|
FISH AND SEA FOODS
The traditional Friday menu consists of mongo and fish (paksiw, escabeche, or tinapa with salted eggs). As a concession to the younger generation, a pot of beans or a dish of pasta may replace the mongo but no meat is served as a main dish on this day.
At any rate, the budget-conscious housewife deserves a respite, if only for one day of the week, from her daily struggle to stretch her food allowance to the limit. By following tradition of serving meatless dishes on Friday, she does not have to rack her brains planning a menu that is both within her budget and acceptable to her family.
A meatless dish does not mean using fish alone. Other alternatives for meat are eggs (which can be prepared in many different ways), legumes or beans and pasta made with cheese and milk to make it protein-rich. Fish, however, is always the first choice of most housewives when do not want to use meat, for fish, being light, is a welcome change from the usual rich heavy meat dishes. Unfortunately, fish and other sea foods are no longer so cheap as before. Even the lowly galonggong and dalagang bukid now cost P5 to P7 a kilo. Many varieties of fish which are in great demand cost of much as meat, while large shrimps and prawns cost more than beef tenderloin.
To get the most out of the money that you can spend on fish, you must learn to do two things: how to buy them wisely and how to cook them so that they will be acceptable to your family, specially when they are not over fond of fish. Perhaps these suggestions would help.
But fish in your neighborhood market where you will find more varieties and at wider price range. Go to market early for in these days the supply of fish, specially from the deep seas, is rather on the short side. If you are not a working housewife, go to the market often if not everyday, to buy fish and vegetables. Before buying anything, go around first, to compare the prizes. Don't be afraid or ashame to bargain but don't reduce the prize of the vendor to half. Because cooking oil has more than doubled in price, learn to cook fish without using any or just very little cooking oil. Trim off the fat from the pork you buy, render into lard, and use this fat for sauteeing fish and vegetables.
Do not overcook fish. It is done as soon as its flesh can be flaked with a fork. Cook just enough fish one meal, for reheating left-over develops an undesirable strong fish odor.
Always serve a fish dish, even the lowly paksiw or tinola, with a flourish, never with an excuse. Take some effort to fry rice, with eggs, or prepare a filling dessert.
Now that the tomatoes are plentiful and cheap, prepare plenty of sauce for the fish first, drop it into the tomato sauce and let simmer in the sauce until done. Serve while hot.
Fuss with fish, that is, give more time and effort when you buy, cook, and serve fish, to make it more palatable, more attractive. The trouble you take will be repaid when you see your husband and your children enjoy eating fish instead of leaving it on the table.
FISH LOAF
2 cups flaked fish minced
2 beaten eggs 1 clove garlic, mashed
1 cup fine bread crumbs Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoon kinchay
Combine all ingredients and mix well with a fork. Turn this mixture into a well-greased baking pan and bake in a moderate oven until firm or steam in a kawali with boiling water as you would leche flan. Serve with any fish sauce.
TUNA TART
Line a tart with your favorite pastry and arrange pieces of drained tuna on top. Season a rich cream sauce well with salt and cayenne pepper and combine with two lightly beaten egg yolks. Beat the two egg whites until stiff and fold them gently into the sauce and pour it over the tuna. Bake in a pre-heated, moderately hot oven for 30 minutes or until done.
FISH LUMPIA FILLING
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomatoes, sliced
2 cups flaked fish
2 tablespoons minced kinchay
Salt and pepper
Saute the onion and garlic in a little lard. Add the sliced tomatoes. Drop in fish and season mixture with salt and pepper. Add minced kinchay at end of cooking. When cold, use as lumpia filling, using 2 tablespoons for each wrapper.
TUNA SCALLOP
3-4 medium potatoes
1 small tin tuna, broken into pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
Paprika and parsley
Boil the potatoes until barely tender, slice them in rounds and saute in hot oil or butter together with the onion. When potatoes and begin to brown, add the tuna (drained). Let these brown lightly, then season with salt and pepper and serve hot garnished with a sprinkling of paprika and generous amount of finely chopped parsley.
TUNA-STUFFED TOMATOES
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small tin tuna, broken into pieces
5 large tomatoes
6 ounces cooked rice
Breadcrumbs
Butter
Saute the onion in a little hot oil. Blend in cooked rice and tuna pieces. Season well. Fill tomato shells with this mixture, sprinkle with fine breadcrumbs, dot with butter, arrange in a well-buttered, shallow casserole and bake in a moderately hot oven until tender and well-browned.
TUNA CASSEROLE
1 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 tin cream of celery soup
¼ pint milk
4 ounces cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 large tin tuna, broken into pieces
4 ounces cooked macaroni
Seasonings
Saute onion and green pepper in butter or oil until tender. Blend with cream of celery soup, milk, cheese, Worcestershire sauce, tuna pieces, cooked macaroni and seasonings to taste. Turn into a well-greased casserole, sprinkle with extra cheese, adding a few tomato slices and bake in a moderately hot oven.
TUNA TIPS
For added flavor and economy, use the oil from tin of tuna to grease the dish when making tuna casseroles. Blend onion soup, tuna and sour cream for a quick party dip.
A tin of drained tuna blended into a tin of tomato soup and well-seasoned with oregano makes a super sauce to serve with spaghetti.
To make a quick snack, blend drained flaked tuna with mayonnaise to moisten and a tablespoon each of sweet chopped pickled and minced onion. Spread on split hamburger buns, top with grated cheese and place under the grill to lightly brown.
Drained tuna pieces placed in the center of a serving plate and encircled with potato salad, tomato salad or green salad makes a simple, delicious and classic meal starter.
BOSTON LOBSTER THERMIDOR
6 large lobster tails
¼ teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
½ cup cooking sherry
2 cans condensed chicken broth or
3 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved
in 2 cups water
½ cup butter
4 tablespoons flour
½ cup diced pimiento
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream, canned or fresh
Salt and paprika
Cook lobster tails in
salted water. Remove from shells ( there should be 2 cups of meat). Cut in small pieces. Chop the lobster meat.
Use the pan you will serve in. Melt butter in pan. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add flour, lemon-pepper, and nutmeg. Stir and cook in 1 minute. Add chicken broth slowly and cook until thick. Add cream slowly. Do not boil. Add sherry and pimiento then add salt and pepper if needed. Add lobster. Just before serving, sprinkle with sprinkle with paprika and broil until golden brown.
TILMOK
1 cup crab fat (aligui)
2 cups shredded young coconut
Chopped garlic
½ cup chopped green onions
3 crushed labuyo peppers
3 oregano leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Banana leaf for wrapping
Mix the ingredients together. Pass the banana leaf over a flame to make it pliable. Divide the coconut-aligui mixture into about six portions and wrap each banana leaf. Cook the packets in a saucepan in 1 cup water until the water dries up, but do not let the pan become smoky.
FISH BALLS
2 cups flaked fish
4 tablespoons flour
Enough milk
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped kinchay
or green onion leaves
Combine flaked fish, flour and milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste and finely chopped kinchay or green onion leaves. Place the mixture in refrigerator to harden, then form into smell balls. Drop balls into boiling water and then saute in a little lard to brown. Serve with sweet-sour sauce of vinegar, soy sauce and sugar.
NEXT PAGE
More Pages:
|
