dressing and adjust taste. Dress whole young coconut. Stuff with the mesclun salad mixture. Put on salad plate and garnish with nuts and cilantro oil.

My notes:

This is how it's served at Phat Wong. 

Instead of serving the young coconut whole, I air dried and toasted it for a smoky flavor. I also shredded my greens just so that it is easier to mix with the rest of the ingredients. I also added a tablespoon of dried shrimps (hibi) which adds to the crunch of the peanuts. I bought my hibi from the fish vendor in Unimart for 15 pesos a pack. This is already cooked and tastes better than the 40 pesos pack from Palawan found in the dried goods section of the Supermarket.

I subbed olive oil for the canola oil. I sliced one large shallot and fried it gently in the olive oil and added this to the salad.

Next time, after I remove the fried shallots from the oil, I'll add chili flakes and garlic for some heat. I'll then add the coconut milk to simmer so that I'll have a fuller flavor for my dressing.

Cafe Laguna at Abreeza

Last weekend, we were in Davao for my niece's wedding. Since the wedding was scheduled at 9 am in Eden, I decided to have my hair done the night before at Abreeza, an Ayala mall which recently opened in Davao. There were 3 Beauty Salons to choose from which was great. The mall also has Robinson's Department Store as its anchor tenant and has both National Bookstore and Fully Booked in it. So, when my son texted that the latest book of Christopher Paolini was out and that he wanted me to buy it, I had no problem getting a copy of the book, Inheritance.

For dinner, we couldn't decide whether to eat at Hanoi, Spirale or Cafe Laguna. We've never eaten at Cafe Laguna and so we decided to try it out. Furthermore, it also had the most diners among the three which is always a good sign that the food must be good.

Kare-kare with Bagoong at Php 275. Normally, when I order this dish in other restaurants, it would have lots of vegetables and tripe and a couple of meat. But the dish in Cafe Laguna was loaded with both meat and vegetables and no tripe. I don't like tripe and so its absence just made it more appealing. At the end of our meal, there was still left-over meat. It was that much. I really enjoyed this dish. My husband said that it tasted like my home cooked kare-kare. So, is that good or what?

Calamares at Php 195. I almost always order a squid dish when we eat out because I can never cook it right at home. This dish did not disappoint. It was crunchy outside and so soft and tender inside. I couldn't figure out the dipping sauce though. It had the tangy sweet taste of tamarind. I would have been quite happy with plain vinegar with tons of garlic.

Cafe Laguna has good food at reasonable prices. If we just ordered the Kare-kare, we would still have left the restaurant with a full stomach. The only drawback is that they charge 38 pesos per cup for rice which is more than Manila prices. I would definitely go back to this restaurant on my next visit to Davao.

Cafe Laguna
Abreeza Mall
J.P. Laurel Avenue, Davao City

Komrad

My son, Rance, has been prodding me to try Komrad for our Sunday lunch for months but I always thought that he can't handle the heat of Sichuan dishes. We found ourselves in Eastwood yesterday and so Rance insisted that it was his turn to choose the restaurant. Of course, he picked Komrad. He even knew where exactly in Eastwood Mall it was located and ordered the dishes.

Pineapple Fried Rice at Php 198. This is definitely the best Pineapple Fried Rice I've tasted in Manila. It had lots of pineapple bits and the rice grains really had that pineapple flavor. It was nice change from the usual Yang Chow Fried Rice.

Chef Chen's Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork at Php 288. When we try out a new Chinese Restaurant, we always order Sweet and Sour Pork. We feel that if the kitchen can turn out a good sweet and sour pork dish, its other dishes would be just as good. This dish did not disappoint. The meat was tender, crispy and full of flavor.

General Tso's Chicken at Php 198. This dish is a staple in the Chinese Restaurants in New York and so I just had to try it. This dish is suppose to have some kick but it was quite mild here. Nevertheless, it was still an excellent choice. My son said that on our next visit, we should order two of this.

We all agreed that we will return to try the other dishes. The waitress said that the dishes would serve  2-3 persons but I think that it's really good for 2. Next time, I will definitely order the Sichuan Fried Eggplant with pork and my son wants to order the Kung Pao Crispy Pig's Ears. I like Kung Pao Chicken but Pig's Ears? Rance insists that pig's ears is good and so I'll just stick to my eggplant and maybe try the Komrad rice too. Oh, did I mention that they don't use MSG in their dishes? That's a plus for us since my son is allergic to MSG.

Komrad

2nd Floor Veranda

Eastwood Mall

P.F. Chang's Restaurant, Manila

After Ella's dinner date with Vic and their daughter, Paulina, at P.F. Chang's, she decided to invite the Jungolf moms for lunch ar her latest fave restaurant.

We trekked to Alabang to check out what all these hullabaloo is all about. This is Ella's fifth visit since the resto opened. It just tells you how much she loves the food here.

For starters, we had the Dynamite Shrimps at Php 295. This is crispy shrimps with a very, very mild kick. I enjoyed this dish.

Then, we had Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wrap at Php 285. This is minced chicken with mushrooms, green onions and water chestnuts on a bed of crispy noodles. It was served with 4 pieces of iceberg lettuce. This was similar to the minced duck at Citybest Seafood Restaurant but with a more refined taste. My friend, Beng said that the Chicken Lettuce Wrap at Coral Garden was just as good.

The Crab Wanton was the last of our appetizer at Php 350. Ella loves this so much that she ordered two of this. Crab meat, bell peppers, onion, ginger and garlic is wrapped in wonton and deep fried. This was served with a plum sauce. I did not enjoy the full flavor of this dish because of the lingering taste of the dynamite shrimps and the lettuce wraps which had very prominent flavors. Next time, I'll eat this first to see if it is really as good as Ella says.

Our two orders of crab wantons and Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wrap.

Mongolian Beef at Php 695. Steak tossed with tons of scallions and garlic. The steak was very tender and had a very pronounced soy flavor. I can't quite figure out what was missing in this dish but the scallions were cooked perfectly.

Shrimps with Candied Walnuts at Php 460. The shrimps were large and fresh. I enjoyed the crunchiness of the walnuts and the sweetness of the honeydew melon. I never thought of pairing shrimps with honeydew melons but the flavors really complimented each other. While I was eating this, I thought that it would have been better if the shrimps were deep fried too but in hindsight, tossed in a very light cream sauce brought out the freshness of the shrimps.

The Oolong Marinated Chilean Sea Bass at Php 1,115 was in the Emperor's Choice Menu. The Seabass was broiled in ginger, soy sauce and served over spinach. Everything about this dish was cooked perfectly. The seabass was crunchy outside and very tender inside. I wish I can learn to cook spinach this way. It had a really nice bite to it. I suppose this is why Popeye loves spinach so much.

The Fried Rice at Php 200 was such a let down. It had all the ingredients of beef, chicken, pork and shrimps but it still tasted bland. At the beginning of our meal, the waiter made a special spicy sauce for us and so I decided to sprinkle some of that sauce on the rice. It gave it some flavor but it still didn't taste right. Next time, we'll forego the fried rice since the restaurant offers all you can eat white and brown rice for free.

We capped off our meal with coffee and apple fritters. The apple fritters was served with caramel and whipped cream; nothing special.

Our total bill was Php 4,990. True, for the price, we could have gone to Shang Palace or Choi Garden for a more authentic Chinese cuisine. But dining at P.F. Chang's is really more about the dining experience. Eating here gives you a taste of Chinese American food which is so different from eating at Choi Garden for a real taste of honest to goodness Chinese food or at San Jacinto for a taste of Chinese Filipino food.

On my next visit, I'll definitely order all their Szechuan dishes or their vegetable dishes since they seem to know how to cook their veggies. New York on my mind....

Borough Restaurant Revisited

Since my in-laws wanted to eat at Via Mare for Sunday lunch and Rance abhors the place (only because he does not really like Filipino food), we decided to go our way and use our discount coupon at Borough. We basically ordered the old reliables except this time we ordered the pumpkin ravioli.

We always start with the Rothko Caesar Salad. I love the slice of  grilled cheese bread that is served with the dish and the garlic flavor that oozes from the dressing is a match made in Heaven.

Cheese-Injected Portobella Pita Pocket. This is a must-order for our family. We absolutely love this.

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli with walnuts and cranberries. Not only is this healthy but it tastes great too. The ravioli melts in the mouth since it is rolled thinly. Add to this the pureed pumpkin, the crunch of the walnut, the tartness of the cranberries and you can imagine the play of flavors that makes your eyes roll with joy. My son savored this dish. For me, I would prefer to eat this as a side dish paired with another dish which is what we did. I think that eating this as my only entree would be quite boring unless I order it with smoked bacon topping and a slice of cheese bread. Yes, that would definitely work.

For some reason, the service staff was not at their best today. The lady server only gave us the paper menu for brunch which had the ala carte choices. This menu is not as complete as the laminated lunch menu. We would have ordered the chocolate chicken wings and the fish and chips which was in the regular lunch menu but not in the brunch menu. Furthermore, this was what happened when we ordered the Ravioli.
Me: Can I have the Pumpkin ravioli please. A few minutes later she comes back.
Server: Ma'am, I'm sorry, we are out of the ravioli.
Me: I'll try the Eggplant Parmiagiana. A few minutes later she comes back.
Server: Ma'am, I'm sorry, we are out of the Eggplant Parmiagiana too.
Me: Ok, please give me the Mac and Cheese. A few minutes later she comes back.
Server: Ma'am, I'm sorry, we are out of the Mac and Cheese too.
Me: Can you please go to your kitchen and ask which Pasta is available.
After a few minutes, she comes back.
Server: Ma'am, the kitchen says that we have the Pumpkin ravioli. Do you want to order it?

Huh? Wasn't that my first choice? Ayayay...

I also ordered brewed coffee. It was pretty impressive when the server came with choices of coffee pods in a leather case. I chose the strong coffee which she said was popular. Unfortunately, it was too mild for me and it was not served piping hot.

But, we would still go back again and again to this restaurant because their food is really good and we still want to try the chocolate chicken wings. Total bill today was Php 962. So, we didn't pay a cent after we presented our coupons.

Borough Restaurant
G/F
The Podium

Balkan Express

Since my son had a 5 pm call time to perform at a Chinese New Year Celebration at Gloria Maris, Sunday lunch had to be in our neighborhood. Thus, we finally made our way to Balkan Express which is just a few blocks to where we live. For starters, the restaurant does not really have any ambiance and the prices of the dishes are on the high side.  We had to think twice if we really wanted to try out their food but it was 2 pm and we were hungry and so we decided to stay put.

Chicken Batak at Php 300. This was two pieces of grilled boneless thighs topped with Mozzarella cheese on a bed of buttered rice. The smoky flavor sealed the dish for me. This was really very good.

Stuffed Pljeskavica at Php 350. This is a Serbian version of hamburger patty stuffed with cheese. We had a choice of no heat, mild or spicy cheese. We decided on the mild flavored cheese which was an excellent choice. This is a very filling dish. My son enjoyed this but couldn't finish all of it since he also ordered french fries on the side. Actually, the fries were just as good.

We would definitely return to try the restaurant's other offerings. The dishes were seasoned well and so kids would enjoy eating here.

Balkan Express
87 Jose Abad Santos cor Mons St.
Little Baguio, San Juan City