Devil’s Beef Stew

First up is Dhanggit’s Kitchen’s Devil’s Beef Stew Blazing in my Cracked Pot, “devilish” because of its outrageous spiciness. Is it also devilish because of the amount of rice you’ll eat with this mouthwatering looking dish?

Pata Tim

Here we have I can do that’s Pata Tim. Whoever it was who invented Pata Tim, a tasty Chinese dish of the softest pork imaginable, is a genius. Oggi definitely had a stroke of genius when she decided to make it in a crockpot. Mmm….

Pork Estofado

Next up is Snug’s Pork Estofado, slow-cooked with saba bananas and served with crusty french bread to sop up all of that lovely looking sauce. Okay, we’re getting too hungry now…

Braised Pork Spareribs

Now, feast your eyes on ISKAndals’ Braised Pork Spareribs, one of the simplest recipes I’ve seen- made up of just pork, garlic, soy sauce and sugar- and oh so gorgeous. You just know that meat is falling off its bones…

Rib Ends

Homemade green tomato relish is the “secret ingredient” in Cooked From the Heart’s Rib Ends Braised in Green Tomato Chutney, creating an explosion of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors. We’re talking star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and szechuan peppercorns, people.

Pinatisang Manok

And finally, here’s my very own entry, Pinatisang Manok, which I wrote about here- and my husband is already asking for again.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined in and supported this Lasang Pinoy. These are all recipes I can’t wait to try out myself!

My crockpot was perfect for the job. In true lazy-cook fashion, at 10 a.m. I put the chicken in its frozen state with about 1/4 cup of good thai fish sauce (patis), a teaspoon of chopped fresh ginger, set the crockpot on low, and went back to bed.

Four hours later (around 2 p.m.), I added another 1/4 cup of patis and another teaspoon of chopped ginger.

At 7 p.m. (we were expecting guests at 7:30), I added some chunks of green papaya (from our tree!), a tablespoon of rock salt, and a few more dashes of patis to the already awesome smelling pot, and started the rice.

At 7:30 p.m., we sat down to a lovely dinner of this:

Okay, so crockpot cooking doesn’t give you the prettiest dishes, but oh- the flavor! The chicken, tender and juicy, was falling off the bone… the “sauce”, made up mostly of the chicken’s own juices, was tasty and not fishy at all… the green papaya was still a little crunchy, but that’s how I like it.

Taken with lots of sticky white rice, it was a very comforting, very filling meal.

It was my husband who introduced me to the crockpot. He uses it for everything from adobo to oatmeal (saw it on Alton Brown) to chocolate fondue. Yes, I know I’m a lucky girl. Anyway, we have two now- and they’re definitely two of the most used appliances in our kitchen.

This January, the theme for Lasang Pinoy is Crockpot Cooking, and I’m pleased and excited to announce that I’ll be hosting it right here, on Super Sarap.

I do hope you’ll join in- and even if you don’t have a crockpot or slow-cooker of your own, just use a regular pot to cook something over very looooow heat!

Please submit your entries by January 31, 2008 at midnight (Manila time). Email me your links, posts and images at lorraine AT supersarap.com.

**UPDATE: I’ll have my post up by the weekend! Also, I’m still expecting some entries, so there’s still time for you!**

We celebrated Halloween at home this year, watching the kids in costume come and go, and RUNNING OUT OF CANDY IN 45 MINUTES. I’m not kidding, 45 minutes is how long our 151 bags of candy lasted.

Some of the family came over to enjoy some smoked sausages, sauerkraut, and potato salad (all made by my superstar husband), red candied apples (made by me!), and keg of beer (that’s right, a whoooole kegger!)

Naturally, I forgot to photograph the food and drinks, but here’s some of the candy:

and a photo of our staff, dressed up and ready to scare the neighborhood kids:

We’re still recovering.

Will it make you hungry? Yes. But what I love about this round is how interesting all of the write-ups were. Make yourself a cup of tea and go read them.

I hope it’s not too early to mention that I’ll be hosting January 2008’s Lasang Pinoy: Crockpot Cooking! To join in the fun, I suggest you sign up for the Lasang Pinoy mailing list.

For those unfamiliar with the two projects I mentioned above, these were ordinary women who chose challenge themselves by cooking every single recipe in their cookbook of choice: for Julie, it was the old classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, and for the latter it’s the new classic The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller. These women are amazing, and I can only hope that I prove to be as determined as they are.

I haven’t decided yet which cookbook I’ll be using. Here are some I’m considering:

• Feast: Food to Celebrate Life by Nigella.
• Molto Italiano: 327 Simple Italian Recipes to Cook at Home by Mario.
• The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina.

Which one gets your vote?

I used this recipe I found online. Please note that I halved this recipe, since we’re- um- not a family of seven.

The crust was way too thick at the bottom- completely my fault- but my husband liked it anyway. Next time, I’ll use less crust, and pre-cook it before filling it. See the recipe after the jump.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

Ingredients:
CRUST:
2 18″ deep dish pizza pans *note: I used my deep springform cake pan… hence the depth of my pizza!
2 Tablespoons of Sugar (Needs to be sugar, the yeast feeds on it and won’t proof without it).
4 Cups of Warm Water (110 degrees when you pour it in the bowl it will cool by the time you get everything else done)
4 Packages of Yeast or if you have the jar you can do 8 teaspoons of Yeast.
1 cup of First Press REALLY GOOD Extra Virgin olive oil.
1 Cup of Yellow Cornmeal
9 Cups of Flour (Up to 10)

CHEESE MIX:
4 Pounds of Grated Mozzarella
1 Pound of Provolone
1 Pound of Romano, Parmigiano, Asiago mix
Mix the cheese mix in a big bowl so it is blended well.

SAUCE:
4 28 oz Cans of Plum Tomatoes, Drain them and then put them through your blender for about 10 – 15 seconds you want them to be crushed up and chunky, but not liquid.
5 Teaspoons of FRESH Chopped up Basil
5 Teaspoons of FRESH Chopped Oregano
2 Tablespoons of Sugar (Or Splenda, I use Splenda)
10 Cloves of FRESH Garlic Peeled and Crushed with a Garlic Press
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 cup of Parmigiano Cheese Grated

TOPPINGS:
Portobello Mushrooms, sliced thin
Black Olives, sliced thin
White Onion, sliced thin
Green Bell Pepper, sliced thin
Prosciutto, chopped
Forest Ham, chopped

Prepare the Crust:
Proofing the yeast is an important part of this process. Make sure you do it right, you want your bowl of water to be about 95 – 100 degrees. Mix in the 2 tablespoons of sugar and stir it with a wisk. Once you disolve the sugar in the water, put the yeast in and make sure it all gets wet. (Yeast tends to float on the top and some of it won’t proof if you don’t wet it). Now walk away from it for about 10 minutes. It should be in a big bowl because this stuff is going to FOAM up and it will spill over if you don’t have a big enough bowl – you have been warned.

In your mixer mix the olive oil, the cornmeal and 5 cups of flour. Mix it up for about 1 minute and add the yeast slowly while it is mixing up. Slowly add the rest of the flour and let the mixer mix on about 1/3 speed for 5 minutes. The dough should not be sticky or wet, it should feel like really soft smooth elastic. Coat a plastic bowl with a little olive oil and put the dough into the bowl (Big bowl). Cover the top of it with a damp towel and let it rise until it is double the size.

Prep the Pans:
Prep your pizza pans, spread a little olive oil on the surface and sides and sprinkle yellow cornmeal on the bottom of it. This will prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan. Alternately (and I do it this way quite a bit) you can take REAL butter and really give it a good coating all away around and in the pan. Layer it on very thick. It gives the crust an amazing flavor. Sprinkle with yellow cornmeal the same way you would if you used olive oil.

Make Sauce:
Combine the ingredients together and make sure it has good time to sit and steep in the acids from the tomatoes. This will bring out the flavors of the seasonings.

Put it Together:
Once your dough has doubled again take it out and divide it into two sections with a knife. Roll it out onto your deep dish pizza pans (last chance to go out and buy pizza pans if you are using a baking dish you will not get the consistancy you need and you will not be happy). When you are laying the dough onto the pan push the dough to the edge. You can then turn the pan slowly while you pull the dough up the sides.

Add your toppings to the dough, then put half of your cheese mix on one pizza, half on the other. Use it all!

Pour your sauce on top until it reaches the edge of the dough (which should be all the way up the side of the pan), spread it out evenly and sprinkle with Parmigiano.

Preheat your oven and bake for 25 minutes on 350 degrees. After 25 minutes crank the oven up to 475 and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes. You want to watch the pizza and take it out when the top is light golden brownish and the crust is a light golden brown.

IMPORTANT: Let this pizza cool for 20 minutes, if you do not it will be all over the place. Once it cools for 20 minutes it will be just the right temp and will come out of the pan the right way. Cut and serve. This recipe should feed a family of 7 with maybe a slice left over.