November 22 Sunday Lunch

Abellas

There used to be a time when Sundays meant Sunday Lunch at Lola’s house. Each family would bring a dish made by aunts who all had a gift for cooking and baking. There would be Sundays when we stuffed ourselves silly with home-cooked Filipino dishes such as Imbao Soup, Kare-kare or various versions of Adobo. There would be times when the cheese lovers would devour rich and cheesy Baked Lasagna or Stuffed Shell Pasta would delight us all. Or Sundays when an aunt would make Paella or cook crabs and prawns. Then we’d end everything with a make your own halo-halo station, or any dessert that one of my aunts would make.

But things changed as the nieces and nephews grew up, Lola died, and a few of us were left in Davao City. I suspect my aunts grew tired of waking up early on Sundays. I would if I were them.

Since my cousin/doctor wants to learn how to cook and bake, and I have newly acquired cooking and baking skills, we decided to revive Sunday lunch with a Beef Stew, Spaghetti alla Puttanesca, and Blueberry New York Cheesecake. Last Friday, Doc Joanna, Gwing, and I set out to purchase the ingredients at the supermarket of Gaisano Mall of Davao. I had found out earlier that their vegetables are delivered and fresh on Fridays. Happy coincidence that we were all free on that day.

And last Sunday, I woke up with barely enough sleep and started working at my aunt’s kitchen at 8 am.

Beef Stew

There wasn’t enough Beef Short Ribs at the Supermarket so I bought some Beef Cubes to supplement the supply of Beef Short Ribs. We were cooking 2 kilos of beef for around 20 persons.

The recipe we used is almost the same as Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon but we didn’t use bacon, and I refused to bake it in the oven as we didn’t have enough time and I didn’t have enough patience.

We used baby potatoes which we had too much of, carrots, and zucchini as veggies for the stew. The stew took almost 2 hours to cook before most of the beef were tender enough. Some of the beef weren’t tender enough though. Should have started earlier and cooked it for at least 3 hours.

The sauce was super rich, a bit bland for my taste as my aunt’s stopped me from going on a spice frenzy. LOL! A bonus when working in my aunt’s kitchen is the use of fresh herbs straight from the garden… all the rosemary, thyme, and parsley I want.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

One chef told us in class that Spaghetti alla Puttanesca is named so because it was originally made from “garbage” ingredients (“puttanata” in Italian means garbage) quickly made by whores or prostitutes in between servicing customers. Garbage here means ingredients they can easily access or leftovers they can use for the dish. Coincidentally, the Filipino word “puta” also means prostitute.

This pasta dish, however, is not composed of “garbage” ingredients in a tropical developing country like ours where olives, anchovies, and capers aren’t cheap or easy to find.

Even before I took up culinary classes, I was already fond of making Puttanesca, but using Sun Dried Tomatoes instead of Salsa Pomodoro or fresh tomatoes. Coz I lurve them sun-dried tomatoes.

We used the same for this dish. We purchased and chopped like hell all the garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, green and black olives, capers, and mushrooms that we wanted on our pasta. Then we sauteed it with copious amounts of olive oil and seasoned it with mashed anchovies. No salt and pepper.

And to lighten the taste, I added a lot of fresh basil, straight from my aunt’s garden. YUMMY!